Kmcalpin

Agreed. He's a busy, mobile and combative lad, who can drive forward, but lets himself down when near goal. Probably better suited to a slightly deeper role. It was interesting yesterday that that Maguire and Elliot (how mnay wing backs do we need on the bench?) didn't make the bench. I get the impression that Elliot is on a relatively low wage and is here as more of a project to be assessed before the summer. That may be a wild take though.

I'd have taken a draw beforehand, providing we win on Tuesday. Not a bad result and SK has steadied the ship. We deserved to win but were toothless up front where it counts. In many ways a carbon copy of the St Johnstone game. I know we're very limited due to circumstances, but I'm not a fan of playing with one striker. Yesterday, Bair put in a good shift and scored a nice goal but for long spells was left isolated and unsupported. Too often we broke well but failed to get bodies into the box. I was a little surprised that some of the new boys, like Jack Vale, didn't get 10 minutes or so to ease them into the side. We're going to need squad rotation in the coming weeks. I thought we need some subs say aroungd the 65/70 minute mark when we began to flag. Still, not a bad performance and we managed to hold Killie to a single point. We were in control for considerable spells and had more possession. We also largely blunted the threat from their wide boys, with some tactical nous. I thought McGinn, Bair, and Paton were the pick of the bunch. Spittal had a good first half but faded in the second. Butcher is coming back onto a game as he regains match fitness. Paton was my MOTM, but isn't suited to such an advanced role. The goal that we lost was again soft and Kelly was rightly raging at his defence (midfield). Their first and only shot on target. They had 2 or 3 men waiting unmarked for clearances on the edge of our box. Sure as fate Mayo managed to get a free, unhindered shot on target. Poor, or rather lack of, defending from our midfield. Spittal released Bair with a peach of pass and the big man did the rest with a cool finish. In the second half, we looked dangerous on the break and created several chances but lacked a killer touch. I was a bit uncomfortable though with the amount of pressure we allowed Killie to exert as we sat too deep as the clock ticked down. The referee was again weak and inconsistent and that caused various flare ups during the game. We were warned beforehand by management to expect a hard bruising encounter and thats how it turned out. Killie were physical, streetwise and cynical and were fortunate have 11 men on the pitch at full time. Not a great result, but not a bad one. We really need to start winning though.

Its not a make or break game but its hugely important given the hard and intensive run of fixtures coming up. We're now hard to beat, which is a start, but are pretty toothless up front. We're still losing cheap goals, although maybe only one per game. Tactics and team selection need to be tweaked slightly if we are to win this.

Pretty much my view although there are exceptions. There were mixed reactions to KVV in the POD Stand today. I half heartedly booed KVV today not in a malicious way but in a pantomime villain way because he was going to try to score against us; damage us if you like. But then I checked myself and stopped. In such situations you don't know what's going through someone's head. From where I was sitting there was no bile or malice coming from the stand.

Yes. Will Killie fans get roasted in the media for their smoke bombs?

Post of the night sir. Spot on.

I agree, but he's being asked to fill a role for which he isn't suited. My MOTM though.

Paton for me. Kept running for 90 minutes and wasn't intimidated by Killie bruisers.

I don't understand Killie splashing out £250-300k for him for only 5/6 months. They are already in 4th spot and won't finish higher. They won't win the Cup. They won't finish below 6th. So what's the point? An expensive act of vanity

Finished the first half strongly after a poor start. Killie are treading a fine line with their indiscipline.

Great finish by Bair.

No cutting edge at all.

High balls to an unsupported lone striker are not working. There's plenty of time to change it though.

I would now say that 12 month loan deals should be out for us - just too risky. 6 months at the most. Steelboy is right though, perhaps we weren't the best club for him for the reason he states. He does come across as being disrespectful though. As with Max Johnston, they're simply an entry in our records now.

I suspect that KVV will be on the bench and will be given 10 minutes or so. Absolutely no point in McInnes signing him and then waiting on him getting up to speed. They've no time for that. Anyway this game is about us. Its an important game and a chance to get one over on our rivals. There's a chance that some folk are building Killie up to be something they're not. However the game unfolds, they'll prove a very hard physical test.

If that is the case, and there's nothing wrong at all with him thinking that, then I hope he had the decency to tell SK of his thoughts in good time.

They'll pay us what we're legally owed as per the contract signed. Whether that was a good deal or not is another matter.

We need to go into tomorrow's game with a positive attitude. A draw would be OK but we really want a win. Let's get behind the team.

Mark Ferrie's loan ended and he was on the bench last Saturday. The very few times I've seen him he just doesn't look ready for first team football.

Sorry that you're leaving. Certainly this site has been in meltdown since last night and things got a bit personal at times - never nice to see. P&B was also in meltdown last night too as I wrote before; maybe even a bit more in your face than this site was. Both sites have their strengths and weakneses and there's room for both. Personally I find P & B to be a bit of an echo chamber at times and perhaps too theatrical and "high level" for me, but each to their own. Yes, this site can be very negative. As you say, keep the faith.

That's right. Jim McMahon personally paid for it.

Not sacking him would have been catastrophically disastrous. We would have been relegated. There was so much wrong with his tenure both on and off the field. The huge and very costly mistake was appointing him in the first place.

Its very hard for most of us to tell. Presumably the manager tells the recruitment department what positions to look for and also what kind of player he wants to fill those positions. Each manager will, of course have their own preferences to suit their preferred way of playing. Is the manager identifying the right positions? Is he identifying the right player profiles? if the answer to those questions are yes, is the Recruitment department identifying appropriate players? You seem to be saying no, it isn't, at least in part. If the right positions and types of player identified are correct, are the manager/Recruitment department's targets unrealistic? Going by our unsuccessful striking shopping in the window are their expectations wrong? How does the Conor Wilkinson acquisition fit with those questions? A lot of questions but no answers for most of us.

We're on the same page. I don't think Elliot will be be on a huge wage, but I don't really understand his signing. Given that he hasn't played for months, he'll be no quick fix, which is what I think we need right now. An undiscovered gem? Maybe. My fear is that if he turns out to be a real find in say 2 or 3 months time, then a St Mirren or Kilmarnock will come along and hoover him up in the summer.

I get what you're saying. Whatever SK's weaknesses, and we all have them, are, I don't think lack of work ethic is one of them. However I quickly learned when younger, that despite what elders told me, hard work alone doesn't guarantee success. I agree that we needed to strengthen the wing back areas, but I think he's slightly overdone that, say by one wage? Now, I've no idea what wages/contributions we forked out to land them but surely if we had repurposed one wage to add to offers for strikers, that might have helped in attracting one.