Tek wrote:

Goalies -
AMB - Keep
Dave Richards - Bin

Defenders -
Krisztian Kereztes - Keep
Charlie Dewar (Utd hold one year option) - Keep
Ross Graham - Keep
Ryan Strain - Bin
Luca Stephenson - We won't be able to keep
Vicko Sevelj - 100% Keep

Midfielders -
Kristijan Trapanovski - Bin
Ivan Dolcek - Bin
Craig Sibbald - Keep
Amar Fatah - We won't be able to keep, sadly
Lewis O'Donnell - Bin
Isaac Pappoe - Bin 
Miller Thomson - Bin

Forwards -

Max Watters - Bin

 
Agree

Tek wrote:

Goalies -
AMB - Keep
Dave Richards - Bin

Defenders -
Krisztian Kereztes - Keep
Charlie Dewar (Utd hold one year option) - Keep
Ross Graham - Keep
Ryan Strain - Bin
Luca Stephenson - We won't be able to keep
Vicko Sevelj - 100% Keep

Midfielders -
Kristijan Trapanovski - Bin
Ivan Dolcek - Bin
Craig Sibbald - Keep
Amar Fatah - We won't be able to keep, sadly
Lewis O'Donnell - Bin
Isaac Pappoe - Bin 
Miller Thomson - Bin

Forwards -

Max Watters - Bin

Much the same but I wouldn't be offering Graham a new contract, he's not at the standard he should be IMO, he has the build for an excellent CH but hasn't got tye brain.
 

Keep- Dewar, Graham, Sevelj, Sibbald
Unsure- AMB, Trapa
Bin- Richards, Kereztes, Strain,
Dolcek, Pappoe, O'Donnell, Thomson, Watters
No Chance- Fatah, Stephenson

I think one of our problems is the lack of continuity in the playing staff.  The team don't get more than a season to play together before having a major reset and we have to restart the process of getting to bond as a team, get to know how others play and having that sixth sense about where your team mate will make that run or play that pass to.  A big part of the lack of continuity is also down to the number of loans that we have relied on to build our squad.

However, the evidence is there to suggest that a lot of our players are not up to standard.

Lets just assume that none of the loan players will be back.  (I'd love to see Fatah and Stephenson stay, but they'll be looking to step up a level or two next season).  I can't see Dolcek or Kerestzes staying, they'll want to go back to their parent clubs or get a move elsewhere.

I've think if we switched to a flat back 4, I reckon Iovu with Graham would form a better central defence than this back 3 that Goodwin seems to insist on playing.  I just don't think any of our centre backs know how to play a back 3 properly and that might play a part in why Iovu is committing so many fouls.

I would let Strain go, he just doesn't fill me with any confidence and I can't remember the last time Trapa lasted a full 90 minutes.  If you can't last the full game, you're no use to the team in my opinion.

I like the look of AMB, I just don't think the calamitous back 3 in front of him is giving him a decent level of cover at the moment.

I would personally push the boat out to keep Vicko and I would also want to keep Graham and Sibbald. 

I've heard a lot of good things about Dewar, but I can't say anymore on that because I haven't seen him with my own eyes.  Miller Thomson doesn't seem to be setting the heather alight at Ross County and I don't know much about Lewis O'Donnell other than he was touted as having potential, but looking in from a distance he seems to have stalled, or maybe even peaked.

Its fairly common knowledge that the Scottish game is played at a high tempo and i think a lot of the signings we made either weren't aware of how fast and physical our game is or they just aren't able to adapt.  Kereztes seems to want a fair bit of time on the ball and doesn't seem to adapted too well to the lack of time he gets on the ball and that kind of info won't be seen on a spreadsheet.

We need players who know how to play Scottish football.  We also need to bring in players that we can afford.  That is where the problems are, the players who know how to play Scottish football are now being priced out of our market and we are being forced to go down the random foreigner route that has had mixed levels of success.

I'm not knocking the Moneyball approach entirely, as it can clearly work for certain sports - see baseball where (in my very limited understanding of the game) a player need to be able to either hit a ball, throw a ball, catch a ball and/or run fast.  It will also work to a certain extent with football, but we have to make sure we are not 100% entirely dependent on it.

I'm guessing the that football has many more nuances than baseball as every player in a football team is up against an opponent every game and has to deal with change in tactics, different styles of play, the opponent that you as an individual are up against.  Whereas a fielder in baseball has to go to a position on the pitch and try to catch a ball and maybe throw it to the guy covering a base, he's not face to face with a different player every time he plays and I don't think there are many different ways to catch a ball other than with your left hand or your right hand.  I know baseball is nowhere near as simple as that, but at its basics, it hopefully shows my point.

Last edited by Macho Man (Today 10:29 am)