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The players, always the players. A manager should never publicly criticise his staff. That's for behind closed doors. Interviews are designed with a view to keeping the players on side and to avoid an unhappy camp.

There's no doubt in my mind that injuries to crucial parts of the team i.e. central defence have been very disruptive to us this season. Add to that a fair number of new players coming in and we can see the scale of the task facing GA. He has, to his credit, got rid of a fair bit of deadwood in the process. Leaving those issues aside though, we have struggled all season in midfield to get the right blend and since Watt's departure up front as well. He may well have an idea of his strongest team but getting that on the park has proved almost impossible. No doubt there are good reasons for seemingly inexplicable team selections - we don't know what goes on behind the scenes. The one area of the team I can't fathom out is the strikers, and as of 29th January, I'm not sure that GA knows either. None of the wingers has set the heather on fire, although maybe Woolery has come closest - he needs to find more of an end product. Conor Shields is work in progress but isn't the No9 I was expecting. Van Veen is very temperamental and inconsistent. In their defence, the midfield hasn't helped. Ross Tierney looks promising but probably hasn't got 90 minutes in him yet, but where do we play him? Watt has been a huge miss, moreso than many of us imagined and I'm not sure we have prepared for his departure; but time will tell. .

I'm not dismissive, but it clouds peoples judgement, if SOD picked up the megaphone a week on Saturday how would that look? No doubt he would get more abuse despite the fact that he is incredibly consistent. My main point is that we champion the minimal contribution of a Norwegian journeyman but ignore the significant contribution of home grown players.

Lamie is pish. He had a few good games but has made plenty of mistakes in his limited game time this season.

Quoting your own miserable pre game prediction to say "look, I told you so!" is pathetic.

The club has had 40 days to find a replacement for Tony Watt. If we don't bring in a number 9 who is more reliable than KVV or a player to go straight into the team who can link midfield to attack and create we are in for a painful end to the season.