Manager of the month for March.

Where do you all stand on Goodwin now that we’re basically safe

Despite United defeating Livingston 3-2 today that performance illustrated everything that is rotten about our coaching team.

A defence that was all over the place. A midfield that had no craft, no creativity, and an attack featuring one of the worst players ever to wear our number 9 shirt. We looked again like a group of players who had never met.
Giving the ball away easily, trying long passes with no chance of success, even short passes seemed a challenge, no bite in the tackle, no aggression in the air. Let the ball bounce once and hope it bounces again so I can get it under control. No cohesion. Terrible decision making.
An absolute embarrassment.
This coaching team are not coaching. There's no identity, no style, no cohesion. They're throwing 11 players onto the pitch and hoping they click. Occasionally they do, but it papers over the cracks. When it doesn't they just make substitutions in the hope that throwing the dice will land on a 6. It's guesswork.
We won today but for over 90 minutes I was embarrassed to watch my team.

redford_must_score wrote:

We looked again like a group of players who had never met. They're throwing 11 players onto the pitch and hoping they click.

I agree with most of what you’ve said. The bit above I picked out is why I’ll give Goodwin a bit of leeway. Near enough every season is a mass overhaul with players leaving and a near new team needing built (no just United either). 

Sometimes you get lucky (Motherwell this year) and the new players click. Last year the defence was pretty solid and this year it’s pish but we’ve got the same Manager— how does that happen? I think it’s basically a symptom of the modern game for teams of our size. Gonna be a lot of ups and downs due to constant turnover every single season. 

 

I'm standing in the Goodwin tent, pissing out, rather than outside pissing in, for now.

The recent run of games, Dundee, St Mirren, Celtic, Livvi, even to a degree Rangers away, be a bit more attack minded, give the opposition more to worry about, has shown a bit more bravery can bring rewards.

Falkirk way, maybe he got that wrong, but none of us i'd expect would have much of an issue with him (by last season's placing) if we have/had a disappointing season, if we set out to be less negative. Win, lose, draw try to win the game from the off, you get cut some slack.

I know he's signed these players, maybe not in the old fashioned way of a scout identifying them, and going watch them, but he has the final say, he coaches them, he does the tactics, but once your squad is set you have to run with what you've got.

If it wasn't the keeper, each defender comes up short, all the tactics/instructions in the world can't sort out Iovu trying to be too clever on Saturday, Ross Graham not forcing the attacker onto his weaker foot, the keeper, going down in instalments and that's just one game.

In today's game, you can't just do the hairdryer treatment or call players out in the media, but he'll know exactly what's needed, maybe he'll even get a bit of pressure from above as well, Ogren would've seen the European games, been excited about these sexy foreign players (saleable values) and be as disappointed as us, but for maybe different reasons.

A hard, but potentially exciting summer, bar a catastrophic series of results, we're safe, probably finishing 7th-8th and in the coming weeks i'd hope we'll hear about contract offers, departing players and maybe some pre-contracts.

If it's another round of eastern european bargain basement defenders incoming, or giving new deals to players who haven't been good enough over the course, then I'll rethink my stance.

japanarab wrote:

redford_must_score wrote:

We looked again like a group of players who had never met. They're throwing 11 players onto the pitch and hoping they click.

I agree with most of what you’ve said. The bit above I picked out is why I’ll give Goodwin a bit of leeway. Near enough every season is a mass overhaul with players leaving and a near new team needing built (no just United either). 

Sometimes you get lucky (Motherwell this year) and the new players click. Last year the defence was pretty solid and this year it’s pish but we’ve got the same Manager— how does that happen? I think it’s basically a symptom of the modern game for teams of our size. Gonna be a lot of ups and downs due to constant turnover every single season. 

 

Surely players can learn to gel over the course of a year.  If they can't then that's a massive problem.

redford_must_score wrote:

Despite United defeating Livingston 3-2 today that performance illustrated everything that is rotten about our coaching team.

A defence that was all over the place. A midfield that had no craft, no creativity, and an attack featuring one of the worst players ever to wear our number 9 shirt. We looked again like a group of players who had never met.
Giving the ball away easily, trying long passes with no chance of success, even short passes seemed a challenge, no bite in the tackle, no aggression in the air. Let the ball bounce once and hope it bounces again so I can get it under control. No cohesion. Terrible decision making.
An absolute embarrassment.
This coaching team are not coaching. There's no identity, no style, no cohesion. They're throwing 11 players onto the pitch and hoping they click. Occasionally they do, but it papers over the cracks. When it doesn't they just make substitutions in the hope that throwing the dice will land on a 6. It's guesswork.
We won today but for over 90 minutes I was embarrassed to watch my team.

 
This is spot on