Kmcalpin

We were poor again last night and dispayed a lack of creativity, lack of leadership and lack of pace. In the first half we had loads of pressure but created little against a packed and determined rearguard. The lack of pace and creativity in central midfield was particularly evident. We have no option other than attack up the wings where we do have some pace. The second half was even worse with Brechin putting us under the cosh and finding gaps in our packed defence all over the place. Very concerning as you say. They created at least 5 good chances and fortunately for us Randolph was in excellent form. Alan Gow was out of position - he's a winger or inside left, not an out and out striker. We stiil can't find the right tactics up front and the midfield is completely unbalanced. The game passed Keith Lasley and Ross Forbes completely by and they were humbled by lower division opponents, but its wrong to single them out for our failings. Apart from Darren Randolph the star of the show was Jonathan Page, who showed great character as well as ability. If he can maintain that form then he'll be our first choice left back. I thought we might have changed things around a bit when we were under pressure in the 2nd half and chasing a second goal. Route 1 was our only option last night and I think taking off Lasley or Forbes and putting on Sutton earlier, with Gow moving to the wing would have paid dividends. Still we're through. Oh, and we can add Glebe Park Brechin to the list of pitches that would need levelling if the SFA get their way. The surface was unbelievable.

It has to be Jon Page. He scored 2 cracking goals to win the tie and also showed great strength of character after going off with a head knock. If fit, I'd keep him in the side. Maybe our first choice left back shortly?

No the old Main Stand was a corrugated iron structure which was demolished round about 1960 I think. Rumour has it that the new stand, a completely new structure, was built on the proceeds of Ian St John's theft sorry transfer.

I see it the other way around. We don't have a genuine creative central midfielder or a central box to box type to support the strikers. Lasley, Jennings and Hateley are all defensive players who are more comfortable playing just outside our own box. That then means any pace/creativity we do have has to go up the flanks. Time after time yesterday we broke up the middle but didn't have the pace to make it tell. By the time Lasley & Jennings reached the halfway line the Aberdeen defence (all 11 of them) had pulled back and were waiting for them like serried ranks of pikemen facing an army advancing at snails pace. But mounting attacks up the wings is problematic for us also as you rightly say. Chris Humphries has pace but lacks the crossing ability, at least at present. Couldn't agree more about Jamie Murphy. Mark McGhee saw him as a winger but was aware of his failings in that position and that was why he was in and out of the team. His best position is indeed just behind the front man/men. In short we have limited resources but I'm not convinced Craig Brown is getting the most out of all of them, although he's doing a decent job.

Darren Randolph for me. He didn't have a lot to do but made two or three vital/brave saves. Would have voted for Keith Lasley. Had a good first half but distribution let him down badly. Completely disappeared in the second half. Steve Jennings too had a reasonable game and although not as visible as Lasley in the first half kept going for 90 minutes.

I suppose you can prove almost anything with statistics. My basic point is that I think our defence is simply not good enough for us to be able to sit back and soak up pressure. If we stick to SPL games, we have conceded 5 from 5, and 5 from 3 home games. Last week we were lucky not to concede a penalty through a rash challenge. Yes, our squad is heavily biased towards defensive players and we do lack creativitiy - no argument from me on that score. However clearly our lads are under instructions from the dugout to play a safety first game - often only playing one man up front, funnelling back very quickly and defending in our own box. Too often our central midfielders are reluctant too push too far up the park, when we are on the attack. A bit more ambition and aggression wouldn't go amiss especially in home games. Craig Brown and Archie Know have done a good job in stabilising the ship and taking us to Europe last season, but that achievement has come at the cost of attacking football.

A draw was the right result today and both sides should be kicking themselves for not being more ambitious in a game that either side was capable of winning. Aberdeen set out their stall early on with 5 central defenders on the pitch and 11 men behind the ball at times? Why? They could easily have won this game had they been more ambitious. Pretty much throughout they were solid and reliable. That said they were away from home. As for us, as Steve suggests, we lacked ambition and were scared to push men forward. It was our home game after all. Again too many men out of position and a weak and unbalanced midfield. The fact of the matter is that our defence will concede at least a goal a week and there was little doubt in my mind today that Aberdeen would score. I still don't understand why John Sutton is played in midfield. Surprised too that Tom Hately was preferred to Jon Page at left back. On this showing, and its only one game admittedly, the Dons will finish above us in the league this year.

I would think very few grounds are level as such. Even New Douglas Park has quite a slope.

Probably your best bet is to go via the Forth Road Bridge. At Dunfermline you then have a choice of either continuing up the M90 and then taking the A90 from Perth to Dundee or going via the A92 through Fife to the Tay Road Bridge.

Who told you that?

Just a quick note to publicise the launch of a new Supporters Club covering Fife & Tayside. Its members come from Mid/North Fife and Tayside. Members currently car share to games. Membership is £10 for adults and £5 for Under 18s and OAPs. The contacts are Phil Hart (Secretary) Dave Wardrope (Chairman), Colin Smith (Treasurer) and Rhona Waugh (Social Secretary). The Branch's email address is fatmsc@googlemail.com New members in Mid/North Fife and Tayside will be very welcome. Come and join us.

Yes, our crossing could have been better but on quite a few occasions John Sutton struggled to make it into the box, from a deeper position. I wasn't comfortable with our second half tactics. If you give opposing teams as much space as we did then it only takes a bad refereeing decision, a deflection, an OG, whatever and you concede a goal. Its a high risk strategy.

A comfortable win and you had the feeling we could've stepped up a couple gears had we wanted to. A good first half but a very poor second one. We allowed Saints to attack us and seemed content to allow them to pepper our goal with shots, which fortunately were woeful. MOTM was Chris Humphrey. Missed Steve Jennings when he had to retire. A special word for Ian Brines - he was awful, making a string of bad decisions. A classic was when Chris Humphrey was sandwiched between and fouled by 2 opponents, who then won a foul. Good to see Alan Gow make his debut although changes should have been made a good deal earlier, when the midfield and Jamie Murphy tired. Hey though - a good 3 points.

The key to any success today is to remain solid at the back and not give anything away cheaply. If we can do that we're halfway to a victory. Darren Randolph, good though he is, must be protected at all costs. No last ditch defending in our own box please - lets stop Saints from getting into it.

Good to see a bit of integrity in this day and age. Good on you.

Tom Hateley can't beat a man as he proved on numerous occasions when playing RB. He's at his best when playing a central midfield holding role. The same could be said for Keith Lasley and Steve Jennings; neither of whom can play RB. The problem is that a midfield holding role is also Keith Lasley's and Steve Jennings' favoured position as well. The issue with our current midfield is that we have 3 players who have a similar role. In an ideal team there'd probably only be room for one of them. The mix and balance in that area of the team is all wrong.

I doubt our profit will be anything like £400,000. Don't forget matchday expenses eat up about 33% of gate income. On a £15 ticket VAT alone accounts for about £2.60 for example. Don't forget too that the club had to charter 3 planes and had accommodation costs abroad.

Not at all. I believe it was £750K tops and even that comprised a series of options and add ons. A good move for both the lad and the club if true. He deserves his chance on a bigger stage and I feel he has stagnated a bit over the past year or so.

Jim Gannon had the right idea on tactics - in principle. The problem was that they didn't suit the players. You have to adapt your tactics to suit the players you have at your disposal - he wasn't prepared to do that.

Tweed is indeed correct - it was at Kilmarnock. A scrappy but vital goal.

To be fair he was no worse than the rest and I wouldn'd single him out for playing badly, but likewise I wouldn't single him for playing well. Darren Randolph for me or failing that a null vote.

That sums it up for me. We could only muster 2 efforts on goal all day (one off and one on). The side was second to every ball and the strikers given little in the way of ammunition. if players were mentaly jaded then surely some limited squad roration was possible? The midfield was ovverrun and couldn't compete and sat far too deep. The defence was left exposed and looked very shaky. Long running cracks re-apperared (Saunders is not a right back and Reynolds is no centre back).

I'd agree with that. The same thing happened in the CIS Cup Final for example, when Rangers did exactly that to Stevie Hammell.

Good post Pingu - there's a fair bit of truth in your post. Not all Well fans constantly moan - maybe some on this Board do give that impression though. A lot of our fans quietly support the club in many ways. As an aside, the subtitle of this thread could equally have been "club continues discounted Euro prices" (because they are still less than normal PATG prices lets not forget) rather than reference to "bumped". Folk have been griping for some weeks now about the lack of a main sponsor - the club announces a good deal today and we have one or two folk complaining that they were told it would be a different company! No appreciation of the hard work thats been invested to seal this deal. I was told years ago by an "old soldier" that if someone is looking for something (ie looking to find fault) they'll always find a reason and thats very true of these Boards. All that said, fans do sometimes have cause for complaint. Thats life. The club, other organisations and we all as individuals (including the complainants themselves) all make mistakes. I just wish they'd take them up with the club in the first instance and complain on here as a last resort, not a first resort. However lets not get things out of our proportion - many of our fans don't complain but resolve things quietly and get on with supporting the club and its employees.

I know that there is already a pinned thread on this topic but this is just an attempt to stir up some final interest. Brazilian has done well - again, and we are almost at our target but a few more pounds would help us reach it. It all helps the club after all. A big thanks too to those who have already contributed.