Kmcalpin

By the looks of things Hearts fielded a more experienced side than we did and that may have contributed to the outcome.

Presumably we will be awarded 3 home games and 2 away to balance fixtures out. We're then due to meet Dundee and St Mirren at home and Accies, Livingston and St Johnstone away. So, it would seem that one of the latter three will travel to Fir Park to make up our 19 home games. Thats the theory anyway.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that Carl McHugh wants to return south at the end of his contract and that Alan Burrows has quashed any chance of us holding onto Ariyibi.

I don't get the chance to watch our reserves/Under 20s so I can only presume you're referring to the likes of Liam Brown?

You could well be right. I think the defence will be pretty much ok, its the midfield and strikers where we might see most movement. Up front Sammon will definitely move on as will George Newell. Danny Johnson has a year left but looks to be out of favour and doesn't suit our current playing style, so could be moved on. Curtis Main is out of contract and I suspect he'll move on. So we could be looking a completely new stikeforce with a still raw James Scott waiting on his chance. In midfield its possible that quite a few from Cadden, Frear, Turnbull, Gorrin, Campbell, McHugh and Hastie will move on. I think this will be the area of biggest change for us. So it might be prudent to give a promising and talented youngster like Reece McAlear some time on the bench before the season comes to an end. As always time will tell.

Did Saints not win the toss? I agree that the sun is an unlikely explanation.

We just deserved to win yesterday, but perhaps not by 3-0. St Johnstone surprised a few of us by parking their bus and defending in depth, presumably setting out for a draw. Credit to them they'd done their homework as I knew they would and they defended exceedingly well and high up the pitch. They hassled, got in our faces and closed us down. Thats where the plaudits, if I may call them that, end though. They were cynical and set out to nullify us at all costs. Their intentions were clear from the kick off as they conceded 2 fouls in the first 90 seconds. I was wrong in thinking that they'd double up on our wingers they trebled up on them. Their attacking intentions were limited to set pieces and the odd breakaway, fuelled , in part by our careless passing. Not surprisingly we struggled to break them down and showed a lack of creativity. Oddly ,we played the long high ball too often and this played straight into Saints' hands as they highlighted our vulnerability at high balls. Had the tractormen scored first with the penalty or otherwise it would have been a very different game. This pattern pretty much continued until our inspired substitutions about halfway though the half. The introduction of Cadden and Frear turned the game in our favour and we scored 3 goals in the last 20 minutes. We also started to play decent football. Despite his long lay off Cadden looked fresh. Robbo will want to learn lessons from the game. In particular, we still lacked a bit of penetration and we were vulnerable in the air. A good win though which allowed us to leapfrog Saints, at least for the time being. I thought Euan Anderson had a poor game throughout and was far too lenient with Saints' cynical and niggly approach and allowed himself to be conned all too often. Davidson and Kane were the main beneficiaries of his generosity. Having just watched the TV Highlights I'm sure he blundered badly by awarding the penalty. Kane and the other Saints player collided and went down and whilst Gorrin may have made very slight contact it was never a penalty and they should be hauled up for simulation, but we all know that won't happen. What is it with us & St Johnstone and wrong penalty decisions?? Still a good day at the office and we're safe from relegation in 7th place.

The opposition. I accept that if it happens once it could be pure chance, but when it happens twice and involving teams like Accies and St Johnstone it looks like a very strange coincidence.

He has a slight calf strain.

I did wonder about that. IF Jake Hastie was to sign a PCA with another club, it occurred to me that management at FP might "protect" him. IF again, he was to sign for another club, I would bear him no ill will but would not play him and instead play lads who would be with us for next season to test them out and give them experience.

I think we should hold fire on commenting on Jake Hastie until there's an official announcement. Someone is spreading fake news either by accident or design. When quoting salary figures its important to bear in mind that higher salaries presumably also attract very high rates of tax ie 40% or 45/46%. Good news about Adam Livingstone.

Pretty much agree with recent posts about the squad overhaul in the summer. Add to those names those of Conor Sammon, whose loan will be ending and perhaps those of Peter Hartley and Danny Johnson. Hartley isn't getting a game and isn't getting any younger. Johnson doesn't seem to fit Robbo's curent formation. So, a pretty substantial overhaul is in prospect. We can also add to the above lists possible departures of Cadden, Hastie and Turnbull. At the very least we're going to need some new strikers and maybe, just maybe some new midfielders. Time will tell. Hopefully Gorrin will sign a new deal to give us some stability.

Cadden, Devine, Semple and Donnelly all score to give us a 4-1 win over St Mirren.

Chris Cadden starts for the reserves today.

Don't agree, there are several worthy candidates . I do agree though that he's been very impressive and is therefore my young POTY. Also a candidate, I admit, for POTY. My choice was Aldred although there are other candidates. They are two different kinds of players and in that respect its hard to compare them. In the main, its what Turnbull does on the ball and his goals that gets him noticed and thats not surprising. Aldred is a different kind of player and, with the exception of his match winning brace at Hamilton, its what he stops or prevents that is his strength. In years to come no-one will recall his crucial role in stopping opposition strikers from scoring in individual games. The statistics will not record that. My point is that there are several worthy candidates for POTY and posters are not being ridiculous if they hold different views to yourself.

I don't have much time for Alex McLeish. His time in charge at Fir Park was the only time I've ever considered stopping going to Fir Park. He couldn't leave us quick enough to go to Hibs and annoyed our directors big time in the process. He did the same at Hibs (what went around came around) to join Rangers. It left a bad taste in the mouth. When he was sacked from Ibrox he was slotted in by the SFA as national manager. When an offer came in from Birmingham he was offski double quick again. In his managerial career he's shown no loyalty or class at all. I've always been of the view he should never have been re-appointed last year. Part of the Old Boys network. That was before I read your post Al. Like many, I've suspected that he's had health problems but didn't know any specifics. I'm genuinely sorry to hear that it might be early onset dementia - a horrible condition and if that is indeed the case I wish him and his family well. However, if he knew that, before being offered the Scotland job once again he should not have accepted it. He will be very well off financially and is 60 after all. Whats more if he told the SFA about it at the time and they were still keen to appoint him then they too must accept a fair share of responsibility. In short a totally unsatisfactory situation all round. Lets not forget that he's human though and if he does have a serious illness then I wish him well. It could happen to any of us. To finish on a lighter note, after this extremely depressing subject, Theresa May could have done with Alex McLeish's asssistance in getting us out of Europe quickly.

I assume that Robbo will attend, or at least send scouts along to, the All Saints game. A perfect opporunity to assess opponents. Whatever, we need to try something a little bit different for this one as, recently, teams have sussed out our wingers and nullified them. You can say what you want about St Johnstone but they are a well drilled team and will have had us watched closely in the last few weeks. We've also upset and annoyed Tom Wright and so he'll have a score to settle.

I suspect you're right but the SFA should have made this clear. However an early kick off will not help.

Getting bored with the international break, so lets look forward to the upcoming St Johnstone game. Its just been announced that the rescheduled St Johnstone V St Mirren game will now take place on Wednesday 27th March, so that will give the Perth club less time to prepare for our encounter. An important game in the race for 7th place; not earthshattering in itself but worth a bit of cash to the club.

I agree that it should be a neutral venue. This seems to go against sporting fairness. No explanation so far. 7pm is also early for those travelling from Lanarkshire.

At the moment not amongst the front runners. The jury is still out due to his injury and lack of game time.

Oddly enough I see our defensive formation depending to a large extent on mattters further up the field specifically the wings. if Hastie and Aryibi and maybe even Frear move on then we may revert to a back 5 although I hope not. Presumably Tom Aldred will move on. Assuming that it will be a back 4 I'd see Gallagher (if he signs) partnering Charles Dunne with Barry Maguire as first back up in the middle. I don't know where this leaves Peter Hartely though. At full back Richard Tait will be guaranteed a start either on the left or on the right. If pushed I'd say on the left with Liam Grimshaw on the opposite side. This is hypothetical of course and the manager's ideas may change after the first few league games ie Barry Maguire may not make the necessary step up or equally he could be outstanding and force his way into the starting line up. Gallagher might be the real thing or he may struggle.

Good thought provoking post Denny. I would make 2 comments. Firstly to put your comments on Hibs into perspective we'd need to compare it with MFC's assessment process and at present we can't do that through lack of information. Secondly, The wages that Hibs will be offering their youngsters above their Reserve team basic wage, will be higher than quite a few of our first team squad are on. In our terms, they will be throwing cash at their good prospects. This will make retention far easier.

So where would Liam Grimshaw fit into your plans?

Hopefully Jake Hastie has come to realise, over the past few games, that he still has a lot to learn even at Scottish Premiership level. Recently teams have been doubling up on him and he's found it harder to make an impression.