Kmcalpin

I'm a bit confused Andy. We play Killie on 20 March. The next fixture is scheduled for 3 April against St Johnstone (A)????? There's then a break until 18 April. Something odd.

The club has a good track record of relating to the fans; probably improved by being a fans owned club. Of late however, the social media content, although extremely slick, has taken on more of a marketing bias. Maybe a need to go back to basics? The debate on here proves that fans are interested in the injury list. This season its been of particular concern given its severity. I'll repeat that there's no need to give out detailed information but it gives the fans some buy in and the club needs that badly. At a very basic level fans would like to know if Eddie Nolan or Sam Foley are injured for example and there's been several posts addressing this very issue. I doubt very much if someone at the club took a little trouble to add their names to the list that characters such as Jack Ross or Tom Wright would gain valuable information to their advantage. I'm most certainty not in the camp that because our fans own the club that we should be actively involved in absolutely everything but where's the harm or detriment in adding 2 names to a list? Fans have been asking the question - where are they?

Yes Iain and this could be critical. Hopefully we don't pick up any more serious injuries but the return of the likes of Gallagher, Lawless and Donnelly could be critical during the run in. Whilst we want to do as well as possible all we need to do to keep out of danger is to do very slightly worse than our close rivals in the basement, given we hold a points advantage. If we keep pace we retain the points advantage as is. So heads to heads will be crucial.

Quite right too Steelboy. Why break confidences? Trust is still important even in 2021.

I get all the arguments about the websites injury page. As a club, we don't want to aid our rivals by divulging details of injuries. On the other hand, fans should be kept informed. Therefore its a fine line to tread. If we keep this page then it needs to be kept up to date and must list all injuries/illnesses. If we aren't able or willing to do that then then delete the page. Personally a simple list summarising players and injuries would do me. It should list all players involved but give no time spans.

Ricki Lamie was brought in as cover for central defence, but through circumstances played a number of games at left back. Of late he's hardly been outstanding but has not been as poor as some. In the short to medium term I'd say he's worth his place in the team, until other return. As others say, the gap between our midfield and strikers has been huge and although thats partly down to the mix of midfielders we have its also down to the formation. Tonight first and foremost we have to protect the defence to make us more solid. It that means moving to a 4-4-2 formation or 3-5-2 or whatever then so be it. But our strikers do deserve some support.

That description reminds me of Stewart Rafferty. A very busy player who ran about a lot but didn't actually do anything

O'Hara is not a defensive midfielder. He's not a box to box type either. Essentially he's a central defender or right back. Campbell is normally a hard working battler but has largely gone AWOL in the past few months. Why I don't know. Barry Maguire? No worse than others in the past week or two but no better either. For me, the jury is still out on him,but he's young and hasn't had the benefit of an old head next to him to provide support. Having said all that, each of the above 3 could justifiably say that those around them haven't helped in other words the mix is all wrong.

Is there a case for replacing Magloire with Lamie and Polworth with Watt?

Declan Gallagher situation is very strange. Back in early January the press report said "A source close to Gallagher said: “He is desperate to play for Celtic and in the current climate, he would be a brilliant signing. But with this contract and the automatic extension, he feels he has a gun to his head.” Now the press is reporting the exact opposite "The skipper is holding all the aces". Both versions can't be right unless something has changed.

My apologies Iain. Put it down to pre senile dementia.

A small ray of light. There's an international break after the Livingston game. I normally hate these but not this time. It may just give us a breathing space to get players fit.

Sorry, which team are you referring to? Jim Gannon's or Graham Alexander's?

Pretty much my view. We've simply not been playing to our strikers' strengths.

That's right Ropy. Alan Burrows merely mentioned his contract ended at the end of this season.

Maybe he wants a move to Shellic.

In that case our legal advisers have a question to answer. Surely these clauses are standard wording?

I'll state from the outset that I don't know what is going on here. But "hypothetically", why would the club remove the clause to allow him to play but then not play him?

This season, yes. In fairness to him he's a different kind of player to Turnbull. DT played in a more advanced role whilst Polworth plays deeper, along with our other midfielders. That creates a gap between them and our strikers, which has been hard to bridge.

Absolutely. It all depends on who partners him in midfield. He needs hard working, hard tackling energetic types beside him to enable him to flourish. That said his set pieces leave a lot to be desired.

I think there ought to be a place for McGinley in our current starting 11, maybe as part of a back 3. Ok he isn't the magic answer to all our problems but he's looked ok in cameo appearanes.

I've been getting vibes that things have not been right off the pitch, but who knows. At the start of the season, we looked to be strong, on paper at least but it hasn't turned out that way. For one thing our injury/illness list has been historically horrendous. If GA has still to get to grips with the Scottish game then that worries me, as everyone and their dog knew when he was appointed that time wasn't on our side. He had to hit the ground running. Our January signings haven't worked out so far but I doubt they were all his, but who knows? You're right about our fate. Yes we must go out to win every game, in the most effective way possible, but being realistic our aim should be to stay in touch, or better, keep above Accies, Kilmarnock and Ross County. If we do then there's all to play for after the split when things will be decided. By then hopefully, some injured players will have returned, although there will still be other outstanding issues to be resolved at a later date.

Lewis Irons made a god point today and last Saturday (with 2 different midfields), and that is that our strikers are too isolated from the midfield. Its been this way all season.

Liam Kelly for me.

With the exception of his 2 recent goals, even Campbell has been very poor for the last 2/3 months.