mfc88

My take on it is the opposition adapting to us. Was more obvious against utd... sit off, let us have the ball in our half and make us break them down, as opposed to pressing higher up and leaving space to exploit. Going to need to find a way round it. Yesterday it did feel like there was opportunities but we didnt move quickly enough which was frustrating.

100% this mate. And as we saw under SR, GA and SK - once it goes stale it can be really bad. I believe in JBA's philosophy and wish the rest of the fanbase would be more patient. Having said that I do feel the wimmer appointment was a bit more of a happy medium so would have been nice to see that play out. Would like to see us play with a bit more punch though, as we have seemed to move forward with a bit less purpose as teams have started to sit off. Still early days though and the right recruitment could make all the difference.

I'm sure the game you're talking about was RC away, start of the season behind closed doors and the game was on sky sports. We lost and Liam Donnelly missed a pen. Don't know how or why I remember that so well 😂 Had to google the last bit and it was Calum Lang who got sent off that day.

He looked a mile off at the game, but they seemed to take a while to review it so maybe not. Interested to see both offside decisions back. What a relief to get the points today. Much needed. Poor game, but I cant help thinking that rubber pitch played its part there. Agree with most on VAR, I am done with it. I'd like to say "keep it and use it better" but dont have the confidence that the officials in our country will even achieve that.

I've always said it should be max 20 second review, with no drawing of lines etc. If no obvious error made, then the on field decision stands. The biggest myth about VAR is the words "clear and obvious". Presumably everyone on here is aware of the VAR petition started by the well society, following the survey put out a while back?

I had to watch back as well. There was a slight pull on his shirt/ arm by i think brian graham just before he headed it into arfields path. Point being that if not for that pull, he would have made a better clearance. Would have been soft IMO but not as soft as what saids goal was chopped off for, which is presumably his main gripe. Easy to bemoan not going into half time more ahead, but we should have been. Not a lot you can do if the officials are trying to chop goals off like that. Shocking decision.

Cheers mate. I had a look later in the evening and found the same. But also no e-ticket and last day for postage was yesterday... don't make it simple do they!!

Have I missed something or is the away end sold out for this game? Not showing any options to purchase on the website.

100% behind JBA. The style of football is a joy to watch. For any doubters, last season our first home game vs Killie (under kettlewell) was also a draw... irrespective of how it was achieved, which draw would you rather watch us play out? It's a no brainer man. Room for improvement? Absolutely, but it's still early days. Play like we did and we win games like yesterday more often than not.

I think it was that the sponsorship deal wasn't in place. Similar to more recently before paycare was secured the strip was available to buy. Side rambling, but I came across a sponsoless home strip for sale on Ebay a while back that I genuinely didn't recognise - it was the 16/17 home strip, which is an absolute belter without the sponsor (motorpoint). Wishing I'd bought it now 😒

All I'd say is if we have the same template of a home strip every year, just with a mildly different trim or sponsor, then i'd certainly end up buying less of them. Anyone know when the away strip is out??

Agree with the first comment. Saying that I like the new strip.... except for the sledgehammer of a sponsor across the front of course. Regarding your second point, personally I like the fact we've mixed it up a bit recently, switching between something traditional and something different every other season... keeps things interesting if nothing else. Looking forward to the away kit. Would love to see claret with amber band. Not done that since early 00s if im not mistaken? 🤔

Not too long ago on youtube I stumbled across a game of us vs killie in the 90s. Didn't watch it all, but pre match they were playing "my hometown" by bruce Springsteen and it took me back! I don't know if it just sticks in my mind due to my young age at the time but I seem to remember it getting played every single home game 😂

After their second goal, robinson acted like a prick turning around to goad the well fans in that area. Not surprised he endured some stick after that. Yes this was olusanya, not long before his second yellow. Second yellow seems soft when you see it in isolation but very lucky to get away with that one which was probably fresh in the refs mind.

Went for koutroumbis - decent showing on his first start and didn't appear to tire like I thought he might given the lack of game time. And is it just me or was the formation more of a 343 as opposed to 352?

Would love that appointment for nostalgic reasons, but don't know much about his credentials tbh. Assistant at man utd for a few years so must have a bit about him. I know I'm the same, have always dreaded relegation but today is the first time I've thought fuck it, playing in the championship can't be any worse than this. Whoever the new manager is needs to be able to give the fans a lift as much as the players.

Game - absolutely woeful. Can't be bothered saying any more. Manager rumours - Michael O'Neill sitting in the stand. But is he not still NI manager? Probably a red herring if so.

Didn't hear it either, but I don't think Tam Cowan touting lennon will have any influence on the boards decision.... or if it does we have much bigger problems 😬 Edit: and by that I don't mean the next manager in charge!!

Yeah for sure... season 18/19 for example, we would have had campbell, turnbull, hastie and cadden all in the starting line up. I'm sure there's other examples of that as well, and I could be missing one or two players in that list. I was just trying to plot out what year they established themselves. Not looked into it any more than above, but as I said it feels like on aveage 1 academy graduate per season establishing themselves as a first teamer, which seems decent IMO.

If you look back over the last 20 years or so, we have probably averaged 1 academy player per season becoming a regular in the first team. Off the top of my head from the last 10 seasons (timings may be slightly off, possibly forgetting one or two also). 24/25 Wilson 23/24 Miller 22/23 Johnson 21/22 Cornelius 20/21 Maguire 19/20 Scott 18/19 Turnbull, Hastie 17/18 Campbell 16/17 Cadden 15/16 Hall I don't know how that compares to other SPL clubs but can't imagine any will be doing much better.

There's also the question of what have the club or WS done/ are doing about it? Other than taking one man's word for it and villainizing the fans, the vast majority who are innocent. He did get a few pelters at FT on sat. I didn't hear anything that I would have described as "personal", but I left pretty sharp. Perhaps it got worse, or perhaps that's enough for him which is fine, it's all subjective. Just feel the club could have been be a bit smarter here, take the sting out of it. We don't have a huge fanbase and pissing off what we have isn't a good idea.

Absolutely spot on. Well put.

Kettlewell was what we needed 2 years ago. He dug us out a hole then, and he can certainly take credit for good things in those 2 years. Unfortunatley, we've never really kicked on from his first half season, and his footballing philosophy for the club is no longer working. Good luck for the future Stuart.

Offended is a strong word, but it did annoy me. I'm assuming it was aimed at the fans... because if it wasn't, surely he would have clarified that? No fan expects SK to take their advice, because that would be mental. But when you have paying customers saying they're not happy about the product, you can't dismiss that. Can you imagine you bought a new iPhone and it was faulty, complained to apple and they replied with "well you've never made a phone before so....". No one would be having it. Something needs addressed and it's his job to figure it out. I hope he does but so far he's not, nor shown any signs at an attempt to. First half yesterday was an improvement from last week (not difficult tbf) but 1 up at half time and we reverted to type. I'm sure I wasn't the only one that saw an equaliser coming.

Na no worries at all mate, no need for apologies 👍