Saints v Rangers, 16/09/2023

[Shaggy Jenkins]

I may be mis remembering this but we have never really seen Kane and May together which seems strange given they were a prolific partnership coming up through the youth team?

[Cagey]

On the plus side we have played OF and got one point and only lost 2 goals.

St Mirren, Motherwell , Hibs and Hearts still have to play both with Livi , Aberdeen , Killie and Dundee to play one of them before the next phase so with the league so tight we could move up if we got our act together and found the right combination of personnel and Tactics.

For some reason we have Rangers as first game in second phase and Celtic in 4th.

The fixture list hasn't been kind to us.

[Gekko]

Reading Dare's comments in the Courier today about having to get used to playing on the right, when he's more used to being a centre back.

It would have been interesting to see how he'd have gotten on if after Gordon went off, he moved inside and Brown came on at right back.

Everybody then playing in there natural positions.

Was surprised at how slow McClelland looked. Even though I understand that he's still getting up to speed in this league, he's been playing regular football for both us and NI u21s, so he must be match fit.

I can't figure out that when Mitov passed to him, and it was nearly intercepted, whether that was the keeper's fault or his.

I think he'll eventually be a steady and reliable CB for us, he just needs to work on his speed of thought and movement.

Robinson getting better at left back. Good to have two decent options there.

Still not sure about the manager's decision making and timing of substitutes.

He can be a bit Davidson-esque in that department.

Gross I know, but one battle he wins is the battle of the gobs.

Every time the camera went to him at the weekend he was shooting one out.

I don't know if it's some kind of nervous reaction but for crying out loud, get some chewing gum or something. It worked for Sir Alex.

Anyway, it's really from here on in that we'll find out what this team is all about.

I think it's a decent squad that has much room for improvement.

Other teams have already peaked in my view. St.Mirren for example.

As long as we don't get cut adrift, I think we'll be okay.

[blueheaven]

15 hours ago, Gekko said:

Reading Dare's comments in the Courier today about having to get used to playing on the right, when he's more used to being a centre back.

It would have been interesting to see how he'd have gotten on if after Gordon went off, he moved inside and Brown came on at right back.

Everybody then playing in there natural positions.

Was surprised at how slow McClelland looked. Even though I understand that he's still getting up to speed in this league, he's been playing regular football for both us and NI u21s, so he must be match fit.

I can't figure out that when Mitov passed to him, and it was nearly intercepted, whether that was the keeper's fault or his.

I think he'll eventually be a steady and reliable CB for us, he just needs to work on his speed of thought and movement.

Robinson getting better at left back. Good to have two decent options there.

Still not sure about the manager's decision making and timing of substitutes.

He can be a bit Davidson-esque in that department.

Gross I know, but one battle he wins is the battle of the gobs.

Every time the camera went to him at the weekend he was shooting one out.

I don't know if it's some kind of nervous reaction but for crying out loud, get some chewing gum or something. It worked for Sir Alex.

Anyway, it's really from here on in that we'll find out what this team is all about.

I think it's a decent squad that has much room for improvement.

Other teams have already peaked in my view. St.Mirren for example.

As long as we don't get cut adrift, I think we'll be okay.

I'd be really interested to know why Dare was preferred to Brown on Saturday, all things considered. Brown has done well against the Old Firm in the past, it's his natural position, and he's generally a pretty safe pair of hands(feet?) all round. Dare looks promising but is a lot more raw and clearly needs time to bed in.

On substitutions, I think Macca at least seems a bit more proactive with them and more willing to make changes than Davidson was. Like you, though, I'd question whether he's been getting those decisions right.

[Widge]

35 minutes ago, blueheaven said:

I'd be really interested to know why Dare was preferred to Brown on Saturday, all things considered. Brown has done well against the Old Firm in the past, it's his natural position, and he's generally a pretty safe pair of hands(feet?) all round. Dare looks promising but is a lot more raw and clearly needs time to bed in.

On substitutions, I think Macca at least seems a bit more proactive with them and more willing to make changes than Davidson was. Like you, though, I'd question whether he's been getting those decisions right.

Brown clearly isn't match fit yet. He may have played 90 minutes against Dundee, but he looked like he was struggling within about 10 minutes and clearly wasn't running and moving with the confidence of someone without injury. Suspect he was rested as we have more important games coming up and I actually thought for the most part Dare was fine in the match. Ok he got done down the right for the second goal, but lets face it, Matondo is pretty much the fastest player in the league and it wouldn't of mattered who played there, as he ran from deep.

[Cagey]

1 hour ago, Widge said:

Brown clearly isn't match fit yet. He may have played 90 minutes against Dundee, but he looked like he was struggling within about 10 minutes and clearly wasn't running and moving with the confidence of someone without injury. Suspect he was rested as we have more important games coming up and I actually thought for the most part Dare was fine in the match. Ok he got done down the right for the second goal, but lets face it, Matondo is pretty much the fastest player in the league and it wouldn't of mattered who played there, as he ran from deep.

Yeah but as he is new to Scotland and he didn't know Matondos pace he was caught out too far infield and unaware of Matondos position so he got a head start and no one was catching him. Probably the coaching staffs fault for not warning him.

As soon as Matondo came on I was concerned as we have no pace in the team.

[PSJ.84]

2 hours ago, Cagey said:

Yeah but as he is new to Scotland and he didn't know Matondos pace he was caught out too far infield and unaware of Matondos position so he got a head start and no one was catching him. Probably the coaching staffs fault for not warning him.

I don’t think it’s fair to say that’s the case, unless you were part of training/in team meetings for the last two weeks? Perhaps it was just a lapse in concentration?