couttsy

I’d go with a 4-5-1 and try and stay in it until the last 20 mins or so. Gillespie, Grimshaw, Gallagher, Hartley, Carroll, Campbell, Donnelly, Ohara, Polworth, Aarons (if he’s fit, Ndjoli if not), Mazinga.

As others have said, what a horrific performance, with so much wrong it’s hard where to know where to start.... If I was to have a go, I think the biggest problem we have going forward is the lack of a physical presence up front. Lost count of the amount of times Hartley had the ball at his feet yesterday (particularly in the first half) only to look up and see everyone running away from him, desperately needed someone to come and take it to feet, on the chest or in the air. Not saying Scott would have made a huge difference yesterday, however he is a presence and would have fulfilled a bit of that role. I fear the fact we haven’t signed a 6ft+ centre forward who can hold the ball up and bring other players into the game is going to result in a slide down the table....hope I’m wrong. We had no out ball at all yesterday meaning when we played it forward it just came straight back. Think Long needs to play off a bigger striker, also think he’s getting off very lightly due to the fact a lot of his team mates were also poor yesterday, thought he hid throughout....

At the figures quoted it seems to be a good deal and probably one the club can't really turn down, however its not half depressing for fans that good, young talent seems to be heading out the door after 1/2 a season if you're lucky...…...Although, granted its better than developing young players that aren't good enough and no one wants as a result, would just be good to get a couple of seasons watching them develop. I fear a slide down the table and a Scottish Cup exit if we don't sign at least one striker today....

6 or 7 I found really easy but found if difficult to leave out, Murphy, Humphrey, Higdon, Kipre, Randolph Tait Craigan Hutchison Hammell Turnbull Lasley Jennings Law Moult Sutton

Agree, when Hartley and Seedorf came on we deffo changed to play a 5-3-2, with Seedorf and Long in a 2 up top, which just didn't work.... Thought we were crying out for an extra body in midfield, not another a centre half. McGuire for Hylton looked the obvious move at the time.....Campbell and OHara looked knackered and Polworth had dropped out completely, missed Donnelly massively. Scott, whilst ineffective and getting grief from the East Stand was the only out ball we had, so when he went off the ball was never going to stick up front and just kept coming straight back. Desperately need to find a 6ft plus centre forward who is mobile and can put the ball in the net, unfortunately on our budget that is a tall order!

Thought the right back in particular played very well. Attacked every ball and played Hylton as well as I have seen over recent weeks, not to mention scoring the first goal and assisting the second.

Shocker of a performance, got exactly what we deserved....Played well for 15/20 mins, after that we were a mile off the pace. Massive fan of Robinson, but thought at the start of the 2nd half it was crying out for another body in midfield. McGuire for Hylton was the obvious change....Scott was terrible in the 2nd half but when he went off it left us with no height up front at all and with Accies stopping us playing out it left us with no out ball....... Tough one to take....

Think this will be a tough one and wouldn't be too upset with a draw presuming we win on Sunday. 4 points should hopefully keep us in 3rd place going into the break. As many have said Polworth will come in for Donnelly presuming he's not fit, with O'Hara or Campbell playing the Donnelly role. I would also bring in Cole for Long.....

Went for Gillespie, but could easily make an argument for Gallagher or Carroll as both were excellent.

Some of chat on here is mental.....drop Gillespie, really?! I thought he was our man of match and has had a great season.... We won three on the spin without losing a goal before today and sit in 4th place, 1 point off Aberdeen and 8 ahead of Killie in 5th. Did we play well today, no, were we playing a team with a vastly bigger budget and as a result better players, yes. Cut them a bit of slack lads....

I thought Donnelly had a great 2nd half to be fair. Scott and Hylton unplayable at times, Cole put in a good shift and Gallagher & Mugabe solid. A great night, particularly given other results :-)

Tough competitive game as usual against Saints. I'd go with Gillespie, Tait, Carroll, Hartley & Gallagher, Campbell, Donnelly & Polworth, Hylton, Cole & Scott. 2-1 Well (Scott & Cole) :-)

I think the opposite....in their predicament they’re more likely to go for tried and tested at this level.... Hopefully right that the compo scares them off. Think his contract is until 2022 so not likely to let him go on the cheap. Incidentally he’s now the 7/4 favourite with Skybet...

I see Robinson has gone from 18/1 to 5/2 with Skybet in the last hour and half or so.....

Would be crazy to go there and think we can play with a 3 man midfield and 2 wide players given the amount of possession they’ll likely have..... If all but DT are fit and available I’d go with Gillespie, Tait, Carroll, Gallagher & Harley, Campbell, Donnelly, Polworth & Grimshaw, Scott & Cole in a 4-5-1. Long, Seedorf and Hylton ready to add fresh legs if we are still in it when the game starts to get stretched. Hate myself for saying it, but I would take an undamaging 2-0 with no injuries/suspensions and move on to the massive home double header with Killie & Livi. Regardless of what happens at Ibrox, if we can get 6 points from the 2 home games we stay right in about 3rd place.

Amazed to see votes for Long and Gallagher...... Long played a huge part in gifting the first goal and was generally ineffective all afternoon, Gallagher played well in general, however he made two huge mistakes, one in the 1st half that wasn’t punished and one in the 2nd half that was (2nd goal).

Feel a bit sorry for Tait, not been at his best this season, however he’s been (too) regularly played out of position over recent months due to our complete failure to sign a competent left back. Now we have a competent LB he’s found himself dropped from the RB position to accommodate Grimshaw, who as some have pointed out is a squad player at best. When Carroll returns I have no doubt that Tait should return to first choice RB and hope Robinson agrees.

Tough call but went for Donnelly, very unlucky with his run and shot that hit the bar. Anytime Hearts forwards got in behind Gallagher or Hartley he was there covering. Mentions to for Campbell & Polworth who we’re both outstanding also. Have to admit, I was very worried about those three together in midfield being good enough against the better teams....glad I’m being proved wrong so far!

Went to the website to buy tickets for Tynecastle on Saturday ..£29 (plus £1 for delivery), so £30...WTF. Did we not used to get 2 ticket prices for Tynecastle (one that was a bit cheaper) or am I imagining that?

Surely Tait can’t be fully fit.......he’s not had a great start to the season but he’s a million miles ahead of Grimshaw as a full back. Also think we may miss Dunne’s pace at the back....

James Scott, set the tone early as he went past the right back at will. Maybe he’s better suited to playing wide rather than centrally at the moment.

No doubt Gallagher has looked good so far, however as did Hartley when he first came..... Whilst I was as infuriated as most of the East Stand on Friday night with Dunnes passing, he actually defended pretty well and made a goal saving tackle in the first half. Bigger question for me is why we don’t have a midfield capable of coming and taking the ball off him to make the play. Unless Celtic are paying the vast majority of his wages then I think we’d be far better investing further up the pitch where I think we have far bigger issues to address......

Having had time to calm down a bit since last night and reflect on where we’re at after the first 3 games against teams at our level I think the goalkeeper and 1st choice defence will be fine this season, it clearly further forward where our issues lay. Gillespie has had a tough start to the season with a couple of mistakes (not terrible mistakes right enough) but let’s not forget he make a couple of decent saves last night that people seem to be forgetting and was man of the match at Livi in my opinion, far to early to talk about dropping him, manager needs to show some loyalty. Defence - Would be very surprised if a defence of Tait, Carroll, Gallagher and Dunne wasn’t good enough to keep us up. Midfield - Very concerning in my opinion, Campbell works hard and gets the ball but badly needs ball players alongside him to be effective. Polworth is a tough one, plays 3 or 4 nice passes a game but just doesn’t do enough in 90 mins. Donnelly is a trier but as I feared I just don’t think he’s good enough with the ball at his feet to play that position in our league. Sooner DT gets back the better, but unless Sloth is going to appear and be a presence in that midfield then we need a holding/passing midfield player. A big part of the reason we were watching Dunne shell passes over the midfields head last night was that none of them were good enough/confident enough to come and take it off him (in fairness to Polworth I think he did it once or twice last night) Forwards - Again, very concerning. There’s a player in Scott, as we’ve seen on occasions already, however it’s too much to ask at his age to play up there on his own against the experience/aggressive central defenders (like Berra). Should be making appearances off the bench or going out on loan until Xmas in my opinion. With Long and Cole it’s maybe a little early to tell give their game time so far, however neither looks to be the answer if we are going to persist with one central striker. The 3 wide players, Hylton, Seedorf and Ilic the early signs are not great. Hylton was truly awful last night and the other two have offered little more during their time on the pitch, however they need to be given a little time to adjust to our league and their new surroundings. I think we need to tweak the formation for Accies Away, playing with two under performing wide players would be very risky... I think we need a presence in midfield who can hold the ball and play passes, then make himself available again and build play and finally I think we need a strapping centre forward who can hold the ball up on his own and score goals. Can’t see us getting either on our budget but we can hope........

Tait was poor, agreed. However he’s been constantly asked to play out of position......and Tait is not the reason we lost tonight.....

Horrific 1st half. Where to start.....First pen looked dodgy, second looked a stonewaller. Hylton should be hooked at ht, (for Cole not Ilic) looks like he’s still going through a warm up. Donnelly like a missing person......Grimshaw awful....