A Lack of Signings This Window Could Kill Our Season

As much as we do need to bring in two imo theres a slight over reaction to last night imo. Last night was a carbon copy of the game at there place where we they sat in defended really well and it took a moment of brilliance from borna that day to secure 3 points. If St Mirren had a striker that could put the ball in the net they'd be pushing for a top 6 place
 
Still a bit of the window to go. Hopefully the club is in the process of getting 1 or 2 faces in and things are just on the low-low at the moment.
 
Completely agree with the OP here.

You can bet your bottom dollar, the refs will be going hell bent on sending Morelos off. This will result in an accumulation of games missed, and I fear he will be out for 4/5 games in a very critical part of the season, i.e. the split.

We need another striker and badly. Last night we had nobody to come on and change the game. Extremely worrying. If we signed another striker, I'd explore the possibility of playing two up top in absence of Morelos.
 
I keep seeing our management say that the squad needs to be trimmed and we will add 1 player maximum, I find this to be extremely alarming.

We do have deadwood that needs to be shifted but at the same time, we are very light in key areas and could really do with strengthening now rather than in the summer if we are serious about challenging for the title.

Midfield:

Our current first choice midfield 3 is Davis, Jack and Kamara, given how we always play one of Aribo or Arifled in the advanced role on the right, we more often than not only have 1 midfield option on the bench. We are one injury or suspension away from having absolutely no adequate cover.

Winger/Wide#10:

With all due respect to Jones, Barker and Ojo, they are either not suited to our system or flat out not good enough in at least one case.

We are a Kent injury away from a crisis on the left and have no viable options to go with two conventional wingers should we ever feel the need.

Striker:

Morelos is the best player in the league by a distance in my opinion however is prone to suspension, it doesn't matter if you take the view that he's refereed to a different standard or it's all his fault(I dont know why you'd think this) but it's fact.

Defoe is a top finisher but at his age, a simple hamstring injury could end his season, potentially even his career if it became a recurring problem.

I've seen lots of people say that you can't sign someone to come here and happily sit in the stand as 3rd choice, that is absolute nonsense as you sign players to compete for places, not concede them.

Left Back:

Barisic is the difference between our league position this year compared to last, the gulf in quality between him and Halliday/Flanagan is too big, we need someone who plays in a similar style.


Who would you like to see brought in OP?
 
I agree we need another striker/ creative number 10 player. Feel we are ok midfield wise. Anyone know how long Stewart is out for?
 
I think we do need a striker to shake up our options, but we already have stewart as a third choice option, are we really relegating him to 4th choice striker based on the handful of appearances he has had, and what genuine quality do we bring in to be third choice striker? Would be handy if any of the development team were available

left back cover? We have halliday and flannigan. You can be critical of what they bring, but i doubt we are going to sign another cover for that area, given we have a bloated squad already. How many left backs do we want to have?

I reckon we will see midfield cover coming in. With King, Dorrans, Doc all leaving/on their way, then that has to open up some available wages. You would also have someone who genuinely had a chance of some decent game time aswell, as there is no way Davis will be able to keep up 2 games a week to his high standard. He will need to be managed.
 
I think after Stranraer and even last night the manager is well aware he needs something.

A forward option, game like last night need someone who can hold ball up and bring others into it. Morelos will be back, but given the agenda, he will be out a lot more second half of season
 
None of our midfield are particularly a threat going forward. This is highlighted more often than not when Morelos doesn't play. He creates so much off his own back. We dont present Defoe with the chances he thrives on.
 
It’s an absolute certainty Morelos will get suspended again meaning another chunk of games missed. That is the biggest worry for me.

Morelos is beyond the 6 bookings in the first 19 games threshold. The next threshold is 12 bookings over the season and he’s only on either 4 or 5 (depends on the status of the post-match caution). He is, therefore, miles away from a suspension due to accumulated bookings. I won’t bore you with the details but there’s a long thread on it.

The only way he gets suspended is through being dismissed. Prior to the Motherwell game you’d have said that was unlikely. With fair refereeing he won’t incur another suspension. Oh wait.....
 
I understand the desperation with some with regards to recruitment but we have got to where we are with a core group of players. We have managed to get a few off the books that weren’t contributing as well. Last January we got guys in and played them that totally disrupted our team and they took time to get up to speed.
The only signing I would make would be a striker who’s long term goal would be to replace Morelos. Get him in. Training with us, maybe a few sub appearances or games in the cup. Or loan him to someone in the SPL to get experience. Sell Buff in the summer and there is less pressure to get a replacement and teams won’t hold us to ransom
 
I keep seeing our management say that the squad needs to be trimmed and we will add 1 player maximum, I find this to be extremely alarming.

We do have deadwood that needs to be shifted but at the same time, we are very light in key areas and could really do with strengthening now rather than in the summer if we are serious about challenging for the title.

Midfield:

Our current first choice midfield 3 is Davis, Jack and Kamara, given how we always play one of Aribo or Arifled in the advanced role on the right, we more often than not only have 1 midfield option on the bench. We are one injury or suspension away from having absolutely no adequate cover.

Winger/Wide#10:

With all due respect to Jones, Barker and Ojo, they are either not suited to our system or flat out not good enough in at least one case.

We are a Kent injury away from a crisis on the left and have no viable options to go with two conventional wingers should we ever feel the need.

Striker:

Morelos is the best player in the league by a distance in my opinion however is prone to suspension, it doesn't matter if you take the view that he's refereed to a different standard or it's all his fault(I dont know why you'd think this) but it's fact.

Defoe is a top finisher but at his age, a simple hamstring injury could end his season, potentially even his career if it became a recurring problem.

I've seen lots of people say that you can't sign someone to come here and happily sit in the stand as 3rd choice, that is absolute nonsense as you sign players to compete for places, not concede them.

Left Back:

Barisic is the difference between our league position this year compared to last, the gulf in quality between him and Halliday/Flanagan is too big, we need someone who plays in a similar style.
So what you are saying is, we are fine at centre half!
 
We need to add a striker and some goals in our midfield. Neither are easy to find nor are they cheap. Sure the club are working on it.

what we don’t want is more squad fillers.
 
I keep seeing our management say that the squad needs to be trimmed and we will add 1 player maximum, I find this to be extremely alarming.

We do have deadwood that needs to be shifted but at the same time, we are very light in key areas and could really do with strengthening now rather than in the summer if we are serious about challenging for the title.

Midfield:

Our current first choice midfield 3 is Davis, Jack and Kamara, given how we always play one of Aribo or Arifled in the advanced role on the right, we more often than not only have 1 midfield option on the bench. We are one injury or suspension away from having absolutely no adequate cover.

Winger/Wide#10:

With all due respect to Jones, Barker and Ojo, they are either not suited to our system or flat out not good enough in at least one case.

We are a Kent injury away from a crisis on the left and have no viable options to go with two conventional wingers should we ever feel the need.

With Aribo and Arfield, we've got two players to cover a role in the right sided attacking area and with that midfield three (and both JA and SA being able to play in there) it's not really an issue at all.

Even less so when you consider you've not mentioned Greg Stewart at all whose prime role is in that position too.

You've skewed that argument to make it look far worse than it is. Yes, Barker won't cut it. That will be addressed in the summer when he's moved on but you can't argue about three people who are all good enough to play in multiple positions and say we're short in those positions.

We can't buy a player for the chance that Kent might get injured. It's not 1994 anymore.

We also have Jordan Jones coming back from injury who can play in the attacking role. As we saw with Kent last night, we're not playing with wingers as the two spots either side of the central striker roam right, left and centre. He's not a £7m player like Kent but he showed before his injury he was a decent option for the squad.

I'd happily take an attacking midfielder with a goal threat in this window but the chances of getting one that's better than we have isn't huge. There's no point in us signing a player for £1m - £2m quid who is no better than what we have.

Same with the left back situation. We're not going to spend money on a backup to Barisic who will hopefully never player. Halliday isn't good enough long term and again will be away in the summer but he'll do for 1 or 2 games when he might be called upon.

Just like tonight when we're missing Alfie and Tav and can accomodate Flanagan in the team, it's the same for if Borna was out. The onus is then on Defoe, Kent, Jack and Davis to make the difference and along with the other senior pros, we managed that.

We could do with a player or two as is always helpful in January but your OP made it look like doomsday otherwise.
 
The goals will come I hope.

That lots goals had dried up a fair bit pre xmas, they've now changed formation to 2 up front. That may leave them open but they seem to think they'll concede 1 or 2 but score more than the opposition.


We need to be honest with ourselves and make sure every key position is covered with a quality replacement. right now, it isnt.
 
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The goals will come I hope.

That lots goals had dried up a fair bit pre xmas, they've now changed formation to 2 up front. That may leave them open but they seem to think they'll concede 1 or 2 but score more than the opposition.


We need to be honest with ourselves and make sure every key position is covered with a quality replacement. right now, it isnt.

Their game was on in the background at work so I got to see more of them than I've ever wanted to.

Julian is a bit like Katic in he's very dangerous with dead ball situations. Edouard is a talented striker.

If they stick with 3 at the back and 2 up front, we'll destroy them.

Griffiths was dire. Couldn't control anything that came to feet, and moves were breaking down as soon as he was involved. Could hear the groans as well. Of course he gets lucky with his goal with terrible defending and even worse goalkeeping.

Id be very comfortable if they wanted to play 3 against our front 3. One v one would be a massive advantage to us
 
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I agree that when certain players are out the squad looks piss poor. Full back ares are a huge concern as the drop of to Flanagan is nuts.
Striker since Gerrard under uses Stewart so much then we need another option as Alfredo could get sent off again for breathing.
 
Absolute nonsense.

We have 4 players to come back in Morelos, Stewart, Tavernier and Helander who can all make a big difference from February onwards.

Teams are coming in and sitting 9 men behind the ball, any team would struggle from time to time breaking that shite down.

Some amount of knicker wetters on here. Rangers won the game and were never in any problems last night, gratned the performance could be better but that will come now that they have a couple of games under the belt to shake the ring rust off.
 
its a bit worrying that there isnt even a hint of a player coming in,window shuts next week,we need another striker
 
maybe the management team saw that the game on Friday took a lot out of the boy physically and mentally and decided it would be best for him not to play
You might be right. But there’s no doubt we were very limited down the flanks last night.
 
It did strike me last night that, if Defoe had to come off, we didn't really have a replacement on the bench. Yes Kent could maybe have played more centrally but he is not the same type of player. We definitely look a little light in the final third, injuries happen
 
As usual there’s a few extreme views where on one side everything is peachy and on the other,we’re going to fail miserably at the end up.
I’d suggest the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

We lack quality in depth in certain areas.
Anyone of Kent,Aribo or Alfie missing and it’s either a step down in quality or a change to a completely different player(JD) that requires a different approach altogether.

Our midfielders are very similar in a lot of ways,they control games very well and have been in good form-but against teams parking the bus you need something different,someone that can play ten yards further forward and unlock a defence with a pass,one-two or capable of scoring from outside the box with a long range strike.

It’s a huge ask given the amount of money we’ve spent in the summer,but someone who can play across the front of a higher level than what we have in reserve just now, and a more attacking midfielder would secure 55 imo.
 
Our recruitment seems to have focussed on improving defensively and providing pace and skill on the flanks in order to unlock defenses who regularly sit in with 10 men behind the ball, hence the acquisition of Jones, Hastie, Ojo, Barker and obviously the premanent addition of Kent. I think Greg Stewart was also brought in as a proven SPFL player who could play anywhere along the front. We also ditched Lafferty.

Aside from that we have brought in players like Polster and King as cover too, neither of whom have made any impact and obviously King was moved on.

Kamara and Defoe were brought in this time last season and improved us again.

I think we have to strengthen otherwise we risk falling behind.

We really could do with a tall, powerful attacking midfielder who has experience rather than young raw talent. I wouldnt be adverse to a loan signing for someone who isn't getting game time at EPL level (a bit like Defoe). (In saying this no names spring to mind!!)
 
Should make an effort to get Shankland in and be prepared to change tactics for some games and play with 2 forwards in the middle. Maybe it will be too much money, or they wont sell at this time of the season but least they end up with an unhappy player. Hes ready for Rangers now no doubt we need another striker. Full points in these sort of fixtures is so important now 1 draw v bottom half garbage could make all the difference. It is quite difficult to understand why we are so short of forwards even a big lad thats on low wages and plays 20 mins here and there when sides crowd the box.

Can understand why our enemies(refs) are so desperate to target alfie, its not just goals hes absolutely vital to the team and the way we play. Disgusting though the officials really are a disgrace.
 
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