Championship Play Offs

Good result for St Mirren gubbing Morton to move out of the bottom 2 above Raith, hoping like feck Raith go dooooooon with the big grinning toothed aunt as their manager.

Alloa are my favourites to go up as I don't think either Ayr or Raith will beat them, and don't see Brechin, Airdrie of East Fife standing in their way either, whichever of those three makes up the other top 4 spots.

While I'd love to disagree, I can't - I have nothing against Rovers but it would make me laugh if their current manager took them down.

Bertie Bassett wrote:While I'd love to disagree, I can't - I have nothing against Rovers but it would make me laugh if their current manager took them down.

 

Aye but at least they'd go down playing stylish football.

Hoping Ayr can get above them now just to make sure of it, maybe we could tempt wee Bobby Barr back too.

None of our wing players are particularly fast, Rafa and Cadden are skilful players but neither of them has a burst of pace, Mullin is a bit quicker but still not blessed with the kind of pace to rip defenders to bits, we could do with a winger that is fast and direct and i'd love wee Bobby back. It would give us a good range of skills on the wing to choose from and something to put the frighteners on defenders, nobody likes playing against a quick direct player.

Normal service is resumed, now I can disagree cause I think Cadden is quicker than Mullin by some distance but Mullin reads the game better so is often in a better starting position. I've seen Cadden switch on the turbo boost and blast past his opponent but I've never seen Mullin do that.

Both of them provide a better cross the Barr whose biggest problem was his final ball. He could be brilliant (5-2 win at Grangemouth) or really poor (he was often frustrating).

Knew it wouldn't last.

I don't see either Mullin or Cadden as quick direct players, Cadden has skill to get past players but not by speed, which is what Barr does best. Barr just knock the ball past and goes for it, or runs straight at a player which forces them to back off cause they're feart to commit themselves and get taken and left for dead.

Mullin hasn't the pace or skill to get past a player and leave them for dead, Cadden can get past a player but I've seen him being caught again and then beating them again, which is fine too.

They've all got bad points, Mullin's is he's reluctant to try and take a player on, Cadden's is he doesn't pass the ball when he should and ends up losing it taking one too many players on, and as you said Bobby's final ball was a bit dodgy but I think he got better, though he also liked cutting inside to have a shot.

I still say that all 3 would give us options as they all bring something different to the game.

Now that's better, I can agree with that, except Cadden does have the pace to blow past players, he's done it enough to show he is capable but he should have been doing it more. His biggest weakness is his reluctance to go in when a heavy challenge is clearly coming his way. He got injured in Edinburgh because he was hesitant in the challenge and if he takes a heavy challenge he is then reluctant to try to rip his opponent again.

His tracking back is surprisingly good given what I've just said.

Barr would certainly give us another option, especially if we retain Keaghan

Sore one for Raith tonight, Hibs scoring in the 93rd minute to win 3-2. What a shame.

Dumbarton are almost safe, what a surprise.

7	Dumbarton	34	-9	38
No movement8	raif	34	-13	36
No movement9	St Mirren	34	-9	35
No movement10	Ayr	34	-24	33

Ayr v Hibs
St Mirren v Raith
Dundee Utd V Dumbarton

----------------------------------

Dumbarton v Falkirk
Hibs v St Mirren
Raith v Ayr


Interesting last 2 games for Raith, can't really ask for more than that, the 2 teams they're involved with in a relegation tussle are playing them in their last 2 games, they don't have to rely on other teams doing them a favour. Huge game for St Mirren and Raith on Saturday.

On paper Dumbarton should lose both of their games.

Saints on current form should beat Raith but probably not Hibs.

Raith should beat Ayr but Ayr could get a draw.

Ayr could also draw at home to Hibs

That would put Saints & Dumbarton on 38, Raith on 39 if they beat Ayr or 37 if they draw.

I think Saints GD is better than Dumbarton's - which looks like Dumbarton could still conceivably face the play-off, with Ayr going down automatically.

Interesting scrap, just glad we're not involved this year

Dumbarton always manage to pull out an unexpected win, wouldn't bet against them beating Falkirk at home. Utd are inconsistent so they could get something from that game too. Even a draw would prob be enough for them to stay up.

Hopefully St Mirren beat Raith and Ayr get something from their game against Hibs and it'll all go down to the last game, just to make it extra exciting.

Yeah i'd much rather have a nice relaxing end to the season and be safe. Absolutely loved this season winning the league with games to spare. Even more enjoyable when we're still winning games after we've won the league.

Especially when we are picking a team which includes players who for most of the season have been first team squad members rather than first xi selections.

The January transfer window made a lot of sense, we got rid of all the fringe players that weren't going to get a game and brought in players who could all easily start in our first team, so quality wise it didn't matter who was starting. Even Sinclair has looked good the rare times he's had a game, I feel sorry for him having to compete for a position where we've got so many talented midfield players.

Cracking win for St Mirren over Raith, and Dumbarton getting a draw means they are almost certainly safe. 3 points ahead of 9th placed Raith and a better GD of 9 goals.

Ayr are cream crackered now and a certainty for 10th, no chance they'll win 10 nil against Raith to finish level on points and GD. Which means all they have left to play for next week is making sure Raith stay 9th, so going to be interesting last game of the season with St Mirren also playing a team who has nothing left to play for, Hibs.

Hopefully Hibs players are thinking about their title presentation celebrations after the game and not fully committed. All St Mirren needs is a draw, with them having 14 goals better GD than Raith and being 2 points above them, could be dodgy going out to get a draw though, but if it is all square with 5 or 10 mins to go I doubt either Hibs or St Mirren would be that bothered about going for a winner and might just pass the ball about till the final whistle.

While I agree that Ayr won't get a big enough win over Raith to relegate them, they only need a 5 goal win to achieve a 10 goal swing & that would be enough to give Ayr 9th on goals scored.

We can but hope but I can't see it happening.

You keep coming up with the having nothing to play for line... But you mocked Jim McIntyre for saying that about us and Alloa. We have not stopped playing yet, so why should Hibs?

Yeah and I also said hopefully their players would have their minds on the post match celebrations. We were different though, we all knew we'd be up for that game, we'd been leading up to it for a couple of weeks and knew we'd field a strong team and the players were going out to win it. Besides Hibs aren't Livi, their players are big time charies and wont be giving a feck about the last game of the season.
Tbh I doubt ours will either when we play Rovers next week, and Rovers have nowt to play for either.

I expect Hibs will field a strong team next week for the same reason we did yesterday, trophy time.

If raif stay up they'll surely keep Hughes and I don't think they'll survive that, certainly making a mess of it so far.

LiviLion wrote:If raif stay up they'll surely keep Hughes and I don't think they'll survive that, certainly making a mess of it so far.

Good point, would be eve funnier watching him getting the tin tack half way through next season, even better if it was after a defeat against us, but I still hope he goes down this season.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UMfNgwFsiUc&feature=youtu.be

Have a listen to 8 minutes of pure guff from John Hughes.

Bertie Bassett wrote:I expect Hibs will field a strong team next week for the same reason we did yesterday, trophy time.

I'd expect them to yep, still not sure their players will be fully committed to the game though, esp if it gets tasty, they'll not be wanting an injury in the last game of the season. If I were St Mirren i'd fire in early with a couple of meaty tackles just to test them out.

orco wrote:
Have a listen to 8 minutes of pure guff from John Hughes.

Jesus wept, he's lost the plot.

Listened to a whole lot of his guff when he was at Livi, his guff patter never changes.

Hughes is just not a manager (should maybe just stop the sentence here) you want for a struggling team. He gets away with it for a season or two when he has good players like at ICT, but it is only a matter of time till it goes pear shaped.

LiviLion wrote:If raif stay up they'll surely keep Hughes and I don't think they'll survive that, certainly making a mess of it so far.

Not so sure, they are worse off now than when he took over & Darren Young (who, IMO, has done very well to initially bring Albion up & then stay in the 3rd tier since doing so) will be available.

orco wrote:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UMfNgwFsiUc&feature=youtu.be

Have a listen to 8 minutes of pure guff from John Hughes.

Actually found myself agreeing with some of his comments (many modern players think they are better than they are) but to essentially publicly describe his team as a bunch of useless cowards may not go down too well in the dressing room, that by his own comments already think he's talking rubbish. It was an exercise in "How to instil confidence in a struggling team that the manager is right behind you - with a knife".

He will either get a reaction from his players wanting to prove him wrong & they will fight for the cause, or they'll down tools in the hope that he gets punted.

Notice though that none of it was his fault and notice too his contradiction of himself. On the one hand they are not a good enough side to out-pass the opposition, so they have to make it difficult for their opponents to out-pass them.... but later on... brave players will look to make that pass.

He can't help himself with his footballing philosophy of how the game should be played, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass Only problem is if there is no end product it gets you nothing, and all too often his type football loses you goals as it is just too predictable.

Like I previously said, he isn't the manager to bring in when a team are struggling, he doesn't understand how to adapt to what quality of players you have, instead, he wants them to magically be good enough to play how he wants the game played, whether they're good enough to play like that or not.

I haven't watched Rovers but it wouldn't surprise me if the players are confused at what they should be doing and that will be why they're looking lost out there and being humped 5-0. He'll have them trying to play it out of defence when they aren't good enough to do so, playing in a formation and style they aren't used to and basically looking like a bunch of individuals who don't know where they should be or what their team mates are meant to be doing. But that wont be Hughes fault.

Bertie Bassett wrote:

LiviLion wrote:If raif stay up they'll surely keep Hughes and I don't think they'll survive that, certainly making a mess of it so far.

Not so sure, they are worse off now than when he took over & Darren Young (who, IMO, has done very well to initially bring Albion up & then stay in the 3rd tier since doing so) will be available.

And Paul Hartley is already available...

Liviforever wrote:Like I previously said, he isn't the manager to bring in when a team are struggling, he doesn't understand how to adapt to what quality of players you have, instead, he wants them to magically be good enough to play how he wants the game played, whether they're good enough to play like that or not.

I haven't watched Rovers but it wouldn't surprise me if the players are confused at what they should be doing and that will be why they're looking lost out there and being humped 5-0. He'll have them trying to play it out of defence when they aren't good enough to do so, playing in a formation and style they aren't used to and basically looking like a bunch of individuals who don't know where they should be or what their team mates are meant to be doing. But that wont be Hughes fault.

Agree totally, in fact you I agreed before you added your qualifier of 'into a struggling team'.
I said he was the wrong choice when we brought him in & his career since hasn't changed my opinion. He got lucky with the cup win in that he had inherited a decent side but on the day itself they were outplayed for much of the match. The following season was when his influence really took hold & the Caley decline began.

If I was on the board at ICT I'd be lining up Paul Hartley because I'm not convinced Foran is ready for management.