Kmcalpin

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.

Now 1 point out of a possible 21.

No, we need to get the ball to Biereth. According to the BBC he is totally isolated. What a surprise.

Well SK has certainly rung the changes. Hope it wasn't done in a panic. It'll either backfire badly or be a masterstroke. Presumably we'll be playing the long ball on that disgusting surface.

If we have a choice, I'd leave Lennon Miller out for this one. If Wenesday's game is anything to go by, opposing teams have wised up to him and are targetting him. He looked broken, by the 35 minute mark in midweek. I can't see Killie adopting a different approach to Aberdeen. So time to take the pressure off him a wee bit.

Ruby............. aaarrrrgghhh!

Having seen a few keepers in my time at Fir Park I'd rate Kelly at about a 6.5 or 7 out of ten. Slightly better than average. A lot were worse, a good few have been better.

Not to my knowledge. Shinnie didn't book the ref.

I don't know. If, and it is a big if, this run continues we'll be well adrift at the bottom by Hogmanay. That would test the resolve of the Directors. Fans would vote with their feet. Now stability and continuity are important but these days, clubs don't have patience; fans even less so. We've all seen the shocking events at St Johnstone who have sacked 2 managers in a short space of time. Both fans favourites. That club was renowned in recent years for patience, stability and continuity. A sign of the times.

Am I right in thinking that we didn't have a single shot not only on but also off target in the first half? In other words no efforts at all on goal.

I think we agree about the challenges facing SK in preparing for tomorrow. The problem isn't just the lone striker himself though its the supporting system thats my main issue. In recent times, since the Livingston game, our sole striker (when playing that set up) has been totally isolated, which shouldn't be a surprise to us. Neither wing back has been able to bomb up and down the wings effectively; and the advanced midfield pairing of Spittal and Slattery, don't have the pace to get close to him. If by chance they do, they're isolated when things break down. Add to that, most opponents now have our Plan A/A+ well and truly worked out.

If we play that formation Couttsy, we'll end up shelling long high balls to Bair.

😉

Kelly is a decent lower to mid level Premiership keeper. At a push, I'd say that he was to blame for the 4th goal only and only then partly so. I'll explain. When we signed him and when we continue to select him week in week out, we know full well that he is poor at cross/aerial balls. Thats not part of his game and never will be. Derek McInnes and Alex Cleland will know that, and If SK isn't aware of that weakness he should be. In short, don't expect things to change as long as he's between the sticks. We should be factoring that into our defensive line ups and tactics, in the same way as Rangers did with Andy Goram. His distribution? Thats another matter.

In significant part yes, although not exclusively.

I get what you're saying but the current system, or implementation of it is neither one thing nor the other. Either play 90 minutes end of come what may or add an appropriate amount of time. I know its extreme, but if refs were to be pernickety, it would certainly cut down the amount of time wasting and injury feigning drastically. I'm not suggesting time be added for periods out of play at throw ins or by kicks, unless its excessive. There's a happy medium. Other measures could also be taken to speed up the game such as obligatory booking players who deliberately boot the ball away after play has stopped. Players who get in the ref's face and argue endlessly - Shinnie last night for example. Just card them and move on.

In truth we lost the game before kick off last night. The formation and line up was all wrong and that was down to management. 5-4-1, 3-4-2-1 or whatever is a busted flush and we don't have the personnel to play that way. Too many square pegs in round holes last night. Defence was shocking, midfield non existent and lone striker totally isolated and ineffective. Just 30 minutes into the game I messaged our group that our formation was the main issue, and I'm no tactical genius. In game decisions were also questionable. Miller should have been taken off well before half time as he was clearly suffering after have been on the receiving end of 2 bad tackles. The team is chronically short of pace, especially out wide and in midfield. Both wing backs look vulnerable and thats where many of our defensive issues stem from. Aberdeen were poor but at least they looked organised and closed us down, just as Ross County did. Paton was the best of a poor bunch in midfield and Slattery and Spittal were totally ineffective. They tried, but were far too isolated from Wilkinson. Too many high balls thumped aimlessly in Slattery's direction when he was being marked by 2 men. Too often he was out wide - not a role for which he is suited. Midfield formation just isn't right. Up front? I said before the game, that Wilkinson is not suited to be a lone striker. He asked for balls to be played to his feet (Bair last Saturday?) but was frequently on the end of high balls thumped up to him when being marked by 2 big defenders. I saw a post on P & B by Fat Tony, which I'll quote, which sums up exactly my thoughts on him. "Wilkinson up top alone I think has the same problem KVV had under Hammell, in that we're lumping the ball up and not getting anyone close to him in the event that he does win it. I'm not saying he's even on the same planet as KVV but I can understand how we didn't get anything out of Wilkinson playing him that way. He looked brighter in the second half with Biereth alongside but was obviously struggling a bit given his lack of game time. I think there's *something* there, if we can get him fit and not just stick him up top on his own against 3 strapping big CBs." Biereth is our one bright hope, but how much can he achieve on his own? Unlike KVV in the second half of last season, he doesn't have the luxury of having an effective midfield and defence behind him. One final note. It wasn't all down to SK last night, the players must take some responsibility.

I won't go into detail about last night as thats not why we lost. However timekeeping was an absolute joke. In the first half, there was a minimum of 3 minutes to be added and its doubtful if they were played in full. Add to that a bad injury and we ended up playing about 2 and half minutes. Second half: 4 minues added on (we estimated about 8 or more probably 9). Blatant time wasting, 4 goals, injuries, and 7 subs. How does that stack up? OK the game wasn't on a scoreline knife edge - a good job it wasn't. Much too long for many!!

Please no 5-4-1 on Saturday. Any lone striker would have a thankless task competing against 2 or 3 big defenders with no midfield support. That ship has sailed. Will Biereth be risked on a weed infested plastic pitch?

Agreed and we've taken 1 point from 18 from them!