Spelling all over the shop here ....                   

                    Birhigitti
Sheep. Edwards Graham  Behich
                    Mulgrew
              Levitt        Sibbald
                       Erch
            Fletcher       Watt

Rumoured McCloud starting tomorrow as Fletcher out with a hand injury

LarsErikKjell wrote:

BMT wrote:

Rumoured McCloud starting tomorrow as Fletcher out with a hand injury

 
I hate to do this, BMT

Who is McCloud????? 😂

 
Ha ha your right I’ll just stick to first names in future 😁

LarsErikKjell wrote:

BMT wrote:

Rumoured McCloud starting tomorrow as Fletcher out with a hand injury

 
I hate to do this, BMT

Who is McCloud????? 😂

From the Clan McCloud?
 

My team would be - (all players being available, bar Pawlett).

..........................Biro..................
......Edwards...Graham....Mulgrew
Freeman..Levitt...Harkes..Sibbald..Behich
..................Fletcher..Watt.........

Subs - Eriksson, McMann, L.Smith, Cudjoe
Middleton, MacLeod, Clark, Niskanen, Meekison

Canadian Arab wrote:

BMT wrote:

Canadian Arab wrote:

Spelling all over the shop here ....                   

                    Birhigitti
Sheep. Edwards Graham  Behich
                    Mulgrew
              Levitt        Sibbald
                       Erch
            Fletcher       Watt

 
I'd be happy enough with this team as well.

Posted that team after downing an entire bottle of wine last night. Forgot about Harkes, Niskanen, Cudjoe and others. Cannae believe you went along with it. 🤣
 

I didn't.

I put Harkes in my team.😉
 

Canadian Arab wrote:

6-1.

"We're due somebody a doing".  ©️ Mixu (2015)

                     
TBH, no idea what team might be put out, as we now have options of wing-backs or wingers or both.
             
 

Too many factors at play here:
Sounds like it'll be McCleod for Fletch
Does Behich have/need work permit ?
You'd think Middleton would start if fit ?

Slot Mulgrew in at Defensive Mid and we seem to have gone from rags to riches in a matter of days, specially width wise. 

But will it gel ?
- Confident in JR.
- Bring it on !

I'll go with Mixu 6 v 1
 

Last edited by Shakey Isles Arab (30/7/2022 6:26 am)

Well done harkes, great job

Tek wrote:

Canadian Arab wrote:

Fancy Harkes for a goal as well, actually.

6-1.

"We're due somebody a doing".  ©️ Mixu (2015) 

You sure it was just the one bottle of wine you had CA?
 

Posted that when I was sober. Telling that my drunken prediction was closer.

Another thing I didn't predict was having two overlapping full backs and two wingers available, yet starting with two defensive full backs and no wingers. 

Felt like two points lost rather than a point gained.

Turned on the send off obviously.
Harkes - pillock.

But a bit of history there for those who don't go that far - Windsor Park late sixties, Gordon Banks was in the habit of throwing the ball about about about a mile in the the air before punting it up the park.
George Best come up behind him headed the ba away and scored, clean as a whistle.  Great audacious goal you'd think - but no, one problem - you don't get to do that against the great man, keeper for the great team (sound familiar) .... oh no, not allowed.  So ref chalks it off, nobody quite knew why, but chalked off nonetheless.   Some time after they dreamt up the rule.
For the life of me I canny see why in the instance of the ball being in the air clear of the goalie it's no fair game.

Other than it is , so sorry Harkes tough tit, yellow.
... Then to go flying in like that 10 yards from Collum - what were you thinking son ?
... Hope you're no looking for appearance money.
Tbf up until then I thought he was having a great game - putting himself about, a bit of bite and niggle to add to his technical ability.  Let's he disnae lose that.
Also didnae help that we totally invited them on after that.

Levitt's goal - what a cracker - his technique is perfect - he disnae 100% welly it he gives it 95%, sort of a stubs his toe (sorry canny think o the word) but keeps it low, gives it spin, as well as keeping it away from goalie. Roll on Qatar mate - hope someone from the valleys was watching.
 ... And as for Fletcher's layoff - class.

Despite losing the goal, thought we looked better once Graham come on.
Get Behich in, Middleton on from the start, 3 at the back, plenty room for improvement. 

.. Killie, plastic piches, I won't even go there.


 

Just watched the entire 90 back again on ALBA.

We were organised and well drilled, but in all honesty , it was really quite an insipid performance in an attacking sense ,bar our one bit of nice attacking play (the wonderful strike from Levitt, after nice hold-up from Fletcher). So, no real change from last season. 

Wee Cudjoe i like a lot, but he got absolutely pocketed by Killie's Left Back today (and then their Right Back when he switched wings). He definitely has talent but i'm not convinced he's a starter at this point. He's still quite raw. Maybe more an option from the bench.

Harkes - Silly 1st yellow, but a bit unlucky with his 2nd yellow imo. Felt like Collum couldn't wait to send him off tbqh.

Have to say (and i might take stick for this, but whatever), but felt it was very negative that within just 4 minutes of us going down to ten men, Jack Ross had subbed off both Fletcher and Watt. Leaving us with no recognised focal point upfront. And decided instead to just try and see out the 1-0 lead. There were still 20 minutes to play when Harkes got his red.

You can't imagine Rangers or Celtic (or even Hearts) whipping off both their forward in the same circumstances. Felt overly negative. Hope that's m0re to do with his lack of current resources rather than a sign of things to come (Sunderland fans powered him for sitting on leads constantly rather than trying to get the 2nd goal). 

To end on a positive - Thought Mark Birighitti looked very good indeed. In everything he done.

Canadian Arab wrote:

That's a pretty fair assessment, Tek. Thought Birighitti looked good too. Commanded his area, came for crosses, brave, good communication (already!)
Agree Harkes' second yellow was harsh. I thought the tackle was *probably* a foul, nothing more. Certainly not a card. Don't think he dived in recklessly - he stretched and tried to get a toe on the ball.
The first yellow was an incorrect decision, as far as I can tell. Posted it on twitter (and probably pissed some people off) - the keeper is considered to be "in control of the ball" even when throwing it into the air prior to kicking it. A player is penalised for kicking/heading or trying to kick/head the ball during that motion by the keeper - the penalty is a free kick to the keeper's team. But the FIFA LoTG are clear that no further action is taken against the player UNLESS the referee considers the player's actions presented a serious risk of injury to the keeper. I don't think even Derek McInnes would try and claim that Harkes could have injured their keeper, so looks like Collum was desperate to caution Harkes for a non-cautionable action on both occasions.
All that aside, I also agree we were pretty insipid going forward. I really thought we would go with two overlapping full backs (though looks like Behich may not yet be cleared to play?) or two wingers (Niskanen and Middleton), and we did neither. McMann is fairly solid defensively but offered little in attack, and Smith was similar. I desperately want to see Behich and Sheep playing as attacking full backs in a 4-5-1 with a midfield triangle, which becomes a 4-3-3 in our attacking third.
Sibbald covered a lot of ground and popped up in a dangerous area once, but though he was tidy, he didn't seem to have too much of an impact on the game. We need guys who make things happen.
Cudjoe keeps possession quite well and works hard to win it back if he loses it. But at the end of the day he's not a winger IMO. Doesn't have the explosive acceleration to burst past a full back, and the quality of cross isn't there yet. I'd rather see him coming on as a sub and playing around the edge of their box, where he'll earn us free kicks and the odd penalty or two.
I think we'll give AZ a game, but I struggle to see us progressing against them. We just don't create enough chances.

Very good post that CA. Agree with a lot of that actually.

Not convinced Cudjoe is a winger either. Even when he beats his man there is no end product. But when he cuts in a bit he looks tidy on the ball and links well. Might have more impact from RW if he is coming off the bench though against a tired LB. 

I did wonder actually about Harkes 1st yellow, if it was by the letter of the law an actual yellow. I think perhaps because Harkes foot made contact with Walker's that he deemed that a foul. But even then, as you say, would it really be deemed a booking? My best guess is ref's (all of them) panic whenever an outfield player attacks a Goalkeepers kick-out. And they have done for decades (see below).