Kmcalpin

Just switch off Milo. I haven't watched it for well over a year.

Agreed. This is to the detriment of his game. He has been playing wide left midfield but not in an out and out winger's role.

The team is set up to counterattack which works well away from home as we all agree. It does not work well at home as we fail to turn pressure into goal attempts. Are we a one trick pony? Dropped home points willl cost us - I entirely agree. Although our squad is very limited size wise, I'm sure there's scope to change it a bit. Given Dunfermline's goalkeeping problems I'd lime to think we'll test out Smith early on with a range of threats - crosses, shots, one on ones. However our record this season of testing opposing keepers out is not impressive.

Presumably its Jamie Murphy we're talking about and not Nick Law. I view his best position as being wide left as he was at his most dangerous last season when cutting in at speed from the left wing. However this season he's playing far too deep and unable to make those runs. Your comment about him playing behind Steve Hammell may be tongue in cheek but there's some truth in that. In the St Mirren game he twice popped up behind Stevie at the back when we were crying out for him to be attacking the Saints full back 50 metres further up the pitch. By no means the only time this has happened. In my view he simply doesn't have the physique to be playing through the middle.

X 2 David. Stephen Hughes was lightweight, although taleneted, first time around and hasn't changed in my view. Ok he probably isn't match fit but has shown virtually nothing in his limited appearances this season. Is he so good that we have to spend months getting him match fit only for him to put in inconsistent (at best) performances. To finish on a more positive note, we have lads like Carswell, McHugh and Clancy who are desperate for a first team slot.

Best position left wing, possibly right. Yes he needs to bulk up. Contact Everton for advice - they worked wonders with Faddy - he must have put on 2 stones when he joined them.

Jamie Murphy can play in a number of roles, but at present can only play consistently well in one - as a winger. He is at his most effective when cutting in from the left wing against a team playing an open game. He is not suited to breaking down the serried ranks of defenders we constantly face at home these days. Is he capable of playing a different type of game? Mark McGhee certainly thought so and was keen to develop his defensive skills. However we've seen very limited evidence so far of his versatility. In our position I think we should stick to playing him as an out and out winger and then maybe not for 90 minutes week in and week out. The game against the Pars is going to be very tough - forget their league position. The time to be confident will be after the final whistle if we've won. With some players, SM will be able to cast up the Tynecastle performance to give them an ear bashing but with others its best not mentioned. SM will know best.

Hows about this line up? Randolph Clancy Craigan Hutchinson Hammell Daley/Murphy Lasley Hately Law McHugh Higdon That would give us some more height, more of an attacking threat whilst retaining a central deensive core to the midfield.

I wasn't at the game today but this result has been coming for a few weeks and Tynecastle seemed the likeliest venue for it. Criticsms of a lightweight midfield, lack of support for Michael Higdon, failure to close players down come as no surprise to me. Steve Jennings was always going to be missed as he will be on Wednesday coming. I had hoped that Tim Clancy would slot in at RB with Tom Hately moving into midfield but was not surprised to hear that Stephen Hughes had started. Tynecastle is no place for luxury players - our midfield was always going to have to battle, and by all accounts lost out badly. Hughes is not matchfit but I've seen nothing from him since his return to change my recollection of his first stint with us. However onwards and upwards - lets give Jim MacIntyre a surprise, and ourselves a fighting chance, next week, by changing formation and/or tactics and being less predictable. As someone said last week our away from has slipped before our home form has improved. Time to stop the rot next week not just by beating the Pars but by crushing them. That will send out a clear message to our rivals that we're back with a vengeance and they have little hope of catching us.

You've hit the nail on the head. This is the driving force behind the proposed changes.

The exact same guy who came on as a late sub for Aberdeen at Fir Park, behaved like a thug and was lucky to see out the 90 minutes.

I intend to do my bit as well. Hopefully a sufficient number of our support will sign up.

I didn't know he was being investigated Ricky? Am I right in thinking you're referring to his jabbing of Tim Clancy in the throat before the latter's red card.

Good to see things moving at last although the timing isn't perfect. Hopefully there will be a decent response.

Its a difficult issue. If the whole of the East Stand was transformed into a safe standing area there would be hordes of irate ST holders threatening to boycott the club. We would have to designate part of a stand, unless the Police rule otherwise, and that would have to be where those standing caused least disruption to seated fans. Although its tricky I'm confident the club could come up with a solution to keep everyone happy. Agree about prices. The OF will back this proposal on 2 conditions: 1 No reduced prices 2 They can cram more into Ibrox & Parkhead.

Pretty certain that our club will pursue this if NLC and Police give the go ahead. A trial area could be created at the South Stand end of the East Stand - to avoid obscuring the view of seated fans in that Stand. Converting the POD Stand enclosure is a definite NO NO. The Police would not tolerate that on safety grounds (emergency exit from the POD Stand).

Stump up £2,000 and appeal the ban. The whole incident was totally mishandled by the referee who in hindsight influenced the entire game and possibly the outcome.

Will prices for standing and seating areas be identical? Are fans happy to pay the same for a standing area as a seated area? Will clubs lose revenue if seated areas are priced cheaper. Will ground capacities increase? Many questions at this stage. Interesting though.

I quite agree that we've no right to win any game but I sincerely hope SM is trying to fathom out ways of improving our home form, I'm sure he is. However our home form has been mediocre, not poor, for months now and there is little indication of any change in tactics or line up (ok I accept Daley for Humphrey) is a limited change. We are displaying the same weaknesses that we did months ago and if we can see that, then sure as hell opposition managers can. If any team aspires to finish 3rd, and I don't expect to incidentally, then they must have good home form. I could accept yesterday's result if it was a one off or if SM had been constantly trying out different options such as a 4-4-2 formation or a 5-3-2 formation or bringing in Tim Clancy, Bob McHugh or Steven Lawless but he hasn't. Our failings yesterday have been apparent all season: * Michael Higdon playing with no support * A slow predictable and over elaborate build up through central midfield * Failure to get the ball out quickly enough to whoever is playing on the wings and only doing so when they are marked by 2/3/4 men. * Jamie Murphy playing out of position and looking like a fish out of water * Defending too deeply * Giving the opposition acres, sorry hectares, of space when they're attacking despite ours being a tight pitch * Failure to turn pressure into efforts at goal Now this might sound like a gripe but its not. Our away form has been quite exceptional and my comments should be taken against that background. I'm sure fans of every team could produce similar lists. We are sitting 3rd and I don't see any reason why we shouldn't try to remain there. To do so however will require us to work on our weaknesses. St Mirren too have every right to feel aggrieved at yesterday's result and I see no reason why their fans shouldn't discuss their weakensses and ways to improve. My rant does however carry the normal health warning. There will be the usual factors about which I, and other fans have no knowledge - the manager's view of certain players, their off the field attitude/behaviour, injuries, tactical nuances. I'm not saying that 3rd spot is impossible but we will have to work on our long standing weaknesses to improve the probability of achieving that.

We produced some great football and some appalling football in the same game. The referee was hugely influential unfortunately. Our usual failings at home meant we had to settle for a point, which after all is said and done, is not good enough. Saints were far more direct and aggressive. Whilst we exerted a reasonable amount of pressure it was Saints who pulled the trigger much more often. Stuart McCall really needs to sort out our line up and tactics in home games.

The game will go ahead. A change of tactics is required though to a more defensive gameplan to try to draw Saints out and create some space. The build up to this match is important too as we saw how over confidence, in some quarters, affected St Johnstone last week.

Does anyone know if was a penalty in the first half? It was impossible to tell from the away end if it was a deliberate dive, a great tackle or cast iron penalty. Radio pundits seem to suggest it was a penalty.

A good result which was richly deserved. A very important 3 points that consolidates our league position. The wide pitch and Saints' attacking approach gave us the space we needed to deploy our counterattacking game to the full. Not great goals but they all count. I was a bit surspised by Saints - a big physical side who used their height and weight advantage but lacked in skill. Still did Stuart McCall not warn us about that very thing? A good all round team perfomance against an aggressive physical side. Its telling that Darren Randolph hardly had a save to make. Murphy and Daley caught the eye but Jennings and Lasley dug in well in a very difficult situation, and not one they'd want to face too often. Nicky Law had a wonderful match too and caught out his opponents time and again with a crafty performance. The centre backs dug in well after a rather shaky opening 5 minutes and coped very well with the towering Marcus Haber. They knew early on that they couldn't and wouldn't compete with him in the air and switched tactics. The most pleasing feature for me was our game plan. There were areas of the game in which we could never have competed directly with Saints and both sides knew it. But, we didn't try to and instead used craft and guile to pick out and exploit their weaknesses, fatal ones as it turned out, to great effect. Good to hear Yir Elder at last getting the recognition he deserves and fans of Simon & Garfunkel would also have appreciated the singing from our end.

Not at all, its an extremely good point. Its not the main reason of course, but it will be a factor. As we have a narrow pitch it makes it just that little bit easier to close our wingers & wide midfielders down. If we are trying to mount an attack it gives us that bit less room. Hibs were able to despatch 4 defenders very quickly to close Nick Law down at the corner flag and then withdraw them just as quickly once the danger had dissipated. They could not have done that on a wider pitch. A point well made Wellfan 2K7

Thats my take too Jim. We have got fast players like Murphy, Humphrey and Daley who love nothing more than to run at defenders. However they all have to have space. Thats why we are picking up points on the road, as we can hit teams fast on the counterattack. However home games need a different approach when teams come to Fir park and sit in. On Friday night Chris Humphrey was frequently marked by 2 and sometimes 3 defenders. On the other side I saw Nicky Law closed down by 4 defenders on 2 separate occasions near the corner flag. They were petrified that he was going to cross the ball. Part of the problem was that Stephen Hughes and particularly Steve Jennings (who had a great game defensively incidentally) mounted slow predictable attacks out of defence when what we needed was to run at and turn retreating Hibs players. Inevitably by the time the ball was released to Humphrey he was marked by 2 defenders. By comparison Hibs could move up the park with 2/3 passes turning our defenders in the process. Without doubt our mediocre home form has been influenced by team selection issues, tactics and the make up of the squad itself. That said we are sitting 3rd in the table, so Stuart McCall is getting something right.