Kmcalpin

Having slept on yesterdays game (not during it), I'm angrier now than I was at full time. I think he's now lost the support and if the directors don't act soon, attendances will plummet forcing their hand. Tentative signs yesterday that the players had lost faith. I can stomach dull football, but not if results are equally poor, which they are. Kettlewell has suffered horrendous bad luck (?) through injuries and I get that to some extent, but his reaction to that has been less than impressive. His summer signings are now coming under the spotlight for different reasons and many are found to be wanting. His now weekly meltdowns and yellow cards also indicate a manager under great pressure and he's not handling it well.

If Stama was a meant to be that person then he was very badly scouted. Surely its obvious from videos that he doesn't have the physique? That shouldn't be hard to find out, even remotely. Yes, others are involved in recruitment and must take some responsibility, but the onus lies fairly and squarely on SK's shoulders. He takes the decisions and is paid accordingly. Whoever is in the hot seat big changes are required for the summer. The problem is that planning is well advanced for that.

There's no point in repeating many of the above comments with which I agree, and so I'll highlight a few other thoughts after today's debacle. On paper our line up seemed reasonable given our injuries although playing Maswanhise out wide and isolated from Vale was a big mistake. I was a bit disappointed that 16 year old Jack O'Connell was named as substitute goalie. I quite get that it may have been difficult to source another keeper at short notice though. OK it was unlikely that he'd be called upon but potentially chucking on a 16 year old in goals in a cup tie? Really. It came as no surprise to me to and some others, whatsoever, that West Ham recalled Hegyi due to lack of game time. We were expecting exactly that. If we could see that why couldn't management? A lack of planning. Early days and although Mair didn't have much to do he didn't inspire confidence with cross balls and fumbled one. Could he have done better at the goal? Its the first time I've seen Kai Andrews but he looked a little boy lost today. Too early to judge a very young player but was he a panic knee jerk signing? Our gameplan, if it could be called that, defied belief. I'm no tactician but constantly firing high balls down the throat of 2 huge central defenders is ever only going to end one way. Talking of defences, our central defence needs completely, and I mean completely, revamping for next season, maybe Gordon aside. No manager is going to have 100% success with signings but it seems to me that SK made more than a few errors last summer and some of his choices & decisions are now looking to be mistakes. A point made by a few posters before. Management and players let down our big travelling support badly today and they won't forget it in a hurry.

I don't know about that. Certainly we do miss Bair - no argument about that though. Stama has the makings of an excellent striker as does Vale. However they're not being used correctly. Neither is a big physical target man although that's how they're being asked to play. I felt very sorry for Vale today having to compete in the air with 2 6-4 centre backs. Hung out to dry. They both need to play off a big target man but that's not how we set up. Given SK's preferred style of play with one striker I just can't understand why he didn't sign a big target man in the summer. A mega mistake on his part.

Agreed, its not all on SK. There were several occasions today when players pulled out of 50/50 challenges or made no effort to put in a very winnable challenge.

Players are only human and whilst they should be professional, it must be hard to give of your best if you're constantly being asked to do things for which you're not suited. I've been in the position of losing faith in a manager and believe me it's very hard, in that situation, to give 100%. In such situations I resorted to vicious compliance. The problem for players is that in such a situation the fans can blame them.

It depends what was behind it. Players have different personalities and I suspect that Dan Casey is a big character in the dressing room. If it was simply one extrovert that spoke up on his own at random then I agree. However if he was articulating feelings of others then the manager has a huge problem of his own making. What concerns me is that many fans including me, feel that SK is hanging some players like Casey, Wilson, Vale and Maswanhise out to dry and is not playing to the team's strengths.

Although I haven't seen recent away games before today I thought that the biggest difference today was that St Johnstone worked far harder than us especially when not in possession. They got in our faces, swarmed all over us and closed us down. We sat off them and just didn't do that. Their attitude was far far better than ours. Our lads lacked self belief and motivation for the most part. That's down in large part to management.

The way things are going, we could easily be in the play off position. There doesn't seem to be much prospect of an improvement in the next couple of games. Next week alone won't determine 12th and 11th spots but it could be season defining for us. If we lose again next Saturday, SK's position with the fans will be irrecoverable. I'm surprised just how quickly many fans have really turned against him , although I shouldn't be, given given recent results and performances. Today was the first tentative sign I've seen that the players are losing faith.

If I was Jack Vale tonight, I'd be totally p****d off. Asked to play a role for which he's not cut out physically and without support.

First signs today that he's starting to lose the dressing room. Apparently Casey told him a few home truths at half time. .

SK did himself no favours today. He failed to motivate the players, and set us up all wrong. Did we do any homework on StJohnstone at all? It didn"t seem like it. I'm sticking with him until next Saturday. Another loss though and that's it for me.

Game being lost off the park.

Totally avoidable corner for the goal. No need to concede it. We are simply not competing.

Why is it being watered? It's heavy enough.

Is it though David? Its probably a rough reflection of the wider support but we just don't know. Many older fans might not use the internet much and those who do might not post. Many fans do not post on here for various reasons. I suspect the demographiocs, characteristics and views of P & B patrons might be a little different to those on here. In short, we just can't be sure.

An interesting article from the Herald https://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/24865448.msps-can-stop-pyro-use-ultras-turn-high-powered-lawyers/

Yes, maybe this explains why SK didn't sign an out and out target man in the summer. It seemed weird at the time given our style of play this season. Individuals aside, bringing ina target man makes sense. I don't know about budget, but from a playing perspective we need cover at goalkeeper, left wingback, defensive midfield (McGhee?) and target man.

Yes, I get that Joe. I think there are 3 empty sections left at the East end. Even if they were to cordon off the end one that would be accommodating and courteous.

Dundee Courier report. https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/football/dundee-fc/5163665/jordan-mcghee-dundee-exit-january-transfer-window/

I see the North Stand is filling up. I just hope St Johnstone don't play silly buggers and cordon off a large section on the stand. There's nothing worse than fans being crammed into individual sections, when there's rows of unoccupied seats in the adjacent cordoned off area.

Well Wunderwell was proven right after all. Credit to him. Can a deal be struck to bring McGhee to Fir Park this month?

Agreed. Yes. we've had horrendous luck and few would take issue with that. However, quite a few of our signings have been in the high risk category due to their injury records. Moving forward, thats something that needs looked at by our recruitement team. We're probably already well down the road of our summer plans.

Seemingly Tavares is also nursing a knock and the Ox is out for 3 months. Seddon out for 8 weeks. Stama also out for several more weeks. Reinforcements almost certainly required. Goalie, left back and central defender? It's the worst season for injuries I can ever recall for and thats going back over 60 years.

Thats bad news, but in no way surprising. If there is a silver lining its that we have time in this window to bring in a replacement. Other things being equal, we should do.