Kmcalpin

Was Pearson fully match fit when he arrived?

I think other sides have the ability to dig in and fight and scrap for 90 minutes. They can get in opponents faces, harry and hassle them. So far we haven't shown much ability to do this. We tend to sit off teams and allow them the time and space to showcase whatever talents they have. This has to change.

Very much so. On paper we are a slightly better side than our league position would suggest, but thats not to say we're too good for the drop. To me that suggests the team hasn't been playing to its potential and it gives me modest optimism that things will improve with a new manager. In short what I'm saying is that mark McGhee may not have been getting the best from the squad for whatever reason.

Both Robinson and Faddy are contracted until the end of the season, so the option would be there to let both of them go, should the Directors wish this. As far as managerial applicants are concerned, the Board must take into account their track records. However that should also be informed by the circumstances of their appointments ie "after taking the job I discovered I couldn't bring anyone in" / "the Chairman micro managed the team and undermined me" or whatever. Joeboy summed up my thoughts exactly in his post this morning "I guess our next appointment is a tough one to balance. Between now and May, we need a motivator who can get the best out of this group of players to keep us in the division. However, beyond May, we really need a man with an eye for a player, as many players in our current squad are either ageing or lacking in ability and need to be adequately replaced going forward. Getting a hybrid of the two at short notice might be a tough ask."

STV evening news last night reported that Mark McGhee himself had asked that Robinson be brought back in temporarily.

An odd comment from Jim Duffy. However why not look at it from a different angle. Is he saying that a club's owners should not be consulted about managerial hirings and firings?

I think McHugh will step back into central defence and that should help a bit. However that means that our central midfield cover will be virtually non existent or considerably weakened at best. Without knowing the nature and extent of their injuries, its possible that either Tait or Hammell or maybe both will return, but what difference will that make? Midfield? A real issue. Cadden wide right; some combination of Lasley/Lucas/Clay or maybe Campbell in the middle; and Pearson playing wide left. I'd like to see Campbell feature at some stage to add a bit of mobile grit and fight. Strikers pick themselves. We have to have 2 outballs on the wings as relying solely on Cadden is ineffective and unfair on the player. Supposedly Stephen Robinson is renowned for his tactical ability, so we'll see how how he organises his charges. I'm hoping Robinson will make some voluntary changes as more of the same won't do.

What has he actually achieved in his managerial career? For some reason, managers with experience in England are relatively well thought of up here irrespective of what they've actually achieved. To some extent names like Billy Davies and Owen Coyle are in the same boat. In the short term we need a good man manager; someone with a track record to dig us out of the hole we're in. Not necessarily someone who has won a trophy. There are different kinds of managers; some need money and lots of it to succeed whilst others wouldn't know how what to do with it if they were given it but can work on a shoestring. I also don't fancy one of the Scottish Old Boys network like Jim Duffy. Like many I know who I don't want but don't know who I do want. Although not a popular stereotype I'd go for someone like Tom Wright, a guy who can take ordinary players and organise and motivate them. I know he way out of our league incidentally. From the scant comments made by the club it would appear they have someone or some names in mind.

Where did you source this information?

A 7-2 hammering at Pittodrie and a 5-1 home defeat to an ordinary Dundee side made me think we couldn't do much worse.

Stephen Robinson may not get much time to prove himself if the club's stated intention is to "appoint a new manager as swiftly as possible". That goes against the club's approach in recent years in taking its time to appoint the right man. You could be right Lobey. Its interesting that when Mark McGhee was appointed, he was approached by the club despite not applying.

In the main I agree, but week after week too many players simply haven't worked hard enough when we don't have possession. With some such as Lasley, Hammell and McManus, its not down to unwillingness but rather age. Opposing teams work damned hard to close us down, harry us and generally make life difficult for us. We simply haven't matched that work rate. Maybe its an attitude thing - who knows?

Yes some of the players need to take a long hard look at themselves.

Not sure about him. I don't know why he left Tannadice but officially it was down to cuts to playing budget.

It was the right decision and the Directors did have the mettle to do it. Sorry to see anyone lose their job though but our club must come first. Once manager loses the fans its an uphill struggle. We now have to move on and hopefully the players will respond.

Well done to the young lads. A welcome bit of good news for us.

Pretty much agree with that Lobey. All too often he's been our sole outball and opponents can close him down easily. In game after game we've seen 2/3 defenders close him down and Saturday was no exception. Some thought that Pearson would play wide left at the weekend and that was my hope. However somewhat predictably he played deeper and in central midfield - that said he didn't look fit/interested. When Cadden did break he often had to do so without any support. Yes, he may also be carrying an injury.

I can understand it, but don't agree with it as he was perceived to be a hero and a fans favourite but thats not enough. I didn't like the way he left the club as I've written before. In answer to your question, no they wouldn't.

Agree with most of that. However Pearson wasn't really playing wide left at all. As I suspected beforehand we played narrowly with Pearson sitting in left of centre rather than wide left. In short, poor as Chalmers was, he had no-one in front of him. At times he had 2 opponents bearing down on him. Poor as our defence was yesterday our midfield has to shoulder a good part of the responsibility for losing the goals we did.

Seconded. Managers and players come and go but we must support the club.

We have a number of central midfielders but its very much a case of quantity rather than quality. We can't expect young Campbell to carry the others but there's no harm in giving him some game time even as a sub. He proved he can compete when he played in Hamilton. Going over the goals we conceded yesterday yesterday the midfield came out of it very badly.

No options? Lucas, Ferguson, Frear, Griffiths, Hastie? I don't know about Lasley though Allan. At 37 he's way past it, and although he may have brought some enthusiasm to the proceedings the game would have passed him by.

Pre match I was all for giving Mark McGhee until the end of the season but after today's debacle I have changed my mind and think he should be asked to go now. Could things get any worse - I doubt it. Given that he has only a few months left on his contract, I doubt if it would cost much to fire him or put him on gardening leave. It seems as though he's lost the dressing room and now, it seems, most of the fanbase. The Board has to act quickly or it risks turning the fans off big time. I can't recall the last time we had protests outside the ground - maybe in the Malpas era? In the short term we should perhaps install Mr Robinson in temporary charge until the end of the season and take more time to find a successor. Either way, doing nothing is not an option.

An appalling display today which I just didn't see coming. Thank goodness Dundee took their foot off the gas in the second 45. They worked damned hard and looked competitive but that was it. They didn't look anything out of the ordinary. Much criticism has been levelled at Jules and Chalmers and I can understand why. However this was a real team effort. Our midfield, McHugh apart was powderpuff and ineffective. I was hugely disappointed with one of my usual favourites Pearson who along with Clay was anonymous. They gave the young players behind them no support at all and Chalmers suffered more than most in this respect. As I thought, Pearo played in the middle not out wide. Cadden tried hard but suffered from lack of support and was invariably crowded out. I would have thought that McGhee would have made changes at say 3-1 but he chose to wait until far later in the proceedings to bring on Frear. The latter was starved of service but looked promising in flashes although a bit lightweight. Moult and MacDonald tried their best but suffered from lack of service. Would Hammell and Lasley have made much difference - I doubt it. McManus - hard to say but I doubt it. I was wrong about not playing McHugh in defence. He did make a difference when moved there but Dundee did ease off and he was missed in midfield. What was concerning was how most of the the team just crumbled in the first half and it was clear that they just didn't want to be there. That plus a few other telling incidents suggest that the manager has lost the dressing room. A 5-1 hammering, at home, against mediocre rivals just isn't acceptable.

Now 1-1. Penalty conceded by Agent Laing.