OrlandoDon

Ruby came here with a reputation, would not be surprised if one or two are watching his progress. Was apparently a strong young player with a promising future but a significant injury slowed progress. If it comes to it, with the knee injury i’d cash him in, sign gartenmann permanently, and milk Macdonald and Williams until the summer, and build further at that point.

Not in the squad again today, currently 2 up against villa which would be a good result. Winter transfer on the cards to make some return rather than let him walk for free in the summer? Would certainly be nice to get some sort of sell on change!

Here’s my question, if it’s clear and obvious so many var reviews shouldn’t take place. Scotland v Spain and mctomminay’s freekick, clear and obvious? What is the definition of clear and obvious? I think most penalty appeals should be reviewed, not so much a game stoppage but the twat in the booth can replay and quickly say hold on to the ref if the game needs stopped. Have yet to see the hibs claim with Roos yesterday but that and our claim, which I feel is a definite penalty, are huge parts of the game. I thought that was var’s purpose, to ensure big decisions aren’t missed. What we are seeing are goals being allowed/disallowed that are not clear/obvious, yet penalty appeals, and we seem to have suffered a few of late, don’t even get checked and they have a major influence on the outcome. Ultimately, I think var has led to more confusion than clarity, and has had a clear influence in games. We say refs should play a big part in the outcome, yet var is clearly doing that now.

Interesting hearing Robson talk repeatedly post match about 4 games in 9 days. We aren’t rotating the squad for the most part, which in turn tells us how pish our squad is. He referenced devlin, which means we have no alternative right back/wing back, although can’t McDonald come in and slide gartenmann over? Pretty clear we won’t see or dadia play, that position a priority for January? Same said with shinnie, he’s getting killed. Will we go back to st mirren for baccus? No clue if he’s any good but think he’s out of contract in the summer so a Jan sale may be an option. we’re covered for central defenders, Mackenzie Hayes and mcgarry on the left. Provided we keep bojan we’re covered up top. We don’t need wingers based on the way we play, fair to say a right back and one, maybe two central midfielders on the shopping list for January? Then again, Barron’s return to form and polvara doing ok suggests one is enough? leads me to my initial point though, we are not really squad rotating which suggests Robson doesn’t trust the back ups, what else will we bring in??

It despises me to say it but do we need to hound and surround the ref on every decision like that until a second look is taken, or the game gets delayed long enough that someone checks and relays info to the ref??

Agree, but this is the weekly frustration. The refereeing with the introduction of var has not helped the game. I don’t get why the bojan dive isn’t reviewed, thought var was meant to review ‘crucial’ decisions. Surely worth someone taking a second look?? god we are an awful watch most games. The result is all that matters but that was not an enjoyable game. stupidity on Mackenzie’s part certainly didn’t help.

Does bojan dive yes but there’s a hand/push in the back. No reliable var review??

So what’s the exciting change? Bring duk off the bench and go more long ball???

Pretty gash so far….

I hope we continue with duk our super sub off the bench. One goal does not make up for a season of shit. And this formation may bring the best out of McGrath and clarkson?? Hoping for minimal change, ideally same again, this weekend.

Looks like this strange looking passing stuff seems to work.

Curious for people’s thoughts on Stephen Robinson at st mirren. Decent experience and from what I recall did ok at Motherwell. Don’t watch st mirren so no clue about the quality of play but based on results he must be doing something right?? well traveled, good age, and knows our league. Other than going the foreign route no clue who is appealing and out there, one of the reasons I think Robson got the job to begin with.

Few things, I guess the next question is, what does Steven Gunn do? Director of Football Operations, does he discuss the team and how we play/success, or is that left to Robson? What is gunn’s job? I agree with Rico, this is three inexperienced managers in a row failing drastically, and all three could be sacked within a year. Not the way we want to go. Does the director take responsibility here?? Problem I see with Robson is that I don’t think he’s a particularly smart guy. Haven’t heard anything to suggest he can fix our current mess, and haven’t seen anything different on the field to suggest he’s trying. I’d say Goodwin and glass sounded more intelligent, more tactically aware, I just think Robson is pretty much a motivator. Sounds much like yogi Hughes… We’re awful to watch and the squad is very inflexible. Next window is massive. Realistically though, how much change can we expect. If we’re being honest we have no legit wingers and need a Rama replacement. Or is the new rama based on last year, a 352, and an excelling duk?? we have vinnie, an aging Hayes, maybe mcgarry, but the formation would have to change. Can we honestly see 3 quality signings that walk into the team? 352 came about because duk couldn’t play wide and we went two up top. Surely it’s time to move on from duk and this formation.

But do we?? Ruby and Jensen were signed, McDonald on a two year so expires at the end of next. Gartmann, or dadia, and Williams are loaners. Devlin right back and mcgarry/Mackenzie left back. I’d say try to keep gartmann as he can also play on the right, if at all possible. Return the two loaners and that’s normal squad depth.

I haven’t seen the duk from last year in a long time. He struggles to beat people for pace this year from what I see. Saw that today, couldn’t beat the right back for pace.

I don’t go that detailed, you may be right or wrong, but I cannot speculate how our club is run and the conversations being had or not. Said this type of thing before. I can only speak to what I know and that’s coaching and performance. We’re being coached to play counter attack long ball, and it rarely works for us. We’re relying on duk in the majority of games and he’s been shit all season. What we see most games isn’t working and, as many have said, there does not appear to be a plan B. cormack has backed the manager, and previous, to make the footballing decisions. It’s the model he backs, and they’ve all been giving full support from what I see. They (whoever makes the decisions) definitely failed on the transfer front and the imbalanced squad has certainly let to many of our troubles. glass, Goodwin, and Robson have all failed to date. I felt glass was the most educated of the three and one I’d be willing to give time, Goodwin and Robson so far just look like the typical footballer trying to make managerial decisions. I guess they need a director of football/coaching type of role to over see them?? said it since we punted glass, we need an experienced manager, domestic or foreign, to oversee our football. Robson is no different to Goodwin as far as we see, don’t see how we can expect a different result.

How do you know that though? You don’t know the inside conversations, meetings etc. You say cormack doesn’t help Robson, but you don’t know what happens internally. He’s certainly backed him financially, and with experienced staff. The manager still has to be given autonomy and space to an extent to do his job. In cormacks eyes he’s built a structure to support Robson.

Problem with that is the tactics are failing. Fresh or not, it’s brutal and mostly unsuccessful. The counter attacking style works for Europe, maybe Celtic, but every other game requires us to play football, not just defend and counter. The approach is failing, not just the players.

Agree what you say about mcinnes, but his time was up. We had plateaued and were even going backwards, and the players that had brought him success had moved on or were aging. it was time for a complete overhaul. no clue where we go from here to be honest. Robson was hired because no candidate inspired or stood out, but now we’re seeing the results of hiring an inexperienced manager, although I’ll now argue he’s not got the smarts to be a top manager based on what we’ve seen and heard this season.

He will praise their efforts, say we were tired, and say the luck is not going our way. We were punished for mistakes and that’s not going our way right now. I’ve yet to hear him say a single thing that suggests he knows how to get us to play better.

Yet another god awful watch, less interested by the week. Good results paper over the shit, plus the fact a win today (even though we won’t) would put us 4th shows how shit our league is. What if we had a tactically astute manager? I really think we have some good players and we should see much better. I’ll also add I don’t give a fuck about plucky losers, strong in Germany and unlucky during the week, means nothing. I also can’t stand watching duk, dribble flop repeat, and he’s arguably the main reason for our tactics. The long ball stuff is destroying my enjoyment of dons football. robson shows nothing to suggest he’s the right guy for the job. Last season he motivated us to 3rd but as I stated in the spring, being a full time manager with long term goals is totally different. I said give Robson time but time is worrying based on the weekly performances that continue. And I’ve been one of the few saying faith and time. Do you give him the January window to help fix things, or do you give a new guy the opportunity to sign a couple to start building a team? not really watching today and what I see wants me to watch less. Have we had a shot on goal?? last part, the club have certainly backed the manager financially, how much patience do they have??

How do you play a winger in the formation we play??? We’re more or less married to the 352 with wing backs. I’d say two center midfielders. Shinnie is going to get burned out, maybe even injured. The imbalance of our team is awful, we were successful with shinnie and Rama, I’d say we need two more of that! Baccus at st mirren any good? I wondered in the summer given how badly we needed to replace Rama, that st mirren asked for too much and we can get him on a pre contract in January, maybe permanent at a much more reasonable price??

Easy to give an opinion in the moment when var has gone against you, but can we honestly say var has made the game better? More enjoyable? It seems that every week we’re discuss var in a negative light. woukd be happy for the var experiment to end. Has caused more drama and frustration than clarity in my eyes.

Didn’t see the game and obviously see the biased reporting. Was it offside or a foul? And what was it called during the game? Keeper made no attempt at the ball whatsoever, and made no contact with hendry to try to get the ball. I don’t see a foul so assume it’s offside?

I am engaging in debate - you’re saying players aren’t good enough in roles, I responded with opinion. I’m saying give them time because they are new or being given new roles with very little practice and alongside new players. Playing a team sport in a new role alongside new players and potentially in a new formation is a little more challenging than doing a DIY project. (And yea, I know, you can get complicated DIY) It’s complex teamwork involving knowledge of team tactics, team mates, habits, abilities etc…….plus you have to factor in opponents. you’re saying it’s 3 months of consistent attempts. It has not been. We’ve had this squad for just over a month. Rama left just over 2 months ago. It’s still all very raw and very new. It may seem like it’s 3 months because we’ve played quite a lot of games in a short time. But that has also meant very limited legit practice to work on formation and personnel. what may work against Ross county may not work against rangers. Or st Johnstone. Or it may work, we’ll never know right now. But I don’t think changing formation and personnel at the same time regularly is the right approach, there has to be some form of consistency, now he’s trying to find the right players. Where we do agree is that we don’t have the midfield of last year and that’s killing us. We have such a poorly constructed squad that I dont think we have a solution, hence Robson trying players in roles that they initially aren’t strong in. He’s hoping to grow someone into a role but you have to give someone a good few games to learn and see what they grasp and can do. I’ve also said twice now, two huge players for us this season were meant to be duk and clarkson and both have struggled. That makes it even harder to build a team when your close to best two should be dropped. When you can’t build around and rely on these guys it clearly is another factor in all of this.