Tek wrote:

On whether or not certain players should be here next season?

I must confess, it has given me food for thought on Ross Graham and Kristian Keresztes.

Before Sunday i would probably have let both leave in the Summer, but both were very good against Celtic and both are coming into their prime years. Graham (25) Keresztes (26). Alongside Iovu (23), maybe we have to try and put some faith in some of these guys for the long term betterment of the club. Alongside perhaps one other new experienced defender, of course.

I think Esselink will inevitably leave and Sam Harding will go on loan all season in 26/27.

So, it would be a lot of defenders to replace. Do we put faith in these guys or replace them?

I guess the remaining 7 league games will give us a better idea.

It's a tough one.

I rate Iovu, and hope we keep him. I really like his aggressiveness, prone to the odd mistake but more the season has progressed the more I think it's worth the risk. I think Graham has been a bit of a victim of Esselink not panning out, I think Graham looks more comfortable on the left of a 3 rather than the central player who has to organise and command the back line but he's been forced to play in the middle.

Keresztes I'm not completely convinced is suited to Scottish football as a centre half , much as a few people have said on here this season, he's not the most physical and his comfort on the ball would probably be better used at left back or in front of the defence. I reckon I'd be more comfortable with Graham on the left and a new, experienced, defender coming in to occupy the middle of a back 3 if that's what Goodwin is sticking with.


A wee aside to this, is it worth mentioning that's two vastly improved performances both attacking and defending when Pan Camara has NOT started?
It crossed my mind that defensively, his tendency to be very fluid in his positioning (he runs all over the place trying to get on the ball) might actually be the cause of some our issues.

Morphman wrote:

Tek wrote:

On whether or not certain players should be here next season?

I must confess, it has given me food for thought on Ross Graham and Kristian Keresztes.

Before Sunday i would probably have let both leave in the Summer, but both were very good against Celtic and both are coming into their prime years. Graham (25) Keresztes (26). Alongside Iovu (23), maybe we have to try and put some faith in some of these guys for the long term betterment of the club. Alongside perhaps one other new experienced defender, of course.

I think Esselink will inevitably leave and Sam Harding will go on loan all season in 26/27.

So, it would be a lot of defenders to replace. Do we put faith in these guys or replace them?

I guess the remaining 7 league games will give us a better idea.

It's a tough one.

I rate Iovu, and hope we keep him. I really like his aggressiveness, prone to the odd mistake but more the season has progressed the more I think it's worth the risk. I think Graham has been a bit of a victim of Esselink not panning out, I think Graham looks more comfortable on the left of a 3 rather than the central player who has to organise and command the back line but he's been forced to play in the middle.

Keresztes I'm not completely convinced is suited to Scottish football as a centre half , much as a few people have said on here this season, he's not the most physical and his comfort on the ball would probably be better used at left back or in front of the defence. I reckon I'd be more comfortable with Graham on the left and a new, experienced, defender coming in to occupy the middle of a back 3 if that's what Goodwin is sticking with.


A wee aside to this, is it worth mentioning that's two vastly improved performances both attacking and defending when Pan Camara has NOT started?
It crossed my mind that defensively, his tendency to be very fluid in his positioning (he runs all over the place trying to get on the ball) might actually be the cause of some our issues.

Pan's issue is he's not disciplined enough when we are trying to stick to Goodwin's gameplan.  He definitely cost us the gameplan when he was out of position for the first two goals against at Parkhead.  That said, I do think his unpredictability has been essential to some of our forward play.  Picking up the ball in positions he shouldn't be and turning opposition possession into counters has been really important to us.  I think as Agyei continues to improve that Pan's lack of discipline may be less of a factor, but I do think that we are not going to risk him against the stronger teams.  He'll start from the bench at Ibrox and that is probably right.

I’ve thought for a while that Iovu’s our best defender. He’s still very rash, but he has a lot of the attributes teams want from a centre half. He’s big, strong, fast, an okay passer, and because of his aggression and hard tackling, I think opposition attackers are scared of him.

Keresztes is a big no for me, like Iovu, he has a lot of the attributes you want, except he’s a too soft and can only kick the ball in the direction he’s facing. We can do better.

Graham, just depends what the manager thinks, I’m fine with him going if we feel we can replace him with better. He’s been very poor this season, but I also think you need to have a few players around with ties to the club, he’s coming in this prime as a defender, and I’d like to think you can coach the mistakes out of him.

Sevelj, we must exercise our option on his deal, he started the season fairly poorly, but he’s back to his usual reliable self. That’s a no-brainer for me.

Ferry I’d try to sign to an extended deal if he’s open to it. He’s been more up and down this season, but at his best, he can really drive the whole team on. It’s very telling the way we try to play everything down his side when we’re struggling. Despite the stick he gets at times, which can be justified btw, he’s still someone the rest of the team look to to dig out results, and you can really miss those players once they’re gone.

On Morphman’s point about Camara, I totally agree. I’ve thought for months that he’s vastly overrated by our fanbase because of a good couple of games earlier in the season. I’m not saying he’s shite, but he has his limitations and can really expose us in midfield in certain games.

Slotbadger wrote:

Not really at all for me. The pitch is a huge leveller and takes away a lot of the advantages a team like Celtic would usually have over us. And Celtic have been terrible all season. They have nearly list as many games as us.

Over the season so far I think they have played terrible football and been shite bags. The boys on radio Scotland keep going on about how good graham is playing and suggesting the players around him are not at his level. I think he does play well most games, but is prone to ridiculous lapses in concentration in just about every game. A good manager should be able to coach that out of him.

Happy to see how we end the season as we maybe seem to have found a starting 11 that might work in this formation. If that is the case I would expect us to win most of the games after the split.

 
Both teams played on the same pitch though. They have multi million pound players and we dont. Are you saying that higher level players are less capable of adapting to the surface than our shite ones? Tbh those are the same excuses celtic fans and players are using and they are nothing more than exactly that,excuses. Not disagreeing with a lot of your points though but I'll still take as much pleasure as I can out of beating that lot and ruining their title chances. It also shouldn't be forgotten that apart from us completely capitulating at the end,we were totally dominant against that lot over the road too on their far superior pitch.

Just realised the OP was more about our Centre backs.
I would definitely keep Ross Graham.
I'm conflicted about Iovu and KK because one minute I think they're heartless haddies and the next minute I'm thinking they're going to develop just fine.

The games from now till season end should tell us what we need to know.

Lovu is a good player and is probably the only one who’s actually got better as the seasons went on.

Graham id keep, absolutely would not be keeping Kerestzes- he’s a decent player but he’s not a decent defender- he gets far to caught up with what’s going on around him, he’s saft as shite too

In summer I’d like us to bring in a horrible bastard who’s in his early 30s, the centre halfs this seasons have all been too young and totally naive at times, people forget Bert is only 26

For rest of season, I’d like us to put SCH to airdrie- baffled why he hasn’t featured for them more regularly, how’s he possibly going to get better sitting on our bench. Pointless.

The Celtic result's not changed my mind, but then I don't think I've been as negative as most. This was always going to be a transitional season -- you can't sign 13 players, or whatever it is, and have the youngest squad in the division, and not face a steep learning curve. I've been frustrated with the obsession with 3-4-3, and have questioned the change in transfer strategy and the lack of leadership on the pitch. But all told, bottom six but well clear of relegation is not too bad a showing, and we've got a good basis to build on for the next few seasons.