gisabeer 409 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 I have to say that i had very little expectation at the start of this season. League champions or not our finances still dictated that tough times lay ahead. But to their credit the team pulled together and in an incredible start won their first 9 games with a cracking 3-1 win over celtic to boot. My expectations were raised. Even under the extreme off field pressure that has been having a detrimental effect on the club the team was pulling off the impossible and even managed to play a more positive attacking game as opposed to the backs against the wall tactics that we had all grown accustomed under smiths 2nd stint. Yes we ground out a few but there were times when we actually played flowing attractive football that you didnt have to watch through the cracks in your fingers. The players worked hard for each other and played as a team, pass and move was the order of the day. We saw the likes of Hutton, cole, wylde and ness being introduced to the squad due to the lack of numbers in the first team squad and all impressed and certainly looked the part when callec to the first team. Infact they did so well i looked forward to seeing more of them for the remainder of the season. Or so i thought. Our manager has never had a great record for bringing through kids from the youth system. But given our circumstances hes had at times been forced to play them. And play they did, only to be as predicted by more than one gersnetter to be"dropped like a stone". So when i looked apon our team and pondered why we were so bad at half time on the terraces of Septic park my thoughts drifted to them. The thing is, I have been very impressed by the quality and maturity of these kids from what ive seen of them albeit very little. They never ever looked out of place wether they played 10 or 30 or 90 minutes. And i came to the conclusion that the lack of interest in these kids by our manager was the reason we were dying on our arses. how often have we questioned the severe lack of use of our subs over the season? Would it have hurt to blood them in 15 minutes at the end of a game when we were winning comfortably? No it wouldnt. and Quite often the opportunity was passed by. The end result being that the mainstays were being run into the ground till they could give no more. Thats what we got on Sunday. a team with nothing left to give because our manager failed to utilise his squad properly. Young as they are they are all we have in reserve and smith has basically turned a blind eye to them and burned his team out in the process. And could they really have done any worse than the likes of beattie and lafferty over the season? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie 8,151 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 I often find your criticism of Smith a bit OTT mate, you are completely correct when it comes to seeing more of our younger players. While the likes of Whittaker, Bougherra, Weir, Papac, Davis and Edu have toiled; talent which has looked pretty good when they've been called upon such as McMillan, Cole, Wylde, Fleck and Hutton have remained on the sidelines. Obviously it may not be as simple as playing them all the time but they should feature more often. Our tactical use of substitutions does seem difficult to explain sometimes. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest carmylebear Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 He was the same during 9iar. Would rather spend a fortune than give a young guy a chance. I used to joke that if we had a boy with talent we would not be long in knocking it out of him. The season is far from over so there is no chance of WS throwing caution to the wind but surely even he must realise that he MUST make use of his full squad. None of the young guys imo have let us down this season so why not use them more? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazza_8 233 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Barry Ferguson springs to mind. Wasn't given a chance under Smith but when Advocaat arrived he played him from the start. Just how much progress did Ferguson make in the summer after Smith left and before Advocaat arrived? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazza_8 233 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Barry Ferguson springs to mind. Wasn't given a chance under Smith but when Advocaat arrived he played him from the start. Just how much progress did Ferguson make in the summer after Smith left and before Advocaat arrived? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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