7/10
LEAGUE: 7th, 53pts (2013-14 - promoted from Championship)
SCOTTISH CUP: Fourth round
LEAGUE CUP: Quarter finals
MOST USED FIRST XI: Michael McGovern, Ziggy Gordon, Jesus Garcia Tena, Michael Devlin, Stephen Hendrie, Grant Gillespie, Dougie Imrie, Darian McKinnon, Tony Andreu, Ali Crawford, Mickael Antoine-Curier
OVERVIEW: Most Accies supporters would have bit your arm off for a seventh placed finish, given that everyone and their dog had tipped them to finish bottom of the table by some way. Playing a high-energy, direct and attacking style, they gave a lot of teams a real shock in the autumn, including the sides that eventually finished first and second. Everything went spectacularly wrong in the new year, though; manager Alex Neil's stock was sufficiently raised that Norwich City came calling, and top goalscorers Tony Andreu and Mickael Antoine-Curier were out the door soon after. They picked up 39 points from the first 20 games, then just 14 points from the last 18. The bottom line, though, is that their target for the season was to stay up, and they never looked like missing it.
HIGH POINTS: They were almost all in the first few months of the season; that stunning, and deserved, win at Celtic Park through Ali Crawford's goal; being top of the league; a 3-0 thumping of Aberdeen live on Friday night television which might have been their best performance of the campaign.
LOW POINTS: The departure of Neil, rapidly followed by Tony Andreu and Mickael Antoine-Curier, left them looking lost for a long time; Canning had to wait 111 days and 14 matches for his first win, and the run of defeats included a 5-0 at Firhill, 4-0's at Celtic Park and Motherwell, and 3-0 at home to Aberdeen.
STAR MAN: Andreu was on fire in the first half of the season, and finished the season as their top league goalscorer with 12 goals despite following Neil to Carrow Road. The Frenchman aside, goalkeeper Michael McGovern was tremendous even during the prolonged periods in which his defence were a disaster, while Ali Crawford scored 11 goals from the left flank and provided plenty of assists. If he gets better at fulfilling his defensive duties, he could be quite a player.
ONE FOR THE FUTURE: Accies' reputation for bringing through young talent is well earned; Stephen Hendrie will become the latest homegrown product to move to the big time when he joins West Ham United. Out of the next generation, there are high hopes for forward Eamonn Brophy, who banged in a bucketload for the reserve team and led the line in the last few matches of the season.
WASTE OF SPACE: Canning's deadline day signings, Lucas and Nico Sumsky, seemed very out of place at the time. The former, an enormous hulking Lucio-lookalike Brazilian centre-back, got a few games and did an okay job, but the latter, a Czech midfielder, made a single short substitute's appearance in February and hasn't been seen since. He's under contract until the end of the calendar year, so there's still time for him to make some sort of impact.
THE BOSS: Neil left some pretty big boots to fill (figuratively speaking). Whether Canning is up to the task is another matter, but picking up ten points out of a possible fifteen post-split has given him a bit of breathing space with a support who were getting very nervous. It's worth remembering that Neil's first few months in charge were hardly awe-inspiring, yet look where he's ended up.
PROSPECTS FOR NEXT SEASON: I imagine that, again, most pundits will be tipping them for the drop, because the squad is again likely to be based around younger players. Canning will be desperate for a new left-back and a centre forward (or maybe two) who can score goals. He will be praying that no-one comes sniffing around McGovern either. Experience is a must, especially as the boss himself will probably limit his own playing time.
FIRST TEAMERS DEFINITELY LEAVING: Blair Currie, Nigel Hasselbaink, Stephen Hendrie, Jason Scotland
Lawrie Spence (LS) has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
No comments:
Post a Comment