Kmcalpin

I picked upon that too. What must the players be thinking if he's giving them advice and instructions and leadership.

Moult might be offski next month time will tell. It depends if a club is willing to pay us a decent fee. We do need another striker but I haven't a clue who, but we have a good record of unearthing unknowns. I can't see Cadden leaving as English clubs will be unwilling to part with their cash for him at this stage. As for the rest a lot will depend on players leaving I'd think. We need more cover for central defence and a creative midfielder. Players leaving? I didn't think I'd say it but McHugh and perhaps Rose, Fisher, Bowman and Plummer?

Agree with most of the comments I've read but I think we're overemphasing the importance of 3 individual errors. Watching the highlights several features stood out for me. * An out of sorts midfield that couldn't compete in the first half and couldn't shield its defence. * Lack of service for the striker(s) in the opening 45 * Individual errors * Disorganised chaos in midfield and defence. At two of the three goals (free kick & keeper's error apart) individual mistakes were made but the covering, marking and organisation were all sadly lacking. Players were all over the place. There was no onfield leadership. Had we been organised we would have covered for the mistakes and prevented the goals. That to me highlights how much we missed Carson and Hartley. Stephen Robinson has a lot of thinking to do before the transfer window opens. He's got the makings of a good squad but some changes do need to be made.

Yes, he learnt his trade at Hamilton.

From the little I've gleaned I think Fisher will be available and Cadden and Carson may have an outside chance of being fit but thats it. I have no problem, none whatsoever, in playing destroyers and grafters in midfield, so long as thats what they do; but last night they didn't. Changes will be required first and foremost in the manager's approach to the game and by that I mean tactics and team selection. After that I want to see 11 committed players on the park who refuse to be bullied and intimidated and fight for everything. If we can achieve that then thats half the battle. We start off at a disadvantage as Killie will have had an extra day to recover from their expedition up north. The plastic pitch may also shape our thinking.

These line ups are all very well but will Carson and Hartley be fit? If not then we need to make changes from tonight's line up and tactics, for what will be an even tougher game.

In any squad or team there will be better players and weaker ones; no team will comprise 11 footballers of the same calibre. However we seem to have maybe 4 or 5 really good players but a number of weaker ones. Given our injury list it was always going to be a struggle to get anything from the game irrespective of how bad Thistle were. However to lose 3 early goals twice this season to so called weaker teams is unacceptable. What irks me is that we were bullied and outfought in the first half. Early this season we had a reputation for being physical and aggressive but that clearly wasn't the case tonight and it cost us big time. Creativity is great to have but you have to win the ball first and be solid at the back. Its easy to blame the defence tonight with some justification but the powder puff midfield must shoulder a lot of respopnsibilty too for allowing Thistle to get in and around our box. We have to make some allowance though for Campbell and Kipre as both are young lads. I think and Robbo no doubt have seen enough this season to know that some of his acquisitions just aren't good enough. That will happen with any manager's signings - some you win some you lose. Hopefully we can wheel and deal next month to carry out a minor reshaping of the squad. Robbo has been adept at that so far. A big disappointment for me this season has been Carl McHugh, especially as he has the captain's armband, but its wrong to pin the blame solely on him. As others have written its great to see Robbo making changes when things don't work out but worryingly we seem to have to make significant changes at half time when either to tactics or personnel aren't working in the first 45. Despite our bad run we haven't turned into a bad team but we do have some issues to address and they can't be ignored. Hopefully the break in January will allow us to make some changes, some enforced some voluntary. The jungle drums suggest that Robbo is onto the case. .

First we have to win the ball.

We have no right to win games and we shouldn't expect that. No need for a meltdown but getting outfought and bullied all over the pitch is not acceptable.

Do we have a midfield tonight?

Apologies over optimism. Thistle now one up and still on top. Game over?

Despite Thistle having a weak central midfield and us having an aggressive defensive midfield they've dominated possession 56/44 and earned 2 corners. Still goalless so far.

Yes, it has. However the team has done well this season and we shouldn't forget that. If we can can finish 8th or above in the league I'll consider that a success. We're now finding out the shortcomings in our squad. Tonight will be a huge test and I suspect home advantage will count.

Agreed. Moult apart, our strikers aren't exactly setting the heather on fire. I can't comment on Newell.

Move on either Bowman or Fisher and Bigi (if possible). Bring in a new striker or two and a creative central midfielder depending on departures.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least.

On paper its a game we should take something from but yesterday's performance and result has shown that the squad doesn't have as much real depth as many of us thought. Clearly, in terms of line up, more of the same won't do and indeed will not be possible. Our big problem is up front and much as I dislike it a 3-5-1-1 or 4-5-1 line up is our only realistic option gioven that Tanner is not a striker. I'd go with the same defence but include Campbell, Rose, Frear, Grimshaw and Tanner in the engine room in some shape or form. Cadden may not be as big a loss as some might think as he's been playing more in the middle and not contributing nearly as much as he would have done out wide. Again not having a third choice goalie will represent a risk. Thistle took a hammering yesterday and by all accounts aren't defending well but that wont be an issue if we can't pressurise them.

More than Kipre to blame. Hearts No 8 is given far too much room and time by our midfield on the edge of the box and thats where the catalogue of errors started. Kipre didn't do well and I wonder if there's a questionmark over Griffiths getting beaten at his near post - is that being harsh on him? From the TV highlights, Hearts seem to have been given too much room on a few occasions and only shocking finishing saved us.

Its clear that we need Moult to score goals. I don't know what our scoring record is when he hasn't played but suspect its not that impressive. Bearing in mind Wrexham will be due a wad of cash I would not sell him next month unless we receive an offer in excess of £500k. Thats an arbitrary figure of course. There's also the question of long term add ons too. For every league place we climb the reward is a minimum of £80k and that excludes extra gate money if we're doing well and a decent cup run. If he does move on then whoever comes in has to hit the ground running. In recent years many acquisitions, quite a few of them good, have taken a good few weeks to get up to speed and settle in.

Thats not good. It could mean that we have to play the next few games with one recognised striker in Bowman and he's not an out and out goalscorer.

Was it a case that our strikers just didn't use the ammunition they were given or was it the case that our midfield just didn't compete and had no creativity?

Lets get the facts first before drawing conclusions and agree also to disagree civilly.

Disappointing but not surprising result. I'll be interested to find out from those who went how we played. The possession stats, courtesy of the BBC, suggest that we lost the midfield battle. Thats a cause for concern as Hearts don't have the best midfield in the world. Did our strikers receive much in the way of service? I'm also interestd to learn why Fisher was taken off - was he injured or was it tactical to replace a striker with a midfielder. I'd rather we'd won of course but taking the positive from the game it'll help Robbo fine tune any plans he might have for personnel changes next month.

So, you're saying that the club's statement citing an administrative error is not true and it wasn't the case that the club didn't pay the legal rate ie through a mistake but that it deliberately chose not to? Do you know this for certain?

How do you know the club isn't already doing that?