joewarkfanclub

Longelo for me too. Was the only real out ball in the first half and made a lot of good runs going forward. Nicholson, Priestman and McGhee were all decent when they came on, but werent on the pitch long enough to influence MOTM.

Falkirk (and McGlynn) did a number on us again today. Their press was very clever. They waited time and again for the ball to go to our full backs (mostly SOD) which triggered them to go mob handed to close the full back and the midfielders that side blocking off all the available outballs other than back the way or over the top. They were more than happy for Ward or the CBs to have the ball. We struggled with it all afternoon and it caused a fair amount of disruption to our usual passing / possession game. That said, the goals we lost were all very poor. The first is a free header with Fadinger being the culprit for losing his man (he hasnt been at all himself wearing that mask. I do wonder if it obstructs his vision). The second comes from the aforementioned press, but should have been cleared by McGinn and/or Watt who plays a totally blind pass putting Ward in trouble. The third just isnt a penalty, or there would be 20 penalties a game. Overall we had 14 shots to their 12 with 5 on target to their 4. So even though we were off it in terms of performance and Falkirk deserved to win, the stats for us werent horrific. The fine margins are going against us at the moment, so we are going to have to dig deep and find a performance from somewhere. Slightly concerned that there was no Eyrhor today as it left the bench looking very weak. Although I did think Priestman, Nicholson and McGhee all looked decent when they came on. Maybe we need to freshen the starting 11 up next week?

No, he appears to be available. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/c070d7v7nj7o

Good piece of business. A good full back at our level and probably still room to develop. Hopefully the sign of things to come.

I get that you are trying to beat the drum for impartiality and fairness and I commend you for it. But we dont live in an ideal world. We all know this. So until we do, I think its fair enough to be annoyed.....

The lesser spotted SFA Referee's Compliance Officer. Nice to know they still exist!

I didnt mean defending his actions. Maybe I should have said "raising concerns regarding the level of punishment and its implications for the wider game......"

I think Oscar deserves a start, but Nicholson is probably more like Slattery from a style/creativity point of view.

Exactly this. Diving to gain a penalty is cheating and gains an advantage for your team. I dont see the difference, but it happens all the time (including by our players).

If its not being made up on the hoof, Id love to see the regulations outlining the wording of the offence and what the penalty should be. As others have said. We have VAR now. The red card should never have been given and if they send the ref to the monitor, Slattery gets a yellow. The fact they f#cked up and we have a player with 2+2 game suspension is ridiculous. The club dealt with Slattery internally, so this just feels pretty harsh.

Bit of a strange take. You say it "should be a red card offence", I agree, only it isnt at the moment. As someone, who openly criticised Slattery at the time and was embarassed by his actions, I have no issue with him being retrospectively punished. But the punishment has to fit the crime, and shouldnt just be made up on the hoof to make an example out of someone retrospectively. If that had happened no one would really argue, but this seems unfair and OTT, so no surprise some of our fans are leaping to the defence of our player.

Id rather have Luca Ross at LB than Ewan Wilson. Decent lad, but he doesnt have what it takes for the top level or he would be smashing it out the park at Raith Rovers, and he isnt. Koutroumbis is a better RB than Sparrow and he is definitely a better LB. I get that he is the one out of contract and could be the makeweight to freshen up the squad, but you just need to look at what happened with injuries and suspensions this season to see tge value of versatile players.

The issue for me was that Kettlewell signed him and then froze him out. If he didnt fit his style, why sign him? Quite baffling behaviour.

I think you are right. I didnt really think we were in with a genuine chance of winning the title, but just talking about the possibility and thinking about whether I could handle that had me quite emotional. Saturday, I was just fully focussed on 4th place, so there was a nervousness attached to that as well. All compounded by the fact you could see Hibs were forcing us wide and instead of bringing Eythor on to attack crosses we continued to play through the middle. The Scotland games will be a welcome diversion for the next 10 days or so.

Suggestion from the Zimbabwe fans on the clubs socials that all the European based players are out in solidarity with Marshall Munetsi who has been snubbed by the current manager. No idea if there is any truth in that or not. Seems unlikely......

I think the way we play it also comes down to small margins a lot of the time. We play quite a high risk possession game where a lot of our passes are in tight areas. If thats a little bit off, as it was on Saturday, the number of turnovers is higher and it becomes more difficult to build momentum and pressure. Personnel is also important. Hibs played a narrow mid block forcing us wide. That only worked well because Longelo and Koutroumbis were both out forcing us to play Sparrow on the left. Hopefully with 2 weeks rest, Longelo back, 2 weeks more growth on the pitch and 2 weeks to work on tactical options, we will be in a better place for Falkirk.

Just one of many things he got wrong on Saturday. Dont know if it is just me, but he also comes across as quite arrogant when dealing with the players. Probably my least favourite Scottish referee, which is saying something given the very low bar!

Just certainly does appear to being singled out for "special treatment" the referees should be doing more to protect him. If they dont, guys like Said will end up getting booked or sent off trying defend their team mate. Dickinson is a really poor referee which, given the pool he swims in, is really saying something.....

It absolutely IS our selling point. But that doesnt mean we have to sell all our good players at the one time. They all signed contracts they were happy with. The club wont stand in their way, but we WILL manage the squad to ensure we remain competitive. The manager said as much the other day.

Priestman for me. Should never have been subbed as Fadinger and Watt both had off games. Hope Jens isnt doing the seniority thing. That only works up to a point.

2 week break to re-charge the batteries and think up new strategies. Just and Maswanhise being away will hamper preparations and maybe rule them out of this one, depending on how much gametime they get and flights back. Could do with Koutroumbis and Longelo being back. Falkirk losing again today keeps them off our tails, but we could do with 3 points when we are off to Tynecastle before the split.

Thought we were decent enough first half without being exceptional. The offside goal.was hard to take but the right decision and we didnt carve out any other clear cut chances. Second half, the drop off.was considerable and probably the poorest half since Falkirk at home. Thought Fadinger looked outnof sorts today, not sure if it was the mask/sun giving him problems but he wasnt his usual self. I thought subbing Priestman was a mistake as he was having a much better game and we looked worse after he went off. Too many stray passes, although Hibs press caused us problems and closed off a lot of space, which slowed us down and caused us to go backwards. Nice to get the clean sheet and maintain our unbeaten run at home, but it feels like 2 points dropped and Jens is gonna have to think up a new plan as teams have started to get organised around what we do. We may not lose many more games, but at the moment its hard to see where we win one.

Aye, didnt really look at those still in contract that we might like to move on. Stama being another one, but Ive already mentally got him being a Sydney player next season.

Only got round to watching this last night as there was hee haw on the tv. Im acually raging about the tackle on Just by Oxlade - Chamberlain now. Never thought too much of it at the time and felt a yellow was probably about right, but when you see the pictures that were available to VAR and the intitial point of contact, I just cant fathom how they dont think thats a red card. Especially when Beaton tells them he has a mark on his shin! Least said about the Gordon red card the better. Totally pointless exercise now as they are just using the review to justify decisions and save face, rather than admit mistakes and actually improve the standard of officiating.

Absolutely fascinating podcast! Stuart is a wealth of information on the rich history of our club and love the enthusiasm that both he and Nick have for The Trust. Really looking forward to seeing the improvements around the stadium and hopefully, at some point, a museum!