Cant agree with that. He has been shooting more from outside the box because we have been playing pish and our final ball and all round play in the last third has been awful. He has had to take shots he wouldn't normally do for the reasons above. It just hasn't been working and he has done more n the gams so far than Forrest or Brown. Who up until now have regressed to ineffective at best and a hindrance to progress by doing fuck all. Brown ws better against His but he still has a way to go to keep Turnbull or Sort out for me. I like Christie and feel he is just suffering from the overall tepid form. I would keep him and don't think he has plateaued he's just part of a team that so far haven't even touched on top form.
Fair enough TV. I rate Christie highly, it's my opinion though that he's lost sight of the basics a little. It's not just the shooting, short range passing had also gone askew somewhat, though as you say he is far from the only one.
Forrest and Christie both have valid excuses for being shipped from position to position and that can of course take its toll. The stop start nature to the season possibly also hasn’t helped either player but if - and it’s rumoured of course rather than factual - that contract negotiations may have stalled as he eyes the Premier League I think he could do better than the likes of Burnley if he was consistent with the basics.
His form up to December ish in 2019 was superb, he hasn’t been as dynamic since and I can handle that as he’d be hard pushed to maintain the consistency but until that 45 mins against Hibs he appeared off it. Mind you there seemed a general staleness in that midfield, even Calmac had an off moment or two.
Perhaps the signing – and what a 45 mins btw – of Turnbull may be enough to snap some including Christie out of that malaise. Forrest injured or not will find it hard to dislodge Frimpong and I could see a similar energy returning to the centre of the park if Soro was afforded more game time.
Brown I’ve held back on as he’s often a little slow to get up to speed, but even taking that into account he’s been behind the pace of the game until Sunday and the number of bookings he’s had have ben indicative of a player off the pace at times.
Whether Brown hits top form or not he cannot play as often throughout the season as he has until now, it’s not sustainable any longer, it’s not fair on his legacy and we need to plan for succession and Soro will need time to find his own way of operating in the team and have the other players around him get used to his style.
When Lennon got subbed in that Cup final by Strachan for Caldwell it showed sometimes players can’t decide for themselves, as such Lenny will have to fade the player out slowly, Soro looks a player to me, I’d like to see more of him. Maybe we will when the window closes and we know what we have for the season ahead.
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