Kmcalpin

The problem is that of the players you mentioned Turnbull was played out of position; Ariyibi was probably not match fit and is still getting to know his colleagues; McCormack was so unfit he should have been nowhere near the starting line up; and Johnson will never ever be a target man who can play up front on his own. I've said often enough in the past that talent alone does not win games. You have to have solid, physical aggressive types with dig to win the ball and go toe to toe in midfield battles. It has to be a balance. If the opposition won't give you the ball voluntarily, and I suspect we did ask Ross County politely to do so and they told us to f**k o*f then you need to set about them and physically take the ball off them whether they like it or not. Our line up yesterday rendered us incapable of doing that. All fur coat, albeit a tatty one, and no knickers. You are right in that the manager must shoulder the blame; in my opinion for planning the wrong tactics, selecting the wrong players and failing to motivate those he did pick. I agree with MFC88 and would add that County had about 6 players out for various reasons yesterday.

A good summing up Andy and I agree with almost all of it with the exception of not being beaten before we start. For us to have won today would have taken outstanding individual performances from almost all the players. I am struggling to comprehend the scale of mistakes that Robbo made today, many of which you cover. So so many in the one game. Rarely has a manager of ours got it so wrong in a single game

Yes but they have the players to do that successfully whereas we don't. Too many of our players are being played out of position or are not suited to the roles they're being given. For example we don't have a striker on our books capable of playing on his own up front nor a central midfielder to support that advanced role.

Unbelievable just unbelievable. It doesn't take a nuclear physicist to work out that that formation would fail to deliver.

So we started with one striker, Johnson of all people, up front supported in the middle by a very unfit MacCormack. Have I got that right???

Sorry wrong thread.

No problem with a back four in principle and other changes further up the park. I know many on here wanted that. But, as you hint, you have to have the players to play it that way and to select them. His team selection didn't suit his formation.

That line up suggested to me that Robbo expected us to win any midfield battle relatively easily to bring our attcking players into the game or to play effective hoofball and snuff out any County attacks in midfield without much bother. It seems we weren't capable of doing either. I don't know much about County but I do know they have a big defence and tough & hard central midfield. I was expecting them to come to FP prepared for a midfield scrap. Cup runs are not all about playing scintillating footie sometimes a bit of fight and aggression is required.

Not sure what you mean. When the line up was announced I thought it was very ambitious. Its the kind of line up I'd have expected to field against a lower Division 2 side and was very risky. Little in the way of bite, defensive cover or drive in the midfield and playing with 2 attacking wide men. Johnson, a poacher, and a probably unfit MacCormack seemed an odd partnership up front. I was expecting before the game that MacCormack might see 10 minutes at the end of the game but to start???? Shocked also that there was no starting place for Campbell and perhaps Grimshaw.

Robbo has a lot of work to do before the transfer window closes and some very important games are coming up. A critical January for him and the club.

It looks and sounds like we completely underestimated Ross County and were taken aback when they got set about us.

Really no excuses for today. We had ample time to prepare for the game; Ross County were weakened and it was a home tie. The management team completely blew it and we were as good as beaten at 2.50. Robbo got this one badly, badly wrong.

Sounds like we were pinning all our hopes on a 25% fit Ross MacCormack. Time is running out to fix our impotent strikeforce.

Sounds like our management team got this one completely and utterly wrong.

Now 2-0 down game over.

The game's by no means over so all to play for but our starting line up, on paper anyway, looked odd to say the least.

Well there's a shock: now 1 goal down from a header in the centre of the box. Sounds like County are bossing us.

Surely a lot of that is down to the midfield?

Not able to make the game today but no real surprises so far. According to the BBC only one shot on target so far, but not for us. What is the formation? To me, it looks a strange formation up front. Hopefully we'll shake off ring rustiness in the second half.

A very attacking side but a little light defensively. A lot will fall on McHugh's shoulders as the only defensive midfielder. We need to keep the ball on the deck as neither MacCormack nor Johnson are the tallest. Still that team has pace.

Haha - sorted now as is score. No, but Jock Wallace was playing for Berwick Rangers the same day when they beat their Glasgow counterparts 1-0 at Shielfield Park. That result took the heat off us fortunately.

Older posters will recall getting beaten 1-0 by East Stirling in 1963. My first such memory. Other embarassing historical losses include East Fife (1-0) in 1967 and Stirling Albion (3-1) in 1971. Our history is littered with such losses. Lets make sure it doesn't happen today.

Michael O'Halloran rejoins St Johnstone so we can now put that rumour to bed, if indeed it ever had any substance. The chances were that he'd always head back to Perth anyway.

An excellent short article on Well Fans ii about our League winning team of the 30s. This team deserves more recognition.

How far back do retro kits go?