Foo Kin Twat wrote:

Was just about to post a similar topic WD83. Good interview. The carrot is there for all left at at Tannadice to do well for the rest of this season as it will determine the level that both Dundee United and them play at next season.

"It's a very difficult draw to bring players to the (Scottish) Championship...........(I) won't squander money..........I won't bring rubbish into the Club just to make a signing."

Well done Ray, I like your defiance. Now can we be a bit more attacking? Starting Saturday!

I like Ray and want him to succeed but there were a few things in that interview which made me feel uneasy. He mentioned 3 times about the recent blip in performance with 2 draws and 2 defeats in the last 4 games. Its not been a recent blip, performance has been bad for much longer. If he cant see that then I worry about his ability to sort things out. He also mentioned punting Tope because of his work rate not getting back to defend and I think thats a problem as Tope has strengths - he can beat a man, he can outsprint opponents, he can can cross a ball, very useful given we now have a big target man up front - why did Ray not use Tope strengths instead of focussing on his weaknesses. I think we should have kept him as an impact sub when we needed to chase a game. Ray also mentioned he been after Nicholls since the start of the season - there were a lot of players we were linked with - Zubar, Longworth, Joe Ward, Zak Jules, a Trinidadian forward, Denny Henderson, Haber, Florian Dick, Christian Supusepa  - no mention of Nicholls and if he was the big target why didn't we go for him on day 1 of the window rather than 3 hours before the deadline 31 days later. Finally he stated that players had to maintain standards or they would be out of the team - clearly this must be a new rule as  he hasn't applied it thus far this season. I posted before saying I wanted to hear from Ray (and others) not sure I liked what I heard. Would love to be wrong
 

annanarab wrote:

Foo Kin Twat wrote:

Was just about to post a similar topic WD83. Good interview. The carrot is there for all left at at Tannadice to do well for the rest of this season as it will determine the level that both Dundee United and them play at next season.

"It's a very difficult draw to bring players to the (Scottish) Championship...........(I) won't squander money..........I won't bring rubbish into the Club just to make a signing."

Well done Ray, I like your defiance. Now can we be a bit more attacking? Starting Saturday!

I like Ray and want him to succeed but there were a few things in that interview which made me feel uneasy. He mentioned 3 times about the recent blip in performance with 2 draws and 2 defeats in the last 4 games. Its not been a recent blip, performance has been bad for much longer. If he cant see that then I worry about his ability to sort things out. He also mentioned punting Tope because of his work rate not getting back to defend and I think thats a problem as Tope has strengths - he can beat a man, he can outsprint opponents, he can can cross a ball, very useful given we now have a big target man up front - why did Ray not use Tope strengths instead of focussing on his weaknesses. I think we should have kept him as an impact sub when we needed to chase a game. Ray also mentioned he been after Nicholls since the start of the season - there were a lot of players we were linked with - Zubar, Longworth, Joe Ward, Zak Jules, a Trinidadian forward, Denny Henderson, Haber, Florian Dick, Christian Supusepa  - no mention of Nicholls and if he was the big target why didn't we go for him on day 1 of the window rather than 3 hours before the deadline 31 days later. Finally he stated that players had to maintain standards or they would be out of the team - clearly this must be a new rule as  he hasn't applied it thus far this season. I posted before saying I wanted to hear from Ray (and others) not sure I liked what I heard. Would love to be wrong
 

Excellent post.


 

annanarab wrote:

Foo Kin Twat wrote:

Was just about to post a similar topic WD83. Good interview. The carrot is there for all left at at Tannadice to do well for the rest of this season as it will determine the level that both Dundee United and them play at next season.

"It's a very difficult draw to bring players to the (Scottish) Championship...........(I) won't squander money..........I won't bring rubbish into the Club just to make a signing."

Well done Ray, I like your defiance. Now can we be a bit more attacking? Starting Saturday!

I like Ray and want him to succeed but there were a few things in that interview which made me feel uneasy. He mentioned 3 times about the recent blip in performance with 2 draws and 2 defeats in the last 4 games. Its not been a recent blip, performance has been bad for much longer. If he cant see that then I worry about his ability to sort things out. He also mentioned punting Tope because of his work rate not getting back to defend and I think thats a problem as Tope has strengths - he can beat a man, he can outsprint opponents, he can can cross a ball, very useful given we now have a big target man up front - why did Ray not use Tope strengths instead of focussing on his weaknesses. I think we should have kept him as an impact sub when we needed to chase a game. Ray also mentioned he been after Nicholls since the start of the season - there were a lot of players we were linked with - Zubar, Longworth, Joe Ward, Zak Jules, a Trinidadian forward, Denny Henderson, Haber, Florian Dick, Christian Supusepa  - no mention of Nicholls and if he was the big target why didn't we go for him on day 1 of the window rather than 3 hours before the deadline 31 days later. Finally he stated that players had to maintain standards or they would be out of the team - clearly this must be a new rule as  he hasn't applied it thus far this season. I posted before saying I wanted to hear from Ray (and others) not sure I liked what I heard. Would love to be wrong
 

Annan I see your point regarding Tope. However his weaknesses were killing the team. He was making an average fullback in Dixon look absolute murder. If you watch any half decent team when an opposition winger gets the ball he is always up against 2 sometimes 3 men. If Tope was not prepared to cover the fullback he was a liability and had to go.
As regards RMs comments all managers have to blether shite to the media. He is trying to keep the players in a positive mode I don't think it would help the mood amongst the players if he came out and said you've all been shite since October.
 

Last edited by Beharder (03/2/2017 4:30 pm)