Kmcalpin

Much has been posted on here about the role of the players and manager, in this upcoming game, but we the fans have a huge role to play also. Irrespective of our opinions we have to turn up on Saturday and get right behind the team in this important clash.

I see our Under 20s have only 3 named subs tonight. Surely we could have picked one or two more?

Very true. Successive managers have failed to address this problem despite having had more than enough money to do so. Any formation involving a 3 man defence on paper ie 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 inevitably ends up as 5-3-2 or 5-4-1 or something similar. I don't why Robinson has settled on this 3-4-3 formation as it doesn't work (it did at Ibrox for some reason). It places intolerable strain on the 2 wide men/wing backs. Prior to coming back Robinson earned a reputation as being a good tactician but we've seen precious little evidence of it lately.

Agreed. Going back to the Accies game by way of an example, he had several saves to make, 2 of which came into the very good category. That was because the defence and midfield in front of him failed to protect him. The Accies keeper had perhaps one save to make all game and none in the second half despite heavy pressure from us. Accies players were closing us down and preventing efforts on goal by throwing themselves at the ball. Thats been pretty much the story all season. Samson is far my from my ideal keeper but the cover he receives is woeful.

Just about to post the same thing. All very well in principle but if we discount Lasley, Pearson, Clay, Ainsworth and probably Lucas who is left? Cadden would need to play on the right; Frear on the left; Campbell and Gordon in the middle. Only other option is to move McHugh out of defence. In that scenario, if we want to leave Jules out then its a case of playing Ferguson in the central defence. Not likely in my view.

As did Gary Warren who was red carded after the final whistle.

Not sure but here's the link. http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/resources/documents/Disciplinary/CurrentSuspensions/Season2016/17/PlayerSuspensions/LOS39%20(06%20April%202017)%20CW.pdf

In my view we should not field Keith Lasley as he is suspended for one game starting on Saturday (see above). Its a risk not worth taking. Other than that I agree we should go 4-4-2.

Yes, hoofball isn't working. However our midfield choice will be limited. I've no idea whats happened to Lucas and Lasley is suspended. IF Tait is fit, our central midfield might be a choice from Pearson, Cadden, Clay, Campbell and Gordon.

A good summing up of where we are at the moment. I have seen worse Well sides but not in recent years.

Good post Andy. I'm still neutral on Stephen Robinson and to be fair he's taken over in difficult circumstances. As far as our tactics are concerned I don't care what they are so long as they work, but they aren't. I can see why he's resorting to hoofball as he doesn't think we've the players to play the ball on the ground but we don't have the players to play hoofball either.

Why was MacDonald being dragged out wide out of interest?

I'd like to see Moult back a soon as possible but he alone can't save us. If he's not given decent service he'll not score. Simples.

I'm trying hard to take positives from today's game. It was always going to be a very hard match and we only lost 1-0. No red cards and no obvious injuries. Thats about as much as we could have hoped for. Both Accies and Inverness picked up red cards. Robinson has had another opportunity to suss out what doesn't work and hopefully he'll have learnt from it. Next week really is win or bust - no excuses.

I can only assume that its a loan to cover cashflow issues given what we were told late last year. There will be no league payout for us this season until August given that we'll miss the top six. Also, its more than likely that transfer payments for players who left like Erwin, Hall and Johnson will phased over a good number of years.

I doubt we'll do much in Maryhill but we can beat Inverness, if our boss can come up with something a wee bit different and luck favours us. Given our home form, two home wins from Accies and Inverness was always going to be very ambitious and 4 was a more realistic target. Accies are playing well just now, at what they do; importantly they're carrying loads of good luck; and they're getting results. They've beaten the likes of Aberdeen and St Johnstone don't forget. Ross County and Dundee are also in the mix. Given Stephen Robinson is still finding his feet, I'll be happy if we're still off bottom by the split. That will give him some breathing space to get to know some of his players better; instill his ideas into the squad and come up with more effective gameplans. The one thing we can't seem to shake off is a run of shockingly bad luck.

Good post. The problem that Robinson has is that he's inherited a shockingly poor central midfield - no pace, no creativity and no bite. It hasn't helped of course that our best player there, McHugh, has either been injured or drafted to play into the defence. This isn't just McGhee's fault though - it goes back to the days of Stuart McCall. I'm generally not a fan of Cadden being played in central midfield but right now I'd stick him in there with Ainsworth on the right, Frear on the left and say Pearson in front of the defence. Not ideal I agree and that formation has its achilles heels. Even if we played with that formation for part of a game, the likes of Campbell might have a role to play in energising and toughening up the middle. I know our strikers haven't been firing on all cylinders but for much of the time the ammunition they're being fed is very very poor at best.

Frear looks promising but was played too deep last night in a role for which he's probably not suited.

Pretty much agree with all of that Greg although 3 at the back tonight didn't help us at all defensively. Accies exploited weaknesses down both our flanks but especially on our left side where Hammell had a poor game. I agree with Steelboy that Robinson got it badly wrong tonight. Thats not to say to he's to blame for all our ills he's not. 3-5-3 or whatever it was, is suitable for certain games where the play is more open but certainly wasn't right for tonight. Accies streetwise tactics seemed to take us very much by surprise although I don't know why they should have done. Blyth looked totally out of his depth and should not have started. For all his faults I would've played Ainsworth in front of Cadden to complement Frear on the left and played with 2 orthodox full backs in a 4-4-2 formation. MacDonald would've been instructed to play off and with Bowman, not behind him. Our attacking efforts were nothing short of clueless for the most part with an over reliance on long high balls which were totally ineffective - I assume we didn't know that Accies had big centre backs? Even allowing for the tactical and selection errors changes could and should have been made earlier and differently. Blyth should have been hooked at half time to be replaced by Ainsworth not Gordon, no harm to the lad. By all means the ineffective Clay should have been hooked but to be replaced by the combative and energetic Campbell (I'm not saying he's the immediate answer to all our midfield problems incidentally). I thought Frear had done ok although asked to play a bit deep and out of position and was surprised he went off unless injured or knackered to be replaced by a right winger, playing on the left. If we are to avoid 11th or 12th spot then Stephen Robinson has to up his game and quickly. Again I'm not starting a witch hunt against him, given our position when he took over.

I think 3 more points pre split is a realistic target for us, although we have to go full out for the 6 of course. I never thought that we'd beat both Accies and Inverness at home. With our squad I think its more realistic to pick up points away from home than at home and hopefully the SPFL will oblige by giving us more away games than home.

Samson for me as he saved us from defeat. McHugh had a decent game too.

Accies were more organised and worked harder than us. They blocked shots and closed us down very well and still found time to outnumber our efforts on target 6 to 1. We knew how theyd play and they took full advantage of a weak referee. We looked clueless. They look up for a relegation streetfight we dont.

No luck but Accies were the better side. They defended far better than us, had about 6 efforts on target to our 1 and their keeper was hardly troubled. We relied too much on aimless high baĺls. Tactics were wrong and our wings were exposed. Didn't understand the subs made.

First and foremost we need a win, n by any means. Over and above that a big win would help our goal difference, which might yet prove to be a significant factor and also be a huge psychological hammer blow to Accies.

Seconded. Lets focus on sensible mature discussion.