mfc88 Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 Bad day at the office - simple. Let's not read too much into it. We dominated first half hour, they came into it a bit more then were the by far better team 2nd half, and thought the tactical change did us no favours tbh. Most disappointing thing for me is it was in front of (probably) our best home turnout of the season. Really wish we could keep that level of support up. But put it into perspective, 3rd at the turn of the year is fantastic and with turnbull hopefully back in the mix for the second half of the season, I'm feeling strangely optimistic (which is not usually a good thing ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ya Bezzer! Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 The problem with Campbell is he tries too hard. When we aren't playing well he tries to cover for the deficiencies of his team mates and spoils his own game. Just look to last season where the first half of the season he looked out of sorts then improved massively when he had better players around him with the introduction Gorrin and Turnbull. Right now the guys Campbell is playing along side in midfield aren't of the standard they should be. Sure we have points on the board, sure we are sitting high in the table but I'm telling you right now our central midfield options aren't as good as our league placing would suggest. If we don't fix it a natural equilibrium will occur and we will find ourselves losing more matches like yesterday. Campbell needs better players around him. If we can provide them it will be better for Campbell and for the team. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelboy Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 I don't think Campbell is suited to playing as advanced as he was yesterday. There was a point in the first half where he made a great run and had the defender turning but as usual his first instinct is to shield the ball rather than play with his head up and the ball ended up back with Mugabi. If he wants to play at a higher level he needs to work on the creative side of his game or switch to the holding role. All the backing into players he does on the ball is chronic and he has struggled against better players a lot this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
couttsy Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 15 hours ago, gaz7 said: Yep i agree ya bezzer. Campbell whilst one of our own looking poor for a bit when we are off it . However a huge decision today was our managers by going 352 when we were winning. Yes accies were pressing us at that time but we were still winning and i thought if we weathered that storm we would go on from there. Easy in hindsight i know but trying to console myself with we are still 3rd. ps both accies full backs mcgowan and mcmann looked good and worth a look from our scouting department. Thought the right back in particular played very well. Attacked every ball and played Hylton as well as I have seen over recent weeks, not to mention scoring the first goal and assisting the second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
couttsy Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 6 hours ago, Kmcalpin said: Agree with most of your post, but this wasn't a game on which to judge them. One of our poorest performances in the last 3 or 4 years. They were given the freedom of Fir Park to do as they wanted. Other Premiership teams haven't had the same welcome extended to them that Accies had yesterday. Yes, our central midfield is certainly a concern. Alan Campbell is normally fine but he wasn't at the races yesterday. He badly needs a rest. Liam Donnelly is ok and yes we missed him but we have no other out and out decent defensive midfielder able to hold the line against bruising opponents. Take Donnelly out and we are soft as s**t in the engine room as we witnessed yesterday. I'm not 100% convinced of Polworth - ok at lower Premiership level but is anonymous when the going gets tough or when playing against better teams. O'Hara has a lot of convincing to do. If Sloth can't get a sniff of first team action now then he never will. Young guns like Cornelius and Semple deserve their chance but need to be played carefully. Was I the only one who thought that, after our substitutions yesterday, we played a 5-3-2 formation or maybe even 5-4-1? Agree, when Hartley and Seedorf came on we deffo changed to play a 5-3-2, with Seedorf and Long in a 2 up top, which just didn't work.... Thought we were crying out for an extra body in midfield, not another a centre half. McGuire for Hylton looked the obvious move at the time.....Campbell and OHara looked knackered and Polworth had dropped out completely, missed Donnelly massively. Scott, whilst ineffective and getting grief from the East Stand was the only out ball we had, so when he went off the ball was never going to stick up front and just kept coming straight back. Desperately need to find a 6ft plus centre forward who is mobile and can put the ball in the net, unfortunately on our budget that is a tall order! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superward Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 Started really well, and I think we had the first half no bother, not just 20 to 25 minutes. Accies changed their system and contained us a bit more latterly in the first half but I still thought we were on top. However, we didn't come out after the break for whatever reason and the change to 3 at the back was uneeded and made it worse by unsettling us. We did the same v Hearts and just got away with it that time. Just before the changes I had said we needed to be looking at Polworth and one of Scott and Hylton, but not all 3 as it would leave us with absolutely no players to take the ball forward. Robinson was restricted from the bench so I can maybe understand the change of system from that point of view but it was too much change of shape for no real reason for me and almost immediately that showed when we conceded. We've won a number of games by the odd goal and not playing well. The sign of a good team.. but it doesn't always go that way forever. PPerhapsa good shot in the arm for players and management ahead of the second half of the season.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 18 minutes ago, couttsy said: Agree, when Hartley and Seedorf came on we deffo changed to play a 5-3-2, with Seedorf and Long in a 2 up top, which just didn't work.... Thought we were crying out for an extra body in midfield, not another a centre half. McGuire for Hylton looked the obvious move at the time.....Campbell and OHara looked knackered and Polworth had dropped out completely, missed Donnelly massively. Absolutely. By bringing on a defender and not a midfielder that told Accies we were panicking and it sent out the wrong message to our own players. For much of the second half we effectively sat too deep and played with 9 defenders. The midfield badly nèeded to push out and give the defence some breathing space. I'm not a great fan of McGuire in midfield but I think he could have added some height and freshness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hope Springs Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 What I can’t fathom is having Sloth on the bench v Ross County then he disappears again v Accies. Part of me thinks had he been given a shout in the Accies game he would have been no worse , and as like as not better, than what we had. Glass half full - we remain third with a winter training break to analyse and remedy yesterday’s poor, poor showing. Glass half empty, we dropped three points and lost the chance to widen the gap on a misfiring Aberdeen and I suspect that will come back to haunt us. We also lost momentum going into a tougher set of matches after the break. I hope some good signings in January and Donnelly and later Turnbull on the comeback trail instil some energy that the Accies match took away from us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelboy Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 They probably just took him to Dingwall to ruin his Christmas. Robinson is lying through is teeth about needing to earn your place in the team. It's obviously personal or Sloth is a crock. Petravicius was utter shite and still got a game and from what I've seen Sloth is better than Illic who was playing every week for a while. Robinson also played Blyth! If Robinson doesn't manage to get his charges dropped Sloth might come back into the reckoning under a new manager. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkyred Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 4 minutes ago, steelboy said: They probably just took him to Dingwall to ruin his Christmas. Robinson is lying through is teeth about needing to earn your place in the team. It's obviously personal or Sloth is a crock. Petravicius was utter shite and still got a game and from what I've seen Sloth is better than Illic who was playing every week for a while. Robinson also played Blyth! If Robinson doesn't manage to get his charges dropped Sloth might come back into the reckoning under a new manager. I can’t see Sloth getting on the bench if he’s “ a crock”, that’s just not the way Robinson works, he’s all about fitness levels. I don’t see how any of us can make a judgement on Sloth and who he is better than given his lack of game time. Personally I’m happy to trust Robinson’s judgement on players, he’s got most things right over the last 12 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grizzlyg Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 Also yesterday I hope I am wrong but looked like objects thrown at accies player from east stand in injury time. If true then this needs to get sorted asap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzyB Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 3 hours ago, steelboy said: They probably just took him to Dingwall to ruin his Christmas. Robinson is lying through is teeth about needing to earn your place in the team. It's obviously personal or Sloth is a crock. Petravicius was utter shite and still got a game and from what I've seen Sloth is better than Illic who was playing every week for a while. Robinson also played Blyth! If Robinson doesn't manage to get his charges dropped Sloth might come back into the reckoning under a new manager. Think this is pretty accurate tbh. I like Robbo and he's done a great job with us, but imo he has a nasty streak about him. I think I'm right in saying Sloth didn't even come out to warm up during the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaka Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 8 minutes ago, GazzyB said: Think this is pretty accurate tbh. I like Robbo and he's done a great job with us, but imo he has a nasty streak about him. I think I'm right in saying Sloth didn't even come out to warm up during the game. He did at halftime, but never noticed during the game. We certainly had 7 subs warming up at halftime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzyB Posted December 30, 2019 Report Share Posted December 30, 2019 15 minutes ago, Shaka said: He did at halftime, but never noticed during the game. We certainly had 7 subs warming up at halftime Yeah you're right. Either way, Robbo clearly doesn't like him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaka Posted December 31, 2019 Report Share Posted December 31, 2019 10 hours ago, GazzyB said: Yeah you're right. Either way, Robbo clearly doesn't like him. Would definately agree there. The guy has played at a good level and is apparently fit. So it has to be a personality thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted December 31, 2019 Report Share Posted December 31, 2019 Just speculation on my part but I get the feeling that something wasn't right before kick off. For almost an entire team to have a real off day does happen but is unusual. Were some players still suffering from a bug? We're they burnt out (Accies had played about the same amount of games that we had) ? Was our attitude all wrong? If players like Campbell were pulling out of challenges then something was clearly wrong. Still time to move on now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_P Posted December 31, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2019 I don't think there was anything untoward involved at all. Sure there might have been one or two that were feeling it fitness wise but we had started like a house on fire and had the momentum. We failed to kill them off and gradually the tide turned. That isn't uncommon in games of football. Unfortunately by our own doing we then inhibited our ability to regain any momentum as an attacking force. I don't think there's anything more to it than that. Taken on its own it still remains an infuriating loss but in the grand scheme there has been significant improvement over the calendar year (and indeed how we have coped with the busy December spell which has caused us issues in Robinson's tenure). For all the talk about weaknesses here and there coming back to bite us we're third I believe in points in gained across 2019 and third in the table in the current season. If can replicate the form we've shown after the January breaks over the last couple of seasons, add a player or two to the squad (be that new signings or returning players) then we are in as strong a position at this stage of the season than we've been for some time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropy Posted December 31, 2019 Report Share Posted December 31, 2019 Although disappointing I am not angry as we were beaten by the better team on the day, that Ross County match however, we threw that away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkyred Posted December 31, 2019 Report Share Posted December 31, 2019 Yep it’s been an amazing first half of the season and every one of us would have taken third at this point ( I would have taken sixth personally). The January window is now the key, a couple of cracking signings and we’re well in the mix for that third spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texanwellfan Posted December 31, 2019 Report Share Posted December 31, 2019 The Accies game is one of the glitches we all know to expect just unfortunate it was against them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilwell86 Posted January 3, 2020 Report Share Posted January 3, 2020 Wasn't at the game and decided to leave reading the forum until I was back in work, anyway, bad day at the office by all accounts however maybe a wee gentle reminder not to get carried away for both players and fans, which we can hopefully use to our advantage going into the new year, which we generally start really well under Robinson. We came out of December relatively unscathed, not too many injuries compared to recent years and only suffered one bad loss. 3rd in the league, lots of positives, now for the big push when things get up and running again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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