ohwulliewullie

Exactly what we were saying… after about 15 mins when we did quite well, Celtic found it very easy to pass round and through our 3 man midfield. It makes them look very exposed, but I think the problem is more the shape than the players. I thought we should have taken off Roberts or Woollery and put on O’Hara at half time… and maybe then taken the other one off and put in Van Veen. We’ve seen this in other games and got away with it. Quite annoying today as others have said, because that Celtic defence are there to be got at… as various teams - especially in Europe - have shown.

Mate, seriously, there is really no need for the pansy / poof / fairy stuff. And John Clark didn’t get booked because it wasn’t a bad foul, just an unfortunate injury.

I reckon before every old firm game we need a “we’ll never get a better chance to beat them” poll just to gauge the level of optimism. Maybe have a vote-off with “certain defeat”?

I found that such an infuriating afternoon - Hearts we’re nothing special (Baningime and Boyce aside), but they didn’t have to be. Maybe they could have upped it a gear if they’d had to? And in spite of the two self-inflicted wounds, if we’d got one back with the chances we had, I still felt we might have got something from the game. KVV looked like he was carrying an injury, and should have been taken off long before he was. I also really hate refereeing like that… any contact = foul, and when the tone is set both sets of players look to buy fouls. I don’t mean by diving, but putting themselves deliberately in a position where the opposition player makes contact, they fall over, foul. I always think if the early ones get waved away, then it’s a lot less likely that the players start looking for it at every opportunity, and the game is better for it. It’s like that pretty much every week now I think. One of the root causes is refs that have never played the game at any kind of level.

Sorry to bang on about vaccine passports etc on here, but the NHS Covid Status App now works for me. I downloaded it yesterday morning, went through the ‘prove your identity step’ (photo of my driving licence and a scan of my face)… entered a few personal details… then got the message ‘we can’t find your details, try again’. However, I’ve just clicked on it now and without me doing anything else, it’s all sorted and accurate. So they must be getting through the fix(es) to get it up and running.

I watched the Ross County match live from abroad with my season ticket login, ie same as last season

I’m going to guess as I don’t know for sure… with the app, once you’ve created your profile / proved your identity etc once, the first time you use it… Any updates (such as future boosters or whatever) can be automatically added to your profile and you can then access your latest status really easily. I suppose they can also add things like info on test results as well, to get a complete picture of your Covid history in one place. In other words, for the user with the app, any updates are added passively. With the download on the other hand, the user has to actively request an update (‘send me a new one as I’ve just had a booster’), and it’s more of a faff as each time you have to go in and prove your identity. I suppose the same principle as the app could be achieved with a ‘user account’ on an NHS website, but an app is probably more likely to get higher usage, as smartphone users are very used to the idea. That’s my guess anyway.

I’m not sure if you’re taking the mick now, or if I’m explaining myself really really badly… but just in case… to get in to such events, you need to prove your vaccination status. There are a number of ways to do that. (1) is the app, when / if it eventually works. It didn’t work for me earlier today, but it doesn’t matter (2) is a download of your digital vaccination certificate, which does work (3) is the paper letter

I’ll try again - you don’t need the app!!!

Agree with you that some people may not have photo ID… but I imagine for the ones that don’t, some degree of pragmatism should kick in, eg bank card? I don’t know the detail on that though so I’m guessing. But you don’t need the app (working or not). For months now you’ve been able to get a paper NHS doc via the post that confirms your vaccines… and more recently they also started offering the option to download a digital version (the one with the QR code), which takes about 3 minutes to do. It’s available via NHS Inform if anyone’s interested.

In the last month or so I’ve been to two matches in other countries where you needed to prove your vaccination or negative test status before they let you in. You don’t need an app (a scanned image or paper doc is fine, backed up with some ID) and it takes seconds to check each person. Admittedly the attendances were less than will be at Tynecastle tomorrow (and I realise that scanned images could be faked) but if people arrive prepared and allow a wee bit of extra time, it’s really not that big a deal.

Nah, their glass is still half full

I’m interested in all the very positive views on Slattery, and I mean over the last few games not just today. I think he’s been decent, comfortable on the ball, tidy in general, added a goal today obviously…. But for me he’s not involved enough and seems to drift in and out of the action… what am I missing?

Will be an interesting game, probably going into it as clear favourites, with the opposition I expect happy to leave with a point. A test of a different kind for us - going into a game with some confidence on the back of a very solid run of results. Hopefully we can turn that into a bit of swagger and a comfortable win. We didn’t look that brilliant in the wins against Dundee or Livingston, so hopefully this one is different.

I’ll be away abroad for this one, does anyone know if (a) season ticket holders still have access to a live stream and (b) is that stream viewable without any jiggery-pokery? Cheers

I avoided the game today so can’t comment other than to say well done. I must say, coming from the performances at Queens Park and Airdrie only a few weeks ago, I didn’t see this level of progress happening at all, never mind as quickly as it apparently has done. Thanks a lot to the manager and the squad of players.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that. I think the point is, he is a good guy, gave it his best for us and did pretty well when he was able to play, but has been really unlucky with injuries... as opposed to a "wage thief" as you said. I think MFC did the right thing with him through his spell out, and when it looked like he was fit again, didn't offer him another 2 year renewal because of his previous injury record. But if I was the player, when St Mirren came along with a 2 year contract, I'd have taken it too. I wish him nothing but the best, and hope he can get back to fitness.

... and justify the extra costs on the basis of public health - protection for the stewards from the great unwashed

I have only been there once in about twenty years, and even that once was because they are a new club, and I wanted to keep up my record of having been to a game at every senior Scottish league club’s ground. Similar for the other mob…. I’ve only been there once in the same period… for the Scotland v Ireland qualifier a few years back. Fuck ‘em

Fair enough, but I disagree with your disagreement, ha ha! There were quite a few crosses / headers and shots from in and around the box, that were either straight at Kelly or over the bar (hence why most of his saves were in the ‘routine’ category). And there was also the early cross fired across the six yard box. I still think it’s risky to allow so much comfortable possession and not be punished. Having said that, you can’t press and try to win the ball back for 90 minutes, and there were signs of us doing that at times yesterday. Eg it seemed clear to me that the players were under instruction to close Joe Lewis down at every opportunity, as he’s obviously not comfortable with the ball at his feet.

For various reasons it’s been very difficult to get a picture on what Alexander sees as his first choice XI, but I reckon we have that now. If everyone is fit and available I reckon yesterday’s team is pretty close, with the most obvious likely changes being: O’Donnell for Mugabi; Goss for Grimshaw, with O’Hara moving to the right; Roberts for Woolery; possibly Carroll for McGinley. That looks decent, with good options from the bench across every department.

That’s exactly the conversation we had at the game, and Alexander said in his post match interview something along the lines of “it’s ok to let the opposition have the ball in areas that don’t hurt us”. As well as being hard to watch at times, it also takes a lot of concentration from the players, as possession in an area that doesn’t hurt us can turn quickly into a dangerous situation, with a good through ball, bit of skill to beat a man, or whatever. Without wishing to pish on anyone’s chips after a great performance and result, we can’t deny that Aberdeen also created loads of opportunities from their possession, and on a different day (if they’d had their shooting boots on) we might have taken a beating. As is often the case in this league, the first goal is vital. As usual, Kelly dealt well with everything that came his way… but his saves were general in the ‘you’d expect him to save them’ category as opposed to ‘amazing’. Anyway, loads of positives from a brilliant day.

Spot on. I was a bit surprised when Woolery went off today. He’s excellent in the air for a winger, and provides a good out ball option if we’re defending. The fact that he is so good in the air probably stops teams from pushing too far forward against us

Fair enough, but it will be lovely if we put one over on him.

I downloaded my vaccine certificate this morning, which in fact includes 2 x QR codes (one for first dose and one for second). It might be a moot point for MFC (due to the 10,000 attendance question)… but in terms of the practicalities of checking them, it probably doesn’t need any investment in technology. The letter includes your name and address, and clearly states first dose + second dose. So it could be as simple as someone doing a visual check on the vaccine doc (which I now have on my phone), then checking that I am who I say I am (say from my driving licence or whatever). It could be done in seconds for each person (if they come prepared) but it obviously takes extra time and resource versus what happens today. There would need to be exception processes for people without (say) a smart phone or photo ID, plus those ineligible or unsuitable for vaccination… and no doubt it would be a barrier for some to attend matches. But it could probably be implemented fairly quickly and easily, without extra kit. The ethics of this is a different question… but the sooner we learn to adapt and live with Covid (accepting some relatively minor inconveniences for the benefit of a normal life) the better, as far as I’m concerned.