Very meh

No idea what we were trying to do today and it showed the madness of 'take the game to the Old Firm' - for about the first time this season we started with more of the ball, the better of the territory and yet Celtic had the freedom of the park on the break and their goal was utterly inevitable. Why GA decided this was the game of all games to bring in a more attacking/ball playing midfielder and scrap his obsession with discipline and shape I will never fathom.

Anyway, moving on we urgently need Kelly to stop booting the ball into the net and to switch to our best back four on paper to see how they do - SOD, Ojala, Johansen, Carroll. Grimshaw needs bombed out of the midfield with two of O'Hara, Donnelly, Goss joining Slattery. And we need to scrap the idea of playing three across the top - KVV and Watt, whether up front of in the hole, need to be central and one other, any of them, can be the second striker who also drifts out to give a bit of width.

A point will be a great result next week and with St Mirren also hitting form our good start is in danger of being thrown away.

I really don't get the obsession some fans have with Slattery - he was 100% culpable for the Turnbull goal (totally lost his man when Grimshaw smelt danger trying to close the previous pass). I can see Slattery's able to play a pass, but ATM in our midfield, there's no point in having a passer 'cos we miss the MF out altogether. The jigsaw puzzle is becoming more complex. That said, we looked solid at the back again and lost to 2 great strikes. Had the deffo pen been given I reckon our chances of a 2-2 were slightly more than 50/50.

Slattery also wins tonnes of fouls (like he should have had before their goal) and is very clever at breaking up play. He's by no means a superstar but he's clearly our best midfielder by a substantial distance.

Our front 3 cause opposition minimal problems.
Playing 2 wide players (Woolery/Amaluzor or Roberts) with Watt thru centre has proven to be ineffective.
Not over enthused both Woolery and Amaluzor who are more often AWOL


IMO and selection restricted current squad, play a recognised No9 who can cause a defence problems - Van Even or Shields. Watt in never a No9 but playing his best football since signed. Therefore, play Watt alongside recognised No9 (Van Veen or Shields) and ONE wide player, preferably Roberts.

Forgot the long ball and play thru the mid-field comprising of Slattery, Goss and O’Hara/Maguire
Grimshaw resigned to bench as although a grafter, creates hee-haw.
Donnelly is much too slow but if needs must, sat beside Grimshaw on the bench

I’d also send SOD who is vastly overrated to a finishing school as performances recently been woeful

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dasdeid

Our front 3 cause opposition minimal problems.
Playing 2 wide players (Woolery/Amaluzor or Roberts) with Watt thru centre has proven to be ineffective.
Not over enthused both Woolery and Amaluzor who are more often AWOL


IMO and selection restricted current squad, play a recognised No9 who can cause a defence problems - Van Even or Shields. Watt in never a No9 but playing his best football since signed. Therefore, play Watt alongside recognised No9 (Van Veen or Shields) and ONE wide player, preferably Roberts.

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What makes it even more bizarre now is that we stumbled into the equivalent last season and sparked our good run - Cole as the main striker through the middle, Watt off him in the centre and Roberts as the second striker who also gave a bit of width. Whether we want to insist on that still being 4-3-3 on the old tactics board or we call it anything else I don't care but the insistence on the wide three up top, which barely worked even when we were digging out results, is infuriating.

Agreed on the Slattery comment ... 'our best midfielder'. Problem is he's not allowed to show his progressive play as there's nowt beside him.
Grimshaw = stopper and breaker of thru balls
O'Hara = could be a player one Saturday, then non-existent the next game; he's unreliable
Goss = haven't seen anything from him in games that would've merited starting, or staying on the full 90 mins on Saturday
Who else ATM ??