ascender

Its a great chance for the other guys to step up to the mark and show what they can do if Boyd is out for a while. But I'm still bemused by the criticism he's getting. For a young lad playing up front on his own with limited service, I reckon he's doing a great job. I wonder if this will force PLG's hand in to playing a 4-4-2?

Brown could be the sort of player we need to add some bite to our team just now. Will be interesting to see if we can afford to go for him in January, especially if this thing about him being a bluenose is true.

Hemdani has shown his quality but when he's playing at CB I think he's a luxury we can't afford. If we played in a much slower-paced league I think he could be a star at CB as he's strolling through games. Or maybe if we had someone commanding alongside him, he'd flourish at CB. Trouble is, as Celtic have figured out some time ago, a good basis for a team in the SPL is two big centre halves who can just go through people to get to the ball.

Its also confusing that Hemdani seems much more confident to take players on and move forward with the ball while playing at centre half than he does when playing in midfield.

Sounds like he's trying the positive, unified approach. Surely he must know there's a problem at centre half, but its probably right not to come out and say it for numerous reasons. Of course, the other thing he could do is come out and say that certain players need to up their game, try that approach.

Good signing for them, could be a great signing for them.

Areed, but just out of interest, who would you like to see playing for us at centre half ?

Someone who is commanding, can organise defenders around him and isn't afraid to put his head or foot in when he knows its going to hurt. Someone suited to the Scottish game who is a no-nonsense type of player.

I'm still skeptical!

Whatever, it looks like its boosted the coffers a bit and if we can add that to the funds left over from the summer, along with the savings on the wage budget, surely we should be able to get a half decent centre half in?

I've seen it mentioned that the deal was worth 1M to Rangers and that they bought out his contract, so I don't think its a straight 1M fee, probably a good bit less, but the main thing is that he's gone now. Another guy with a lot of potential wasted.

To be fair to him, I don't think Fan Fan really got a fair crack of the whip here, certainly not at centre half. Our defence couldn't really have been any worse with him in it could it?

Hooray. Hopefully we'll get some cash for him too, but it should free up another chunk of the wage budget.

I'm confident so long as we don't concede any set pieces in our own half or let them get any cross balls in.

Great pass by him for Prso's goal at the weekend there.

Why does Boyd still get criticised ?...I thought that was the object of the game,to score goals!!!

Seems to be because "that's all he does". That seems to be the criticism being leveled at him, that he doesn't bring anything else to the team other than finishing.

Its obviously too early to judge Sebo as he's not had a run in the team yet. But what is worrying is that when I have seen him, he's not shown any flashes of brilliance or anything that's made me think he just needs time and games. Which is worrying.

That's the great thing, these are all opinions and its sparking debate. The only thing I'd disagree with is the "on their day bit". In this particular instance, some of those players in that XI you mention have been nothing better than average, even when they've been "on their day" for us.

Its down to pure opinion as who someone would have up top. Maybe my take on Boyd would change if he got a run of games with a target man next to him. But my preference would be to see Novo and Sebo have a run together.

 

I'd like to give Sebo a chance but its a catch 22 situation. So far, he's looked pretty poor to be honest, even struggling with basic ball control. He does need a run in the team but I'd be slightly worried if that run was with Novo as we couldn't afford to start trying out things in the first team now as we're too far behind Celtic as it is. if Novo started banging the goals in then yes, put Sebo in there and if Novo can carry the scoring for a bit on his own then we'd be fine. I think Sebo might be a victim of cicrumstance this season though. If we're going to get second place we can't afford to carry any passengers now.

Novo - exactly - a trier. But a trier who is played well out of position. And people now think he isnt good enough coz he is being played where he is. Who is to say he wont come good after a run of 15 games through the middle???

 

Probably the same way i class Ferguson! He bugs the shit out of me when he plays deep, but on his day when he goes forward he is a class player and is very effective.

Totally agree that he's been played out of position. I'd like to see him and Boyd given a chance to form a partnership and get a good run of games together. But even when we signed him and he did score those goals in his first season here, I never thought he was anything better than a a decent player and although I would play him, I still didn't think he was the penalty-box striker that we so badly needed. That's why I'd like to see him and Boyd play together.

Yes, I agree that our strikers need some consistency up front and I'd love to see a front 2 which is given a chance to form a partnership. but I'd have Boyd in there first and then Sebo or Novo alongside him.

Novo's shown that he needs confidence, but he's also shown, even when he first came here, that he's not a natural finisher as such, he lacks composure and I don't think anyone ever thought he was the long term answer did he? He shone at Dundee and Raith Rovers though, but I don't remember him being amazing when he was first choice here.

Sebo hasn't had much of a chance to shine and that's strange given how much he cost.

Novo and Boyd through the middle might work. But on the basis of what I've seen with my own eyes, I still don't understand how you think dropping Boyd can be a good idea when he's the most natural finisher we have. Do the stats not speak for themselves? Whether he starts or comes on as a sub, he inevitably scores. Do you honestly see any of our other strikers scoring more than he does, even if they had a good run in the team?

Fook me! What part of ON THERE DAY do people not read!!

 

Yes i understand that this team isnt going to start on sunday but IF everyone was on peak then that team would be superb!!

Yea, but we've seen this season that quite a few of those players, on the basis of the best they've played for us so far, just aren't good enough. Lots of those players you've listed don't seem to be any better than average. Its not like they've all shown something that gives us hope there's more to come from them for example.

Take Sebo for example. He's not done anything yet that makes me think he's worth 1.8M. I will say, in his favour, that he's not been helped by the fact that he's not had a good run in the team, but he's not even done anything special in the games he's played to make us thing he's anything special.

J-Rod sums up just how much of an average player the Gers support have come to accept as being good enough for us. He's been "improving" since he arrived and I can't believe how patient he's been.

Novo? He's a trier and is typifying the sort of effort we need on the pitch just now, but has he ever been better than an average striker for us? I don't think so, not even after he first signed for us.

If everyone was on their peak, we'd still be left with a crap defence in front of Klos and a pair of strikers who really lack composure and a decent touch.

Only a handful of EPL teams are better and that league is overrated anyway. Are you saying that Charlton's XI is better than that?? Away you go!!! That team ON ITS DAY is easy a good side!!

 

Even someone on medication can see that!!! :yawn:

I give you that it looks a good side on paper, but that counts for nothing. Have you actually been watching how some of these players are playing? I said at the start of the year that we had a great looking squad now, but I've been proved wrong. We don't have any decent centre halves and I wouldn't like to play any Premiership sides considering we can't seem to defend basic cross balls just now.

If Le Guen looks at the team then we dont need additions in January.

 

This team would take some stoppin!!

 

________________Klos_________________

 

______JRod___Svensson___Papac_______

 

__________Hemdani___Clement__________

 

____Sionko______Buffel_____Ferguson____

 

___________Sebo____Novo______________

Are you OK today Gribz? Just asking as you seem to have been watching a different set of players from the rest of us on here.

Klos? He doesn't deserve a place in any Gers team as he's just not interested in playing any more for us.

A back 3 consisting of three players who have still to prove they are anything better than average? No Smith?

Buffel? A luxury we can't afford who only seems able to play for 30 mins or so before disappearing from the game.

Ferguson on the left? Sionko needs to come back and show that he can turn international form in to club form.

Sebo and Novo up front? Surely the front 3 has been working best for us with Boyd through the middle, Prso and Novo on either side with license to drift in.

As for that team taking some stopping, I think any club side in Britain would fancy their chances against us at the moment with our dodgy defence.

Sorry but bollocks. He is an average player at most and does nothing for the team

OK, so who would you play instead? You obviously think we've got good strikers queuing up to take his place?

I think Fergie is back on form now, not as good as he was before he went to Blackburn, but much much better than he has been in recent memory. I'd have agreed previously that we've been playing better without him, but not over the last 4-6 weeks or so.

Thats the thing tho!! He NEEDS a big target man with him. Why waste 2 positions by playing him up alone???

Because he's our top scorer and the best natural striker we have? I don't see anyone else banging in the goals for us.

Yeah agreed, he is no McCoist, i cant believe folk compare the 2. Super Ally did so much more off the ball.

 

Boyd is useless unless he is up there with a Mark Hateley. Without one he makes Capucho look a player!

I've used the McCoist comparison before, but only in the sense that he's not afraid to miss a few chances before scoring one or more in a match.

We've not seen him up front alongside a big target man, but I've no doubting he'd thrive if he was given time to form a partnership with another striker to play off.

As for your second comment, that's just rubbish and has to be very much tongue in cheek surely. Capucho?!

Still can't believe how harsh people are being on a 23 year old who has what, 7 starts in the SPL this year and 7 goals to his name? We should be building our team around players like this surely? I'm not saying he's the perfect striker, he's got to work on his overall game a lot more, but he's young. If he was the perfect all-round striker at that age, I'm sure he would be in the Premiership instead of with us as there's not many strikers at that age who are the whole package.

Just bemused really by the stick he gets.

I think Boyd has got a few assists this season too though, I seem to remember a couple of knock-downs in Livorno for example? I think people often forget just how young Boyd is and where we signed him from, he was never going to be a complete player at his age. He's our top scorer yet again, what more do people want? As far as I'm concerned, that's one position we don't have to worry about in the starting XI. We could of course drop him for a bit and see how we do, but I wonder where we'd be in the table now if you took away some of his goals?

I really don't understand why Boyd seems to get such a hard time sometimes.

An experienced centre half has to be the first priority in the January window. If PLG doesn't address our problems there, I think he's skating on very thin ice with a lot of the support and will just make it hard for himself if things do get worse.