Beardy23 wrote:

was that not lee wilkie's first game as well?

Yes
 

Observations:

Toshney - Ray doesn't seem to have learned about playing people in the best positions.Tosh has played def mid in 3 games and done well in each. Most if not all of his games in the back 4, have been a bombscare, so why weaken midfield to put more pressure on a weakened defence - Ray's double whammy.

Tactics - Ray doesn't seem to have learned. Apart from the last 2 games and the home game against Hibs, Rays team has struggled in the other dozen or so games playing a very poor version of a passing game - the team has over passed, a lot of the passing is completely unnecessary, too many of the passes are backwards, sidewards and nowhere near the goal and a fair propotion of the passes are inaccurate - yesterdays game was even stevens between passing to an opponent and putting the ball straight out of play. After Spittal went off, we had 3 forwards who were totally redundant as they got zero service. Jim McLean (who won a league and established a European pedigree) said all the matters is defending & attacking - we did neither and spent all our time on the thing that doesn't matter at all - wandering aimlessly about the middle. Ray has a choice - stick with this style and consign us to another season in this league concentrate on the things which actually matter

Defending - Ray doesn't seem to have learned. If you want to have Dixon bombing forwards, you need his berth to be covered and Fraser for all his creative ability is not the man to do that. Toshney would have prevented the attack that led to the 1st goal. Also when Durnan skewed his header wide, he was still the nearest man to the ball and had he closed down the loose ball he could have prevented the cross, instead Durnan  chose to stand with 4 or 5 other colleagues in the box and watch Baird head home.We are weak at closing down crosses and need to spend more time in training on this than we do on stupid passing. Our usual frailties were in evidence at the 3rd goal too we had plenty chances to clear our lines and give our 3 forwards some service but we chose to pass the ball among ourselves until we lost it whereupon Falkirk crossed and a duff clearance set up their 3rd. We need to stop messing about at the back, make sure every forward is closed down and that our lines are cleared.

Selection: I know he's not everone's favourite but cant figure out why on-form, 11-goal striker has to make way for a newbie - its not as if we've spent millions signing an established internationalist who has to walk straight into the team or even someone who scored an easy tap-in on his debut. There was nothing about Nicholls performance which suggested he should get the nod over Murray for a starting berth.

Free kicks: It was noticeable the difference between Falkirk and United re free kicks. Falkirk launched theirs into the box where Miller and Co legally or otherwise (and often otherwise) wreeked havoc on our defence. Willo on the other hand played his backwards, into his own half, where Durnan/Toshney played it square to VDS who in turn played it square and a pass or 2 later, possession was lost without going anywhere near the Falkirk goal and this despite us playing 2 and later 3 up front.

Ray, your job may not be an easy job but its nowhere near as difficult as you are making it. Before you slag off players take a good look at your own performance. Sort that out and perhaps we'll do a lot better

An absolute horror show.  No idea why RM changed the team that looked much improved in the second half against Raith.

SuperMario wrote:

What was nicholls like???

 


Didnt think he done much apart from kept standing past the touch line in.the first half.
made a good run at them in second with a cut back to andreu who blootered itmiles over the bar

bowers wrote:

SuperMario wrote:

What was nicholls like???

 


Didnt think he done much apart from kept standing past the touch line in.the first half.
made a good run at them in second with a cut back to andreu who blootered itmiles over the bar

 Boys lucky he never got booked for leaving the field that many times without permission!!

Begs the question does anybody remember a Season where we've went so quickly from being good to being sh1te. Looked like a week ago we're reducing the gap to Hibs, and now we canna beat the same team that we're gonna have to beat in the playoffs.

Teams aren't scared off us because we are so easy to play against, Falkirk destroyed us on Saturday to the point it was a complete humiliation.

We as a team pass the ball sideways or backwards far too often, nobody except Fraser seems to want to take a man on, we need to grow some balls and take a few chances.

Leading up to the match, a few Falkirk fans were talking about their team's weaknesses, and stated that the worst results they'd had involved their slow defence getting caught out by balls over the top (Raith put four past them at the Falkirk Stadium as an example).

Generally fans are knowledgeable about their own team's weaknesses, so I began to think the likes of Murray would have a field day. Of course, he'd have had to have been on the park for that.

And like FKT says above, we are maybe acting like it should all happen for us, without the effort being put in. Also, and this is a criticism I would level against our players over a number of years, we are far too weak and accepting of the way the game flows.

As an example, I don't think a single player raised even the slightest of complaint about the way Miller was 'using his experience' on Saturday- make no mistake, he did very well for his team- but we should have drawn some attention to this. Mikkelsen, who tried to do similar to Miller at times, was pulled up (quite rightly) for his antics, we should have been highlighting Miller's behaviour.

Finally, who committed the foul on Spittal which crocked the lad? Of course, a foul wasn't given, and we let the match flow 'til they gained a big advantage. Why do we accept these situations so feebly?

Fair play to young Laura, the truth hurts a bit.