Ya Bezzer!

Having just seen the highlights I have to say I was expecting worse from Griffiths at the free kick. Could done better but why the free kick given away in the first place? Sammon is wide of the goal and 20 yards out, absolutely no need to charge in and go to ground in that situation. For me that's just as bad if not worse than the goalkeeping.

Tanner can play in a 4-4-2 or a 4-4-1-1, but only if we change the style of football. I hope Robinson doesn't turn out to be a sort of inverse of Yogi Hughes who's stubbornness towards playing 'good' football and a passing game got him into all sorts of trouble at Falkirk. You cannot hitch every wagon to one style. Style wise Robinson has hitched his to the complete opposite brand of football but he also is getting to the stage where he needs to drop his ingrained coda of percentage football and prove he's more than a one idea coach. The worrying thing is Robinson looks like a rabbit in the head lights in that post match interview. He looks frightened and I've never seen him like that before.

Jones has been playing centrally recently, up front or just off the striker, don't know if that reassures you in anyway. My opinion on this is the one match this season where our performance levels were genuinely great was the League Cup match against Aberdeen and that was the only match Hammell has started this season. Of course we played 4-4-2 that night so we would have to abandon the three at the back set up but for me Dunne and McHugh have to drop out because they give the ball away almost every time, our possession retention is a disgrace for this level of football and it should be the absolute priority to fix that if we are looking to get out this hole we've found ourselves in. Given that Kilmarnock will line up Power, Dicker and Mulumbu in midfield I think there is almost no chance Robinson will stray from the 3-5-2, so it will be as you were.

I make it 13 in 17 league matches. There was also 2 against Edinburgh City in the League Cup.

We have a core of 4 players. The spine down the middle is decent - Carson, Hartley, Campbell, Moult. The truth is the rest are mediocre, out of form, inconsistent or just plain poor. Griffiths seems like a decent back up to Carson but if we lose Hartley at the back I think we are really struggling there with Kipre and Dunne. Campbell is the only performing midfielder we've had all season and the rest need to get the finger out, especially our club captain who I think has been abysmal this term. Moult is great, best striker in the league outwith Celtic, but he's not going to be around in 2018 if you believe what you read. That leaves us with a serious problem in terms of goal scoring because the other guys we have aren't up to it. Bowman can perform the foil role but he's not going to get 15 - 20 league goals a season. Might not even get 10. Says a lot that both Hearts and St. Johnstone can leap frog us this midweek if we lose. Hearts have 1 win in 7 and St. Johnstone 2 wins in 9, ie, they aren't that good. Overall I think the standard of the league this term has been pretty poor, even Celtic are on a downward trajectory.

Their recent home record isn't that bad. Wins against St. Johnstone & Dundee, draws against Rangers & Hearts and loses to Hibs & Kilmarnock. Given our record at Firhill in modern times I think we shouldn't be putting our house on a win. Another midweek match I can't go to. Seems like ages ago since I was at a league match (Oct 28th to be precise).

Posted on P&B yesterday but I was looking at this and we've not scored a goal in the last 5 league matches Moult hasn't played. In the 10 league games over the last two seasons, Moult hasn't started, ie came on as a sub, or didn't feature at all, we've scored 6 goals when he's not been on the pitch. Not great then.

Said it over at P&B but it's worth repeating. Willie Collum is a referee that consistently goes out on to the pitch in order to hijack the match and make it all about him. He absolutely revels in controversy, deliberately provokes it and see's himself as a headline act with the actual game incidental. He should have been thrown out of Scottish football years ago. Sadly though, Collum, isn't even the worst referee in Scotland. Take Andrew Dallas, a referee not fit for schools football, and yet propelled into the top rank at the age of 32 despite being utterly incompetent. What a coincidence then that his dad is Hugh Dallas, former head of referee development. Our referee's are, in the main, an arrogant clique of narcissistic peacocks.

We don't often seem to agree about much but I'm with you on this. Clubs putting out statements after games is pure cringe and one of the worst introductions to the modern game.

Has to be Carson. Took command of his box, caught most if not all of the crosses and made a few saves as well.

Celtic had 70% possession. If that's not chasing the game what is?

Despite the penalty the result was never really in doubt. Three finals where we've basically chased the game for 90 minutes. Disappointing to say the least.

I think we make about 1 pass in 5. Need to be so much better in possession than we have been. Celtic have been a bit sloppy in the final third but that will change when Griffiths comes on so we need to push further up the pitch and keep more ball. So far you get the impression just want to get rid of the ball as soon as they get it. Need to find a wee bit composure.

I was actually talking with someone about what sort of result would be best for us. After a drubbing like that are Celtic down and vulnerable or more motivated to do the same thing to us and maintain their domestic superiority. Don't think there is any easy formula to it.

A home tie against local rivals, who'd turn their nose up at that? Lot of water to go under the bridge before the tie is played so current form doesn't mean much. Should be favourites to go through though and if we do surely we are due a wee team.

Great result going into the Final. Must be a huge confidence boost.

That man Moult!

Radio claiming its a back 4.....

Worried about the spine of that team.

Just got round to watching the Rep Ireland v Denmark match. Would have been about 1-10 if it wasn't for Randolph. Some of the Irish defending was absolutely atrocious.

The second time we've played both Aberdeen and Hibernian this season I've felt like they have adapted their set up to tactically nullify us - and its worked. We've lost both and failed to score in both. I wasn't at Ross County so can't comment too much on that match but the result was there to see and a trend is starting to develop. I think we need to show a bit more stylistic and tactical invention when we start coming round for the second or third time. I've said before that we should play a four at the back against Celtic, tomorrow would be a good time to trial run it.

Probably worth re-iterating that no formation or team selection guarantees anything and if Celtic hit form and we don't you are probably looking at 0-3 and upwards. However we have to create game conditions that favour us and I don't think a passing game with the players we have is in our interest. We can't compete technically with Celtic but we can physically. So why on earth would you play a technical game? As I said earlier Robinson has us set up that way and that's the way we will play - the big question is really 4 at the back or 3, not what our style of play will be.

Can we play on the carpet against Celtic? I'd love to see McHugh and Dunne's pass completion stats but I bet they are pretty poor. I'm afraid this is a long ball team whether you like it or not. Celtic's weakest area is central defence. If Bowman can cause them problems, hold the ball up and we get players forward to support him, I don't see that being any less effective than us imagining we are technically good, which we aren't, and trying to thread a pass. This team is all about balls over the top and getting crosses pumped in. If we have a game plan to get into forward areas of the pitch and we press high up the pitch it can work. It's also the most pragmatic way of keeping the ball away from danger areas. It won't work if we are sat deep on the 18 yard line and we are simply thumping the ball into empty areas for Celtic to pick up and take possession but it's down to the players and manager to make sure that doesn't happen.

For me the problem with 4-2-3-1 is how do you make Moult, who is probably our greatest asset, effective when he's struggled playing on his own? My answer is to play him in a deeper position and have Bowman up top. Is it ideal? No. But I think it's the best compromise between having a goal threat and being open at the back. If it doesn't work but we are at least defensively competent you can change your game plan at 0-0 or 0-1.

4-5-1 is only parking the bus if you set it up to play it that way. Tactics and formation are not the same thing. Hibs line up against Celtic in the 2-2 draw was this. ----------------------Marciano----------------------------- Whittaker ---Hanlon----Ambrose------Stevenson--- ---------------Bartley----McGinn------------------------- --Slivka---------McGeouch-----------Boyle------------ --------------------Stokes--------------------------------- Hardly parking the bus. You have five bodies in midfield with three primarily attackers. I agree that we can't sit in and hope to survive but what we can't do is allow Celtic space in the wide areas. For me four at the back is the only way to do that. Also if you want to keep Celtic's full backs, who are both dangerous coming forward, in check then you are much better being able to double up down the wide areas with a wide midfielder and a full back. Also gives our wide players cover when they are attacking and perhaps they do that more because they aren't thinking "there's nothing behind me". The amount of space Candeias and Windass got at Hampden last time was ridiculous. We just can't allow that to happen again if we are serious about winning a trophy.