Murty now has a fantastic selection headache

AnglianBear

Well-Known Member
You would think with the number of first team players - and some of them internationalists - out injured, that we would be struggling, yet Murty really does have a head scratcher for the next game:

The back four picks itself after tonight but can you really leave out the rest of the starting 11?

Candeias - outstanding
Holt - everywhere
Windass - fantastic energy
Morelos - totally owned the Aberdeen defence and should have had a hat trick
Goss - outstanding delivery
Murphy - tracks back brilliantly and put some lovely wee balls into the box

Yet waiting for a game we have:

Greg Doc
Halliday
Cummings

And thats just for starters.

Who the heck do you drop for them? It's a brave manager who changes that starting 11 from today.
 
He does and it looks like we're putting together a proper squad now. It's not just a starting 11 with some poor efforts that could be brought on as subs. We now have a good choice of players that can start with some decent options for the sub bench too. Really happy with the way things are going.
 
its having natural wingers either side now Murphy / Candeias and Windass in the middle, some of Windass runs and slight touches tonight were first class - but he can do that because of the shape of the team now

Now where to play Doherty ;-)
 
Niko won't be near the bench once the injured players get back princess of govan. In fact, once Docherty eventually signs I can't see him even making the bench for Sunday. We have serious strength in depth within the squad now.
 
He's put together a decent squad with options. Something we've not had in years.

I'm not convinced going with 4 predominately attacking players will work though.
 
Niko won't be near the bench once the injured players get back princess of govan. In fact, once Docherty eventually signs I can't see him even making the bench for Sunday. We have serious strength in depth within the squad now.

I know that he’s much maligned on here but surely MOH would have been a better bench option tonight though??
 
I actually thought we missed Mcrorie tonight and he adds a good bit of bite and protection to the back four, I don’t want Mcrories development to be hampered by our new signings either
 
Not before time. It will make a big difference having a strong bench second half of the season.
 
I was actually more surprised moh wasn't on the bench instead of Herrera rather than niko princess of govan. Think niko was there in case windass needed to be subbed at any point as the attacking midfielder option. Dorrans, Docherty etc can cover that position going forwards but for now niko is the only option he had left. Haliday was brought on for windass to shore things up towards the end as we were looking to be more defensive.

If candieas went off earlier murty's only option on the bench would've been Cummings and I'm not overly enthusiastic about him being played wide right a'la waghorn. Which is why I say I was more surprised to see Herrera on the bench instead of moh.
 
Miller be back soon and I really hope never see him on the pitch again - thank you and good bye for me - Wallace may struggle get a game too - tonight Holt was a good captain , berating the ref and bollocking the back 4 ! Never seen Wallace do either
 
The Squad isn't as big as some people think, you need to have options on the bench, and you need to be able to rest/rotate the squad for players carrying knocks, or loss of form.
If we let too many go we will end up playing players out of position and lose points.

First 11 + 5 subs

Current
5 Subs from
First 11
Below

Wes Alnwick -Alnwick decent back up
Tav Hodson -Hodson not good enough, squad player
Bates McCrorie/Wilson - Wilson it looks like he's played his last game for the club/McCrorie out injured long term
Martin Cardoso/Alves - Alves out injured
John Wallace - Wallace back in training but 4-6 weeks away
Goss Jack/Rossiter - Jack out for the season/Rossiter back in training again 4-6 weeks away
Holt Dorrans/Halliday - Dorrans out long term/Halliday is a squad player
Murphy Kranjcar -Kranjcar not good enough-
Windass Docherty -this could be docherty's position Cummings and miller can also play here
Candeias O'Halloran -O'Halloran not good enough but decent option from the bench
Morelos Cummings/Miller/Herrera - Miller still injured, but back in training/Herrera not good enough

Docherty still to come in.

If Danny Wilson leaves we will only have Cardoso as back up until McCrorie or Alves returns and Alves might leave as well.
We don't have another natural left sided winger to rest/sub Murphy, thats why Rangers went after Jordan Jones.
We are very light in midfield due to injuries to Jack and Dorrans leaving 2 from 3 Goss,Holt and Halliday, Rossiter not ready yet.
You want at least 2 attacking players on the bench, Miller/Cummings/O'Halloran for example,
I know the first team will change, Cummings, Docherty and Miller will probably rotate starting places with Windass, Candeias & Morelos.
I'd let Kranjcar go possibly Herrera as well but no more than that.
 
I’m really optimistic about our team. Competition is healthy, and it’s between genuinely talented players rather than just slot fillers.
 
Murty ain't gonna mess with the Doc/Halliday partnership
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I' d like to see Cummings and Morelos play together, but who do you drop?....maybe we can ask the league if we can have 12 players on the field just like Celtic have.
 
Alfredo wasn't happy tonight about being subbed. Is that a good thing?

I'm sure he'd like to play alongside Cummings rather than be subbed by him.

Am I looking too far beyond why he was unhappy?
 
Alfredo wasn't happy tonight about being subbed. Is that a good thing?

I'm sure he'd like to play alongside Cummings rather than be subbed by him.

Am I looking too far beyond why he was unhappy?
I felt that he was showing frustration at not having taken some of the chances that came his way. It was raining heavily for large parts of the game and he seemed to lose his footing a couple of times at the crucial moment. Of course no player likes to get subbed so I'm sure there was an element of that too.
 
Well Goss won’t be with us next year so his place in midfield would surely be taken by McRorie, you would think Holt would be behind Jack and Dorrans but he’s probably having the season of his life, if we’d stayed injury free he’d be nowhere near the 1st 11 but other players misfortune have given him the chance this season and let’s be honest he’s not doing himself any harm.
 
I know that he’s much maligned on here but surely MOH would have been a better bench option tonight though??
The problem with that is if Moh plays for us then he can't play for anyone else for the rest of the season because of the 3 club rule.

So we probably won't see him in a blue shirt if we're looking to offload him.
 
Murty has done well with his additions to our squad,looking stronger throughout,with good players to come back,but niko and herrera on the bench last night concerned me,also height element in our side,but happy with our performance last night.
 
I actually thought we missed Mcrorie tonight and he adds a good bit of bite and protection to the back four, I don’t want Mcrories development to be hampered by our new signings either


He'll need to earn his place in the team like everyone else mate.

The way it should be.
 
The squad is about the right size at the moment. Ok there needs to be dramatic improvements in some areas, but we will never have a fully fit squad.

You swap Halliday, MOH, Dalcio, Wilson, Hodson, Niko, Miller and Herrera out for better players and we might start looking like our old selves again.

Look at some of the squads from previous years. In 2008-2009, we had Boyd, Novo, Naismith, Lafferty, Velicka, Miller, Darcheville and Little as an example.
 
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