Where are the goals coming from?

[redandwhite1874]

I have disagreed with people saying the club have no ambition. However, talk of nothing to play for this season and preparing for next season seems to me to be knee jerking the other way and absolutely gives the impression of no ambition. A football club should always be seeking to do its best; and whilst I think we have made a mistake in not bringing folk in I am happy no one at the club will have the 'lets sort of coast through the rest of the season as the hard work is done' attitude.

Bringing in good players now would also have been about preparing for next season.

[Mrsweetleftfoot]

What's the obsession with top 6? Who cares really, I mean finish as high as we can obviously but don't spend money just to finish "top 6". There's no massive cash boost and the split is a farce not a target in my humble opinion. No relegation is achieved, Europe is all but gone. Rest of season is only about youth and preparing for next year. It's the worst of the SPFL, you start a competition knowing you can't win it. Pretty bollocks really.

That's you demonstrating a lack of ambition!! What is wrong with aspiring to better things?? I would rather play Dundee U, Celtic, Aberdeen etc than St Mirren etc post split......regardless of your views on the split itself.
We had a chance, without breaking the bank or compromising our ethos, to strengthen in one or two areas......we didn't do it. I'm disappointed.
In addition, I understand that this is a rich vein in the life of Accies but I also fail to see what is wrong with striving for something special this year......not unrealistic aims??
But, hey, the team are doing a grand job, on and off the pitch.

[RyanT]

All of this talk of ambition... Well, I see a lot of ambition with how the club is being run, and it's LONG TERM ambition. We are staying in the black, building and improving our infrastructure, and continuing to invest in our youth policy.

Could we throw some caution to the wind and dump a fair bit of funds into a bunch of signings that MIGHT pay off? Maybe, but throwing all your eggs into trying to maximize your team's performance during the current season is exactly what has gotten a whole list of clubs into a whole lot of debt.

I would rather see us build on what has gotten us this far, and maybe, just maybe, with some time we could become an established premier league club instead of a yo-yo club. Beats the hell out of spending heavily for the one shot at glory, which even if it did pay off, would likely cripple the club financially.

[Alfie Olek]

Well it won’t be Gow. He is away to try his luck with saint mirren.

[Willie Wastle]

1. Our highest finish since the Second World War is 7th. 6th place is therefore a meaningful target.

2. There's more prize money the higher up the league you finish.

3. If we finish top six, then all our games after the split will be against better opponents. That probably means fewer points, but certainly more money, and means we are measuring ourselves against a higher standard.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm not "obsessed" with finishing 6th. It is, however, undeniably better than finishing 7th, and it's attainable.

[H9crx]

Think we should play a

4-4-1-1


With EB playing off Scotland, I think he will work in this slot.

What is EB squad number?

[Todd_is_God]

20, why?

[H9crx]

Think we need a song for him, show that the fans want him to be the next big thing! #EB20

I remember last year #22 was on the bench when he was new. We all sang the Toney Andru 22 song when he was warming up. Players need confidence and I think this would have been a big confidence boost and helped him becoming the player he was for us.

If this is a new era and we will give #EB20 a real shot. We need to get behind him and if we can show EB the same love we did Toney it can't hurt!

[WILF]

What's the obsession with top 6? Who cares really, I mean finish as high as we can obviously but don't spend money just to finish "top 6". There's no massive cash boost and the split is a farce not a target in my humble opinion. No relegation is achieved, Europe is all but gone. Rest of season is only about youth and preparing for next year. It's the worst of the SPFL, you start a competition knowing you can't win it. Pretty bollocks really.

That's you demonstrating a lack of ambition!! What is wrong with aspiring to better things?? I would rather play Dundee U, Celtic, Aberdeen etc than St Mirren etc post split......regardless of your views on the split itself.
We had a chance, without breaking the bank or compromising our ethos, to strengthen in one or two areas......we didn't do it. I'm disappointed.
In addition, I understand that this is a rich vein in the life of Accies but I also fail to see what is wrong with striving for something special this year......not unrealistic aims??
But, hey, the team are doing a grand job, on and off the pitch.

I cant get excited about top 6. Europe yes, winning the league yes.

Top 6, no and I wouldn't spend significant money to improve our chances of attaining when in all likelihood we will do it anyway. It's not lack of ambition it's pragmatism, foresight and belief in our youth.

[redandwhite1874]

Having lost Neil, Andreu and MAC from the squad the pragmatic thing would have been to replace them in some way (in part), with the foresight that the loss of that kind of quality and experience could really impact negatively on the team. Belief in youth needs to be supported by experience to show the way and give a platform for them to come through. That the club was trying to bring in a couple of experienced players on the last day would tend to suggest they have come to the same conclusion, so having not got anyone we can't turn around and say we didn't need them!

I certainly don't want the club to waste money, certainly on Loy who will be free in a few months for example. But pragmatically you need to say the club is in a whole new environment in terms of the loss of staff, our league positions and out financial position. Therefore, in new circumstances sometimes need you to revise your operating model (even slightly). And this is not about blame, and you can understand that the club was perhaps too focussed on the management stuff and took their eye off the ball on the playing side. The return of Scotland (clearly a short term fix) shows how we got boxed into a corner and left ourselves with no options.

Its hard to comment on what options were and weren't available; but our competitors managed to get Swanson and Taylor in for example - players who would have thought could have helped us in the current difficult position.

PS none of the above is meant to ignore the potential impact of the 2 new guys who we cant juts right off cos we don't know anything about them.

[Alfie Olek]

Having lost Neil, Andreu and MAC from the squad the pragmatic thing would have been to replace them in some way (in part), with the foresight that the loss of that kind of quality and experience could really impact negatively on the team. Belief in youth needs to be supported by experience to show the way and give a platform for them to come through. That the club was trying to bring in a couple of experienced players on the last day would tend to suggest they have come to the same conclusion, so having not got anyone we can't turn around and say we didn't need them!

I certainly don't want the club to waste money, certainly on Loy who will be free in a few months for example. But pragmatically you need to say the club is in a whole new environment in terms of the loss of staff, our league positions and out financial position. Therefore, in new circumstances sometimes need you to revise your operating model (even slightly). And this is not about blame, and you can understand that the club was perhaps too focussed on the management stuff and took their eye off the ball on the playing side. The return of Scotland (clearly a short term fix) shows how we got boxed into a corner and left ourselves with no options.

Its hard to comment on what options were and weren't available; but our competitors managed to get Swanson and Taylor in for example - players who would have thought could have helped us in the current difficult position.

PS none of the above is meant to ignore the potential impact of the 2 new guys who we cant juts right off cos we don't know anything about them.

A precise and pragmatic summary

[Accies4ever]

I think with all that's happened over the last month, that a change in approach may also be due.
We've stuck to the same format that Alex Neil left us.

Basically a 4-1-4-1, or a derivative of that.

There is no right or wrong formation, but instead the formation and play philosophy should be built around the qualities/strengths of the players that we have, coupled with the manager's thoughts of how to play and/or neutralise the opposition.

With our goal threats of Andreu and to a lesser degree Curier now gone, this is where Canning and the managerial staff have to earn their corn.

I'm hoping that they have been trying out new things over this week, both with the new players and ones we already had.
In training, trying players in unfamiliar positions and different tactics to see what works and what doesn't.
It may well be that we end up back at the same formation, but it's worth a go.

We still have a talented squad, but one now with few goals scored, in it.

P.S I'm not for a second suggesting reverting to a "park the bus" approach, but we need to quickly come up with an approach that gets us results.

[Alfie Olek]

P.S I'm not for a second suggesting reverting to a "park the bus" approach, but we need to quickly come up with an approach that gets us results.

Agree and it's got to involve Brophy and Scotland up front. Don't start mucking about with the defence just now but we need to shape things differently up front.

[Euan]

1. Our highest finish since the Second World War is 7th. 6th place is therefore a meaningful target.

2. There's more prize money the higher up the league you finish.

3. If we finish top six, then all our games after the split will be against better opponents. That probably means fewer points, but certainly more money, and means we are measuring ourselves against a higher standard.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm not "obsessed" with finishing 6th. It is, however, undeniably better than finishing 7th, and it's attainable.

Agree 100%, it's what we should be aiming for...and better than 6th when we do it

[H9crx]

I think with all that's happened over the last month, that a change in approach may also be due.
We've stuck to the same format that Alex Neil left us.

Basically a 4-1-4-1, or a derivative of that.

There is no right or wrong formation, but instead the formation and play philosophy should be built around the qualities/strengths of the players that we have, coupled with the manager's thoughts of how to play and/or neutralise the opposition.

With our goal threats of Andreu and to a lesser degree Curier now gone, this is where Canning and the managerial staff have to earn their corn.

I'm hoping that they have been trying out new things over this week, both with the new players and ones we already had.
In training, trying players in unfamiliar positions and different tactics to see what works and what doesn't.
It may well be that we end up back at the same formation, but it's worth a go.

We still have a talented squad, but one now with few goals scored, in it.

P.S I'm not for a second suggesting reverting to a "park the bus" approach, but we need to quickly come up with an approach that gets us results.

4-4-1-1 with EB behind Scotland

[PrideOfLanarkshire]

Think we should play a

4-4-1-1


With EB playing off Scotland, I think he will work in this slot.

What is EB squad number?

Say we play that, EB gets sent off. Scotland gets injured. What next?

We NEED a striker. We don't even have a striker between the age of 20 and 36... that for a 'Premiership Team' is pathetic.

[acciesusername]

After that we'd be reduced to playing a random midfielder up front - as the u20s had to do last night with Sumsky.

Currently we seem to have 2 strikers between the u20s & 1st team, fingers crossed it doesnt take too long to find the right people to bring in. This really cant continue ...

[redandwhite1874]

I cant see much benefit at all in asking EB to take over Tony's position.

[Accies4ever]

To be honest, whatever new formation or starting XI we come up with, don't think it can regularly involve Scotland.

I'm sure even Jason would admit that he's not quick enough now and that's not even counting how fit he is.
He could maybe last one game, but a number in a row....no.

That leaves us with Brophy, but I'd be tempted to play 2 attacking midfielders (maybe Mackinnon and Redmond, although does anyone know if the new Czech midfielder is an attacking midfielder).

How we line up behind that is debatable. Perhaps a 3-4-2-1 formation???

[Thethirdproclaimer]

I'm as big an advocate of our 'youth first' policy as anyone, but the last few posts just sum up our lack of activity (call it what you want) in the transfer market. One striker is all anyone is asking for, and all the team really needs. Talk of playing random midfielders, changing formations etc says it all - ridiculous position to put ourselves in, all for the want of one striker.