Kmcalpin

We'll do very well to get a point. A fantastic start but then seemed to crumble. No leader on the pitch. If we lose this after being 3 0 up then serious questions need to be asked.

Good to some changes, including the introduction of Vale. Like you surprised that Butcher had retained his place. Please keep it on the deck Well, if at all possible.

As a sceptic, I'd say if we finish 10th or above and show some signs of progress then he will deserve credit.

I wouldn't take these posts personally. There are all shades of opinion on SK in our support and its hard to gauge the balance of opinion. I get the rough feeling though that most are dubious of keeping him on past the end of the season, but are willing to wait to see where we end up (for the record, I'm in this camp). A few want him kept on and a few want him out now which I think is unrealistic. Sk had a poor summer's recruitment but we don't know under what financial constraints he's been working to be fair. We also don't know what objectives he's been set. What I would say though is that had SK been in charge at almost any other Premiership club, he would be gone by now for that horrendous winless run. As to who might replace him, I think a few are jumping the gun by assuming that it would be another internal appointment like David Clarkson, but I may be putting 2 and 2 together here and getting 6. For my part I haven't got a clue. By the end of the season, we'll have another Chairman and CEO and they'll have their own ideas. Thats my take on the matter and it might be right or it might be wrong. Ther's nothing wrong in generating respectful debate though - that's what these boards should be all about

I agree. At the end of the season thank him for his service and say goodbye. Bring in a big goalie who can command his area. That then takes pressure of the rest of the defence and gives us more flexibility.

I often see this question asked but its not really a fair question. Generally speaking, fans don't have access to the same information and intelligence that clubs and agents do. As always there are exceptions. How many of these fans know the details of other Scots managers', assistant managers', and coaches contracts (if indeed they have one) for example? How many candidates would appear out of the woodwork if our club approached them directly through their agents ? How many current senior players with other clubs might apply? Now to my own ignorance. I didn't know until recently that some individuals will not apply for vacancies, but will only become interested if they are directly approached. That was news to me. Then there's England. The same questions apply only moreso. How many of our fans know much about English lower league managers? Without checking up through Wiki, how many of our posters could give you a run down on the managers and their assistants at say Gillingham or Bristol Rovers? How many of our fans know much about coaches at clubs like Birmingham City? I won't go on to potential overseas candidates. In general, how many fans have a reasonably good knowledge of potential candidates' characters? These questions are hard enough for clubs, in the know, to answer never mind posters on this site. All this said, there is no cast iron guaranteee that if a manager is replaced, his replacement will be any better. I would pose the question though that if a manager is deemed to failing (who decides that I hear you say) is it better to bring in someone who might fail? All such posters can see is that the manager of their own club is failing or underperforming.

Agreed Wellfan. I though SK had turned the corner with the thumping of Rossco, but now I'm not sure. Originally I wanted him to depart but its now too late for that. The time to reassess his contract is the end of the season. I suspect that there are many with this view - we are not all trolls which is a much misused and misunderstood word.

Pretty much agree with what's been said. I'd like to retain Spittal and maybe McGinn but that's it. Maybe look to move on Tierney and possibly Blaney/Casey???? Luca Ross? Mark Ferrie -don't know enough about him to pass an opinion. Not overly concerned about a massive revamp. The key thing is to build a well balanced squad.

I'm a bit baffled myself. He's clearly not fit enough to play anytime soon. If he's a project, and we only have until May to assess him, when does he play? As far as Kelly is concerned, maybe SK is "managing" him in public. I can only assume that he has seen enough of Oxborough to know he doesn't rate him.

Like others, I'd like to see Nicholson start, but I just don't think he's fit enough yet. So far, he's been given 10-15 minutes and its a huge step up to 90. Our priority is to solidify the defence. If we play one up top the chances are that Bair will be isolated. Maybe time to give Vale 45 minutes depending on his fitness levels. In terms of fatigue, some rotation is required, but we can't afford wholesale turnover.

He'll never command his box, that's just not his style. We can live with that so long as we have a big solid central defence and wing backs who can stop crosses, to compensate for that, but unfortunately we don't.

Point taken, however Aberdeen's spies will have been interested observers at Greenock. Central defence needs changed and, if possible, we should move away from one up top,if that is possible. I'd love to see Vale get more gametime even if he's only fit for 45 mins.

Liam Kelly is an average keeper at this level. We've had a lot better, we've had worse. Due to his stature, he'll never be good at crosses or in the air. He is what he is. Certainly his confidence is shot at the moment and he's making a few blunders.

Just to add to the temporary positivity, I know of 2 "senior" fans (I hope they won't mind me calling them that), who travel from Alyth and Dundee to home games - both season ticket holders. So, there are quite a few diehards, who will give up when they have to and not a minute before. Like Happydosser I can remember some dreadful teams in the late 1960s - the worst I've seen.

Very roughly it would 80% of 33% of the gate. Extra prize money of course.

I've been going to Fir Park since the late 50s and haven't lost my enthusiasm. I still get annoyed at defeats but am no longer surprised. TV has changed the game irreversibly and its a small, very small consolation, that it's nothing to do with me. I'll continue to support MFC come what may.

Can I check my understanding of what you said Dougie? More on me than you. You're saying the manager got his tactics pretty much spot on and that his team selection, with the exception of Miller, and substitutions was pretty fine as well. The players couldn't or wouldn't (we don't know which) follow out his instructions.

Some truth in that. Of course SK had his reasons, but whether they were right or not is another matter. It would not have harmed us to have given Vale more game time against Killie and/or Ross County and either started him on Friday or brought him on earlier. As it was Imrie knew exactly how we'd set up and did a proper job on us.

He is indeed. However the problem was that he was trying to mark guys who were 6-2 or 6-3 and heavier on Friday.

A lot of sense in that. We need to toughen up the squad and add more physicality. We need a new goalie, preferably one who is 6-3+ and good in the air. Priority for a rebuild. Short term, give Oxborough the gloves. Central defence? Where do we start? Sadly, I think Butcher is finished at this level. O'Donnell and McGinn don't have the height to play there, although McGinn has been a steadying influence and should retain his place. Both can't play in the same central set up. Mugabi - good in the air but a bit of a bombscare. For me the jury is still out on Blaney and Casey. We need more height and dominance in the middle. A priority for any rebuild. Wing backs - short term, agreed. Midfield we need a hard physical type in there. In Mark McGhee speak "someone to stand on heads". Up front, yes I'd play both Bair and Vale, but please...keep their service on the deck. As my late dad used to say "Its possible to score when you don't have the ball, but its very rare". In any game, its highly unlikely that the opposition will willingly give you the ball; more often than not, you have to fight for possession. As we saw on Friday evening, its all very well having better players but you have to compete and win the ball first. If opponents choose to fire in high balls to your penalty box, you have to have the height and physicality at the back to nullify that. We just didn't. Paton marking Oakley at their first goal??? Win the ball first then feed your better players and let them strut their stuff. Morton would not have bullied teams in the top six or even Livingston the way they did with us.

I agree that Kelly needs to be "rested" but what we don't know is what SK thinks about Oxborough. He's a known unknown. As it stands, the defence rightly has no confidence in their goalie and captain and he, rightly, has no confidence in them.

Dougie Imrie would have known we'd field a 4-2-3-1 line up or similar and known the personnel. He set out to suffocate Spittal and Paton, which they did successfully and thereby cut out Bair's supply on the deck. So we start firing high balls to him much to the delight of the Morton central defence. Now even we know he's no target man. We had no Plan B. So predictable.

Agreed Bobby, but my point is that he should have been given a bit more gametime in the past week. SK has been overly cautious. Had he brought on Vale earlier in the Ross County game and played him alongside Bair for a spell, with 2 up front that might just have masked his intentions for last night's debacle and given our dear friend Dougie more to think about.

Agreed. After a brief period of respite, following our great win over a very very poor Ross County, I thought he had won me over, but last night convinced me otherwise. Not a one off disaster but it resulted from a combination of serious errors. I agree though its too late to change now. The thing that concerns me most is that he doesn't seem to be learning from his mistakes. Most of us are no managers, but even we could see a number of managerial failures and bad decisions. To be fair though the players were not blameless.

Despite Killie having more strikers than us; and playing a game less than us since KVV signed; and KVV being more unfit than Vale, he's already started and played more minutes than him. What does that tell us? SK was reluctant to rotate the squad despite being in an intense run of games.