Kmcalpin

A reasonable line up but its based on a best case scenario. We've heard nothing about Maguire's availablity and knowing our luck this season I'm concerned. Turnbull must be rated rated very doubtful if he's had a virus. If we assume Maguire is ok, and it is an assumption, then I'd substitute Gorrin for Turnbull. That would then give me a dilemma as I'm not keen to pick Campbell but the only realistic alternative seems to be Bigi, who I think has blown his chance and would cause us problems in a critical area. Failing that either Livingston or Brown. If we have any injuries on Saturday, which isn't impossible as Martin Canning is all too well aware, then we're in trouble. I suspect though that Robbo will try to turn our injury woes into an advantage by keeping Canning (and us) guessing right up until the last minute.

On to footballing matters now. Does anyone know if Barry Maguire will be available? If he isn't we're in real trouble.

They will be issued with tickets and seat numbers. Simples.

Yes great to see Stuart McKinstry get some exposure to the first team. He's worked hard for his chance and is a real Well fan to boot. Comes from a lovely family.

Agreed. Its Sammon & Johnson for me with Scott on the bench. Big selection headaches for us and, as always at this time of year, you wonder which apparently fit players will also be out through injury or illness.

A real calamitous game yesterday but when the dust settles, history will show it was another narrow 1-0 loss. I've never seen 3 head injuries like those in the first 30 minutes in all my years of watching us. Lets hope the 3 lads recover quickly and with no long term damage to their health. Anyway on to the football. We did make some changes to the starting line but I'm not convinced that they would have worked. Still, through necessity, further enforced changes were required early on that blew away our game plan. I thought Grimshaw could have done better at the goal as Jones was given that wee bit of time and space to whip in a well placed cross. A team like St Johnstone or Livingston would not have conceded such a goal. After a few early clashes in the penalty boxes and elsewhere , the game took on a niggly, nasty side and threatened to boil over once or twice. Tshibola kept going down very easily and conned the ref much to the annoyance of our lads. By the 40 minute mark a red card for someone looked very likely. In the second half Killie inexpicably took their foot off the gas and we enjoyed much more pressure although virtually all of it was toothless. We had one chance which Bigi missed late on but that was it. Main was downright stupid in his ongoing feud with Killie defenders and there was no need for his reaction, but O'Donnell was rightly barracked by our support for his OTT reaction. Killie ran out very comfortable winners and I always had the impression that, even if we hadn't had those early injuries, they would have stepped up a gear or two to take the points. We played far too narrowly and gaveoursleves unnecessary problems because of that. As to player performances, I thought Tait was outstanding in his makeshift centre back role and was my clear MOTM. I thought Aldred too worked away quietly but effectively. Campbell again looked jaded and ineffective. Grimshaw had a funny game - poor defensively but great going forward with some surging runs. Bigi was a big disappointment. This was a perfect stage for him as we tried to play on the deck on a great pitch but he just failed to rise to the occasion apply his creative talent. Defensively he was all over the place and constantly failed to track and cover opponents. Still not sure about Gorrin - time will tell. Frear flattered to deceive. Some eyecatching runs but no end product. Steven MacLean had a shocker of a game and was completley inconsistent. He pulled us back 3 times for stealing yards at free kicks but failed to punish Kille, who were just as guilty as us, once. I've no doubt his failure to clamp down firmly early on contributed in part to Main's red card. I was also puzzled as to how the Killie keeper got away with handling well outside the box (I hope Trevor Carson wasn't watching). Another 1-0 defeat and we move on.

I met Andy P in the club shop yesterday and we were both looking buy a calander. The assistant told us that they were sold out and the shop wouldn't be getting in any more. Maybe they've cut numbers just a wee bit too fine this year?

I think we can now add a central defender to our January shopping list. Hope our injured lads are all ok. Mbulu took a nasty blow to the head (we thought he indicated he'd been punched) and his injury could be very serious. He has to get it repaired PDQ. My wife had a detached retina and its a very serious condition indeed.

Not really. All they have to do is to instruct fans to sit in their correct seats and enforce it. No exceptions. It isn't difficult.

According to Saints fans he's lightweight and has done nothing despite being a top earner. Brian Kerr Mk2. No thanks.

Very true. Had Stewart been red carded (correctly) then it would have a very different game. Ref was shockingly inconsistent and given the niggly bad tempered nature of the game a red card for one of our players was always likely All that said we were poor.

Last time I was there we arrived in plenty of time and when we showed our tickets to a steward he instructed us to disregard seat numbers and sit anywhere. Other fans were told to stick to allocated seats. A recipe for chaos and trouble.

Hopefully it won't be a shambles and the stewards will get their act together and give our fans correct and consistent advice.

A bit strong. No-one is forcing Turnbull out of the door except perhaps his agent. If he leaves shortly it'll be because of the cash on offer end of.

Yes, his potential contribution to our league campaign between now and May has to be factored in. His agent will be trying to drum up business down south and will be telling potential suitors what his compensation values will be.

Of more concern to me is whether we receive more compensation if he leaves next month or in June.

I agree with your reasoning but don't think we have the players to play this kind of football. Unlike many others I have no problem with playing hoofball or aerial football, but I do prefer open football on the ground. However Frear is unsuited to playing against deep lying defences, when his pace is of limited value. He's better suited to playing in more open games especially when we're a goal up. Apart from set pieces, we don't have the strikers to play aerial football. Of our 4 senior players (Johnson, Main, Bowman and Sammon) none are capable of playing successfully against increasingly towering central defenders. A lot of our current troubles are rooted in a failed summer recruitment campaign, when we signed not only unsuitable players, in the main, but also the wrong type of players. It may be, of course, that we had to resort to signing our 3rd, 4th or even 5th choice targets but thats being generous and speculative. As far as tomorrow goes, I hope that Killie suffer from complacency as, on paper, this should be a stroll in the park for them. First things first though we have to pick the right starting 11 and all of those chosen have to take the field with the correct attitude. That could be a big ask in itself. Still, its a game from which we have to take something. Merry Christmas to all.

Agree with most of your post but in the centre midfield I'd pick 3 from Gorrin, McHugh (not 100% convinced of him), Turnbull and Rose. My gameplan for Campbell would be to tell him to enjoy Boxing Day with his family.

I'm with Smiddy on this. If a player is exceptionally good in an attacking/creative sense such as your Davie Coopers, Bobby Russells or Pat Quinns then yes its not unreasonable to ask less gifted but more "solid" collueages to cover for them. You could build a midfield or indeed team around these players. Without being disrespectful, Bigi is nowhere near that class. By all accounts he's a thoroughly decent guy but there's no way we should build a midfield around him. Despite us playing "hoofball" there's been quite a few occasions this season where we've tried to play a bit of football through Bigi but he simply hasn't performed in an attacking sense.

A big game for us but aren't they all just now. We must take something from it, preferably 3 points.

Its widely believed that the club has budgeted for 10th place, following a few years of unsustainably planning for a top 6 finish. Some reduction in budget was certainly required I have no doubt about that. Financial planning in football is notoriously difficult and its far from being an exact science. A number of factors, such as a number of long term injuries can easily blow a club off course and I get that. There's no guarantee if you budget for a top 6 place that you'll finish in 6th spot. Its not only a case of what our club does its how our competitors budget and fare. Very fine margins indeed. Overall I think our club is well run and has done well off the field but I do feel that budgeting for 10th place is cutting it a bit fine. There's no room for error whatsoever. Should we be budgetting for 8th or 9th place instead? All that said, in preparing our budget, how do we know what rival clubs are going to do? A budget for 8th place this season might translate into a budget for 11th spot if rivals increase their spending. As far as next month;'s window is concerned we need to acquire by hook or by crook some pace and creativity. Make no mistake, St Mirren, Accies and Dundee will be trying to strengthen their squads and they'll find the cash to do so. Whether they, or we, are successful remains to be seen though.

A real debacle on Saturday which I thankfully missed. However I'll be at the game on Boxing Day with our usual group and at Hamilton on Saturday. Right now the team needs everybody's backing, irrespective of whether they've earned it or not.

Agree with both points. Campbell should have been rested by now but hasn't been and thats down to the management. He should be left out of the squad for the next 2 games. Before yesterday I had thought that 5 points would be a decent but minimum haul from our next 3 games. We now need points from both the Kilmarnock and Accies games. Will we get them? Thats anybody's guess, but Stephen Robinson has put himself under unnecessary pressure after yesterday's result. Lose the next two and he'll be deep s**t.

I commented on this some weeks ago. May have been the St Johnstone home defeat. He shirked several 50/50 tackles and at that point he lost my backing. In our position we need 11 triers/battlers on the pitch. TBH I was surprised Robbo picked him again. That said I wasn't there today and I'm not blaming him for today's debacle. Up until today many saw him as a potential saviour, maybe because he wasn't playing, but I suspect thats now changing.

He's ok and creative on the ball when we're the better side, but if not he disappears. He can't defend and his strengths don't compensate for his weaknesses. If he plays those around him have to cover for him. He wouldn't be in my team and I've said so in the past.