Manager on Monday
Monday, 12th Jul 202112/07/21: PG - “ It will be the team that will win us trophies or promotion. It will be the team not the individual.”
Even though the League Cup win at Firhill on Saturday was the first there since 1966, Peter Grant will not be dragging up that history but he sees the League Cup as the first opportunity for his squad to make their own history:-
“I just look at each game, even when I played, I didn’t bother about what the history was. You can only make your own history and our history is to try and get us back into the Premiership. That is what we are trying to do. We want to win the League Cup, we want to win the Scottish Cup, that is what we are trying to achieve and to do that you have to have good players.
“I know that I have a good core of players here and hopefully we can add to that to make us a better team. It will be the team that will win us trophies or promotion. It will be the team not the individual.”
Reflecting upon the 4-2 win over Partick Thistle on Saturday and the next match away to St Mirren tomorrow night, the Dunfermline manager stressed that he picks a system for each particular game.
“I am not one that is shot on certain systems and playing certain styles. As I have said before that I do not have a philosophy or anything like that. I like to put players on the pitch who are comfortable in those areas of the pitch and I think that was proven on Saturday.”
Dunfermline played with a back three of Aaron Comrie, Paul Watson and Ross Graham with Kyle Macdonald and Josh Edwards played as wing backs. The team took a little time to get accustomed to the shape but when it clicked they certainly worked. Peter felt that the 21 year old signed from Airdrieonians made a great contribution:-
“I thought young Kyle was magnificent, he played exceptionally well. He has probably played full back all his days but I know what his strengths are, he can be aggressive and he doesn’t need to worry about what is behind him that much.
“Once we get players in we will adjust. We want a system that suits a particular game. We try and go everywhere to try and win, that is important for us so we have to try and pick the right team. We will get it wrong at times for sure as you could see in the first period on Saturday.
“We didn’t do our jobs against the ball well enough and we gave up too many chances. If we do that against St Mirren we will probably get punished because, I know Deniz made the error, but it has taken a world class save for him.
“We turned the ball over in easy positions and if you do that against quality players who are a bit sharper they punish you and you don’t get another opportunity to come back.
“St Mirren have done very well, Jim Goodwin has done a fantastic job and has proven that he is a top quality manager. They finished the highest since going into the Premiership and so they deserve great credit. They will be thinking that it’s a home game and one that they are expected to win. We have to go there and prove that we are a good side who can go anywhere and win.”
Moving on from opponents who spent last season in League One to a Premiership club will only benchmark Dunfermline in their quest to get to that level, Peter continued:-
“That is where we want to be. We want to be a Premiership team and that is what we are trying to achieve. There is nothing wrong with these players, they are capable of playing at the highest level. We have got to give them belief to go and do that. We have to get better and we know that there is a lot of work to be done.
“Everybody knows that we need personnel to try and bolster the squad. It is a very young group but I am very pleased with the young boys. Kyle, Paul, Josh and Aaron have proven to be real good quality players and then we have the boys on the bench and young McCann who is not fit yet.
“I know that we have a group of players who are young but if we can bolster that to give us that quality and give us something different.
“We have brought in big Ross Graham (pictured above) and we had a few trialists in but the boys coming in have to be better than what we have. That takes a lot of work because when you have the best players everybody wants them. You have to throw your hat in the ring, you have to fight, you have to batter, you have to keep phoning and try and sell it to them.
“The fortunate thing for me is that it is not me that sells it to them, it is the club, the expectations of the club and the fan base that we have. That’s what sells it to them.
“Everybody says that we are a big club but we are only a big club when we get back to the big table. That is where we want to be and to do that you have to have the best players.”
On Saturday Kyle Macdonald (pictured above) scored his first Dunfermline goal and Aaron Comrie took his tally to three.
“I was delighted for them because we had spoken about it. You need goals, you need bodies on the box, you need quality delivery. We used wing backs against Thistle and they have to get on to the back post to be a threat.
“That is the different from playing at right back because he would have been further back the pitch but because you give them that more freedom to go and express themselves. Great credit to both of them, they did exactly what was asked of them so we were pleased.
“I’m not saying we asked them score a goal but Aaron has made the run that we told him would give him a chance to score and told Kyle to get into the back post because an opportunity would arise. Both of them did that and it tells me that they are good listeners. If you are a good listener you always have a chance.
“Hopefully the information from Shieldsie, Steven and myself from our experience over the years that’s in our own brains helps these boys and hopefully that can make us successful.”
Partick Thistle 2 Dunfermline 4
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