We are a top 4 side

[bluchoo 846]

Heard the panel on BT say this last night. Got me thinking if we are a top 4 side with the transfer fees and wages we are paying is this enough the keep Warburton in a job?

Not a stealth Warburton out thread...but say we finish 4th will everyone be happy with him for next season?

[MasterD 7,435]

Anything below 2nd will be an absolute failure by the manager.

 

Normally 2nd would be a failure but when the finances aren't there then it's not a failure on his part.

[Allanger 625]

I have never thought we would win this league at the first time of asking. Second place would be acceptable but we have some tough games on the horizon which we must win.

[Albertz 78 918]

I honestly believe if we had the right manager we would be pushing for the title.

I know we won last night but if truth be told if that mob had anything decent up front we would have dropped points.

We have young hungry players like MOH ,Dodoo , Crooks , Windass  and  Rossiter who could be the core of our team for years to come but they never get much of a chance as Warbs has his older favourites.

[markem 7,251]

1 minute ago, Albertz 78 said:

I honestly believe if we had the right manager we would be pushing for the title.

I know we won last night but if truth be told if that mob had anything decent up front we would have dropped points.

We have young hungry players like MOH ,Dodoo , Crooks , Windass  and  Rossiter who could be the core of our team for years to come but they never get much of a chance as Warbs has his older favourites.

Everyone of those signed by the manager you reckon favours others and pretty much all of them apart from MOH recovering from injury.

[Captain Hilts 12,819]

2nd in the Scottish Premiership is fuck all, never mind 3rd or 4th.

[GlasgowsBlue 329]

We need to finish in a European spot.

is it 1st, 2nd and 3rd who get them?

[ritchieshearercaldow 22,123]

Sorry too say the scum are well ahead of us at present, of course we knew this back in 2012, they've had 4 seasons to consolidate their squad, we hoped our years in the lower leagues would allow us to rebuild and challenge them but thanks to certain people it didn't happen.

Forget the scum second place is a must anything else is failure.

[Bad Robot 21,141]

2 minutes ago, GlasgowsBlue said:

We need to finish in a European spot.

is it 1st, 2nd and 3rd who get them?

Normally it's the 4 in the league unless the SC winners are different from the league winner but I'm not sure if the overall coefficient has reduced the places down to three in total or the Scottish 4 just need to play more qualifiers.

[j1mgg 3,766]

4th would be manageable this season, and woukd be good to press onto next season, third season we should be strong challengers for the title.

[Albertz 78 918]

10 minutes ago, markem said:

Everyone of those signed by the manager you reckon favours others and pretty much all of them apart from MOH recovering from injury.

 

Last night we had a 38 year old at the back, a 36 year old up front and a 32 year old in midfield.

For a manager that's supposedly based his philosophy on youth and good football I find that ridiculous tbh..

It really does not matter if the guys I mentioned above were fit or not Warbs wont drop his favourites (Miller,Mckay,Kiernan) for anything.

[ianferguson 2,619]

19 minutes ago, Albertz 78 said:

I honestly believe if we had the right manager we would be pushing for the title.

I know we won last night but if truth be told if that mob had anything decent up front we would have dropped points.

We have young hungry players like MOH ,Dodoo , Crooks , Windass  and  Rossiter who could be the core of our team for years to come but they never get much of a chance as Warbs has his older favourites.

The five players you mentioned are all Warburtons signings, the first MOH, has been shite practically every time he's played and the others have been out injured and it doesn't matter how "hungry" you are if you're on the treatment table. To suggest Warburton has a problem with young players is pish and despite Warburtons obvious short comings you are delusional is you think we could be pushing for title on our budget. The tims sadly are too strong and it'll be next season at the earliest before we can compete with them.

[RDFM 3,809]

I'd want him gone if we finished fourth.

[Inigo 32,526]

I still think we'll get second. We are improving.

There's stll alot of unknown variables at play. Will Garner settle in? Will Crooks make a difference? Will Windass and Rossier be big players when they get injury free runs? Can Senderos make any difference? How will the Barton affair play out and could his moving on mean another face appearing in January?

On balance, I still think this squad has more about it than Aberdeen, Hearts etc by a fair bit. I think we're a few small margins away from being quite an effective outfit.

[RFCRobertson 11,771]

34 minutes ago, Albertz 78 said:

Warbs has his older favourites.

You said McKay, Wallace and Kiernan in a different post.

McKay I'll wholeheartedly agree with. Wallace is the captain and although he'd benefit from being dropped at times, he still has golden moments. 

And Kiernan has been out for 4 weeks, Senderos getting a game before him. 

[Courtyard Bear 41,357]

4th and the manager has to go and the board have to find a buyer for the club that can take us forward, before 4th becomes the norm. 

[Brubear 2,905]

18 minutes ago, Albertz 78 said:

 

Last night we had a 38 year old at the back, a 36 year old up front and a 32 year old in midfield.

For a manager that's supposedly based his philosophy on youth and good football I find that ridiculous tbh..

It really does not matter if the guys I mentioned above were fit or not Warbs wont drop his favourites (Miller,Mckay,Kiernan) for anything.

Why would he drop Miller, despite his age still one of the fittest and hard working player we have and our best natural finisher.

[Laudrup1984 25,100]

Just now, Albertz 78 said:

 

Last night we had a 38 year old at the back, a 36 year old up front and a 32 year old in midfield.

For a manager that's supposedly based his philosophy on youth and good football I find that ridiculous tbh..

It really does not matter if the guys I mentioned above were fit or not Warbs wont drop his favourites (Miller,Mckay,Kiernan) for anything.

I understand where you're coming from but arguably our 3 best players last night were the 3 you have mentioned and without them we may not have won. Of course it's all ifs buts and maybes.

[simplythebest 11,453]

Even 2nd isn't acceptable but would probably be considered understandable under these circumstances  

Any lower than 2nd the management, board and players can pack their bags 

[Albertz 78 918]

5 minutes ago, ianferguson said:

The five players you mentioned are all Warburtons signings, the first MOH, has been shite practically every time he's played and the others have been out injured and it doesn't matter how "hungry" you are if you're on the treatment table. To suggest Warburton has a problem with young players is pish and despite Warburtons obvious short comings you are delusional is you think we could be pushing for title on our budget. The tims sadly are too strong and it'll be next season at the earliest before we can compete with them.

 

Well Aberdeen were closer to them at this stage last season than we are now and with a lot less budget.

The excuses for Warbs not being able to beat Killie, Ross co and Hamiliton are ridiculous. We are miles behind them not cause they have zillions to spend but because we can't beat god awful teams who have 20-30% of the budget we have have.

When you build a defence that gets out run for pace by a fat over the hill Kris Boyd then it says it all really.

A for MOH for me he's looked better than Mckay who frankly is a winger who looks terrified to take on a man and does a safe pass back inside every time.

[rossDas 1,071]

Last season's fourth place side finished with 42% of league matches won; our current win rate is 44%, so top four looks fairly accurate as things stand. I think it is reasonable to expect more considering our wage bill. 

[Gascoigne8 3,378]

54 minutes ago, bluchoo said:

Heard the panel on BT say this last night. Got me thinking if we are a top 4 side with the transfer fees and wages we are paying is this enough the keep Warburton in a job?

Not a stealth Warburton out thread...but say we finish 4th will everyone be happy with him for next season?

Tin hat on ......

 

 

I dont think playing like last night we even look a top 4 team.  I thought we looked pretty flat again last night and the fitness of our players is troubling me.  Im no looking for warburton to get hunted but i think we need a raise in performance levels. Too many non producers in the team

[Albertz 78 918]

3 minutes ago, Brubear said:

Why would he drop Miller, despite his age still one of the fittest and hard working player we have and our best natural finisher.

 

If a 36 year old is our fittest striker then why on earth did we pay £1.8m for Garner who is 8 years younger, MOH for £500,000 who is 9 years younger and Dodoo at £250,000 who is 15 years younger?

Almost £2,5m on players who are not as fit as a 36 year old and people want Warns to be given more money.

[Broxi 11,473]

2nd or out

Finishing 4th would imply we maintained our current results for the whole season, which wouldn't be good enough. If we can improve to a point to claim 2nd place fairly comfortably then that would suffice. Nothing less for me though.

[Brubear 2,905]

3 minutes ago, rossDas said:

Last season's fourth place side finished with 42% of league matches won; our current win rate is 44%, so top four looks fairly accurate as things stand. I think it is reasonable to expect more considering our wage bill. 

On that rating, 2 games ago we only had a 28% win rate so would you argue we were a bottom 3 team at that time. We have dropped too many points in first 7 games but would expect our win percentage to be much higher than 44% over the full season. I still expect us to finish 2nd, would have loved us to be champions but first 7 results has put an end to that I am afraid. The Tarries are unlikely to drop 10 more points than us from now to end of season.