forresjags

2 hours ago, Kingsmills said:

There may be defensive issues this season but it can hardly be said that scoring goals has not been the problem. Scoring goals is a problem and remains so. We may have a forward players on the books but none of them can be described as reliable goal scorers let alone anywhere close to being prolific.

Not an easy task and one that we have not fulfilled since Billy McKay departed but we do need a fifteen plus goals a season forward.

You cannot deny the numbers at the back are woefully short. It doesn't matter how badly Warren, Meekings or Fon Williams play they are guaranteed to start as we we have no alternatives. We need competition for places at the back, midfield, upfront we have an abundance of options.       

Need to recruit some defensive minded players including cover for the back five With Raven, Horner, McNaugthon and Esson unfit options have been pretty slim of late.  

How ironic from this time last year when we never had any options to play upfront we now have 3 on the books, recruited another from Ireland and are being linked with Miles Storey.  

As has been well documented scoring goals has not been the problem, keeping them out however.  

Whatever meagre resources we have need to used to strengthen defensively.    

6 hours ago, iamthecaptain1 said:

 

What I meant by small community club, was more of a positive remark than an attempt to belittle the club. As in a close knit community. 

We are a relatively small, even by Scottish terms, club but a very successful one of which we should be proud. To do what we've done in little over 22 years should be lauded.

I was however remarking on a tendency to become divided and ostracise certain sectors of the club, considering that we would like to consider the club as a close knit family and community club.

Maybe it's wishful thinking and there are no clubs out there that are really like that, but in a time when so many bemoan football being a detached business from its fans it's sometimes surprising how much it can turn when the chips are down. At many other clubs Foran would no longer be in the job but it's kinda nice to imagine that we're not like that.

I get that the board struggle at times with getting everything right, and there are certain elements folk can highlight to criticise them, but on the whole they've, in my own humble opinion, done quite a good job overall given what they have to work with.

Mate, I do get what you are saying but football is a business and requires a certain  ruthlessness. My concerns are we may have missed the opportunity to build on our recent success and our crowds continue to hover around 2500. Appreciate you cannot drag folk to games and whoever solves the mystery of the disappearing fans will be a rich man, but do we need changes throughout to try and revitalise the club and bring in fresh ideas.      

He and many others are nor performing that is why we are enduring such a miserable run, but for some reason he is being singled out by many when collectively including the management  they all have been below average.( The exception being Carl Tremarco).  

Really Vigurs 3 seems pretty harsh, especially when you tell me that Tansey was twice as good as him with a six. This is the same Tansey who was caught in possession for the 3rd goal and generally overhit all the corners he took on Saurday thereby wasting any opportunity to put County under pressure.   

Hopefully look closer to home to find a gem. There must be at least one or maybe two from the Highland League that with full time training, the right coaching and development could maybe make their mark. Appreciate it's a gamble but good players slip through net we just need to identify them.     

A small community club, sorry but to my mind that is doing ourselves a massive injustice. We are an established top tier club and should think of ourselves as one.

If we accept second best that's what we will get. The balls up with JD Sports and Carbrini was amateurish and I wonder if it was either Motherwell or St Johnstone in our position the outcome would have been the same.  

Tickets go on sale when ?

Boden did ok against County and looks like a player that can link up play.

Boden and Fisher upfront against Elgin and lets ditch the lone striker role that creates nothing.

Serious question, do we actually have a scouting system that identifies players for us or are they touted by their agents(If they have one).  

The back five have looked suspect all season and this has been our downfall to date. Unfortunately due to injuries etc they are guaranteed a start every week no matter how badly they perform, We have to bring in at least another central defender and full back. Also what is the story with Esson is he fit or not, because on present form Fon Williams deserves a rest.      

Sorry, but can't agree that the board are doing a good job. We have had probably had the best 5 years in our history yet over this period we have stagnated. If ever there was a time for investment and for us to push on this was it. Players contracts have woefully been mismanaged, with highly marketable players leaving for nothing  being a common occurrence. Unfortunately off the field has seen little investment  during the last 12 years either, we are still using a portakabin as a ticket office and club shop albeit a club shop that has no official merchandise to sell. The least said about the shambles that  is JD sports and the contract we signed the better. 

With crowds now hovering below 3000 these are worrying times and I believe  new ideas are needed.  

1 hour ago, Charles Bannerman said:

So how much were you thinking about investing, Top Six?

Typical response from Mr Bannerman 

Big ask for someone to come in with absolutely no managerial experience . To me the fault lies with the board who never explored any other experienced options but went for the cheap and easy option. 

The same board that got rid of our most successful manager in our history and replaced him with a complete novice on a very lucrative contract.

They never steered us to our most successful era through  any significant investment it was done on a shoestring by some astute managers. So credit where credit due.

The board need to come out and support the manager or admit they cannot take the club any further.

We have to try something different one up is causing teams no problems at all.

Why the reluctance to use Boden we have to try anything we can to get out of this rut 

So Vigurs is the scapegoat for a really poor performance. Not Fon Williams for being caught out yet again or the defence for being collectively pish and letting macdonald run rings around them for the second or Foran for continually resorting to having no other tactic than trying to hit the long ball,. It's Vigurs fault he got chosen as MOM so let's boo him anyway. Shameful .

17 hours ago, WYNESS101 said:

Foran said he should be back for next week at killie (with Fisher and hopefully polworth).

He played in the league cup games and scored a few goals in that and has only started 3 games in the SPFL. Just like Fisher i think they both need a run of games in the SPFL and see how they get on instead of getting 10-20 minutes a game. The formation we play doesn't suit Boden as the lone striker.

Agree totally, needs some games. Thought he looked pretty good at the start of the season and offers us something a bit different than the unconvincing system we are playing at the moment.  

You are totally correct it is not one players fault that we are conceding cheap goals, but at the moment there seems to be a consensus that the problems stem from central midfield, one player in particular.  

Solve the problem move Tremarco from left back into central midfield, plenty of energy, pace and commitment there. If its good enough for Shinnie at Aberdeen, its good enough for the far superior Carl  Tremarco.       

14 hours ago, alternative maryhill said:

Tansey has been taking a lot of stick recently, but I don't really think looked like he lacked commitment on Saturday - he made himself available for the ball (noticably more than some others), tried to take charge of building from the back, made a few runs forward and tracked back better than Vigurs. He didn't always use the ball that well though - there were a few overhit long balls and a couple of times going forward he tried to hang onto it too long, as if to work a better opportunity for himself that wasn't going to come. I'm not sure that's a lack of commitment, but his game might well have been affected by frustration or nerves, especially after we'd lost the first goal.

Vigurs is a different matter, but I don't entirely blame him either, in that we knew what we were getting with Vigurs when we signed him. County supporters and Motherwell supporters tended to be divided on him, precisely because, for all his vision and his ability with a dead ball, he simply didn't work hard enough. He never really established himself in the Motherwell first team for that reason. Personally, I wouldn't have him in the first team at all if we had a full-strength squad, and I certainly wouldn't use him in a deep-lying midfield role, where he will regularly be expected to track his opponents, put in decisive tackles and provide defensive cover and reinforcement, except as a very last resort. Saturday probably was that, but Foran has used him in that role for almost the whole season, and it absolutely baffles me. I've said before, probably in this thread, that I think that that tactic is probably more responsible for our dreadful defensive record than Warren's lack of form, and the two may well related to some extent anyway. Until Polworth is fit again, though, we probably don't have any option but to continue with Vigurs in there, but once we have more players available, I hope Foran at least tries going with something and someone else. We can talk about giving Vigurs a rocket to try to get him to work harder, but I'm just not sure he has it within himself.  

  

So what you are saying then, is that playing Vigurs in a central midfield is the reason we have a dreadful defensive record. Nothing to do with not being able to defend set pieces,  being caught out for pace at the back and at times some questionable goalkeeping. 

Agreed Vigurs does have his faults and lets be honest if he had pace and was the complete midfielder he probably would not be playing for us. But why are we singling out one  player when mistakes are happening all over the park. Lets be honest other than Carl Tremarco the rest have been below average for weeks now.

Harsh to single out individual players making mistakes, collectively over the past few weeks they have been shocking and that includes a very inexperienced manager.. 

Really need to get more from the wide players King and Doran carried absolutely no threat whatsoever. We also need to go with an extra front man to support Doumbouya and disagree with  those writing off Boden who deserves a chance. 4 5 1 is not working for us, we need to have a plan B.        

Ex player or not, the tackle was reckless and dangerous, but to me his reaction to continue playing instead of putting the ball out of play was unforgivable.  It was obvious Brad Mckay was in some distress, yet he decided his priority was to try catch us out by going for goal. 

Think that would have been McInnes voted for him, only average today as he could only give them the one penalty.