Kmcalpin

Thanks for clarifying that Denny. Very helpful. The issue then is one of implementation or rather lack of. No arrests on Tuesday, as far as I know, but then again no arrests for letting off fireworks (as opposed to public disorder), in public on 5 November or in recent public protests. For the record, I'm against their use in crowds, but the law has to be applied fairly and consistently. Football fans shouldn't be singled out.

I can understand both sides of the argument about pyros, but too much attention is being focused on Tuesday night at Perth. Yes, it p****d me off big time as we couldn't see the game for 5 minutes and you could feel the smoke in your throat. However you can't take this one incident in isolation as many are doing. Similar pyros are in widespread use in crowds e.g. in large demonstrations, but no action is taken. The government(s) ought to take a clear line on this and a) clarify when and where they can be used legally or B) Bring in legislation to prevent such use. Once that is done, the football, or indeed other sporting, authorities can then take action in a consistent way. As OTF shows, the statement released by our club and Sevco are somewhat different. Thats not a good start and reflects badly on the SFA and SPFL. Also it wasn't that long ago that our club was using images of such incidents on social media. As soon as the legal/regulatory framework is in place or clarified, then the football authorities need to make a clear statement, and in the interests of fairness, laws implemented by the police consistently, irrespective of location or numbers involved. Piecemeal action will achieve nothing.

A result of 2 shocking tackles by Aberdeen players, neither of whom were punished by a weak ref.

I remember him catching a cross with one hand - never seen any other keeper do it. It does help though to be 6 inches taller and about 5 stones heavier than Kelly.

Did Ross County not wrongly benefit from this recently or is my memory failing?

Is there a space for Gent further up the park where he can do little damage defensively? Am I the only one who can't fathom out why Davor isn't being given a chance given the state of our midfield? Biereth and Bair to start upfront in the middle please as a front two pairing. Wilkinson to come on as a sub if we're chasing the game.

My take on last night's game from a "foggy" McDiarmid Park. A very strange game last night but we fully deserved the draw. The proverbial game of 2 halves. First half we were dire, but in the second half we played well for about 30 minutes before finishing poorly. We could have won the game in the second half but equally could have lost it before the end. We did ourselves no favours though with the starting line up and tactics. Quite why Wilkinson is being played out wide I've no idea. It’s a role for which he’s totally unsuited and I feel sorry for him. He is a penalty box striker with no pace and is a square peg in a round hole. SK obviously didn't learn that lesson from Kilmarnock. Very unlucky to have his goal chalked off. I don’t like the rule but can live with it as long as its being applied consistently, which it isn’t. In the first half, there was no urgency and we were second to every ball. Biereth suffered from lack of service and there was no link up with Wilkinson. We had no pace and no width and our attacks comprised either long hopeful punts or painfully slow, walking pace progression up the park. To their credit, Saints had pace, width, looked organised and closed us down very quickly. No less than I expected from them. By comparison we looked disorganised and afforded them acres of space. Our midfield and defence were very poor. Saints had about 3 or 4 efforts on goal and scored with 2 of them. Certainly, the first goal looked as though it was coming. Poor defensive work at the goal itself although the lead up to the corner was 10 times worse. The Saints’ attacker advanced unimpeded to the edge of our box and was allowed a free hit on goal, which deflected off our defender. That said the goal should have been disallowed by VAR as the ball was outside the arc when the kick was taken. The first 30 minutes of the second half was far better and SK rightly hooked Slattery and brought on Bair, who I thought played well. Unless it was for game management purposes, I simply don’t understand why he didn’t start. However, putting Spittal to LWB was unfathomable. Why? Gent was then introduced and made a difference on the left. His cross for the 2nd goal was a peach. He’s a double edged sword. A young lad he’s great going forward but poor defending and was easily outmuscled. After the equaliser, Saints upped a gear and we retreated into a shell. Barring Shaw’s excellent run and bad miss we did virtually nothing else of attacking note and were lucky not to concede a late goal. An acceptable result at a difficult venue, but huge issues remain. Had we not equalised, then simmering fan anger might really have erupted. Did we just paper over the cracks?

Harri Kampmann Mk2? Can do half a job in getting rid of deadwood but not the other half of signing decent replacements.

I felt sorry for him last night, although he does himslef no favours. There were several fouls last night similar or worse than the one he was carded for but no action was taken by Euan Anderson, who had an extremely inconsistent game. Yes, he has built a reputation with refs and thats costing him. Being human, referees let personal emotions and bias affect their decisions.

Not his fault. We knew that when we signed him. Let the buyer beware.

Yes, they'll score but if we can sort out the midfield and strikers then we have a chance. I don't care if we lose 3 as long as we score 4. Going with the right formation and picking the right personnel would be a great start. Both we and St Johnstone know our weaknesses at the back so we just have to mitigate them. Hopefully we'll protect Kelly and take out cross balls before they reach him; lets close down opponents quickly - probably a pipe dream ( no I've not been on anything).

A genuine guy by all accounts but not my type of manager. That said, he'll be an excellent fit for St Johnstone and will represent a continuity candidate who is consistent with their style of play over the past decade or so.

Mistakes were made with our striker recruitment; most though not all fans would agree about that. However, I don't think we've been using them to their albeit limited strengths. My impression, and thats up for debate, so far is that: Bair is a target man end of; Wilkinson is a limited penalty box striker; Obika is a target man and possibly a little more; Biereth is an all rounder but not a target man; Shaw? Irrespective of what formation we play the striker(s) need close support, which they've not been getting. That means a mobile midfield and its questionable if we have that; and if we play 2 or more strikers together, then they have to play close to each other. I think a 2 man strikeforce is worth trying tomorrow with Bair as the target man and Biereth feeding off him. Defence could be a concern. If rumours and reports are to be believed, then it could any 5 from O'Donnell, Gent, Mugabi, Blaney and Casey. Back up????? Its a critical game for both sides with Saints being desperate to have a new manager in place by tomorrow.

Also Miller and McGinn doubtful.

This is it for me and possibly for many others. We all knew the great run would come to an end at some point. However we are in the here and now and that's what matters to the SPFL. That's what determines income, league placing, relegation; and from a fan's perspective, enjoyment. Wrong as it may be, 1 point from 7 games is very, very poor. 1 point from 30 would be catastrophic.

At the moment, and assuming both are fit, I'd play Bair alongside Biereth up front. The "but" though is that they have to play close together. Also for that to work, they both need a midfielder who can support them. Spencer at right back please.

Just read a post on P & B. Wilkinson and Bair weren't played out wide were they?

No hard and fast definition but I'd say if a manager fails to achieve a single win in a complete round of fixtures, say 11 games. We're now heading towards that. Two tough but normally winnable games coming up but then we face Celtic at Parkhead. Hopefully we'd act before we'd reach the stage of terminal decline. I think you're right about KVV - he was an "unusual and exceptional factor" in our run of results last term. SK deserves credit though for bringing out the best in him.

Yes, we could be looking at 2 wins. Its by no means impossible. Until recently I never believed in bad luck but of late we have suffered some real body blows. Even on Saturday we suffered bad fortune in the shape of several injuries Hopefully that will change. I think the worst posible outcome for the club in the next 2 games is inconclusive results. A couple of unconvincing draws or a single draw. Its a shocking statistic I know, but Stuart Kettlewell is currently the 6th longest serving manager in the Premiership (Barry Robson in 5th beats him by only 14 days). Football has changed and the days of long serving managers like Sailor Hunter, George Stevenson and Bobby Howitt are long gone. Clubs face huge financial pressures these days, with the cost of failure being catastrophic. We, the fans, are far more demanding now than we were say 20 or 30 years ago. The pressure on managers and directors is huge.

I assume that both Butcher and McGinn will be out for this one, and possibly Miller too, given the battering he suffered against Aberdeen. My plea is that whatever formation we set out with on paper, we play with 2 strikers playing close together on the park and to support them from midfield. Oh, and to play round pegs in round holes.

There's a middle course to be steered here. I think he can turn things around but time is running out fast. He has to do so fairly quickly. As you say, we have no pre determined right whatsoever to beat the likes of Aberdeen, Livingston, RC Killie, or St Johnstone but by the same token we should have no expectation not to pick up points against them. To expect some decent results in that run of fixtures isn't unreasonable. Apologies if I'm misinterpreting your comment above but it does seem somewhat.......fatalistic and passive. We cannot afford to simply wait and hope that SK turns it around. To me, its akin to watching a seemingly stricken ship struggle, and saying we'll re-assess things if it goes down. As Gazzy B wrote, if we lose the next 2 then its time for change; that would represent 1 point from 27 - worse than St Johnstone's record this season. Apologies for the nautical theme - completely unintended.

What was the formation today? Despite much pre match speculation, I read a post on P & B suggesting that it was basically the same as in recent games with Biereth on his own up front with Bair and Wilkinson replacing Spittal and Slattery and Spittal replacing Miller. That can't be right surely?

A bit quick, but the clock is undoubtedly ticking. If we lose on Tuesday then the pressure really builds on him. Lose next Saturday as well and that should be it. Next game after that is Celtic at Parkhead. Not nice but that's the modern game.

Yes, bought our tickets for the postponed match. Its a huge game now.

Absolutely. SK is now being tested.