Kmcalpin

We're not overly physical but there's a world of difference between being physical ie being able to withstand challenges/successfully make challenges and being dirty which was what Goodwin was.

Overall I thought we merited a draw and were perhaps a shade unlucky not to win. Aberdeen were much "improved" since last week but showed a real nasty edge, as opposed to being physical. There's no doubt that Van Veen's injury hampered us and whilst I understand why he wasn't substituted, ie no one similar to replace him, I didn't agree with the decision, for the reason cited by others. Nastiness aside, Aberdeen were quicker in midfield and worked damned hard to close us down. They had about 5 efforts on target to our 3, despite us having more pressure. Our defence wasn't great but in fairness it didn't receive much help from midfield. I thought Donnelly had a poor game and was off the pace; Goss was poor maybe down to those around him; and O'Hara whilst having an energetic game and scoring did leave a few gaps at times. The engine room, whilst competitive, lacked creativity and our set pieces were quite frankly awful. Still, the main talking point was Nick Walsh's refereeing. To put it euphemistically he had a very bad day at the office; lost control early in the first half and never regained it. He looked out of his depth. Early in the first half Shields was about to break into Don's penalty box from the left and was wiped out by a defender. At that point, Walsh ought to shown him a yellow card to lay amarker down, but didn't and that let Aberdeen know they could play right on the edge, and indeed over it if they so wished, which of course they did. That was a turning point in the game. At the time, some of the fouls he awarded Aberdeen looked very soft and the TV highlights only served to underline that. Some Olympic diving and Oscar winning performances from Aberdeen. In particular, Ramirez and Besuijen should have carded for frankly, cheating. Walsh ruined the game with a weak performance and that and Van Veen's injury will be my abiding memories of this game, sorry to say.

Having seen it again in highlights Gordon, I'd say that it warranted a yellow, maybe red if you take into account excessive force Carl McHugh style. However, I think the referee would have been perfectly justified in giving him a second yellow for simulation later on once he had fully recovered.

Pretty much agree with you Yorky, but I fear for our top 6 slot. We'll struggle as it is to remain in the top half but if Van Veen is out for any length of time (2+ weeks) then we'll drop down a few places given how tight it is. Even with him we're struggling to score but take him out and we've virtually no firepower. Sucess for me this season would be anywhere above 8th spot, which would represent improvement on last season. Overall our recruitment has been pretty good but we have made a mistake in not signing another out and out striker, and could cost us.

Pitch is in great nick for this time of year. If the 2 teams couldn't produce good footy on it its because they, not the surface, were at fault.

Best approach is to ignore injury rumours and assume, barring suspensions and long term injuries, they'll field a full strength side.

Pleased with this news. I wasn't sure of him initially but he's improved greatly and hopefully will continue to develop.

Of that bunch, Joe Wark was the standout by far, followed by Rab MacKinnon. Although decent, I never thought Steve MacMillan was that good being held back by his lack of pace. Stevie Hammell was very loyal but not a great defender. He was however extremely good going forward, and that masked his defensive limitations.

That quote has stuck with me ever since. At a time when when we all looked to our leader to pick us up and motivate us he came out with that.

Dundee must have a very quick decision making process McGhee has still to serve the rest of his touchline ban incurred when with us. Given that he lives in Brighton, how mch time will he actually spend at Dens?

I suspect that this move was planned before the Hearts game. They're panicking either because of the improved form of St Johnstone & Ross County or because other clubs have sacked their managers and they don't want to be beaten to a target. In short they're a basket case of a club and have been for some years now. Their recent treatment of Cummings and Adam only serves to underline that. Mark McGhee?????? Ricki Lamie will be looking on with interest although I don't suppose this situation will phase him in any way.

Yes, task Ross Tierney to mark him at set pieces by doing a Dougie Arnott and standing on his toes so he can't jump.

The culprit was Hugh Brown.

It was a Partick player who butted him. Agree 100% about Alex Ferguson. Always ruthless on and off the pitch.

A refreshing interveiw. Presumably he tells it like it is, and not what we usually get in bland media interviews ? 2plus8 - I presume there was nothing personal in it with Gallagher; he'd just be following Alex Ferguson/Matt Busby type instructions.

The cleaner would have to rub his pate every week.

A thoroughly deserved win today after a shaky opening 10 minutes and a nail biting last 20. I feared the worst when I saw the midfield line up but they did not too badly over the piece although their defending was a bit lax at times. Thought that Ojala had a shaky opening spell but he grew into the game. Thought that Solholm also had a good game although left a bit exposed at times. Carroll did ok but was caught out positionally a few times and his passing was a bit wayward, but didn't let us down. The front 3 line up looks promising and is worth persevering with. Efford looks promising, and Shields put in a good shift. Van Veen is frustrating though. He could easily have notched another 2 goals. If the game had finished 4/5-2 neither team could have complained. Overall a real determined team performance today with no failures. I thought GA's substitutions were a bit risky and negative although agree that some players needed taking off as they were done. In the latter stages we showed Aberdeen a glass jaw and defended a bit too deeply for my liking but we prevailed. Had the Dons equalised we would have been in big trouble. Referee was a bit overly fussy and allowed some Dons players a bit too much leniency when they hit the deck very easily. I'd also like to see our disallowed goal again. I don't condone what some of our young lads did when throwing missiles onto the pitch and that needs to be nipped in the bud, but I suspect that something sparked it off - maybe Ramsay booting the ball into the middle of them - I don't know. He's also building up a reputation as an olympic class diver. Anyway credit to the players and management for a fighting and determined performance and treating today like a real cup tie. This will give the club a much needed boost.

What a midfield!!

There are many reasons for this but a fundemental one is that we, and by that I mean most clubs, are losing our brightest talent to English predators before they even make the first team.

We're a better team than results suggest just now. Not great, but better. Several players are underperforming for reasons I don't know ie Slattery. We're not playing well right now or getting results but I've seen worse Well sides as I suspect you have. The relegated 1968-69 side for example finished second bottom in a league of 18 and won just 6 games out of 34. Possibly the worst side I've seen was Alex McLeish's in 1995-96 when we scored far less than a goal game average. I almost gave up at that point. Bad, but I've seen worse.

See my post on the Dundee United thread.

I just can't understand our failure to bring in a Watt replacement, and yes I don't mean a "like for like". By all accounts we knew months ago that he'd move on and even in the window it wasn't as if he left at the very last second. Maybe all our targets fell through? Maybe GA felt that Shields and Van Veen were all we needed. Baffling as you say.

I don't recall Killie being lauded as a fine footballing team, and as successful as St Johnstone have been they've been dire to watch for years.

Thats been the case for a few seasons now, although the current run takes the biscuit. I always believe in building from the back and making a team hard to beat, but that hasn't happened for years. We have one of the poorest performing "defences" in the league. We've not been playing good football and most fans will accept that as long as we're winning, but they won't accept that if we're losing. For a team of our size - mid Scottish top league we'll never be able to field a good footballing team that can achieve results. There's always a trade off.

Tonight's result came as no surprise to me and in our current shocking run I don't care how we play so long as we pick up points. Surprised that Donnelly was still staring with no sign of Dean Cornelius and we had no strikers starting. Over the years I've seen many games just like this at Tannadice. I don't know if GA knows his best 11 and I sure as hell don't. I don't even know our best set up. In mitigation, we've been disrupted by injuries and we don't know whats been happening behind the scenes. We have some decent players, like Slattery, who aren't performing for whatever reason. The only thing I know is that if we play 3 midfielders, then they should be Slattery, Goss and Cornelius. In defence, I don't know our best line up. Months ago I would have said that it must involve Ojala but he seems to be made of glass. I was genuinely shocked to see him pitched in tonight after having been out for months. It could be that the 4-3-3 set up doesn't suit the squad we have. If Tierney plays then we must ditch 4-3-3. I have real problems up front. As I see it we only have 2 out and out strikers - one isn't ready and the other is currently doing nothing. This should have been rectified when Watt left, and thats another issue. We have 4 wingers, none of whom is setting the heather on fire, albeit one is still settling in. We're on a shocking run just now, with no end in sight, albeit thats against the better teams, but I doubt if we'd have fared any better against bottom 6 sides. Whatever w edo that run has to be arrested. Interesting tonight that Celtic dished out a 3-2 hammering to Aberdeen.