Simon Mensing sought by Judas


Jimmy Wallace

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He scored a few for us last season too and played well in games against Dundee Utd, Hibs and was brilliant away to Motherwell last season. The goals he scored last season were all important too as a few of them were winners.

His 2 goals today were the same.

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I can't believe the amount of people who rate Mensing. The 2 goals against the bottom of the table team is surely a flash in the pan.

I can't believe the amount of people who don't rate him. He's the most versitile player I can remember Saints having and he was frequently excellent for Saints in a number of positions. Losing him this summer was far worse than losing Scotland.

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I don't buy it Bigcheese. Don't get me wrong his flexibility was handy but he was 2nd/3rd choice for every position in a team who failed to get promoted from the 1st div last year. He has been floundering out of his depth at M'well and will in all probability lengthen his deal at Hamilton regardless of whether they get promotion or not.

Hardly a head turner.

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I agree with BigCheese on this one Mensing was crucial in midfield and was very handy to shore up defence when ando was suspended/injured, james and ruti injured. I think he could start for Well it's just McGhee wasnt really enthusiastic because it wasnt his signing. Scotland is a big miss but wethere he's a bigger miss than Mensing or not - to me is debatable.

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I don't think it's any coincidence that we're a lot further down the league now that Mensing's gone. He was a crucial player for us. Sure, he was never the best footballer in the world, but there are other attributes that made him one of the first names on the team sheet. He was a fighter for us on the pitch with a huge will to win. That, on top of his versatility, made him a vital part of our team. From what I've seen this season, Mensing and Scotland are missed pretty much equally - Mensing for the grit he added to our team, and Scotland for his ability to produce that one piece of magic that could turn a defeat into a draw, or a draw into a win. That said, I think the absence of James, Milne and Hardie for most of the season, plus the drop in form/fitness of Peaso, has also contributed heavily to our decline.

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I was at Albion v Hamilton today. I tell you what, Hamilton had a great physical presence but were not good to watch. If Albion had played first half like they did in the second they could've got something from the game. Hamilton were uninspiring second half. Bad defensive errors for two of Hamilton goals. As for Mensing, yes he scored twice, but more by being in the right place than by skill (yes, I know being in the right place is probably a skill in itself), but really, he was no great shakes today. Physical, solid, but robbed/beaten by a few of Albion's wee guys at least as many times as he won the ball. Gary Irvine's not as physical, doesn't score two goals from right back but looks better than Mensing does. At the end of it all though, on today's performances Hamilton are a further two points clear and Mensing has scored twice. They are grinding wins, we are grinding draws. Billy Reid was ecstatic when the second goal went in, and moaned all the way through the game at every little decision and tackle.

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That was kind of the point i was making Andy. He was not first choice in ANY position so i don't think we should worry over him signing for Hamilton. He does have good qualities that blueheaven mentioned but he typifies the terms "journeyman" and "utility player". He is a stop gap. Nothing more.

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That was kind of the point i was making Andy. He was not first choice in ANY position so i don't think we should worry over him signing for Hamilton. He does have good qualities that blueheaven mentioned but he typifies the terms "journeyman" and "utility player". He is a stop gap. Nothing more.

I'd argue that he was one of the first choice players in the team as a whole, even if not in a specific position. I don't recall Coyle ever not picking him when he was available. For me, he was last season's team's equivalent of John O'Neil - okay, he's nowhere near as good a footballer, but I think his importance to the team system as a whole was similar.

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His appearances were entirely linked to injuries or suspensions. There is no way he was 1st choice in any position last year. Again i suppose thats his biggest draw being able to cope in most positions but i don't think he's up to much as a player.

I agreed with you that he probably wasn't a first choice in a specific position, but my point was that he was a first choice in the team as a whole. There's no way Coyle picked him every single week purely because other players were injured or suspended. If he was doing poorly he would have been dropped, regardless of that. I think it's obvious Coyle rated him extremely highly. When Mensing first arrived and was playing right wing-back for us, I thought he was really poor and would have dropped him, but OC kept him in the team presumably because he saw the benefit of having a player with that sort of presence and bite.

I think that without guys like Mensing, James, Hardie or Sheridan we're left with a very Stark-esque team - lots of players who are theoretically capable of playing nice, pretty football (as long as they're not under any pressure), but in reality don't have the spirit for the First Division fight and therefore don't get anywhere near enough points.

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Hardie has proven time and time again that we will not be short of fight. Mensing is a thug plain and simple which comes in handy but will not spark a fightback when the heads are down.

I agree with you about Hardie, but he's been missing for most of the season. I don't know what Mensing's done to be branded a thug. I think, though, that a good team has a mixture of players - some flair players with creativity and spark, and others who are there to win challenges and maybe, in your words, be a bit of a thug. Do you think we're a better team now than we were last season when Mensing was playing every week?

If Mensing came back who would you drop?

As I've not made many games this season I can't really say with any degree of fairness that this player or that player should be dropped. Also though, I don't think it's about dropping a specific player. As you yourself pointed out, Mensing moved around the pitch to cover for whoever happened to be injured or suspended - if he came back, I'd have him doing that again, so I wouldn't be dropping one specific individual.

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