Kmcalpin

Thats it for me. At the moment, we don't have a complete squad to choose from, with probably another bodies to come in before Tuesday night. Our 2 right backs are injured and other players like Van Veen, Shields, Donnelly, O'Hara and Grimshaw are still recovering or night fully fit. New players are still settling in and yet to gel. We ground out the win today. Not great football to entertain us but we did show some really nice attacking moves in flashes. I thought that Kelly, Lamie, Ojala, Slattery and Watt were our best players. Goss although not matchfit looks to be useful. We haven't yet got the midfield balance right but I'd say that Grimshaw and O'Hara don't look comfortable in the same midfield. The strikers didn't gel, and although Watt played very well, he's not an out and out striker, but had to play in that role because of circumstances. As to the game itself, Dundee must consider themselves unlucky not to take a point but although they had loads of possession they were toothless up front and lacked creativity, especially after Adam retired. The game hinged on a handful of incidents - when Dundee hit the bar; Adam's injury - they weren't the same after he went off; Watt's goal; and Carroll's red card. For the first 20 minutes or so Dundee dominated and whether it was down to our midfielders playing poorly or being outnumbered I don't know. They clearly saw Mugabi as being our weak link as they tried to pressurise him early doors. We saw the game out well although I don't like to see us defend so narrowly. I thought that Willie Collum was very inconsistent and let Dundee players off for a series of bookable offences and it was always odds on he'd cards one of our lads first. When Van Veen's name went into the book you just knew that more would follow. I haven't seen Carroll's challenge yet but will do so later. Certainly Collum acted straight away without even taking time to think so you'd hope he had a close up and clear view of the incident. Great to be back at Fir Park today catching up with old friends and meeting new ones like Yorkyred.

That's him.

Yes but I can't recall his name. Stefan ?????

I remember him for 2 things: horrific blunders and never coming off his line for high balls.

Welcome to the POD.

A striker who drops deep to collect the ball and draw defenders out of position.

Just watched the highlights agaim and the Stryjek/Kelly incident in more detail. Stryjek's challenge was downright reckless. Presumably the referee decided that Amaluzor had fouled Kelly? If that was the case then it falls into the very soft category. Not convinced. He was right to stop the game, but should have awarded us an uncontested dropped ball. No guarantee that Amaluzor would have scored anyway though.

Precisely. Add to that, Curtis Main firing blanks and Richard Tait on the bench again yesterday and that puts things in perspective.

First and foremost, an important 3 points. Performance wise still plenty to concern us though. That said, new players are still settling in and improving fitness levels. Good to see Grimmy get his first goal. Not the most technically gifted but he adds energy and drive to the midfield. The question is where does he fit in? Our issue in midfield is the balance as we're still short of a creative type in there. We're still short of at least 2 players but the question is can we recruit them before the window closes?

Interesting that, despite a RB and 2 midfielders missing out through injury or illness, Crawford didn't feature at all.

Absolutely. Never assume that the keeper will save and hold a shot.

Another youngster who left too early.

I don't know why anyone would troll with such made up rumours Busta. Must have a twisted sense of humour.

A bit confusing to say the least. Should existing season ticket holders have contacted the club to request that they be sent out, if necessary?

I wasn't at today's game, but the result came as no surprise to me. It was always going to be a hard game especially so as we are work in progress. Add to that the enforced absences of O'Donnell and Van Veen and we had a mountain to climb at 3pm. I also get the new players bedding in and others returning from long term injury. Maybe some ill advised tactical tinkering too? I'll cut the manager some slack and am not panicking yet. If we get to the end of the month without picking up another point but make 3 good signings then I'll be happy. We do have to see evidence of some progress though.

100% on the nail Yorky. First step is to make us hard to beat and we're a long way from being in that position. First up we need another central defender to partner Ojala. As for the midfield I thought before today that we were only lacking an attacking creative sort, and we still are. But I have fears over Donnelly. He's just returning from a year out and is clearly struggling. He may make it and he may not. O'Hara is certainly not the answer as the defensive midfielder. We are badly lacking a holding player too. I want Maguire to succeed as a home grown talent but am not sure he will. At present he's no better than a back up player. At the moment we are fielding a one man midfield in Slattery. No matter how good he is he can't do it all by himself. Like you I can't fathom out Crawford's extension. Quite apart from today's result, if a team wins 17 corners against you then the alarm bells should be ringing loudly, very loudly.

Sorry to hear about trouble at today's game and I don't know much of what took place but it seems the stewards, at best, didn't help matters. Did they remove a flag from advertising hoardings and deny fans access to water?

I quite like the steaming battleship analogy. Its a tip of the pork pie to our coal mining heritage, as well as iron and steel making.

Not sure about Maguire at CDM Gazzy. Has he played there well before? To me he's a bit like O'Hara, but not in style. I just don't know where they fit in to the midfield. They're hard to pigeonhole. Donnelly is an out and out CDM, Slattery is a Gorrin style all rounder. Just now our midfield mix just isn't right.

Apparently Grimshaw and O'Hara are nearing fitness and may make the squad tomorrow. That's good news for the team and the lads themselves of course. However I'm with OTF about the latter. He does have energy and physical presence but lacks positional awareness.

From that list I've only ever heard of Ribery. Do the others play for lower league teams?

I think Trevor Carson was red carded at Perth for denying St Johnstone a clear goal scoring opportunity, although that's debatable. That was a memorable game for all the wrong reasons. I think he was also pulled up recently at Tannadice for breaching the 6 second rule, or similar. How often does that happen?

Looking back at the highlights, both Woolery and Lamie missed with their headers. Yes, Lawless did well. A well worked goal.

You're right up to a point, but does Perth & Kinross Council also have the power to stipulate the composition of the 5,000 ie 4,000 home fans and 1,000 away ones?

I would have taken a point prior to kick off, as I didn't expect us to come away with anything. So, not a bad result and we're off bottom. A few players like Donnelly, Slattery and now Shields still getting up to speed. That said our midfield and defence are still big worries. Hopefully Ojala will add a bit of presence and leadership at the back. O'Donnell should not shoulder all of the blame for Saints' goal - someone, not sure who, made a blunder and failed to connect before the ball even reached him. Defence at the moment doesn't give rise to any confidence. Still some fresh blood required.