Kmcalpin

After Saturday's game I'm wondering how many first team squad wingers we have? It seems to me that we have one who Robbo trusts - ie Frear. We seem to have a few last season but only one this season. He doesn't sem to think MacLean is quite ready yet, and Jake Hastie won't be appearing on the bench in the next 6 months anyway. At the start of the season I assumed Frear would be first pick, which he is; MacLean would be starting the odd game or two with some sub appearances thrown in; and Hastie would make the bench occasionally. Still, in Robbo we trust.

Does anyone know the 50/50 draw numbers from Saturday?

Saints were prepared to push the boat out fnancially for 2 players; O'Halloran and Scougall.

Absolutely. Yesterday in the first half we had too many square pegs in round holes; unnecessarily so. A touch of the Craig Brown syndrome where you play your 11 "best" players irrespective of their correct positions. Whilst I thought Tait had a very poor first half, in fairness for most of the 45 minutes he had no-one in front of him for protection. Louis Moult suffered from lack of support and was frequently left isolated or ended up behind his midfield when we were on the attack instead of being in the opposition penalty box. Fisher is clearly no wide left midfielder and his role reminded me of John Sutton's under Craig Brown. We were crying out for width and MacLean could have provided that. Pre match I wondered who was going to play in the tough holding midfielder role as there was no-one obvious on the team sheet. I worried that Ross County would steamroller us in the middle of the pitch and thats just what happened. Thats a role, for which, young Campbell is tailor made and he showed that when he appeared after the break. Finally a word on the referee. Again a poor show but fortunately no huge game changing errors. Totally inconsistent as was the POD stand side linesman. I still can't fathom out why Heneghan was yellow carded, unless I've missed something obvious. A hard barge from behind but just the sort of challenge you see every week sometimes punished sometimes not. I must find out from where the 4th official bought his watch as I certainly want to avoid that brand and shop.

He looked totally fed up and I don't blame him. He's being out of position and was too isolated. He suffered from lack of support in the first half. He needs to play off another striker.

Some truth in that. A lot of credit has been given to Robbo on here, with some justification, for his changes at the break; however Steelboy makes a valid point. Our line up and tactics in the first half were shambolic. Our line up was as I feared beforehand. Fisher playing wide left; a toothless central midfield in McHugh's absence; and an isolated lone striker. This handed Ross County a huge, but totally unnecessary advantage but fortunately they couldn't capitalise on it, so yes were were lucky to some extent. Campbell ought to have started in the middle and MacLean ought to have started wide left. Players looked as if they didn't know where they were meant to be playing. Square pegs in round holes comes to mind. I exempt Fisher and Tanner from any criticism. The former was played totally out of position and the latter clearly wasn't fit and should not have been playing. Once again we struggled to service a lone striker who seemed to play anywhere except where he should have been. As in Perth last week we had no creativity or cutting edge. Frear was badly missed and Tait had a very poor first half. Cadden still looks uncomfortable in the middle. I thought Robbo ought to have made changes after 20 minutes or so and held his hands up but he held off until the break. We escaped damage and limped to the half time whistle. To his credit Robbo realised things weren't working and he'd made serious errors pre match. He then changed things about and brought on Bowman and Campbell. To my amazement Tait was switched to left midfield and did a great job there. Campbell added bite to our bland central midfield and really ought to have started there from the off. That doesn't mean to say he should play alongside McHugh because he shouldn't in most circumstances. Bowman made a big difference up front with his running and energy. We then deservedly took the lead and the rest is history. Robbo almost lost the match for us but as it transpired he won it for us. Clearly he possesses tactical nous but he can also balls things up on occasion. Over the piece I thought Griffiths, Dunne, Heneghan, Campbell, and Bowman were the pick of the bunch. Tait like his boss put in a Jekyll and Hyde performance. I think that MacLean can feel hard done by. He ought to have seen far more game time today as we were very lop sided. Worrying too that Cadden was pulled back to right back. Anyway a good home win, 3 points and a shut out. A Jekyll and Hyde performance today. We really miss McHugh and Frear and I hope they're back next week.

Kipre for me because of his contribution over 90 minutes.

Unsettled then by Willie Miller and Richard Gordon.

Louis Moult signed the contract. Surely even he wouldn't expect to be sold if we didn't make a profit on the deal?

I'd like to see MacLean start wide left if Frear is out. We need more creativity to help the striker(s).

Midfield, and specially central midfield, is going to be crucial and apart from the fact that we don't yet know who'll be playing we'll be up against it there. Hopefully Tanner and Frear will be fit but if not we need MacLean to step in. Not overly concerned that Carson is missing as Griffiths is an able deputy. McHugh's absence will be more crucial. Can Rose do a physical defensive job or can Campbell step in and plug the gap? Strikers also need to step up. Game could go any way.

Yes, but I don't think the media made a big thing of Lennon's gesture.

Is anyone surprised? Total inconsistency from the SFA.

By implication is the SFA also saying that the penalty decision was wrong?

I was doubtful about Dunne's appeal for his red card in Dingwall and that outcome seems reasonable. His successful appeal for his red card last Saturday was also fair. However, I don't agree at all with Carson's outcome. if referees are going to apply that interpretation of a "clear goalscoring opportunity" consistently in future we could well see a flood of red cards.

Unless there's a confidentiality clause in place.

Great result for our young lads and some well taken goals too. It should give them some competitive experience.

Not as large as you might think. It was widely reported a few years ago that some investors suddenly appeared and gifted United about £6m out of the goodness of their hearts to wipe out their debt. Details however were very vague. It turned out that the investors did not simply gift the 6 million after all but in return for their cash injection were given a large percentage of the transfer income from the sale of players to Celtic.

A lot more could be done to improve refereeing standards in Scots football. The introduction of goal line technology is one must for me. The publication of referee's reports, or at least summarised versions, for fans would also be a step forward. Most fans, me included, have never seen a referee's report. That would help to dispel myths and misunderstandings and would make officials more accountable. Football is a spectator sport after all. The biggest gripe for me is inconsistency, even within the same game. Examples of this would be random and irregular treatment of foul throws; random and irregular treatment of encroachment at penalties; inconsistent definition of and punishment for dissent. I simply cannot understand why we were pulled up 6 times last Saturday for stealing yards at throw ins yet Saints did exactly the same and were not checked once. Red card appeals seem to be a complete lottery from what we have seen. Now refs have a very difficult job to do and have to make split second decisions without the benefit of action replays. In the course of a game they will make mistakes, they are only human after all. But these could be minimised and more consistency achieved. It is a very difficult job and you only have to view post match pictures to see the amount of fouling that goes on during a game eg jersey pulling is very, very common. Another gripe I have is timing/duration of games. It really does seem to be a complete lottery. Time wasting is rarely, if ever taken into account. It was interesting to see that on the opening day of the English lower league card on 5/6 August the number of games in which 6/7 minutes were added on. This is a rarity in Scotland. Are refs biased? I'm sure most aren't but human nature being what it is it'll be very hard to be 100% objective. Refs can be unduly influenced by large crowds, big playing characters, personal dislike of certain players and so on. Its human nature. I think Liverpool University made a study of this years ago and came to this conclusion. We need to encourage more to take up refereeing and give those who do more respect but the SFA needs to start the improvement process itself.

That doesn't surprise me Andy. From memory its comprised a former player, a lawyer and another party (I can't recall who), but the impression I have is that the personnel can vary from meeting to meeting. I think also that our club seeks advice from a "refereeing consultant" before submitting an appeal.

No problem Andy. Just contact me and I'll bring them along on Saturday.

Yes but surely you must agree Andy that he has improved beyond all recognition after a short spell in England. He's probably 6 times better than he was when he left us.

Great idea Andy which will benefit the Society. Could I suggest though that there be some collection at the home games against Ross County and Hearts. Many fans, like myself, aren't able to go near Fir Park except on matchdays and by excluding us you'd be missing out on some contributions. For my part, I won't be at the Hearts game but will be there on Saturday. If someone can meet me either before or after the game I'll hand in a few shirts.

You might be right but how would Thomson know that unless Carson admitted that openly to him? He can't make a decision based on what he thinks a player was thinking. To make the decision he did he must have made several big assumptions 1) Wotherspoon would have won the ball 2) He would have beaten Carson's challenge 3) He would also have beaten Kipre's challenge. 4) Having won the ball and beaten both Kipre and Carson no other Motherwell player ie Heneghan, who was also nearby, would have restricted his opportunity on goal. In short he cannot have been anything like 100% certain that we denied a clear goalscoring opportunity for Wotherspoon. Just noticed too before Carson's poor kick out a St Johnstone player pushes Heneghan, I think, off the park - a soft foul yes but one nonetheless. From other posters, I believe we have appealed this red card but can't find any sources.

Hopefully, Tanner and Frear are deemed fit, and possibly Newell too. Campbell to be a straight replacement for McHugh. Optimistic too that Dunne and Carson will make it but who knows. If not, you'd imagine Plummer and Griffiths will come in.