Right, before i start i want to state that i have been very pleased with the progress we have made under the two jimmys, and i am as chuffed as everyone else that we are still going strong in all competitions.  But there are just a few points niggling me about certain things at the club.

 

1. Why are we consistently being outplayed by teams, even the likes of Hamilton accies?

2.  Why can we not play teams who get reduced to ten men?

3.  Why when we eventually do produce a good performance do we always get stuffed the very next match?

4.  For a team that CAN produce good performances like, the copenhagen game, how can we let in at least 3 to the likes of utd, hearts and motherwell?

 

As i said i am happy we are grinding out results, but surely our luck is going to run out eventually!? To be honest i would have to admit 75% of the time we play possibly some of the poorest football in the league. Even the likes of, Motherwell, Falkirk, utd and Hibs play more entertaining stuff.

 

I am not trying to start some sort of "sack Jimmy" thread, i would far rather see this situation sorted out but its starting to worry me a bit.

I don't subscribe to the 'luck running out' line as you make your own luck and although you might get the odd off-side decision going for you.  You'll also get them against you and normally they'll even themselves out over the course of a season.

 

Being a fan of JC, I've got to say that this season is really showing his weaknesses as a manager.

 

In games where we must win we seem to go out and hammer teams.  Rangers last season to clinch the euro-spot and Copenhagen this season being prime candidates.  The players were let off the leash and exploited teams with pace and their attacking style.

 

The games where we've struggled I think JC has worried far too much about the opposition when he should just have the confidence in his players that he seems to question himself after they've played like a bunch of little scared boys.

 

 

Yeah you have a point, about when we need results in the big games we seem to get them.

I think thats what makes the humpings at the hands of hearts, motherwell and Utd all the more annoying.

I agree that too often we play defensive and dont seem to have the guts to take games by the scruff of the neck. When we do go for it, (copenhagen etc) we seem to play our best football.

There is something to this 'winning the games we have to' but not as much as I think people put store in. When you analyse it how many games is that exactly ? If we hadn't put that performance in against Copenhagen then this season the answer would be fuck all I'm afraid.

 

Our points haul against the so-called decent sides this season has been a disgrace.

 

Celtic - 0 from 6

Rangers - 1 from 6

Hearts - 1 from 9

UTD - 3 from 9

Motherwell - 0 from 6

 

Total - 5 from 36

 

I would have said these games were important considering where we want to be challenging in the league and that point stotal is not the performance of a team who are winning 'big games'. How we are 5th in the league is beyond me 

Fucking shocking when you look at it that way but then those teams must be dropping a lot of points against each other and the so called lesser teams.

 

I'm beginning to wonder if anyone is winning games.... 

The games where we've struggled I think JC has worried far too much about the opposition when he should just have the confidence in his players that he seems to question himself after they've played like a bunch of little scared boys.

 

 

 

Nailed it, tbh. We always seem to be set up to counter the opposition's tactics. While that's quite justifiable when playing the likes of the old firm and some away games, we were the third best team in Scotland last season. The opposition should be worrying about how to handle us more often than not. There have been games where we've started with one formation, and changed within 10 minutes to match up to the opposition. I remember seeing Lovell and Mackie shifted out to the wing in some games against Hibs to stop their full back getting forward. I saw us play with 4 down the left last season, when the hapless Dempsey was put there as our left midfield, Mackie put on the wing to stop a right back getting forward, and Clark man marking the right winger, with our left back crowded out of the game completely. Never worked.

Yeah i agree, too often we are worrying about other teams and how to

"stop" them that we seem to overlook our own strengths.  Its really starting to annoy me and its obviously annoying alot of others going by the attendances we have been getting.

With this big games coming up im certainly far from confident and just feel a couple of genuine exciting signings might have put a few minds at ease. I just cringe when i think of the likes of stuart duff and nightmare trying to mark Ribery and toni, and the like!

It really does appear that JC has an inherent fear of attacking teams, unless he really has to, which leads to such circumstances as the 2-4-4 nonsense. The odd thing is that, because these tactics are much more obvious than counter-attacking, these are the ones that the media pick up on, and thus JC becomes a 'gung-ho risk-taking adventurous manager'. This fails to take into condsideration that this only happens when his hand is forced - ie, a couple of goals down, or when a game MUST be won.

 

It may be that this stems from managing what could be seen as smaller clubs, such as Dunfermline, where successes and expectations (rightly or wrongly) are lower and the pressure to entertain while winning may not be quite so high. Unfortunately, despite what the media says, I think JC is simply a very cautious manager, who's first instinct is not to lose. Then, when something or someone forces his hand, and there really is nothing to lose, he has to go for it, and only then will he become the maverick manager he is portrayed to be.

 

I think this is starting to be shown up to be a limitation to JC's management, and while I think he has done a great job, and if he stays in the job, I don't think we will go significantly backwards. I do however think the next level - being an entertaining and succesful side on a regular basis - may be hard to acheive. That said, I would take winning ugly over not winning at all.......

That said, I would take winning ugly over not winning at all.......

 

Don't disagree at all with what you said mate, especially that bit.

Don't disagree with it either but we're not exactly winning much of late. 

Don't disagree with it either but we're not exactly winning much of late.   

 

Well, he's half right at least. 

His other half is an Arab so that'll explain it.