Kmcalpin

I don't agree with you about Lee Hollis, but do on the other points you make. Good post. I was prepared to give Lee a chance but he has never inspired me with confidence. Even at Pittodrie last Sunday he looked very shaky at times, although fortunately nothing came of his errors. His distribution in the first part of the game, culminating in that throw out directly to an Aberdeen player meant that my heart was in my mouth. That could easily have resulted in the loss of an early goal and our game plan would have been blown before it had hardly started. Your take on the goalkeeping situation is probably right. I'd be surprised if Stuart McCall doesn't retain Gunnar as back up and brings in a new keeper.

When Stephen McManus re-signed earlier in the week, Stuart McCall mentioned that he expected to see some other out of contract players do likewise in the coming days. No news yet but I hope we hear soon. When that happens it should clear some of the current clouds of uncertainty and clarify exactly who is stalling or moving on. Then SM & KB can move to target any players on their list. This year I'd like to see a reasonably settled squad in time for Euro preparations.

Like many of you I don't like the power that the TV companies wield over football or the distribution of their cash, which I think has only served to damage the game by inflating the vastly bloated and obscene monster that is the English Premiership. However I don't blame the TV companies as they are doing the best they can for their owners and shareholders. The bottom line however is that the interests of their owners may not coincide with the interests of football outwith the EPL. I've said before and I'll say again if fans don't like the situation then they should unsubscribe from the TV packages. Hit these companies where it hurts - in their accounts. They might be pouring cash into the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal et al but it won't be my cash. I rarely watch EPL matches and go out of my way to avoid them. Years ago Scots fans would be happy to watch their local senior side and perhaps local junior/juvenile teams but this is becoming increasingly rare. Expectations have risen enormously since the late 70s and we frequently read about our team and other Scots sides being rubbish. Rubbish compared to what? The EPL or La Liga? That's totally unrealistic! It saddened me to see two elderly gents (70+) dressed in Barcelona / Arsenal tops discussing the merits of reserve players of those two clubs who I've never heard of. If these two daft old duffers can't see sense what chance have younger fans got? Me? I'll stick to following the Well and local clubs. That's where the future of football lies. We have to go back to our roots. The EPL is totally unsustainable and I'll be delighted when it rots.

In part you're right. Firstly a decent goalkeeper would add some stability to our defence. We have been guilty of losing too many goals at set pieces despite having two big guys in the middle - why is this? We do seem to suffer from lack of organisation at the back though - too many needless corners conceded. On too many occasions our central midfield has failed to protect the defence. Is this down to the mix of players there? We certainly suffer from a lack of pace there as we witnessed at Tannadice. SM also likes to pull our two full backs into the middle when we're under the cosh and this gives opposing wide players a bit more scope to do what they want. Why is this? In terms of our defence, something somewhere is not right. It might be that we have good players at the back but that some don't play well together - this can happen. Anyhows, it should be a priority to sort out our "defence", however that is defined, for next season.

Does anyone have comparable figures for the English First and Second Divisions? From what I can glean they are way in excess of our own SPFL.

Great post Goggles. Given that we will want to avoid the possibility of a large turnover of players in 2015, I hope we can start tying up players that SM wants to retain on longer deals this summer. That would minimise any disruption. Does anyone know Jack Leitch's contract position?

Glad they enjoyed themselves. Well done Iain for starting to kick things off for the new campaign. Count me in when you organise it.

An educated guess / informed opinion.

Lee Hollis, Hutchy and Ainsworth all certain to move on. Cummins, McHugh and Faddy??? Hopefully Craig Reid will agree to join permanently. Not sure what SM will think of his central defensive options ie whether he'll want to replace Hutchy or not. Lee Erwin - will he make the step up in Craig Moore's absence? All a wee bit uncertain at the moment. We do need pace in the side and to shore up our defensive play. For starters I'd say we'll at least bring in a new winger and goalie.

A good bit of business that will hopefully herald others to do the same. We do need a settled squad with perhaps some adjustments here and there to address weaknesses.

That was my reaction at the time too. I've seen so many near things in years gone by and was nervy he'd some spot kind of infringement, but he didn't and the rest is history.

Many refs awards 10 seconds per substitution - there is no set time. However they normally don't take that long. However they do award 30 seconds per goal scored and up until that point there had been none. Goals do cause substantial delays.

I don't think it was a foul by John Sutton, but it was certainly a penalty when Vernon pulled Hutchy back. Aberdeen and Derek McInnes can have no cause for complaint. When Russell Anderson armed the ball into our net a few weeks back, his response was "I didn't see the incident". From where he was standing I'm pretty sure he didn't see our goal either.

I would guess that those leaving will be Hollis, Hutchinson and Ainsworth + some young lads. Faddy?? Craig Reid has done more than enough to earn himself a deal. He's played right back and centre midfield for us but many say his best position is centre back.

Between Reid, Lasley and Hutch today. I'll plump for Craig Reid followed closely by Las.

Congratulations to all connected with MFC. Directors, management and players take a bow. Stuart McCall got his tactics spot on although he couldn't have bargained for Ainsworth's early departure. Finally a special word for our support. Turned up in large numbers and never gave up singing - in the dying stages they really urged the team on. Maybe they sensed that something special was about to happen.

Yes you did keep saying we were going to score in the last minute!

Yes, Craig Reid and Keith Lasley shielded the defence better today and did not allow them to take potshots at our goal. A real team effort though.

Thanks Colin. Its ok I haven't read it. Mon the Well.

The solution then is not to defend too deeply and cut our avoidable corners, crosses and free kicks. Don't let them have sight of goal.

That's true Greg & Andy. Don't get me wrong though - he's been loyal, solid and a real asset to our side over the past few years. Our midfield weaknesses are not all down to him. In central midfield we've had inexperienced players partner him neither of whom are particularly fast. On the wings we've got one great pacy attacking player who is weak at defending and another who is pacy but a bit erratic. More than any other part of the team midfield has to be a balance. If that balance is wrong then we shouldn't pin the blame on one player. Keith Lasley is what he is. In addition Stuart McCall like to play open attacking football which is great in itself. However he doesn't believe in fielding defensive central players. In short what I'm saying is that IF we want to strengthen our defence and improve our goals against tally then changes have to be made in central midfield (coaching can only go so far). Or, it might be that we can live with a high goals against tally and stick with our current midfield. That's fine too, as long as we can score more at the other end. You pays your money you takes your choices. Again, to place things in perspective our high goals against tally isn't all down to midfield. We need to look at goalkeeping and defence.

Sentiment aside, yes it does.

A bit harsh I'd say but there's a grain of truth there. He's had a decent season overall interspersed with poor games and very good games but must take some, not all, responsibility for our poor second half performances and poor defensive record. Our central midfield has often gone AWOL in the second half, and been found wanting week after week with regards to shielding our defence. Shinnie's goal on Wednesday and the Tannadice performance being typical of that Achilles heel. All that said he deserves a lot of credit for playing through the pain barrier at times. Decent season yes, POTY no. In mitigation he is 34 years of age and we shouldn't expect too much of him now.

Ramsden is the best defender when fit but how often is that? You can have the best player in the world in the squad, but if he's out injured for long spells he's of no use to the team.

The one good thing in our favour is that John Porteous is one of the best physios in the business. I've heard this from one or two folk totally unconnected with football or Fir Park.