wellfan

If we move from the 4-2-3-1 to a 4-4-2, the Watt and Fadinger double pivot goes, the wide attackers go, and we’re basically into a midfield diamond. That means one of the current midfield five has to be dropped to fit a second striker. Who’s that? I just don’t see it. More likely Hendry gets a run leading the line, as he’s stronger than Stama and looks better suited to playing up top on his own.

11 points seems realistic.

He’s an expensive flop courtesy of Kettlewell.

We’re tidy enough in possession, but absolutely toothless in the final third. It’s always one touch too many, someone makes an arse of it, or the final ball is crap.

We should be looking to win this game. All the draw chat is vanilla bollox.

True. Our final ball is often lacking but that’s also because the man up top isn’t making the right moves or creating space.

The issue with our current style is that it too often slips into slow, sideways pish, like driving from Glasgow to Edinburgh via Inverness and then sticking it in reverse. We need to be more direct and move the ball quicker through the back line and midfield. Otherwise, we’re just keeping the ball for the sake of it in safe areas. And that’s the point. It doesn’t matter if it’s a front two, Stama and Hendry, or a Bair regen up top on his own. None of them will get the service if the build-up is that slow. I’m not saying JBA needs to rip up the game plan. The style itself is fine when it’s played with tempo and intent, which we didn’t see against St Mirren. The question is whether we have the players to sustain it across a season, especially against teams who are happy to sit in a low block and wait for us to make the inevitable mistake or just outmuscle us, or whether the current lot just completely shat the bed on the day. Or both.

Dwelling on the result won’t do us any good unless we actually learn from it and start showing it in how we set up and how we play from here on. Most of us can agree that JBA got this badly wrong, a few players just didn’t turn up, and we were outfought and outthought all over the park. Looking ahead, there’ll likely be a fair bit of movement in January. And while we’re used to getting decent cup runs, actually turning them into something meaningful hasn’t been happening. So the focus now has to be on making real progress in the league and putting together a proper push for top six.

The focus on retaining possession seems to have overtaken the need to get the ball into the box, leaving our play pedestrian and easy for opponents to manage in non-dangerous areas.

It won’t be the first time some of us have questioned his game management. Giving Slattery the full 90 on Wednesday then benching him yesterday should haunt him for a while. He needs to learn these harsh lessons sooner rather than later.

The macaroni and Scotch pie combo I got after their second goal. They charged and refunded my card at the same time and I only noticed today. Winner. Small victories in a day of shite.

We can absolutely piss and moan about poor officiating all day long, and in this case it is justified, but their first goal came from a corner we failed to defend, as usual.

Watched the highlights again. That starting eleven wasn’t good enough. I’d happily see the back of half of them. Far too much jogging about and too many mistakes in a cup semi-final. JBA needs to be realistic. His system will fail more often than it succeeds until we get a competent GK, one or two strong ball-playing CBs, a proper RB, and a physical CF who can actually lead the line. He needs to make adjustments now and have a plan B to see us through to the January transfer window.

Just watched the highlights back. The manager and a number of the players should be embarrassed. We were second best all over the park. St Mirren were the better side on the day and fully deserved the win. I don’t want to dismiss all the good JBA has implemented so far, but he now has the challenge of showing he can learn from being outfought and outthought by making the changes required where and when possible. Yesterday was pathetic.

That one was on JBA. He has the January transfer window to show he can make this work, but my confidence in him is starting to waver. It doesn’t help that his number 9 and central defence are completely useless.