Ampersand
Well-Known Member
The only team we've beaten domestically, since February, is a Hibs side who play wide open every time we play them.
The underlying fundamentals are extremely worrying about our style of play and the quality of chances we create and, for me, only so much can be blamed on the players in my opinion.
These two wins versus Hibs were hardly "routine" either, with the SC game being won with Lundstram scoring a rebound from a penalty and a late Silva goal, and in the league game at Ibrox, Hibs caused us problems in transition in the first half, and scored a goal deep into added on time in the 1st half, only to have that parity cancelled out by an amlost instant Dessers header, before a late Matondo goal from a low xG chance.
We last won a domestic game, that wasn't Hibs, and that was versus Killie (1-2 win) , who created an xG of 1.36 vs our own 0.73, so you could argue we were fortunate to win as they had better chances against us, and we had to rely on two low xG chances to get the goals, these being a Tav FK and a Lawrence shot from near the edge of the box.
Clement's reign seen initial success being built on a strong defence and outperforming our xG, mostly, at the other end but we've conceded goals in every game of late, apart from the SC Hibs game, and last night of course.
We can bemoan injuries, missing chances and a poor defensive structure, but unfortunately for us, these planets have aligned this past month and a half and at a crucial part of the season which threatens to derail our entire campaign, just as we got back on track.
With 5 league games to go, we are needing to go to St Mirren, Parkhead and Tynecastle and win, as well as taking care of a McInnes Killie side who wont roll over, and Dundee, at home.
Our last game away at St Mirren was a scrappy affair (0-1 win) and Robinson sets his team up to fight like their lives depend on it.
We then have to go to Parkhead, a place where we've seen us melt countless times, and failure to win here will have deep repercussions in the title race, but also for Clement who will have gone 3 games against them without a win, which was a big part in Beale's downfall eventually as we couldn't beat them in the games that mattered, and arguably, Beale had a harder task with going up against Postecoglu and two of our talismans had checked out (Morelos and Kent).
I said the other day that these players never fail to disappoint and many of them, possibly 90% of them, need to be moved on as they are serial losers now, and they know it, but the manner of our collapse has me concerned for next season's chances and if the manager is the right man for the job.
Clement has past success of winning titles in Belgium and that was the big appeal to the Board when they appointed him, but his record since then hasn't been great, though not bad either.
During his first season at Monaco, he had great success and qualified for the CL, but his second season there looks to have been marred by a catastrophic collapse in form at the end of the season where they managed 1 win in his last 7 games of the season, which saw them miss out on European football.
What part is Clement playing in our own deterioration in form and results? For me, the manager isn't blameless here and needs to have a strong finish to the season otherwise I will have grave reservations about his long term plans and future success.
The underlying fundamentals are extremely worrying about our style of play and the quality of chances we create and, for me, only so much can be blamed on the players in my opinion.
These two wins versus Hibs were hardly "routine" either, with the SC game being won with Lundstram scoring a rebound from a penalty and a late Silva goal, and in the league game at Ibrox, Hibs caused us problems in transition in the first half, and scored a goal deep into added on time in the 1st half, only to have that parity cancelled out by an amlost instant Dessers header, before a late Matondo goal from a low xG chance.
We last won a domestic game, that wasn't Hibs, and that was versus Killie (1-2 win) , who created an xG of 1.36 vs our own 0.73, so you could argue we were fortunate to win as they had better chances against us, and we had to rely on two low xG chances to get the goals, these being a Tav FK and a Lawrence shot from near the edge of the box.
Clement's reign seen initial success being built on a strong defence and outperforming our xG, mostly, at the other end but we've conceded goals in every game of late, apart from the SC Hibs game, and last night of course.
We can bemoan injuries, missing chances and a poor defensive structure, but unfortunately for us, these planets have aligned this past month and a half and at a crucial part of the season which threatens to derail our entire campaign, just as we got back on track.
With 5 league games to go, we are needing to go to St Mirren, Parkhead and Tynecastle and win, as well as taking care of a McInnes Killie side who wont roll over, and Dundee, at home.
Our last game away at St Mirren was a scrappy affair (0-1 win) and Robinson sets his team up to fight like their lives depend on it.
We then have to go to Parkhead, a place where we've seen us melt countless times, and failure to win here will have deep repercussions in the title race, but also for Clement who will have gone 3 games against them without a win, which was a big part in Beale's downfall eventually as we couldn't beat them in the games that mattered, and arguably, Beale had a harder task with going up against Postecoglu and two of our talismans had checked out (Morelos and Kent).
I said the other day that these players never fail to disappoint and many of them, possibly 90% of them, need to be moved on as they are serial losers now, and they know it, but the manner of our collapse has me concerned for next season's chances and if the manager is the right man for the job.
Clement has past success of winning titles in Belgium and that was the big appeal to the Board when they appointed him, but his record since then hasn't been great, though not bad either.
During his first season at Monaco, he had great success and qualified for the CL, but his second season there looks to have been marred by a catastrophic collapse in form at the end of the season where they managed 1 win in his last 7 games of the season, which saw them miss out on European football.
What part is Clement playing in our own deterioration in form and results? For me, the manager isn't blameless here and needs to have a strong finish to the season otherwise I will have grave reservations about his long term plans and future success.
