Kmcalpin

With the players we have I'd think very carefully about playing that formation again....ever.

Last night was desperately disappointing. We'll probably never really know how good Levante were, but their next set of results of Europe may provide a clue. Anyway, I felt we made serious errors off the pitch and on it. We clearly did not learn from playing Panathanaikos. Our weaknesses this season are many but I didn't see anything last night that wasn't evident against Ross County or St Johnstone. I'll take 3 quotes from the Ojamaa thread which sums up our key weaknesses perfectly for me. Step forward Real Dosser - "We are so pedestrian when we get the ball the other team have all the time in the world to get back and then we play 20 passes across the park or back to the defence before somebody makes an arse of it and gives it away." Then Wellfan 1984 "Sometimes it seems our team is too scared to go for a killer ball, instead we move side to side with no real plan of what to do next then we just pass it back a across the field." and finally Well4Europe "I've said it before, I'd get Law out of centre mid and back to a more advanced position. He's the most creative player we have and we're wasting him where he is in my opinion."

In this day and age £5.00 is a hell of a lot to some folk on a limited budget. It could easily be the difference between being able to and not being able to. Not every fan earns megabucks. Incidentally Hearts are charging their fans £45 full whack for the Liverpool game.

Losing players is no big deal. I've seen scores of irreplaceable players leave Fir Park only to be replaced by others. When Faddy left the club was supposedly going to implode. It didn't. The same thing happened with Ian St John, Bobby Roberts, Dixie Deans, Keith McRae, Gary McAllister, Lee MacCulloch, Phil O'Donnell, Brian McLair, Scott MacDonald, to name but 9. The club is still here. Our problem is our reputation or rather lack of it. Any young player breaking through at Easter Road, Tannadice or Pittodrie is automatcially a world beater. It might not be true but English clubs believe that.

Can he defend though?

I'm a bit loathe to judge Hetherington and Francis Angol too early on limited first team game time, but the latter looks good on the ball but a trifle dodgy in defence when he is off the ball. Still we may find out more next Saturday. We may be able to take a leaf out of Hearts' book when they played an untried 18 year old and an untried 17 year old as full backs and they never gave their St Johnstone opponents a kick of the ball. Time will tell. Agree about Vines' tackle on Hutchy by the way. He had no intention whatsoever of going for the ball and I thought it a stick on straight red card at the time - but no.

The problem for us is that he is a very talented player who could go far in the game but looks very poor at the moment - any English club worth their salt will recognise that, take him off our hands for a pathetic fee and then develop him properly into the player he is.

I wouldn't worry too much about that big man. Many folk were on holiday and had the game been played at the end of August/Early September then we would have hit the 10,500 mark.

It was always going to be a hard game after the trip to Athens and it showed. We won a point through sheer grit and determination. Very few pass marks today and the referee completely spoiled the game picking on Higdon from the first minute. Also blundered in giving Saints the corner from which they scored. Very inconsistent as illustrated when he ticked off Davidson for diving but failed to show him a yellow card. Vine was lucky not to have received another card in the first half for diving and not to receive a straight red for his horrific tackle. Anyway enough of Ian Brines. It was quite clear that Daley was carrying an injury and unfit. He should not have started. Our failing this season were plain for all see - an overly generous defence; plenty of possession football with no cutting edge, and a slow a laborious build up which suited Saints to a T. We also badly missed Chris Humphrey. Hopefully we can sign one or two players, even through loans before the end of the month, but in any event changes will have to be made. Even with our limited squad some are possible: * give McHugh a run and provide Higdon with much need support * move Law forward into his correct position. * move Ramsden into midfield to give us some bite there * give Cummins or Kerr a place in defence. * give Jamie Murphy a spell on the bench and some one to one coaching - he looks totally devoid of confidence. I'm a bit concerned about left back - who do we play there next week?

Fraser Kerr to partner Hutchy at the back with Ramsden moving into midfield releasing Law for his best role further upfield. Give Bob McHugh a run up front playing off Higgy's shoulder. Keep Henrik in reserve for the last 30 mins if needs be. Certainly Saints aren't a side I'd fancy playing against after a hard midweek expedition to Athens. As we know they're a very big hard physical side and win, lose or draw, the lads will know all about it at 5pm this afternoon. At the risk of upsetting the football purists on this site, I'd be tempted to needle Steven Anderson (if he's playing). He's a bombscare on a short fuse.

True, but he was offered a deal at the end of last season but wanted a bit more cash from what I hear.

I'm really surprised that there's been so much discussion about re-signing Faddy on these Boards. Its all been a complete red herring. According to what I was hearing at the Everton game, there was never at any point any possibility of him re-signing. A nice thought perhaps but thats about it.

Don't forget folks tomorrow is the first home league game of the season.

Shareholders meeting arranged next week to agree Society shareholding.

Very strange. Hearts couldn't afford him.

From a footballing perspective I hope its anyone but Liverpool - we see more than enough of them on the box. Lets meet a team we haven't seen before. From a financial perspective I suspect the club would like Liverpool. .

No I suspect he'll be out for another couple of weeks or so.

Yes, that will be revealing. I really expected United to be on the wrong end of a drubbing at Tannadice. As to ourselves were undone by a mixture of naivety and heat last night. OK we were probably never going to progress but to lose 4 soft goals was very disappointing. Thats something we'll need to address. The other concerning aspect is our tendency to play sterile unproductive possession football. We do require a cutting edge. In the short term I'd move Simon Ramsden into midfield, Jamie Murphy into a left wing role and Nicky Law further forward, with Adam Cummins slotting in at the back. Lets learn lessons from our CL foray and first trip to Dingwall. Keep the heid though folks. Safe journey home for our travelling colleagues.

I've been saying that for a week or two now Haggis. We're badly missing Nicky law further upfield to support Higgy. He might just have made the difference last Saturday.

Its been in decline since way before that.....since John Park left in fact. Chris McCart's success or otherwise will only be known in perhaps 2/3 years from now - so far his tenure isn't looking overly impressive.

There is a meeting of shareholders scheduled for Thursday 15 August to approve transfer of shares to the Society. Its all a bit legalistic but we'll find out more on the night. Things now seem to be moving.

You should be ok ,but as the ticket office is usually busy before games, I wouldn't turn up at 2.55. Give yourself plenty of time.

Presumably too UEFA will be investigating Dundee United as a result of their fans pelting their Russian guests with coins from above.

Not the most riveting game I've ever attended but thats another new ground visited. We secured an away point in very difficult circumstances and thats about it. The team lacked creativity and simply couldn't match Ross County's amazing work rate. Certainly they made it very difficult for us and showed us a lot of respect. At set pieces their height was a real threat but fortunately we managed to hold them out. The central midfield just isn't right in that it failed to compete at times and did not support Michael Higdon. In general he suffered from lack of support. Maybe I'm in a minority of one here but I don't think Jamie Murphy is firing on all cylinders - his roving midfield role just isn't working and is baffling his colleagues. As with last Tuesday he promised a lot but failed to deliver. After doing the hard bit he failed to take the last defender on as we all know he can do. Is it lack of confidence or a fear that he may lose the ball? Hopefully the TV agreement will allow us to sign another combative midfielder. Anyway it was a great day out in good company. Ross County treated us well.

Yes. I rang Ross County during the week. Tickets will be on sale at the ground. The capacity of the away stand is about 1,780 - that should just about accommodate us. --):