Malky79

I'm expecting us to get County, Thistle and Killie at home and be away to Accies and St.Mirren. Looking at the table I see the top and bottom 6 looks finalised now so hopefully fictures out any day now. Not sure how well that fits with others teams requirements for balanced and fair fixtures but if we get those I retain some slim hope of a dramatic rescue provided we have fit the players than can win games for us like Johnson(no pressure son). What I wouldn't give for Hammell to be fit and ready to hit the comeback trail as well. A little miracle from St.Mirren on Monday and I'll truly believe again but saturday will need to be a blip before another strong run.

Couldn't get my shift covered today so missed the game and in hindsight saved myself some money and a raging hangover as I'd have been in the pub from 11 before it and might well be there still now after from what I understand is generously described as a poor display. Play off now is all but certain, if St.Mirren see our loss as a chink of light and lift themselves to an unexpected win on Monday then we'll have our destiny back in our hands again at least, but for now it isn't and we are about 90% certain to be in the play off. From what I gather we were no worse than them first half an then awful second. Sutton's early chance only real thing of note. Losing Marvin was a sore blow, I wish Barraclough had taken a chance on Thomas out there or even a slightly out of position Grant if he'd been fit as for my money the one thing that was madness about today was pushing Erwin out there when the lad has finally made a goalscoring breakthrough in last couple of games. So bad timing to see the shape of the team disrupted, I hope Johnson is going to be available for the post split matches as without him I fear we'll struggle to get the momentum back.

Other than not wanting ourselves to be in one I don't see the huge problem with them. You may as well say a load of NFL, NHL and NBA champions amongst others aren't legitimate because they didn't have the best regular season record before winning the Play Off rounds. They make the league more interesting for more teams and whilst there will be anomalies from time to time where a team many points back knocks out a team above them who were comfortably ahead over the course of the season and on the face of it that does seem unfair but provided the rules are clear and the same for everyone then the ability to win matches when it counts is at least as legitimate a way of measuring quality as consistency over a longer season I would suggest. Again I'd have sympathy if a arguably better team loses out if injuries around play off time mean you don't get a true reflection of their performance but that could easily be the case for a team throughout a full season. A 5th place team might have battled against adversity to a make a play off and then with a cleared up injury list power through to glory. Sport will always have tales of winners and losers and hard luck stories but for me the play offs keep a bit of interest in the lower end of SPL and top half of Championship long past what we'd have without them.

For once I can understand your pessimism as if we lose and County win 6 and 7 point gaps to County and Thistle will be all but insurmountable. From there it is hard to imagine us finishing outside the play off place. If we do win though I think we'll win get the job done, we should face County and Thistle at home after the split which could be a vital advantage. They'll also need to play each other and whilst games for all 3 of us against Accies, Killie and St. Mirren all look very winnable wherever they are played there is a liklihood of dropped points in one or more of those games for all teams and Thistle for me if we win will be the more vulnerable getting sucked into this dog fight right at the death. Winning on Saturday would also put a bit of pressure onto County who whilst still massive favourites to win at St.Mirren might just tighten up a little and give us an unexpected favour. County's current run is absolutely incredible, unbeaten in 8 and winning 7, but I can't see them taking that to 13 wins in 14. There will be a loss or two in there, lets make sure one of them is to us and make sure it counts. Pressure on us to win and certainly not lose this week is immense, Barraclough will be a borderline genious if he gets the players to continue to play with the freedom of last few games and gets this win.

Any word on Pearsons fitness?

Aye need to come back down to earth for this, hope to fuck Pearson is fit for Saturday as every good performance we've had since January he has been a big part of. Full squad or not we are still in a huge fight for survival, sure St.Mirren might do us a favour but I wouldn't be counting on it and anything more than 3 points at the split will be massive to overturn even in this good run of form.

Plenty of contenders but Erwin for me, two quality finishes to put us in control. Fair play for Barraclough for sticking with him, looks like he could go on to score plenty and Sutton looks plenty capable of coming on putting some away even if he doesn't.

Twardzik would have gotten pelters for that, it was a sweetly struck shot and would credit any keeper who made it with a good safe. It's not a howler but I'm pretty sure Long will feel it was saveable. Nice play from Killie there but there is a shortlist of players who could look at themselves and think they should have done more to prevent it starting with McDonald losing it fairly cheaply followed by the closest Motherwell player to Westlake who could have closed down a bit quicker before he got into his stride.

Johnson in the first half really.

Frustrating day as we were comfortably the better team in the first half but Killie were clinical with the counter on the goal. Straker was miles out of position but there was a lot of play still to be had before they scored and for a much maligned player he didn't do much wrong today. Don't get me wrong there were a few nervous moments and whilst he didn't let us down today he didn't instil a lot of confidence either. The subs all made sense, we needed to stretch the Killie team and Ainsworth certainly showed decent attitude and looked dangerous without providing end product. He did wuss out a couple of 50/50's but he got involved and with a couple of better decisions/final balls could have made a bigger impact. Sutton almost scored out of nothing and for me has to start again. I like Erwin and he could well have a decent future in the game but right now he doesn't even look like getting into positions to score. Sutton could well be a good foil for McDonald and I also fancy him to put chances away more often than not when they come. Pretty much pass marks all round, Killie did well to sit deep and stifle us. Main point is we look like a half decent team again and picked up another point. We look like we can win games, avoiding a doing at Pittodrie and beating an out of form Accies team will go a long way of convincing me we'll get out of trouble yet. Thistle can be brought into this and despite County having an excellent run I don't think they'll be out of sight by the split.

Purely playing devils advocate as I take rumours with a pinch of salt but they hardly going to stand up at the AGM and say most of the players reckon the manager is a clueless bawbag regardless of the truth of the matter.

As unlikely as it seems we just need to win a couple of games. Let the false optimism of Skippy returning be rudely shattered tomorrow to make me question the possibility of that ever happening again.

Also reckon Pearson is more key but McDonald has a wealth of experience and ability to put the ball away, a tremendous signing if it comes off.

We did look decent in the 3-1 loss at Utd, pretty terrible for much of the St.Johnstone game but with 10 men started to look decent as we fought back for a point. Anyway the big issue is timing, sacking Barraclough now or in a game or two time does look horrendously panicky although no wins in 8 and possibly stretching to ten games is certainly relegation and sackable form, that much is undisputed. As much as we desperately need points, a certain level of dectable cohesion and performance in the next two games notably lacking from the last couple and I'd be tempted to give him the benefit of the not inconsiderable doubt. If we look shapeless and lacking any sort of clear purpose I'd bite the bullet and sack him and get in someone like Tommy McLean or an experienced manager to try rescue what might be beyond saving at this point. Sacking him now will make us look shambolic and risk sinking us but a 10 game winless run was enough to bin Gannon and I agreed with that then so be hard pushed to convince otherwise if we repeat it now.

Glad I'm missing this one. Both games post deadline day have not provided much encouragement. We only conceded one goal against Dundee and it was a fluke but seemingly defensively we were still woeful on Saturday. With Straker seemingly edging McManus for biggest culprit. If Hammell isn't fit then I'd put Watt back in there, probably leave the rest as is as much as I'd like to see McManus punted do we have a centre half who would be comfortable on the left side? If Pearson is back I have some hope we won't be utterly diabolical, if he isn't not got a lot of hope in the other options. Up front Sutton is only one looking like scoring but needs support, I'd probably prefer we stuck in two proper wingers in a 4-5-1 and gave them some licence than going 4-4-2 with what we have. Team I'd like to see Long Ramsden Laing McManus Watt N. Thomas Grant Lasley Pearson Johnson Sutton Basically Lasley should be telt to sit deep and get no further than a yard or two beyond the centre circle. Pearson looked to have the energy to still get up and down the park and young lad Grant should be encouraged forward to try and do some damage up the park as he supposedly shown signs of a bit of quality. I've went with the two new wingers ahead of the ones we already had as Ainsworth and Thomas I think will do better off the bench and indeed after about an hour if we level or only a goal down Dom Thomas would be top of my list for getting on the back to try and make an impact. Given we have this glut of wingers the two that start should be getting told to absolutely burst themselves if nothing else to try and make the opposing fullbacks a bit leggy for subs that come on last 20/30 minutes to take advantage of, assuming we can compete enough over the first hour or so that they need to get out of first gear. Slightly harsh dropping of Erwin but he isn't a midfielder. I accept there is plenty to pick at from this particular line, not least a player or two in the back four and it might seems cautious but if we can not get pumped early doors we can maybe get more adventurous later in the game. With luck this 4-5-1 will be more 4-3-3 but I'm not that optimistic.

I'm very close to agreeing with this. Wasn't at the game today but it was still the least Dundee have papped us this season. Willing to give him next couple of games but if we don't win one of them or at least show strong progress and pick up a couple of points you have to wonder about his ability to galvanise a team and pick a player. From what I hear Straker was howling today.

I wasn't at the game and having been away the weekend I wasn't following as closely as normal but looking at the club match report it has him down as coming on at 59 minutes for Nathan Thomas? I was under the impression he didn't feature and indeed the BBC report has Marvin Johnson down as that sub. So back to the original point and what I imagined was the case that he was overlooked, yeah I'd say you have to ask why. He has been reasonably consistent in making a positive impression coming off the bench and whilst I wouldn't knock Barraclough for putting one of his new lads on ahead of him if he is more confident in their ability, however when we're chasing a game and needing someone to try and make an impact Thomas for the moment would be near the top of my list. I got the impression the last sub was purely due to an injury, maybe it was a sop to Ainsworth for not getting on the previous week. I'd hope not as one of our bigger underperformers and high up most peoples lists of players they'd be content getting shot off I'd rather he was given the impression he needed to buck his ideas up and not be rewarded possibly with an easy bit of appearance money. Not including likes of Cummins, McHugh and Ross Stewart I make it we have 27 first team players to choose from including those currently injured I might add and I not sure on how imminent any of those returns are but I hope to fuck Barraclough has a clear plan as seeing Reid, McManus and Ramsden continue to flounder in an unbalanced looking team is concerning. I'm putting quite a bit of faith in the return of Pearson, Hammell and some relatively untested new guys that we can emerge out of this horror spell.

You could let him sack the BB's for the night although I'm guessing if he gets a choice he'd dingy the fitba.

I couldn't stay up to the death and been at work this morning and limited opportunity to check up on all the latest moves. To summarise from what I can gather we have brought in Thomas - Winger/Midfield Johnson - Winger Grant - Midfield Long - Keeper Pearson - Midfield Laing - Central Defender Straker - Fullback/Winger Certainly suggests Vigurs and Ainsworth will do well to get game time. With Thomas, Johnson and Pearson not being on loan the other 4 loans deals. Again from what I can gather Grant, Long and Laing look to have futures at their clubs if they kick on and likely to be short term for us. Which is no big deal, staying up is first and foremost right now. Some hard work in training getting this team to gel but lets face it we need bodies to cover injuries and knock any complacency over starting spot out of anyone in the squad. Fuck trying to pick a starting XI right now but unless Pearson and Lasley are back fit the two midfield guys would seem nailed onto start given how horrendous we've been getting by using right backs in there.

Soon as we look safe, provided his injury is a short one I'd be looking at getting Pearson signed up for next season and despite his age arguably a two year deal. We certainly need a spine of a team as early as is feasible. But survival first and foremost must be the goal.

There is usually more than one this season for sure.

Need to watch again to see where Reid is and what he does or doesn't do but for me once Laing took himself out of position and won the header his immediate priority was to get back into position.

Well I was trying to be generous. As you say stadium is 16 year older for one thing but we are neither notably better or worse off that I can see.

Fair do's but still as much as I been harsh on Laing try not to rush to judgement on one poor showing. Least he looked decent at fullback though, Watt has looked decent there when I've seen him but if we have a pacy one who can add to the attack as well as defende it be no bad thing. Delighted to hear about that Aberdeen signing as well.

Yeah that would be my favourite Boyle memory.