First game of the year and last pre winter break. Has a sense of foreboding doom about it. County got a very credible draw away to hearts although haven’t been in grey form themselves. A few postponed matches over the Christmas period means they’re as fresh as we are.

we need to win, I don’t care how we do, but we do. Do I think we will? Not sure and this has to be the end of Robson. Even if we won, I think he has to go. It’s not good enough and he’s clearly not got the know how to change it.

out

bed

bed

deck building

1-1, miovski.

26 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

What sort of Hun misses an opportunity to watch the Dandies for a holiday in the Bahamas? Disgusting. 

Whilst I much prefer the back four today (because it's easier on the fullbacks), it was never really the back three that caused us issues, it was the stupid setup in midfield. He could have easily played with two sitting midfielders and a back three, rather than the holding midfielder and we'd have been fine. I think the 5-4-1 type setup might still be a better option against teams that are better than us, especially away from home, but that rarely came with a holding midfielder, which is why we generally showed up quite well in those fixtures.

Midfield is an issue, I agree, but the back 3 is/was an issue too. You saw three at the back early season really get really exposed and stretched, and it’s asking a hell of a lot from devlin and mcgarry/mackenzie. Results in 5 at the back and very limited width in the attacking third. 4-2-3-1 is much better for a squad of limited ability, and something we’ll do better at.

As others have said it’s amazing what happens when you play to players strengths. Looked so much more comfortable with 4 at the back. McKenzie has to be our left back when fit. Barron has to start even if he is leaving in the summer. Only slight word of caution is we have hammered County before and a lot felt we had turned the corner then. Here’s hoping that we have this time. 
 

Oh as for the show off on his holidays in the Bahamas they have the internet there as well you know. 

Lot of positives to take from today, County actually tried to play in spells and I thought we held them at arms length fairly well when they did. I also thought we moved the ball on the deck pretty well in spells as well and that was when we looked our best. 

 

Overall I would say everyone had a good game, particular stand outs were Barron, Miovski, Mcgrath and Shinnie.  I think Ruby started over Jensen to deal with the physical presence of White and on that note I suspect Polvara was shoe horned in on the right over Morris for his size too.  He did well though.   

A good pressure reliever for Robson and the end to a hectic schedule.  He has mentioned a few times he's not had a lot of time on the training pitch with a lot of the new additions due to schedule.  He's got 16 days with them until we play Clyde now.  

I tried to watch the game, on a cruise to the Bahamas and Mexico, WiFi is shitty and actually got refunded the WiFi fee, I’ll submit the receipt if needed, gutted to be called a hun.

Despite a good result and performance 100% I don’t believe all is good and fine, just like I still don’t believe in Robson, and one good cross doesn’t make morris our right midfielder. We need to use this window to fix things, much like last year, except this year it’s a center mid and wingers. We’ve been piss all year but 3rd is still very much in our reach. 

54 minutes ago, tlg1903 said:

Lot of positives to take from today, County actually tried to play in spells and I thought we held them at arms length fairly well when they did. I also thought we moved the ball on the deck pretty well in spells as well and that was when we looked our best. 

 

Overall I would say everyone had a good game, particular stand outs were Barron, Miovski, Mcgrath and Shinnie.  I think Ruby started over Jensen to deal with the physical presence of White and on that note I suspect Polvara was shoe horned in on the right over Morris for his size too.  He did well though.   

A good pressure reliever for Robson and the end to a hectic schedule.  He has mentioned a few times he's not had a lot of time on the training pitch with a lot of the new additions due to schedule.  He's got 16 days with them until we play Clyde now.  

Kind of unfair but Robson had time with the squad prior to the st mirren game and look what happened there. You can argue he prepped for games that got postponed but he’s had the squad together for close to 6 months, today is what we should expect regularly, not be a pleasant surprise.

2 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

Midfield is an issue, I agree, but the back 3 is/was an issue too. You saw three at the back early season really get really exposed and stretched, and it’s asking a hell of a lot from devlin and mcgarry/mackenzie. Results in 5 at the back and very limited width in the attacking third. 4-2-3-1 is much better for a squad of limited ability, and something we’ll do better at.

I agree about the 4-2-3-1 being out best formation, I'd have that every week, but our defence was generally stretched because of the shite served up in front of them. Our back three has also had some really good games against Frankfurt twice, the Huns twice and others. Those games we performed well in always had two sitting in midfield. If we'd gone 4-1-4-1 today, as I had thought we might be when I saw the team, I think we would have really struggled. The common denominator in our poor performances seems to be playing Clarkson deep and Shinnie further up field. It's certainly worth looking out for, as I have a strong suspicion that if Barron leaves this window, we'll see Robson return to having Clarkson deep (even in a four: 4-1-4-1) and we'll start to fail again. 

The reason it bothers me so much, and it's nothing to do with anything you've written, is that I've seen (on forums) and heard at pittodrie people questioning our captain and saying "his legs have gone" (the world's most irritating cliché), or "he's done" (often suffixed, ridiculously, with "at this level", as if we're at the pinnacle of the game). It simply isn't the case. His best games this season have all come from playing in a two. Shinnie needs to be facing the play so that he can drive with the ball and nip at folks heels from goal side. Not having a defender clear the ball over his head and have to chase it back, or to play high up the park and receive it to feet just outside their box facing backwards. What we were witnessing was a player doing the work of two players and being run into the ground doing so. The technical side of his game is no worse than it was in his first spell, he's not quick to spot a pass and often makes a poor decision when a more lucrative pass is on. Most fans (certainly around me) don't seem to get the nuance in formation and position, they just see a guy chasing the ball and criticise. That shitey midfield setup has not only wrecked our league season, but also had a huge detrimental effect on the fans views of our captain. Hopefully the next time Robson tries his shite, more folk will side with Shinnie and not the manager, but I don't hold out much hope. 

4 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

and Duncan or Morris out wide and we've still got a strong side.

Why ruin a perfectly good post with that?

Some great bits of play on highlights 

 

6 hours ago, Elgindon said:

Some great bits of play on highlights 

 

Yep. You can see from the first thirty seconds the difference in shape. A speculative punt that they win and Shinnie is running onto the second ball as opposed to it floating over his head. Simple stuff Robson.

I'm really pleased that we won and sounded like some really good stuff but does it not make everyone just a little bit pissed off at all the times we knew this should have been the way we were lining up and leaving Barron out of starting line up in League Cup Final just looks criminal now!!

 

Also Happy New Year everyone 😊

45 minutes ago, Goldie03 said:

I'm really pleased that we won and sounded like some really good stuff but does it not make everyone just a little bit pissed off at all the times we knew this should have been the way we were lining up and leaving Barron out of starting line up in League Cup Final just looks criminal now!!

 

Also Happy New Year everyone 😊

Happy New Year missus 

I'm not a little bit pissed off........I'm hugely pissed off over this.

Robson's stubbornness cost us the chance of a trophy and cost him support at a time when he could have banked some decent credit.  

8 hours ago, BigAl said:

Happy New Year missus 

I'm not a little bit pissed off........I'm hugely pissed off over this.

Robson's stubbornness cost us the chance of a trophy and cost him support at a time when he could have banked some decent credit.  

I'm not convinced Robson is behind Barron not featuring. I'm certain that comes from above. It wouldn't make sense for Robson to not play Barron because of a contract situation, as it could directly affect it his own job (by losing a final for example). Imagine he did go to Cormack and say that he wasn't playing Barron until he signed a new contract? At that point, Cormack would still have to either okay it, or say "you're not doing it in our name". Contract talks are done above the manager's level too, that's an internal club thing, so it's not like Robson has any control other than to say he wants to keep or sign a player.

Saying that, at no point does Barron really feature in a 3-5-2 with a holding midfielder with Clarkson in the team, so maybe it was just entirely tactical. I guess it could be that. Goodwin did exactly the same with Barron, regularly playing him in front (on the pitch) of Ramadani, which is why Barron went through the same doubting from the fans that Shinnie (and Clarkson) are going through this season. The thing that makes me think it's contractual rather than tactical with Barron is that Duncan barely played any minutes before signing a contract and then went through a spell of playing every week.