joewarkfanclub

I always find your input balanced and inciteful Andy, so Im curious re your response here. Do you think Chris Long has shown enough at his time at the club and do you think his attitude is good?

You could say the same about Long who is our player and has way more opportunities than Hastie to show what he has got....

I would expect our captain to be watching the game and willing us on to victory the same as the rest of us.....

Jordan Roberts for me. First start, took his chance and put in a display that got him noticed. Did more in 90 mins than Long has done most of the season. Thought the defence were all very solid. Crawford had a very good game and Watt kept up his excellent workrate.

Much better. Body language was very good from the start. Was a bit concerned to see it was still a 4-3-3 but the return of SOD, Campbell and the introduction of Roberts appeared to give us more energy. I thought it was a fairly even first half albeit we offered more in the final third than they did. However, 2nd half we were the better team without carving them open. All in all a good point. Coulda been 3, but nice to stop the rot and see a reaction from the players after the last 2 very disappointing showings.

If you dont mind me asking, what are battling qualities if its not "getting stuck in"? Are you seriously saying having O'Hara available on Saturday with all the players we have out would not have improved our chances? Whether it be playing him at centre back or in midfield it would undoubtedly provided us with more bite than we had, particularly with the absence of Campbell at the same time. These guys may not be having good seasons, but by god we miss them when they arent available. Im not saying for a minute its about individual players, but all these little things are what makes the difference to the collective. GA needs to find out who are the players he can trust and get them all on the field in whatever formation will work and stop us being so easy to beat.

Discipline and battling qualities arent the same thing though surely? The last game at St Mirren Park, O'Hara was pivotal in us getting something out of the game. He got stuck in despite getting an early yellow card. If he had been in the team on Saturday I dont believe we would have capitulated the way we did. He, Campbell and Watt are the only 3 players we have who I would trust not to hide when we are up against it. Id maybe add Maguire to that despite his detractors. He should never have been subbed on Saturday.

Yes. Whilst we all know Lamie is limited and a squad player at best, he does a job for the most part. Ive seen nothing from Magliore to suggest that he is fast, can jump and head the ball or defend. He is young inexperienced and looks well short of fitness. For all Polworth is our best passer of the ball (in forward areas) his head appears to be all over the place right now and he is not making good decisions. Id go as far as to say he is a liability. That would leave us Kelly SOD Lamie McGinley Carroll Johnstone Maguire Crawford Watt Long Cole Or some variant of that.

Wednesday was already a huge game for us. It just got huger!

Its actually quite a good tactic if you are a decent team who are all comfortable on the ball and struggling to break down a compact defence, as inviting them forward opens up space further back which can be exploited. Unfortunately we are far from being a decent team who are all comfortable on the ball.....

Very few got pass marks let alone MOTM. The only candidate is Max Johnston, who somehow managed to look like a competent right back given all the carnage going on around him. Quite a feet for a 17 year old. Well done young man.

Yesterday was an utter clusterfuck. Most of it has been covered already, but if there was any doubt to the gravity of our situation, it has certainly been dispelled now. The manager has been dealt a heavy blow with the number of injuries and suspensions he has had to deal with, and I would be very disappointed if the players have downed tools because he is trying to implement higher standards in training etc as seems to be being inferred, however he didnt help himself yesterday with his formation. The 4-3-3 has left our midfield being overun week after week already, so to employ it again with a severely weakened back 4 was just suicide. There are already question marks being raised regarding the way we defend ( or dont as the case may be) the wide areas, and the goal kick set plays, if he lines up with the same formation on Wednesday night demonstrating he hasnt learned anything from the last 2 games, he is going to start raising serious questions as to whether he is the man for the job. I really want him to be a success, and I believe if he can get to the summer with us still in the Premiership, then we may see a very different squad next season and the real Graham Alexander. However, he has to earn the right to rebuild this team by keeping us in the topflight. Time to face reality. We are in a relegation battle. We need to get hard to beat and win ugly if required. But just win.

St Johnstone 1-0 win St Mirren 1-1 draw Hibs 2-1 defeat Livvy 0 - 0 draw Killie 1-1 draw 6 points. Any advance on that with our injury list will be remarkable.

Do you have personal knowledge of the situation? What is your belief based on?

We need to ditch 4-3-3. Im fed up seeing our midfield getting overun and putting unecessary pressure on our fragile defence. Go 4-4-2 play a diamond and try and scratch out some sort of result. 3 points would be incredible under the circumstances but Id happily take a point.

Tony Watt, Devante Cole and Kelly were the only ones with pass marks today. Out of those 3, I thought Watt was the best. Regardless of the shite around him, he never stops showing for the ball and trying to bring others into the game.

Truly awful performance. For all our improvements since he arrived Graham Alexander will have lots to ponder this week. All our frailties were cruelly exposed today. He needs to acknowledge them and show he is able to identify and address them.

Fairly sure "Oor Tony" will be streetwise enough to maximise the foul count. He is pretty good that way. We need to concentrate on good delivery from our set pieces.

If we are to move at some point in the future, then Ravenscraig would certainly be my preferred option. Not only for the commercial / financial benefits that may bring from being part of a larger structured community plan, but also with the view to maintaining our links with our history as a steeltown club. There is a history attached to Fir Park which will be lost. But it could be replaced with a new history if we are located on the site of the old steelworks. Having a steelmaking / club museum co located on the same site as the new stadium (even within it) would be a fantastic way to connect the 2 things for the next generation.

Both have improved markedly. I think Mugabi has the potential to he a long term option as he is young, strong and quick. You can see potential there. Lamie is doing well at present. But he is a squad player and we shouldnt be relying on him as a first team starter.

Whilst I dont disagree with any of that, it would be nice for the players to see a carrot every now and again, instead of just a stick!

Been a while since we utterly destroyed them. Be good to do it on Saturday. The players should enjoy being back on grass. Lets do this.

Really hard working performance and on the whole, I thought we defended pretty well. Our use of the ball for the most part was really poor and it was hard to say whether that was because too many of our players were having an off day, or whether the pitch was just so poor, or both. Certainly there were plenty players on both sides losing their footing and some of the bounces and rolls on the pitch were ridiculous at times. That said, it should be the same for both teams and Killie certainly made much better use of the ball than we did without cutting us open at all. In fact we had much the better chances. Collum didnt help the flow of the game with his over fussy refereeing. He never seems to give any marginal decisions our way and his booking of SOD for slipping is a joke. Its a great 3 points, especially given all the circumstances surrounding the postponement. There is a certain delicious irony about taking them having played poorly. Id love to pump the Accies on Saturday, but in truth, Id happily take the same again.

You could be right. But its not good for the old ticker!

Big Bevis for me. He is looking much more reassured now that he has had a run of games. The whole defence was decent, but we really need to do some work at stopping cross balls coming in. Difficult to pick anyone from the midfield as they were over run in a 3 again. Likewise the feont 3 struggled with lack of service/support due to the foregoing.