Who’s next?

[weeyin]

6 minutes ago, Burn_Broomfield said:

I maybe wasn't quite as happy as others were when we resigned Aldred.  He looked decent, but very limited playing alongside Kipre/Dunne/McHugh.  This season there's been no Kipre and he's looked pretty horrendous in most matches.

I'd be looking to bin either him or Hartley asap from the starting XI.  Maguire, McHugh and Dunne would be my shout as we persist with 3 at the back.  Livingstone into left wingback and Tait on the right.  

I said at the time we shouldn't have signed Aldred. Great back up for Hartley, but didn't seem to be a good partner for the reasons you mentioned.  I had hoped w'ed either give Maguire (or Mbulu) a run or at least bring in someone with a bit of pace to replace Kipre.

We have given away far too many soft goals this season and don't look like scoring many - especially when Main is playing. 

Defending and scoring - two fundamental parts of the game.

[mfc]

For me the summer recruitment is the main reason why were in the trouble were in,we brought in zero quality and robinsons master plan of only strenghthening the bench has really backfired,what message did that send out too regular starters if we were only looking too strenghthen the bench,that there place in the first wasn't in jeopardy no matter what and now that nobody in the first team is playing that well,we don't have any real options from the bench as we're stuck with a lot of dross signed over the summer.

[grizzlyg]

1 hour ago, DEWELL said:

Disagree. We've been crap now for months. The players look fed up. The fans certainly are. Our up and at em style of hoofball isn't working. He's ruining our better players by this nonsense 3-5-2. Tait on the left Cadden on the right of midfield. NO FECKIN LEFT BACK. We create hee haw up front and getting beat at home to teams like Accies and St. Johnstone is unnaceptable. Im gutted he hasn't been punted this morning as we've 10 days to get a replacement.

We have a potential great left-back in Adam Livingstone but Robbo doesn't seem willing to give him a chance.   Saturday would have been ideal time to try him

[weeyin]

Dunne is fine at left back if we decide to go that way.

[joewarkfanclub]

10 minutes ago, mfc said:

For me the summer recruitment is the main reason why were in the trouble were in,we brought in zero quality and robinsons master plan of only strenghthening the bench has really backfired,what message did that send out too regular starters if we were only looking too strenghthen the bench,that there place in the first wasn't in jeopardy no matter what and now that nobody in the first team is playing that well,we don't have any real options from the bench as we're stuck with a lot of dross signed over the summer.

I think this is the main area where the finger can be pointed fairly and squarely at the manager.

A club of our size is never going to have a lot of cash to throw around. Even after a relatively successful season.  Its obviously very important then, that there is a structured signing policy targetted at improving the week areas of the team and improving quality/competition.

That doesnt appear to have happened and from the the outside, some of the signings appear baffling. I get that in the market we operate, not all signings will work. I also get that some signings will be made for development purposes with a view to finding another Moult or Kipre.

However, none of our signings can be argued to have improved our squad at this stage and that leaves the manager in a bind of his own making.

[Burn_Broomfield]

Just now, grizzlyg said:

We have a potential great left-back in Adam Livingstone but Robbo doesn't seem willing to give him a chance.   Saturday would have been ideal time to try him

Without trying to compare too much or heaping additional pressure on the lad, he's very much in the Andy Robertson type mould.  As fit as a fiddle, a great engine that lets him bomb forward as well as defend, good on the ball, excellent quality crosses and a decent eye for goal.

[sbcmfc]

Agree on Aldred, he’s not a replacement for Kipre, and not an upgrade on Hartley or McHugh. McHugh is a far better defender than midfielder, and we have a load of midfielders that are as good as McHugh, so he would have sufficed as an additional centre half.

So while I think Aldred is decent, I don’t think we needed him.

To be fair to Robinson, nobody could’ve anticipated how disappointing ATS was going to be

I quite like Johnson and think he has strengthened the squad, but we also signed Sammon who has been; perhaps more predictably, disappointing also.

[MelvinBragg]

1 hour ago, Burn_Broomfield said:

I maybe wasn't quite as happy as others were when we resigned Aldred.  He looked decent, but very limited playing alongside Kipre/Dunne/McHugh.  This season there's been no Kipre and he's looked pretty horrendous in most matches.

I'd be looking to bin either him or Hartley asap from the starting XI.  Maguire, McHugh and Dunne would be my shout as we persist with 3 at the back.  Livingstone into left wingback and Tait on the right.  

I think one of the things that has frustrated me the most about the criticism of Donnelly is how Aldred and Hartley have performed but don't seem to face the same scrutiny. Both are fine at the centre of a back three with quicker, more powerful guys either side. You can't play both of them. 

To be honest, the only comic relief on this forum has been people suggesting four at the back with Aldred and Hartley as centre backs. Hilarious...

[rinkydink]

Spot on - Hartley reminded me of Shaun Teale in terms of his mobility at times on Saturday.  

[Clackscat]

Dunne is fine at left back if we decide to go that way.

If we went back 4 I would like to see Dunne at centre back which is a position the player himself likes. A back 4 of Tait McHugh Dunne Livingstone would work. I remember getting pelters from some for suggesting prior to Killie away last season we go with Kipre and Dunne in centre of a back 4, which we actually did with Tait and Hammell as full backs. Defensively we were solid that day only losing 1 nil cos young Russell Griffiths flapped at a cross.

You have options also with Maguire (who can also play defensive mid) and Mbulu.

It has to change. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing every time and expecting a different result.

Sent from my SM-A320FL using Tapatalk

[Yorkyred]

Personally I think he will need 4 points from the next couple of games with the run after that or he’s on shaky ground.

[grizzlyg]

Hartley never been the same player since he came back and just my opinion but I would have also stripped him of captaincy after the ridiculous comments before the gers match. A captain should lead by example and be a good role model.

[texanwellfan]

Conversation seems to have wandered off topic, which is fine  but is it because most of us can’t really think of a realistic good option? 

[Kmcalpin]

Just now, texanwellfan said:

Conversation seems to have wandered off topic, which is fine  but is it because most of us can’t really think of a realistic good option? 

I don't think its right to discuss potential replacements as long as a manager is still in post. However the vast majority of posters and fans in general are not party to information on potential candidates in the same way as potential employers are. How many of us would have known about the likes of Ian Baraclough or Jim Gannon for example or indeed Craig Brown?

[Yorkyred]

12 minutes ago, Kmcalpin said:

I don't think its right to discuss potential replacements as long as a manager is still in post. However the vast majority of posters and fans in general are not party to information on potential candidates in the same way as potential employers are. How many of us would have known about the likes of Ian Baraclough or Jim Gannon for example or indeed Craig Brown?

Any worse than calling  for him to be sacked ?

[Kmcalpin]

22 minutes ago, Yorkyred said:

Any worse than calling  for him to be sacked ?

Yes.

[texanwellfan]

1 hour ago, Kmcalpin said:

I don't think its right to discuss potential replacements as long as a manager is still in post. However the vast majority of posters and fans in general are not party to information on potential candidates in the same way as potential employers are. How many of us would have known about the likes of Ian Baraclough or Jim Gannon for example or indeed Craig Brown?

I don’t think lack of information has stifled many contributors on here previously :-) 

[CoF]

9 hours ago, underboyleheating said:

Even Robinson must be embarrassed at that stat. I wonder how many points Malpas had at this stage?

Two more than we currently have. 

 

 

[ropy]

I don't think defence is a problem other than the tendency to concede free kicks outside the box, our problems are our lack of forward looking options, no goal threat, no opportunities created, no decisive through ball (Turnbull excepted).  We have enough reasonable defenders to keep it reasonably tight at the back. We need to convert 0-1 results into 2-1 results. 

[MelvinBragg]

16 minutes ago, ropy said:

I don't think defence is a problem other than the tendency to concede free kicks outside the box, our problems are our lack of forward looking options, no goal threat, no opportunities created, no decisive through ball (Turnbull excepted).  We have enough reasonable defenders to keep it reasonably tight at the back. We need to convert 0-1 results into 2-1 results. 

Fair point. If you'd told me before the games that we'd concede one at home to each of Accies, Livi and St Johnstone then you'd have to figure that we'd have at least three points from the three games. Sadly it only takes one goal to beat us at the minute...

[sbcmfc]

10 hours ago, ropy said:

I don't think defence is a problem other than the tendency to concede free kicks outside the box, our problems are our lack of forward looking options, no goal threat, no opportunities created, no decisive through ball (Turnbull excepted).  We have enough reasonable defenders to keep it reasonably tight at the back. We need to convert 0-1 results into 2-1 results. 

Yeah, we’ve been losing games by the odd goal, but often without ever looking like winning them.

If we took a real pumping off someone (other than Celtic) maybe we could get a reaction.

At the moment it’s the sequence of results rather than any individual result that’s the problem, and maybe that’s why we’re reluctant to change as we’re not a million miles away; on paper anyway.

I thought we played ok on Saturday to a point and for most of the game didn’t resort to hoofball tactics. Lack of confidence in likes of Frear and Main, and lack of sharpness for Dunne, Campbell looked tired, Cadden was the same as he’s been every game for a year, Bowman is honest and hard working, but he’s not very good...

[Lukemfc1]

20 hours ago, Burn_Broomfield said:

I maybe wasn't quite as happy as others were when we resigned Aldred.  He looked decent, but very limited playing alongside Kipre/Dunne/McHugh.  This season there's been no Kipre and he's looked pretty horrendous in most matches.

I'd be looking to bin either him or Hartley asap from the starting XI.  Maguire, McHugh and Dunne would be my shout as we persist with 3 at the back.  Livingstone into left wingback and Tait on the right.  

I agree that Aldred is limited but I can honestly count on one hand the amount of times he has done anything massively wrong. Technically he isn't great but what he does do he does well. I said towards the end of last season that I think he is actually better than Hartley and I stand by this. I think Hartley has looked a lot worse since his injury too. His mobility appears to be very poor.

If we were to bin one of them for the first team I would bin with Hartley. Tbh though I would suggest defence isn't the main problem here. I would go with with Dunne and Aldred as the centre backs in a four , there you have a mixture of pace and no nonsense defending. Hartley + Aldred seems too similar and I'm not convinced Dunne is an actual left back.

[underboyleheating]

12 hours ago, CoF said:

Two more than we currently have. 

When even Malpas is in front of you know that there is trouble at ‘steel’ mill. It would appear that the other managers have sussed Robinson’s tactics and our teams obvious limitations. I like Robinson as a person, however, if we don’t get three points on Saturday it’s time to look for a successor.

[steelboy]

Aldred has one goal against his name this season which is Lafferty's header. That's decent going for 8 or 9 games.

[steelboy]

5I don't think our problems can be solved without two or three signings. I tried to pick a team in the match thread last week and gave up because there's no way to put out a decent 11 despite the bloated squad we have.

We don't have a centre mid who can screen the defence but also bring the ball out and play a pass. Rose runs around and makes a few interceptions but most of the time he's hiding and he's a man down when we have the ball. We don't need a world beater just basics.

The 3-5-2 is killing us. In the second of half of games i can see what Tait, Cadden and Aldred can see and there is nothing on for them to pass to. Our tactics are basically technically poor centrebacks playing 40 yard passes to technically poor strikers. And expecting Tait and Cadden to be able to defend, bring the ball forward and create in the final third. 

My initial reaction to us signing Sammon was that Robinson had just wrote his own P45. Main and Bowman can be good players for us with a partner who can take the ball into feet and play with their head up. They are never a partnership. Johnson looks miles from the required standard the now and Sammon is shite plus Robinson is scared to play him at Fir Park now as it will put him under more pressure.

Personally I think the guy hasn't got a clue. He's been playing Grimshaw ahead of Turnbull. He kept putting Petravicius back in. He gave starts to Blyth and Shea Gordon. He signed Sammon. These aren't minor mistakes they are massive misjudgements and they are accumulating.