SENTINELCELTS

Morning, all.

Heading into three very important games in three different competitions which hit us over eight days might not seem the best time to assess how things have gone so far, but bear with me. We have the international break coming up straight afterwards, so would that not be a better time for assessment? What about when we come back, with our four league games to complete the first round being against Motherwell, Hearts, Hibs and Dundee United? Or wait till the second international window when these will have been completed and we will have some sense of how our Europa League campaign is doing?

Well, as I said-bear with me! MON decided on some heavy squad rotation at Perth on Wednesday,and I think that will be something we will have to get used to, as it makes sense. For that game it was all about getting game time for some players while giving others a rest, but in future I expect it to be done on a horses for courses basis. This will mean adjusting the attack and the midfield according to our schedule. Picking the games when  sacrificing some midfield bite for the playmaking and scoring abilities of Nygren makes sense, or when the speed of Duran or Mheuka is preferred to the presence of Høgh. Etc. 

Once he decides on his No 1 in goals, I’d expect the back line to pick itself. Johnston and Tierney at FB, Donovan and Scales when not. I’m fine with all of that, but he has to find a way of preventing teams cutting through us with ease and getting shots on goal. That might not be so easy with the personnel we’ve got. That means we need to learn to press harder, higher and tighter as a unit, something we have failed to do so far this season. 

MON Mk1 didn’t have these issues. Having already seen that Paul Lambert couldn’t do it all on his own, he brought in Neil Lennon. The guy who was playing the Makalele role before Makalele had thought of it! Unless we’ve got one hiding in the reserves, we don’t have that luxury at the moment. I’ll say it again-get one signed!

Although we haven’t seen all of the new signings yet, I have to admit to being quite pleased with those we have. Sorensen still needs more time to adjust, granted, but the others have shown up well. As I pointed out yesterday, we have to work on getting the best out of BOTH Høgh and Duran-rather than either/or-but it’s fair to say that I’m probably  happier with the summer signings than any time since 2021. Certainly happier than this time last year, when “mistakes were made” by the board’s own admission. 

We have six wins from six games in the league, and while we would definitely have preferred more dominant displays in most of them, the stat tells the story. We are one tie away from Hampden in the League Cup. We have a roster in the EL that gives us every chance of progressing further. 

We have a mix of permanent and temporary new signings which are better than we have been forced to endure recently, and who give us hope for the future instead of hope we can sign better the next time! 

What we don’t have, and cannot influence, is better domestic officials. I’d like to think that being on the end of four dodgy decisions in our last three games, each of which should have been a goal to us, is just coincidence or bad luck. I would. But I don’t. I’ve had sixty years experience of this already, and while I will say that VAR has improved things, those basterts will still use any means still available to them to cheat us at every turn. You know it, they know it. And it still happens. 

The best way to improve VAR is to upgrade it considerably. No more camera angles like Jota at Motherwell, or Hassan at Perth. The SPFL could easily take out a loan for this, repayable over five years by reducing the prize money in the SPL each year by, say, 10%. Or whatever. They won’t, though. 

The next best way to improve it is by sanctioning officials who go against IFAB recommendations. Things like raising an offside flag too early, or calling the ref to the monitor when he shouldn’t be. Alan Muir should have been an example, not a martyr for mibbery. 

Speaking of which, has Collum ditched his monthly résumés? I wonder whose idea that was. 

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Above article by BMCUWP