Kmcalpin

A bit strange. We all knew that something was up with Richard Foster and the wording of his exit seems a bit terse. That said, I'm pleased to see Jim Paterson land the post. I think he's been involved with the club for a wee while, if only unofficially. OTF will know the story. Always had a lot of time for Jim after seeing him sit with the fans at East End rather than using a complimentary ticket for their Main Stand.

We're not the getting the rub of the green at all from referees just now. Week in, week out these decisions are going against us. By contrast, Falkirk are getting all these decisions in their favour. Hopefully things will even themselves out in time.

Good post that echoes my own thoughts. A slow build up has been a feature of several games now; none moreso than against Falkirk and St Mirren. Typically, when opposition mount an attack, which breaks down, we start a counter attack as they race back but dither on the ball and in doing so miss that quick killer pass to the likes of Just, Manwhanise or Said who are racing into space. By the time they receive it, they are covered by 2 men. The ball is then recycled back and walking football is resumed. As you say, its not a bad game plan but isn't being executed properly. Will it ever be? Who knows.

Welsh is 6-3, if I'm correct. Taken at face value, he would have provided height, experience and ability on the ball.

Yes, the defence was largely ignored in the summer rebuild and that has come back to bite us in the a**e. I'm pretty sure Weeyin will agree. That said, some players were still under contract and you can't simply ship them out. For all our midfield prowess, we lack steel there and leadership is missing. Perhaps the unfortunate Jordan McGhee was signed to fulfill that role. We lack back up for Longelo and that baffles me. First choice right back and 2 new central defenders? Welsh is just on loan; Gordon doesn't seem to fit with our new possession based system and can be rash; and finally McGinn's best days are behind him. He's fine in a back 3 but struggles physically as part of a central pair. Goalkeeper is another issue. I'm struggling to find many positives from Saturday but yes, our performance will have shown JBA our weaknesses on the big stage and when under pressure. Whilst St Mirren certainly benefitted from some good luck, they managed to breach our defence with worrying ease. The question is what business we can realistically do come January. Its a notoriously difficult window. I suspect some players will need to be shipped out eg Halliday and Balmer, if possible, to clear some space.

A huge game for us to prove that yesterday was simply an unfortunate aberration. Jimmy Teleen will surely have been observing yesterday's proceedings with interest. We've beaten them twice already but we need to tweak the system somewhat to keep them guessing.

Personalities aside, this is where I'm at. I didn't enjoy the football under Alexander and Kettlewell at all. Likewise, I haven't totally bought into JBA's philosophy and I remain to be convinced. At times, the walking football style is a turn off, although I can thole it if its interspersed with sudden bursts of aggression and pace, with some end product. IMHO there's been an OTT love in with it, but thats absolutely fine as its good to see positivity about the club. Like you I'd like to see more punch and steel. I'd settle for a happy medium. I'm not against JBA's style of play; it might succeed but it might not. Time will tell.

I agree with much of that, but the jury is still out for me as to whether the change in style will work. For me the $64 m question is whether we can successfully recruit the type and calibre of players we need to complete the jigsaw. As others have said, we need a reliable keeper who can also play sweeper; a right back; a physical but talented central defender (for this season) and a more robust but effective goal scoring striker. This may already be in hand, I don't know. Although we have some cash in the bank, it may not be easy to recruit these types. If we can, and we retain our better players, then our new system will succeed. If not, it will fail. For me the whole atmosphere at Hampden yesterday was flat and our support muted. In large part that was down to onfield proceedings. I sincerely hope that many won't lose faith but yesterday was huge let down that won't be forgotten in a hurry.

I've decided to give the highlights a miss. Agree with the rest of your post. I'm getting the impression that JBA might not be the best tactician in the world, although he has other strengths. Yesterday wasn't the first time that we've struggled tactics wise; its now occurred several times, espcially at half time when opposing managers make changes and JBA doesn't seem capable of reacting effectively. It could simply be, of course, that he's still acclimatising to Scottish football. As far as Slattery is concerned, I appreciate he is still recovering from injury, but maybe it wasn't the best idea to give him a full 90+ minutes on Wednesday. As you say, the focus will now be on JBA to see if he can lift the team and alter his gameplan, if only slightly, for the next fixture.

I didn't like St Mirren's style of playing but it was effective. Strip out the cynicism, playacting and fouling and you are left with a sound gameplan that succeeded. They bottled up the wings and were quite content to let us knock the ball about nicely in areas of the pitch that didn't matter. Sit back, test us and wait for the mistakes. It worked a treat. I'm still not 100% sold on our brand of football. Call me a dinosaur if you want. Yes, I like attratctive flowing football, but it has to have some purpose, some end product. There has to be a solid defence and an attack thats lethal. As it is, we knock the ball about nicely but too often in an aimless way. If, and its a big if, St Mirren win the League Cup Final how many of our fans will stick to their principles and say that they'd rather be knocked out 4-1 in the semi trying to play modern football than win it playing ugly. Our experiment still has a way to go and that must involve personnel changes in January, but I'm still not totally convinced we can pull off our switch to modern possession based football. I hope I'm wrong.

Good post. Apart from poor passing and being lightweight, our build up was laboured, slow and predictable. It seemed to me that we were pacing ourselves in the first half for a full 90 minutes or extra time. Someone forgot to tell St Mirren. Agree that we need a RB, CB, goalie and striker in January. Other managers will have learnt from St Mirren's tactics today.

A typical Hampden performance from us. Oh how I hate the place. The seeds of that disgrace were sown before kick off with an odd line up. No Welsh or Slattery. Presumably the latter was being kept fresh to come on later and help us defend a one or two goal lead? We were outhought, outfought and outplayed, although 4-1 flattered Saints. Robinson had our gameplan well and truly sussed. Not one of JBA's best days. Only passmarks go to Hendry and Slattery. That game ranks alongside semi final defeats to Airdrie, and will remain in the memory of many for years to come.

I seem to recall he's due back after New Year.

The referee will be crucial and I fully expect St Mirren to put the boot in. First bad foul he needs to stamp his authority on the players and card the culprit. If that's in the first minute or two so be it.

Don't know if it was luck just a very poor finish.

No, it was nearer the halfway line. They were at it all night.

A thoroughly deserved victory tonight against less than ideal opponents and an invaluable 3 points. We played very well in spells but looked vulnerable down our right side in the second half. Watt's goal was an absolute peach. United played a physical game just as I thought they would and despite 21 fouls being awarded against them we e lucky to have a lenient ref. Highlight/lowlight of that was the United player being told to go back at throw ins twice and still ignore the ref. Why no yellow card? A good midweek crowd too. Only concerns from me were possible injuries but glad to hear that JBA is not "overly concerned". Some looked more precautionary i.e Welsh.

Don't know about being arrogant but they do love a good boo, and have done for years. .

Very strange.

Presumably, although ticket details are now in apps, the QR code is not issued until Saturday?

The thing is that Slattery can defend, whereas that was never Spittal's strong point.

Another hand injury again, unfortunately. Allt the best to him and a speedy recovery.

Or, as the MSM call it "taking one for the team".

I'm with you on that. Media pundits need to call it out for what it is.

A huge win for us yesterday as its all very well to play entertaining football but its points that count. So, it was job done. We started off well in the first 20 minutes or so with nice possession football, and had Livi penned back. However we were toothless up front and did nothing in their box. That combined with a resolute defence rendered Prior surplus to Livi's requirements. They grew into the game for the rest of the half without dominating possession and looked dangerous on the break, aided by our disorganised rearguard. O'Donnell suffered a torrid time on the right and Longelo looked out of sorts. Although they scored through a stupid penalty, in truth they could have been 2 or 3 goals up by half time. That said, Ward didn't have much to do. The second half started much the same as the first half ended although we did up our game slightly. Again, Prior had nothing to do. Ward had a couple of good saves. As the subs were introduced, we started to improve and it was good to see Slattery reappear. A cast iron penalty evened things and in the last 20 we really began to open the game up. 2 exceedingly tight offside decisions went against us and goals chalked off on the say so of VAR. At the time I thought Just's first effort was way off but after looking at highlights it was toenail tight - not what VAR should be checking. Just got his rewards with a well taken move and finish. Game over. Ye cannae beat a late winner! Did I feel sorry for Livi? Yes and no. On balance they probably deserved a draw but their cynical tactics make me think twice. They played a weak Nick Walsh like Aly Bain on a fiddle. Within the first 4 minutes they committed 3 fouls. It was easy to see why they have amassed the highest crime count in the league. Still, we won without any help from VAR. Whilst we are battling VAR, Falkirk have lucked out for the second week in succession. Swings and roundabouts hopefully.