dead_ball_specialist

After all that fuss, lets hope he actually lives up to the hype. If he's the real deal, perhaps we could also sign his taller brother Luigi as a striking partner? :024:

Bobby Mann

Wilson without pace is like Jorg Albertz without shot power. Whether it's his age or his diet - he just didn't look fit at all yesterday, he offered us almost nothing in attack and shouldn't start next week. Zander is more than ready for first team action, he was ready 2 seasons ago! Remember his performance against Falkirk?

I don't think the result yesterday was about tactics, it had more to do with so many players having poor individual performances. We've had a tendency to play long balls over the top since the Brewster era. Sometimes it actually works but Rangers defenders were too good. They rarely lost a challenge or knoked the ball out for a long Munro throw in, so it just ended up coming straight back at us almost every time. I'd be suprised if punting the ball is actually part of CC's gameplan - it's just what players do when they're afraid of making a crucial mistake. The only team we never end up hoofing against are Hibs, could this perhaps be because the players aren't afraid of them - based on previous results? The only tactical error I would point to was our high defensive line, how many times did Rangers attackers get in behind us? Lets get back to defending deep like we did when we had the second best defensive record in the league.

Fraser Tokely Caff Munro Hastings Duncan Cowie Sutherland Black Hart Wyness Hart's always played well when he's been asked to fill in as a striker, he's probably the most penetrating player we've got at the moment, why not put him in the forward line? He's officially got the most powerful shot in Scottish football - know what I mean? At the very least he'd get stuck in and show some guile - something our forward line SERIOUSLY lacked today.

Remember that ICT were written off after our first SPL game when we went down 3-0 to Livi. That said, Gretna didn't impress me at all when they came up to Victoria Park last season, and what's the craic with the way they're treating the manager who took them up all the leagues? Shocking.

He has a decent footballing brain, but needs to work on his upper body strength. I wouldn't give up on him just yet. He isn't producing the goods at the moment so a loan spell might be a good idea. It worked for Barry Robson.

Rory seems to have become a lightning rod for some fans frustrations. 1 out of 10 is ridiculous. It's a team game - even if Dargo had been playing instead of Rory I doubt it'd have made much difference. When you're being man marked by quality defenders built like brick sh*thouses, and not getting any support or even decent service - what do you expect??? All Rory could do today was chase aimless punts over the top and try to hussle the defenders into conceding throw ins.

Agree with most of that, although perhaps a bit harsh on McAllister, he was no worse than Wyness. Neither of them got any decent service but were equally guilty of failing to hold up the ball when they got it, it kept going straight back. It was a very poor result but compared to last seasons St Midden debacle, it wasn't a disaster. Points against the OF are always a bonus, we shouldn't be unrealistic with our expectations. Last season's 7 out of 9 against the Huns was a once in a blue (excuse the pun) mooner, it isn't going to happen very often! Have we ever had a GOOD start to a season? Even back in the 3rd division it took us a while to get going. When we won the 3rd division by 20 points, only 6 games in we weren't even on the radar screen as far as the bookies were concerned. The difference now I guess is the fact that the club shells out for top of the range training facilities and foriegn excursions. We've all read Charlie and co in the Courier and the Snooze banging on about how well the Italian trip went and what a worthwhile exercise it was - yet come our first fixture we're still caught with our trousers down. Today our passing was slack (we reverted to aimless punts), we were toothless in attack and like a sieve at the back. (our marking was non-existant) It looked like we were trying to play the offside trap and we got caught out more than once. A very dangerous game. We were better off when we defended deep - at least it made us hard to break down. Today we could easily have conceded 5 or 6, and had the game lasted another 15 minutes we probably would have. The most dissapointing thing IMHO was the fact that Sutherland was overlooked. He was our best player in pre season by a country mile and I'm sure he would have made a difference if he'd gotten a run out, even from the bench. Any positives? Richie Hart and Don Cowie were superb. I reckon they, along with Sutherland, Paatelinen and possibly Marius, can push on and make a big impact this season, especially if the other players are as pants as they were today.

Hows it a Freudian slip Bannerman? A Freudian slip, or 'parapraxis' refers to when the unconscious id overrides the conscious ego causing an individual to unintentionally verbally expresses a forbidden desire. What does mixing up John with Ian have to do with psycho-sexual conflict? Stop trying to show off with big words you don't understand you pretentious so and so.

Can't remember ever playing Dumbarton. We lost against Berwick away on Penalties in a coca cola cup game (peles first game I think) don't think we've played them since. And Gretna obviously.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The world's gone mad. Even the Cheeky Girls (also Romanian) got a work permit.

He's garbage, all brawn and no brain. :023:

Bobby Mann is still class. There's no-one better in the air, at reading the game, at organizing and motivating, or at starting moves from the back. All he lacks is pace, but the way we defend (deep) it wouldn't matter. Dodds wasn't exactly the quickest was he? If we got him back I truly believe it'd be a bigger coup than any of our other signings this summer.

Surely your man David Stewart can pull some strings.

If Rories problems are psychological maybe he'd benefit from a session with a hypnotherapist or a sports psychologist?

It's not too late to bring back Bobby Mann!

Agree that the guy that was doing all the shouting, with the high pitched, slightly tuchtory, slightly camp voice did start to get on my t1ts after a while. You're not funny mate! That apart most of the banter was pretty good. I can see the "Richie, give us a light" song becoming a regular fixture. The contrast between the ultra-liberal County stewards and the TCS thugs was quite refreshing. If we manage to turf out the few rotten apples in our ranks like that t0sser yestarday there would be no justification for their antics any more.

He'd be a decent addition to our squad.

What game were you watching? He was getting under the ball and heading it straight up into the air time after time! And McBain only 5 out of 10? He was one of our best players, grafted out on the left for 90 minutes and never wasted the ball once.

We were shockingly poor for the first 70 minutes. County looked like the SPL team. The highlight of the afternoon was Sutherland, as usual he was awesome - the whole rhythm of the game changed when he came on. He has to start against Rangers! A shame Paatelinen didn't get a run out, why does Charlie always seem to overlook him? He's always impressed me when he's got the chance. Rankin and Wilson were guff today, and McAllister looked like he was having a nervous breakdown. He badly needs a loan spell.

He was in the thick of the action for our 2 goals but at the other end of the park he didn't impress. For a big guy he goes down awful easy, and he amusingly shouted 'Fole'! when he got a tasty challenge. A few of his headers were poorly timed. He might get better with some match practice, but he hasn't proved himself yet.

Duncan is not under-rated. When he's good, he's pretty good. But when he's bad he's VERY VERY VERY bad. Grant Munro is the most under-rated IMHO. He's as solid as **** at the back week in week out, and going forward he gives our attacking game another dimension with his long throws. He must have had about 15 in one game against Hearts last season. Every time the ball goes out of play in the oppositions half of the field we get all our big men up.

Barry Ferguson, his dive for that penalty was sickening. :rolleyes02:

It's got to be Ross County. He could play a half for each team. If you want a sell out and a bit of atmosphere then its the best bet.