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Ross County v Jags 🥶❄️ 9/1/26


elevenone
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Far too lackadaisical, constantly waiting for the ball to arrive - or rather for any Ross County player to gain control of it.

On a snowy, small pitch like in Dingwall this constant holding back to control the ball at the back and then hoping to use short passes and get lightweights like Let'sosa and Chalmers in midfield to hold on to it were clear tactical mistakes. As for playing Watt on the wing....What! Why?

While considering the conditions, if they're freezing, give them the appropriate clothing for the conditions: haven't we learned anything from McNamara and Donnelly?

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That was a painful watch, and my condolences to the hardy fans who made the journey. 

It seemed at times that some players were keen to be subbed to find the shelter of the bench.  i wouldn't blame them.  We need players that have speed and can get past opponents, especially in the midfield.  We do not need any more holding or defensive midfielders in the squad. We have to give more weight to our passes so that opponents have less time to react.  In short we have to speed the whole thing up and accept that we may lose posession more frequently.  But that is fine since the faster tempo means we can react more quickly to regain posession.

We have to take more risks to get promotion.

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100 days since our last away league win. Did not deserve anything from last night and the performance. Apart from the scoreline not a lot between the teams on the night. County taking such an early 2 goal lead allowed them to play out most of the game where we did not look like scoring despite plugging away and creating some decent half-chances.
We now can only really dream about winning the league and it is time for a small re-set in terms of improving away results while trying to maintain the excellent home form. 
The County did not have to be great but going by comments I have read on here that performance and the result will give the Staggies a bit of confidence that they can move away from the danger-zone. 

Edited by jagfox
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Agreeing with both the above posts. We did not play too badly for the last 80 minutes, and it was certainly not a case of being overcome by a superior opponent (though huge credit to Jay Henderson-he took both chances really well). We were just too pedestrian and predictable. 

We have to think and move faster. There were a lot of under-hit passes into the midfield, so even if our player did get first to the ball, which was not always the case, the only option was the pass the ball straight back and kill the momentum. Faster, slicker passes hopefully release a player to drive forward at pace.

Again there was this insistence on playing wide at every opportunity, rather than driving forward to commit opponents, thus allowing new opportunities to open up in the middle of the pitch, including the possibility of shooting from just outside the box which he have to do more often and more accurately.

The away form is concerning and we could really do with a couple of statement away wins.

Smyth has many good qualities, but I am wondering if the way he is currently playing is slowing us down too much. I am not saying that he should be dropped, but could Mark Wilson give him some different instructions to help make our play more dynamic?

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I think our away results have dropped as our general effectiveness has dropped. Its always harder to win away from home and our current form means that just about enough to get points at home but just not enough to get results away from home.

I don't think any of the players are massively off form either (maybe Fitzpatrick) I think the opposing teams now know how we play and because we have such a small pool of first team starting players its pretty easy to predict our starting 11. 

I think Chalmers is emblematic of the issue. He's not off form but not hitting the heights he was at the start of the season. I suspect that's because he's getting over played.

We really need another winger and fullback that can start games. Reading, McPherson, Chalmers and Fitzpatrick have no real competition for the place or anyone able to give them a break. 

I think our lack of depth shows even more when we have to play 2 games in one week. By the second game we just look tired. We might also need to consider rotating our midfield just to increase the energy levels until we get re-enforcements in.

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16 hours ago, laukat said:

I think our away results have dropped as our general effectiveness has dropped. Its always harder to win away from home and our current form means that just about enough to get points at home but just not enough to get results away from home.

I don't think any of the players are massively off form either (maybe Fitzpatrick) I think the opposing teams now know how we play and because we have such a small pool of first team starting players its pretty easy to predict our starting 11. 

I think Chalmers is emblematic of the issue. He's not off form but not hitting the heights he was at the start of the season. I suspect that's because he's getting over played.

We really need another winger and fullback that can start games. Reading, McPherson, Chalmers and Fitzpatrick have no real competition for the place or anyone able to give them a break. 

I think our lack of depth shows even more when we have to play 2 games in one week. By the second game we just look tired. We might also need to consider rotating our midfield just to increase the energy levels until we get re-enforcements in.

Firstly I agree broadly with the first four paragraphs. I'm not sure I disagree with the fifth but we can make five substitutes these days and generally our bench hasn't been that weak. Also if we're that jaded during the midweek game then we should be even worse come the ensuing Saturday (game 3). Saturday evening to Tuesday evening isn't that much shorter a period than Wednesday morning to Saturday afternoon.

That's a good point in para four. If/when we take Fitzpatrick/Chalmers off we're more or less forced into a change of formation just when opposition fullbacks might be tiring due to our wing play. A fit MacKay would've made a big difference.  

 

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Don't want to start a new thread, so will put this here as it relates to a game of football played in Scotland this weekend.

That incredible save by Craig Gordon for Hearts v Dundee reminds me of the save by Tomas Cerny at Firhill against Motherwell in the game that clinched our top 6 place in 2017, clawing the ball back when it seemed already to have gone past him.

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7 hours ago, partickthedog said:

Don't want to start a new thread, so will put this here as it relates to a game of football played in Scotland this weekend.

That incredible save by Craig Gordon for Hearts v Dundee reminds me of the save by Tomas Cerny at Firhill against Motherwell in the game that clinched our top 6 place in 2017, clawing the ball back when it seemed already to have gone past him.

Was a spectacular save by Gordon and right at the death too.

Cerny (in my humble opinion the last great goalie we have had) still 3 years younger so wonder if he ever fancies dusting off the gloves.

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