wellsince75

I don't understand how he can be perceived as the best option. He conceded a ridiculous amount of goals for St Mirren , we've had the same issue. I get why he was drafted in when Ox got injured and the loanee got injured but why Ox isn't been given the gloves back is beyond me.

this is a common thread throughout much of the team - could do with more people who'd put their heart, body and soul for the team. Bring back wee Dougie up front

Casey & Sparrow are our most likely goalscorers . Wouldn't rule out Watt finding a bit of form, attitude aside he's got a bit of talent.

Who's feeling confident today ? My gut feeling is we'll get something from the game.

First time I've watched a VAR review, found it quite interesting and equally disheartening. Incident 1. Balmer being sent off. They explain the technical reason, the follow through being above the knee and red card is correct. Park any MFC bias here, these rules are bonkers. He plays the ball, isn't looking a the player and catches the boy. These kind of rules make it impossible for officials. Incident 2. Thompsons red, being reduced to yellow. It was the assistant ref who wanted the red, what was he watching and how from a couple of yards away could he have thought Thomson assaulted the player. Sensible way forward would be to use it for 1) when offside by more than your arescheek 2) review red cards to ensure accurate.

I'd happily move him on - ideally for some cash He averages 12-17 games per season, this season isn't unsusal for him. We can't afford this type of player on our books.

What concerns me isn't about any individual who's recruiting , more the general direction we've gotten into. Over the last decade we've transitioned from bringing in 7-8 new players and regularly brining in 16-20. There's a lot less of the younger crew coming through on a regular basis and we're going from full overhaul one season to a next. We've always had budget constraints , for me we're being really wasteful and the approach needs to change.

Appreciate this season has been plagued with injuries so I decided to have a look at who we've signed since 21/22 when Dawes first arrived. Also did a bit of a comparison to 19/20 (excluded 20/21 due to Covid) Sine 2021 we've signed 73 players. 18 new signings per season. Roughly 50% have had reasonable game time and that's without debating who's good enough etc. Looking back to 2019 we signed fewer 15, of which 10 got game time. Thought worth sharing as helps illustrate how we're operating, for a club with financial constrictions we've signed far too many players, many of which haven't seen the light of day.

You prompted me to have a look at who we signed and who from SPL clubs. From what I can see we must have signed 13 players who have hardly or haven't kicked a ball. From Scotland - Callaghan, Robinson, Watt, Tavares all from SPL clubs. Summer signings from elsewhere - Stam Koutrombis, Stupavic, Hegyi, Kaleta - almost all a complete waste of time and effort. Add to that the winter list of Ward, Plange, Mair, Dickson. Honestly would get better joy from a lucky bag.

Completely agree Gallagher is 34 , we had him in his prime 5 years ago . Moult is now 32 and given the age of our squad he’d be a bit part player . The high press will require younger and fitter players . Wee Al fits the bill and I’m sure would be more than good enough .

We've beaten them twice this year - but like you say 1 - 0 win will be just fine.

Previous league games agains St J have been 2-1. I expect the same outcome on Saturday and in all fairness it should be to us. We're facing the poorest team in the league who have lost more games than anyone else in the league and have a worse goals for & against than us. Statistics are in our favour. Win this and we can all relax a little.

Playing in the lower leagues will be a huge learning for the young guns. They'll quickly learn how to protect themselves and add a bit of strength to their game. Be great to see a few more break into the first team. Also enthused to hear a manager who's interested to have a winger, a bit of attack minded football is good for the soul.

Im not Hallidays greatest fan either, more a sign of how poor the season has been that I think he' up there as one of the most consistent performers. He's also getting on in years and not someone likely to hold a first team pick next year.

My initial thought was Halliday - he's been the most consistent but honestly if that's an accurate assessment it's a very poor reflection on our season. Miller is the more obvious choice, anything good that has come from the team he's been at the heart of it.

For someone who wondered round aimlessly he found his groove with us in 2020 only to rush away at the first offer and has been pretty mince ever since. Bags of talent but there's something lacking. At 31 I don't foresee him offering much more and can play in the Scottish Championship next season. (fingers crossed not with us )

I hear you @wellgirl that’s a valid point re Armstrong and I’m sure other players are similar and care about the club . . appreciate I have a bias for guys who have been with us for several years , eg Craggs , Hammell, Lesley’s of this world . I’m my mind the longer a player is associated with the club the more deeply they’re likely to care . A bit like us, the fans. what id like to see is more of the steady Jo’s who can be with us for long periods of time . Hence happy for likes of slattery and sod to stay on , same for me if Casey stays . Also why id like to see young Wilson back in the team and wee Al back with us next season .

I hear you @El Grew and can see where you're coming from. The idea of playing teams twice certainly appeals - my biggest concern is there would be many meaningless games for many teams , yes we could play youngsters but I suspect fan numbers would reduce further. All if's buts and maybe's - good to debate different ideas.

In terms of balance of league set up. for me the split works better than what we've seen in the past. A larger league of say 14, 16 would simply mean more teams with nothing to play for. It would mean several clubs come to final third of a season with SFA to play for. We'd still have 2 clubs fight for league. 2-3 other chasing Europe. 1-2 clubs fighting relegation. The rest would be a non event. As poor as Scottish football is, I personally think the current league set up is the best it's ever been. It's more the product on the park that's regressing.

For me the McLean era highlights what we can do over a sustained period of time. Not easy but this is something we should be looking to replicate and accept we're a long term project. McLean built a team long term like you mention the likes of Maxwell, Arnott, Dolan, Griffin, Kirk and many others improved over the years, particularly when we brought in some quality (Russell, Cooper etc) I'd be delighted for the club to have a long term progressive plan, that see's us gradually improve each year. Short term we need more cohesion and a few players with a bit more fight about them. Feels a long time since we had the likes of Lasley, Hammell, Craggs of the world who were good enough for us and cared about the club. My simple view is we need less journeyman and more Wilsons of this world fighting for us and progressing each year, don't need to all be world beaters. PS if someone could give us a Cooper or a Russell well that's fine too :).

Think time is up for McGinn . 34 years and out much of this season, from memory he a thigh injury last season that kept him out during our poor run. I'd let him go , time to look ahead and get something different. The clubs recruitment has been awful. The last few seasons have come down to this time of the season saying : 1) I hope we don't get drawn in the play offs. 2) next season will be better when we get rid of xyz. We have typically off loaded players only to replace them with something worse. Our squad is majority of journeymen from England - time to change the approach.

For me it’s completely unacceptable in any football match not to have a shot on target . many of us got frustrated under kettlewell for reducing down to 2-3 shots , first one coming after the 65th min sub . but we’re regressing further and further - someone mentioned 5 shots in the last 4 games. It’s so far from being acceptable - I hope what wimmer is saying behind closed doors is different to what he said post match.

another game that we needed to be all guns blazing - it's just poor poor poor. I'd just give him the tombola to use for the rest of the season - give guys like Wilson, Paton a chance. Id start playing our perm players who'll be here next year - hard to see what the loanees are offering.

That's my point - when players don't give you the reaction you need then they should be dropped. Last week should have had a huge reaction after being thumped by Aberdeen and we were awful, shame on the players. This is where I'm looking for Wimmer to react and make changes. The squad is plenty big enough and I'd like to see a few changes to the line up together with the high press and 'knock your pan in' to attack minded players.,

Perfect team selection for who's available. This is exactly what we need. Will be interesting to see how this compares - I'd like to see Wimmer adapt a different approach following the drudgery of recent weeks.