Recruitment has been absolutely shocking in my opinion and this hasn't helped Courts.

I think that for Courts to get that set of players into the top 6 then he deserves a crack again next season.

You can only piss with the cock you have but my word, central midfield is a massive concern, wide areas we lack any sort of quality, and when Mark McNulty is our first choice CF then that says it all.

Ogren seriously needs a review of how we bring in these players and evaluate if really is getting value for his cash.

I was really skeptical at start of season. Every manager appointment is a gamble, promoting someone with no experience at this level was long odds.

He has done well, top six and a chance of European football, although I wonder if we are ready for that.  

The style of football can be brutal to watch, I wonder how that compares to other teams in the league. It appears that any young creative players who can entertain and open up defenses, move to England early in their career, so perhaps this is the best we can do in the circumstances. 

MockChop wrote:

Hibs, Aberdeen and St Mirren have switched managers & it didn’t work out like they’d hoped. We’ve benefitted from that.

Would we have enjoyed a new manager bounce? Who knows, maybe..

 
You can add Dundee & Sevco to the list of clubs who changed managers during this season and made things worse.

Cool heads are always required and look at things at the end of the season.

LarsErikKjell wrote:

Not posted in a while, but 100% agree with most in this thread. Courts has done OK against what was expected at the start of the season. The day after he was appointed I think you could have offered most United fans safety they'd take it, such was the unknown nature of the appointment.

But if you'd offered us top 6 in the same breath, we've have bitten your hand clean off. So from that perspective its certainly a thumbs up from me.

You'd have to say though, that some of the football has been mind-numbing at times. Even if some of it could be down to what we've had available to change things up.

The decisions to loan out Glass and Chalmers only for them to be bit-part players for ICT and Killie, coupled with Harkes and Pawlett now out for the season along with the sale of Appere, just seem to have really backfired, which most predicted at the time. If we can see it, why couldn't they?

This summer's recruitment is so massively important. We basically need a completely new midfield and attack. They cant afford to get many wrong.


 

Glass was at the united game on Saturday, wonder if he is getting recalled early, Loan has been a disaster, Del boy dosnt fancy him 

Beardy23 wrote:

Courts disnae fancy him, neither did mellon
could be a pattern emerging?
 

I think its fair to say him and Chalmers could be considered 'luxury players' however I'd much rather have had them on our bench and playing a part in some matches (especially recently when we've been so weak on the bench) than just sat on the bench somewhere else.

As boys now comfortably into their early 20s - they both need to step it up or they'll not make it at this level. Both have pretty clear talents, but unfortunately neither have had that run in the team that proves they have what it takes (see Ross Graham as the perfect example).

Side-note to say, if I am Kieran Freeman I am raging that I've been sat getting splinters these last few weeks. Maybe I'm watching a different game but Liam Smith as a wing-back is just so ineffective. They are both at a similar level and each have their own strengths, but in a wing-back roll, Freeman is miles clear of Liam Smith for me.

Stillliving wrote:

MockChop wrote:

Hibs, Aberdeen and St Mirren have switched managers & it didn’t work out like they’d hoped. We’ve benefitted from that.

Would we have enjoyed a new manager bounce? Who knows, maybe..

 
You can add Dundee & Sevco to the list of clubs who changed managers during this season and made things worse.

Cool heads are always required and look at things at the end of the season.

 

Absolutely, I just mentioned they 3 clubs as they were chasing the same spot as we were.

My concern with Courts at the start of the season was that he would be outsmarted by most street-wise managers in the league because of his very limited experience playing, coaching or managing at a high level. A great youth coach who puts on excellent sessions that develop the abilities of teenagers is miles different from managing a Premier league team where results matter. We had 21 points after the first 11 games, and after all managers had seen us, we have secured another 20 points from the subsequent 22 games. Our form in the 2nd and 3rd round of games would have us on 30 points at the split, which would put us in 11th level with St. Johnstone. I read somewhere yesterday that our current points total would have us in the bottom 6 in 6 of the past 11 seasons, and never as high as 4th.

I agree he hasn't been helped by some questionable recruitment. That said, we went out and got Tony Watt, we have Dylan Levitt as possibly the most successful loan player we've had in years, we replaced Robson with what seemed for the first half of the season to be an upgrade, we brought in Mulgrew, Niskanen has given us some threat and pace out wide, and we have two international keepers on the books as back-ups to Benji. There are issues we still haven't addressed in the squad, but, with Sheep and big Ross Graham also now regularly involved, IMO this is a higher quality squad than our past 3 managers have had to pick from, so recruitment might not have been great, but it also hasn't been a disaster.

I think Courts got out-thought by McGhee on Saturday. We went with 3 at the back, plus wing backs. McGhee had them hitting us on the break and getting it wide, behind Niskanen and Smith, creating 2-on-1s or pulling a centre half out of the middle. We seemed to do very little to counter that. The fact he made no subs in the last 20 minutes at 2-2 tells me he was happy enough with a point, to guarantee top 6, rather than push for 3. It also makes me wonder how highly he rates some of our young lads. Sure, a fresh Kevin McDonald might be a better option than a fresh Archie Meekison, but a fresh Archie Meekison wouldn't be a better option than a Kevin McDonald running on empty after 75 minutes?

I'll be interested to see what he does for the last 5 games. Does he push for a UEFA Cup spot, playing his "strongest team" every week and leaving our young lads getting splinters? Does anyone believe we're getting past the first qualifying round when we can't score and are on a run of form that got us 20 points in 22 games against the weakest SPL in living memory? For me, we've got the financial boost of top 6. Now get Archie, Mochrie, Neilson, Cudjoe etc. into the remaining games for more experience.

I think he'll go with option 1, I think we'll finish 5th, and I think he could have done better with the players at his disposal.

Completely agree with all of the above. The Declan Glass loan has probably finished his Utd career and yet the games he played before he went he looked like it was about to take off. The Livi game and the Hibs game he played as a number 10 coming off the left hand side and looked a real threat.

Agree too about Freeman omission being a mystery. The two real weak links in our current team are Mark McNulty and Liam Smith. I'd wager most of our attacks break down when these two get the ball because both are abysmal technically. Smith got away with it in the Championship because he played in a back 4 and didn't need to do as much attacking. He also had McMullan in front of him so his main job was to simply give him the ball. Today as a wing back he's being asked to do things he is completely incapable of doing such as open his body out to play the ball down the line, play on the half turn, go outside defenders, cross the ball, and build possession. His touch is fucking terrible and he's one of these players who can only play the way he is facing and it drives me mad when he cuts back onto his weaker foot to cross or pass, slowing our attacks down.

Last edited by lifesanocean (11/4/2022 9:23 pm)

I'm not sure it's fair to call the league the weakest in history etc etc. We've got The Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen and ourselves. We've already done better than both Aberdeen and Hibs who's budgets I would guess are much bigger than ours.

Recruitment wise, it's easy to think we could change the entire squad in 2 transfer windows - but that's not realistic. Getting money for Appere was a masterstroke - he was so far out the picture, I'd have been happy enough for us just to not lose money on the deal (aside from the fact I really wanted him to succeed - but that wasn't meant to be)

Recruitment wise has been OK. Biamou being the only notable failure.

6 and 1/2 out of ten so far.

To me he's taken look at table at start of his tenure, and for sure after Hearts thrashing and said - what you wouldnae have to be Einstein to work out - ie all mid table teams equally take points of one another, so aim is to drop less.  Consequence some dire performances some OK.

And like someone said he could - to some extent only - play the cards he's been dealt.
Not entirely true tho' because he's gone into games with pop gun attack, - worse he's telegraphed that to opposing coaches.
Should have been remedied when Watt came in but he's continually played out wide, McNulty continually selected and failure to give young laddies more of a run remains a mystery best known to himself.

At times our main tactic at the front is chasing down opposing goalie - what's that about ?

Anyhow real bottom line will be May 14th.

Tek wrote:

Tangy wrote:

I'm not sure it's fair to call the league the weakest in history etc etc. We've got The Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen and ourselves. We've already done better than both Aberdeen and Hibs who's budgets I would guess are much bigger than ours.

Recruitment wise, it's easy to think we could change the entire squad in 2 transfer windows - but that's not realistic. Getting money for Appere was a masterstroke - he was so far out the picture, I'd have been happy enough for us just to not lose money on the deal (aside from the fact I really wanted him to succeed - but that wasn't meant to be)

Recruitment wise has been OK. Biamou being the only notable failure.

It's the weakest league in years. Not in terms of the teams in the league (the established big six are all in it, ourselves included).

It's the weakest league in terms of the overall quality of it. As said previously, every team from Hearts down on minus goals.

I'm bewildered how you can say the recruitment has been ok other than Biamou.

Biamou - Never started a game
Akinola - played 45 minutes 
McMann - Started well, but hasn't featured for weeks and even Sporle has came on in his position ahead of him in recent times. A player who will be off in a month.

McDonald - Hasn't improved the team.

McNulty - A very costly dud

Carson - Punted out on loan after 4 months

Eriksson - Hasn't played 1 minute.

Even Niskanen is a bit of a flop for me. Pursued him for a year, paid cash for him. Was supposed to be a pacy winger. Headless chicken all too often.

Recruitment wise this season only Mulgrew has been an undoubted success
 

Would add that Levitt has been a recruitment success and has even scored some excellent goals recently. However, he was at his most effective when we were playing 4-3-3 pre Xmas and he sat as a playmaker with Harkes and Fuchs either side of him almost acting as blockers and were mobile enough to go into wider areas to join up with the full backs and wide players and also press opponents. Since Fuchs left (and wasn't properly replaced with a similar player) we've lost mobility in midfield, particularly now Harkes is injured (no idea what his injury is of course). Levitt, Butcher and McDonald just don't have the legs to go into these areas and play these roles. We've changed shape to a 3-5-2 to suit what we have in midfield (and to accommodate Ross Graham at the back) but more importantly we've stopped playing out from the back, through Levitt in midfield and are increasingly just lumping the ball to an imaginary big striker meaning we just keep giving up possession. Levitt has been reduced to the role of a water carrier and ball winner as our opponents now dominate possession and we spend most of our time chasing second balls. Neither role gets the best out of him and tbh is a complete waste of his (and McDonald's actually) talents.
 

Last edited by lifesanocean (12/4/2022 6:44 pm)

Yeah recruitment has been a mixed bag for me. Agree with Tangy, you'd say Levitt, Mulgrew and Watt have definitely improved the side. But like lifesanocean says - Levitt doesnt massively suit our current setup.

McMann started so well but dropped off drastically. For what its worth, I think he'll come back into things next season and get back to those levels.

Same with Niskanen, he is definitely not the quality winger we thought he was, but you cant deny his work-rate and commitment to the cause, even if he does have some really poor moments. I hope next season he'll push on and really contribute in an attacking sense. The current formation doesn't help him but I still think he can contribute more from that area. Motherwell at home (2-0 win) - he was outstanding at left wing-back and we need to see more of that. I think a 442 is the formation that would suit him the most but its not one I expect us to play very often.