Thoughts on the first team so far

[hando 12]

After tonight and hearing the thoughts of other supporters around me and on the bus, I'd be interested to hear the forums starting eleven and  their reasons why?

McGregor - untouchable, will have daft moments to try and show how staunch he is, but overall he will contribute more points than non "rats"

Tav - record speaks for himself, goals and assists wise, think after getting over the hump of not beating celtic hel kick on if we hold onto him

Barasic/Halliday - from what I've seen in the Europa and friendlies, Halliday looks the more committed and it feels like he is determined to nail the LB spot down. If his name was Halisic and was Croatias first choice LB, it wouldn't be a question, but the fact Barasic is makes you wanto lean towards him more and root for him more because if he turns out to be the player we hope, he'll be much much more valuable, 50/50 in my mind.

Goldson/Edmundson - Goldson has been our first choice CB and I think its harsh to criticise him when he played nearly every game for us last season, your average performance is going to decrease when you play so many games. But Edmundson has look like the CB we want, passes beyond the first person he sees and presses every ball. I'd like to think from Gerrard's comments, Goldson isn't assured of a starting spot and based on preseason, the spot of contention is who is going to partner Edmundson, but probably wishful thinking.

Davis/Aribo/Jack - Davis dropping deep looks great, Jack does what he does and Aribo (without getting criticised for praising a player too early), hes got that class, skill and dig we missed, a box to box player that links it all together. Davis gaining more fitness and the management team recognising he performs better at the base of midfield has shown he is one of our most crucial players. If I had my preference I'd like Kamara to take Jacks place, but recently he hasn't earned it.

Ojo - has a tidy finish on him when cutting in, if he can keep his performance levels up him and Kent on either wing would be scary. In my opinion might need reminded that our league isn't a cake walk i.e Coulibally, you need to keep your performance levels high. Stewart would replace Candeias as a squad player but not as a starter, so it is dependant on Ojo performing.

Jones - TK Maxx Kent, my biggest concern is we replace Kent with him or shift Arfield out to LW and tell him to drift inside. Good squad player but not an improvement on Kent. It's funny when you see the Tims laughing at him winning young player of the year and comparing his stats to the biscuit knee they were gonna buy from Motherwell. Stats don't tell the full story, he performed in our two biggest wins of the season, and his general play and driving at players was great but not "staworthy" - I also think Hastie looks a bit nervous on the ball, and McPake looked calmer as a left winger when he came on preseason.

Morelos/Defoe - toss up here, my only concern would be Defoes abillity to hand the volume of games. They both look sharp which is great for us, Morelos also offers more outside the box. But as a club we should look to cash in on our assets at peak value (look at Fekir at Lyon last season and the value he left for) and I think this window would be Alfredos, if we can replace him with Roofe and pocket upwards of 8 mill I'd be happy.

Be interested to hear everyones thoughts, and I'd stress this is my internal thinking and it will probably differ from others, just wanted to get it out there after thinking about who I'd pick after what I've seen so far




 

[RobertN 390]

Still think we are a bit light in quality attacking options

[M-89 524]

You'd really be happy with £8m+ for Morelos??

[hando 12]

27 minutes ago, M-89 said:

You'd really be happy with £8m+ for Morelos??

I meant pocketing profit, selling him and buying Roofe, if we sell Morelos for 13m and buy Roofe for 5m,

[BILLYBOY50 1,638]

I don't want to put a downer on things but before the window opened everyone was saying we needed more quality throughout the team and I agreed.but im just not sure we have added the quality throughout the squad that is needed to be successful on all fronts.

[Steelydan1690 20,228]

4 hours ago, hando said:

I meant pocketing profit, selling him and buying Roofe, if we sell Morelos for 13m and buy Roofe for 5m,

13 aye nae bother 😂😂add another 5 on top

[AljayBoy 2,298]

Agree with a lot of the OP, think the overall quality has increased but that's been at the back and we still need another out and out striker, and that's if Morelos stays - if he leaves we'd need two and need to spend big.

Overall we've got a decent pool of defenders and midfielders, but short up top. Think we have the back line sorted now, and although I don't think there's the same level of quality in the midfield as there is at the back, we've got a tonne of midfielders so need to be looking at strikers.

[the drummer 414]

need to do better simple as that 

[Creampuff 22,628]

Let’s be unequivocal here.

There are no circumstances in which Andy Halliday being our first choice leftback this season is acceptable. 

We either have faith in Barisic, or we sign a new leftback.

[Bigsasasfloppyhair 13,310]

No Barisic no Title 

[gmcf 34,152]

6 hours ago, hando said:

After tonight and hearing the thoughts of other supporters around me and on the bus, I'd be interested to hear the forums starting eleven and  their reasons why?

McGregor - untouchable, will have daft moments to try and show how staunch he is, but overall he will contribute more points than non "rats"

Tav - record speaks for himself, goals and assists wise, think after getting over the hump of not beating celtic hel kick on if we hold onto him

Barasic/Halliday - from what I've seen in the Europa and friendlies, Halliday looks the more committed and it feels like he is determined to nail the LB spot down. If his name was Halisic and was Croatias first choice LB, it wouldn't be a question, but the fact Barasic is makes you wanto lean towards him more and root for him more because if he turns out to be the player we hope, he'll be much much more valuable, 50/50 in my mind.

Goldson/Edmundson - Goldson has been our first choice CB and I think its harsh to criticise him when he played nearly every game for us last season, your average performance is going to decrease when you play so many games. But Edmundson has look like the CB we want, passes beyond the first person he sees and presses every ball. I'd like to think from Gerrard's comments, Goldson isn't assured of a starting spot and based on preseason, the spot of contention is who is going to partner Edmundson, but probably wishful thinking.

Davis/Aribo/Jack - Davis dropping deep looks great, Jack does what he does and Aribo (without getting criticised for praising a player too early), hes got that class, skill and dig we missed, a box to box player that links it all together. Davis gaining more fitness and the management team recognising he performs better at the base of midfield has shown he is one of our most crucial players. If I had my preference I'd like Kamara to take Jacks place, but recently he hasn't earned it.

Ojo - has a tidy finish on him when cutting in, if he can keep his performance levels up him and Kent on either wing would be scary. In my opinion might need reminded that our league isn't a cake walk i.e Coulibally, you need to keep your performance levels high. Stewart would replace Candeias as a squad player but not as a starter, so it is dependant on Ojo performing.

Jones - TK Maxx Kent, my biggest concern is we replace Kent with him or shift Arfield out to LW and tell him to drift inside. Good squad player but not an improvement on Kent. It's funny when you see the Tims laughing at him winning young player of the year and comparing his stats to the biscuit knee they were gonna buy from Motherwell. Stats don't tell the full story, he performed in our two biggest wins of the season, and his general play and driving at players was great but not "staworthy" - I also think Hastie looks a bit nervous on the ball, and McPake looked calmer as a left winger when he came on preseason.

Morelos/Defoe - toss up here, my only concern would be Defoes abillity to hand the volume of games. They both look sharp which is great for us, Morelos also offers more outside the box. But as a club we should look to cash in on our assets at peak value (look at Fekir at Lyon last season and the value he left for) and I think this window would be Alfredos, if we can replace him with Roofe and pocket upwards of 8 mill I'd be happy.

Be interested to hear everyones thoughts, and I'd stress this is my internal thinking and it will probably differ from others, just wanted to get it out there after thinking about who I'd pick after what I've seen so far




 

Have to agree with most of this . 

In defense , and from what I've seen so far this new season , is Edmundson being the pick of the CHs and its which of the others to partner him . 

Horses for courses in midfield . Kamara , Davis and Aribo would be my pick , with Jack coming in , in the more ' defensive ' games for one of them . 

Up top it's hard to choose between Alfredo and Defoe , but both offer different options and its pleasing we can change our style to suit either . Alfredo gives us strength up there but I thought we played better towards the end of the season  with Defoe and Arfield . Ojo and Jones would be my pick of the wide men so far , but Kent coming back would be the icing on the cake . 

[LaudrupsPatrickBoots 13,510]

Stopped reading at Halisic.

[thehost 11,061]

we showed the same frailties as last year

 

profligate in front of goal

a bombscare when ran at

light in midfield when closed down

an annoying habit of dropping the tempo and knocking the ball about, side to side, for large chunks of a match

 

positive is we have greater depth 

 

last night was a carbon copy of last season

 

 

[STEPPS BOY 73,890]

13 minutes ago, Creampuff said:

Let’s be unequivocal here.

There are no circumstances in which Andy Halliday being our first choice leftback this season is acceptable. 

We either have faith in Barisic, or we sign a new leftback.

Absolutely this.

[STEPPS BOY 73,890]

On Morelos, I know it’s pre season but he’s not the type of player to play a game, be rested for a game and then back in team.

Start him against Derby, Progress and Killie and sub him for Defoe if need be.

[Prso's headband 35,428]

Got to be more clinical. Aribo showed what happens when you hit a dig from outside the box. At least 3 occasions last night we played an extra pass for no reason

[BlueAvenger 10,237]

I still think we need another striker/goal threat. Too many missed chances last night.  And we need to stop trying to walk the ball into the net. 

[BlueAvenger 10,237]

13 minutes ago, thehost said:

we showed the same frailties as last year

 

profligate in front of goal

a bombscare when ran at

light in midfield when closed down

an annoying habit of dropping the tempo and knocking the ball about, side to side, for large chunks of a match

 

positive is we have greater depth 

 

last night was a carbon copy of last season

 

 

Can't believe  I liked this post and we agree on something mate !! 

[jackrfc95 4,255]

I know we have a lot of wingers but I still think we need another decent one, hopefully Kent. 

And another striker. 

[Vanoli 4,625]

Gut feeling is we don’t win the league. Not far off, but just not good enough in the final third. 

[Burts91 427]

Progres are a mid table standard SPL team similar to that of St Johnstone, Motherwell etc In my opinion.

 

Take 2-0 every week. fuck it

[Blueteeth 2,185]

7 hours ago, RobertN said:

Still think we are a bit light in quality attacking options

Agreed, I still think we need another striker and winger

[MARK92GERS 807]

Think Kent will be the final piece if we can land him 

[Cedrick 8,048]

2 hours ago, bigsasasfloopyhair said:

No Barisic no Title 

Every SPL team plays down him coz he’s the week link and scared , sticks out like a sore thumb , his inclusion makes the opposing manager team talk easy 

[sassaaaa 11,406]

2 hours ago, Creampuff said:

Let’s be unequivocal here.

There are no circumstances in which Andy Halliday being our first choice leftback this season is acceptable. 

We either have faith in Barisic, or we sign a new leftback.

Its going to be some left back coming in if he puts in a better performance than Haliday done last night and has done for months now. The shit this guy gets on here is laughable , if any others were as consistent as this guy has been they would be superstars on here.

Should be starting before Barasic or Flanigan and only if his form drops we use the other two , just like any other position in the side. If we end up going for another left back , I would be punting Barasic before Haliday.........