party politics

I actually think the change to 2 up working together has helped them. The 1 up top with 2 wider players (Kiltie and one other) was all becoming a bit samey for me. It also allows us to get an extra man into the midfield where we have had far more of a grip in recent games. Special mention to captain Mark O'Hara in there as he has really stepped up to the plate in recent games. Also special mention to VC , Marcus Fraser.. when results and performances had dropped off, the 2 of them have dragged the others with them, leading by example, with their application and effort.👏 Lastly getting Zach back was a masterstroke, he made some great saves again yesterday which were ruled as offside, but Var may have intervened on those calls.

Thought we played well on the night, (for us) certainly no lack of effort, we just have a mental block about getting over the line. Most likely because we are completely shagged from around the 70th min onwards, due to the way we play. Top men for me were O'Hara , Zach, Fraser ( spent most of his night covering for Goga and Taylor) and Mandron. The big man has been so much better the last 4 or 5 games, he is actually starting to look like a proper number 9. (Where has this player been up to recently - is he playing for a new deal?) On the recruitment I don't think anyone can argue it has been pretty poor recently - we have too many bench and stand fillers, that the manager clearly doesn't trust anymore. Smyth, Scott, Idowu, Ayunga (since injury) Adeniran, possibly Kiltie and CBM could be added also. A club of our size (and budget) cannot sustain that level of hit or miss rate for any length of time, so the managers next window will be critical to his and the clubs immediate future. I am in no way wanting the manager out, but he and his recruitment man ( forgotten name!) need to get the finger out. The only 2 players we sold during the window were homegrown and deemed surplus to requirements.🤔

I did not mean to be over the top re the Rooney debacle. What my point was if a lot of supporters "knew" he was a rocket (off the pitch)(and on sometimes😁) was he worth the risk.? I knew nothing about him apart from he was a very difficult opponent and a winner when we have came up against him previously, I thought he was a great signing. I agree that the club may have acted in haste, but would hope the club know more than we do. The bulk of our support fully backed the clubs decision to offload him, where it was less of an issue for me (and maybe you). To finish, I hope the club have learned from the 3 incidents and we only sign people who are only bits of " bits of a lad" going forward not the full blown version a lot of our support seemed to know about 🤔

So in my mind we did not go to Parkhead today with a raft of injuries to contend with, so no threadbare squad. Who came back from the close season in bad shape? We laid on a pre-season camp in Spain and I don't recall any talk of fitness issues. Brown ( a very bit part player) has been replaced with a Welsh internationalist. Rooney and Van Veen were positive signings for the club, but did we conduct the correct due diligence on them both. Rooney, according to many supporters after his contract termination, was known to be a bit of a rocket off the field, so why take the risk? Van Veen only made a couple of brief appearances for us before his troubles broke into the media. Again did the club carry out their due diligence correctly? We do we have a back up keeper, he has recently been rewarded with a new contract! We got beat at Parkhead today, because we were nowhere need good enough, not because of a threadbare squad.

Why do say it is a threadbare squad? Unless I am forgetting some players, the only two currently injured are the perma crocked pair of Dunne and McMenamin.

Why do we take our Kick off's and hit a pass all the way back to the goalie to shell up the pitch? Would we not be better trying to keep possession rather than a big blooter up to the opposing centre-halves who win it in the air every time. This is something we have been doing for weeks now and I cannot work out what advantage it gains us.

Abysmal from start to finish, I would make the players involved watch that performance on repeat for the next few days at training. NO idea what we actually do at training anyway so they might as well. Mandron, Ayunga and Toyosi are quite simply not good enough for this level of football, their collective touch to control the ball is up there with the worst I have seen for a long time. (Toyosi must have a great agent if he thinks he can play at a higher level) Our 3 up top formation needs looked at quickly as it leaves far too much room in the midfield to play through us. We get over-ran in the centre of the pitch most weeks now. Defensively we are all over the place, far from convinced with Yak, too one footed for me and not quick enough to play at the heart of a 3. Also spends too much of his time grabbing onto jersey's and giving away needless free- kicks. His lack of pace also means we are now playing a good 10 yards further back than we used to. Taylor also had a day to forget, maybe him and T have the same agent. If I was Robbo I would be removing those offers with immediate effect after today.

Terrible all over the pitch, who told Smyth he has got a long throw? We kill time for people to get into position then he can hardly make the penalty box with it. Can only improve.

Much improved performance and looked far more like ourselves. The work rate for the first 60 mins was exceptional until we began to tire. Thought, Gogic, TO, Tanser were excellent. Only slight thing for me was our subs didn't really impact the game as much as previous games. (Though not an easy place to come on) Hopefully this restores a bit of confidence in the team for the next two home games.

Abysmal performance from just about every player. Players caught in the headlights all over the pitch, no leaders out there today at all. Who knows what we have been working on during the latest international break, certainly not throw ins or set pieces, or patterns of play Stay up and clear the decks, you can start with Elvis, the goalie, Ayunga, Mandron etc etc. The recruitment over the last year has been very poor to say the least.

Very poor stuff today against a very ordinary United team. Any point in the game we actually looked like building up a head of steam and breaking one of their lines, was quickly quashed by yet another needless pass backwards. Step forward (maybe that should actually be backwards!) Marcus Fraser, CBM and our captain- these 3 guys look petrified of making a mistake from the first whistle most weeks. I would much rather they stopped worrying about losing the ball and look to get it forward, rather than the safe pass time after time. (which is a complete momentum killer). Even more worryingly I thought our subs today made us look even less of a threat, (that is some feat in itself). Hopefully the manager and all his backroom team (of which there seems far too many imo) can take the international break to actually work out what system best suits the players that he has on the books. As the forward line look as if it is fast heading back to tombola time.

All about opinions but do no see the need to put Scott in the "waste of a wage" bracket at this point. He came back after pre-season and looked at a lot fitter, from memory he also created the 3rd goal against Hibs in the opening league game with his pace beating their goalkeeper to the ball, before crossing for Smyth to score. He has only played a bit part in most league games this season (219 mins). He is patently a player who needs a shot of confidence after a rough time down South, which hopefully the manager will provide him with going forward.

Bit harsh, there are least 3 other forwards the manager has assembled who are equally as bad or worse. Not a high bar though😜

Agreed, though the most frustrating thing about watching them is they both have the the physical size and attributes to be the near perfect front men.(though not necessarily being played at the same time) With their size they should be giving the opposing centre-halves far more trouble than they are currently. As the manager has said in his interview post match, we need to forget all about our European adventures and get back to our league business quickly. The fixtures for the opening games was not particularly kind, so sitting with 3 points, while not a disaster, there is a real need for improvement over the next few games before it becomes season defining. Hopefully there will be some in's and outs this week to give the players and fans a lift.🤞

Nothing.....could not believe we took him on for another season..... though this may well pay off when St. Etienne come calling late on in the transfer window.🤫

We will finish in the top 6.

The main VAR referee tonight was Greg Aitken, who after his retiral from reffing, is the main VAR referee for the SFA. He should look for a new career after not checking that handball, but no doubt the SFA will just brush it under the carpet. The clubs are paying good money to have this facility but it is not fit for purpose and neither are the people that are currently implementing it.

Totally agree that running a line is not easy and neither is refereeing, but week after week our "top" officials are not covering themselves in glory. Simple things, like indicating a free-kick or throw-in with their arms (there were times last night I did not hear the whistle being blown for a foul) seems to be to much effort for them. Trudging up and down the middle of the pitch and never coming wide are my own personal pet hates. The guys in the middle in our league must be on around £1000 per match now, so they should go back to earning it. Glad to see the club have appealed Bolton's straight red, as let's be honest McLean just wanted to follow his pal Robertson from the night before and go against the VAR recommendation.

Form table shows (for the last ten games) 7 points out of 30 and 5 goals scored. So a lot of room for improvement all over the pitch.

No argument from me, I was trying to be diplomatic! Next stop Billericay Town or Solihull Moors would be my guess.

I assume it was to use his pace to run at a very newish centre half pairing, not that bad an idea but unfortunately the 2 early goals completely killed this game plan. I am sure that the manager will be looking to move on at least 2 of our tombolo strikers over this transfer window.

Game over in under 10 mins was very deflating. Brave move by the manager to play 2 up top but that decision left CBM and Flynn chasing shadows in the middle as they were ran over the top off by McGregor and O'Reilly for the whole of the first half. I agree we need to get Gogic back into the middle of the pitch, I also don't think we need to play with 3 centre half's in all our games, as this puts all the pressure on the wing backs to deliver in every game. The loss of Strain in this position has certainly affected us recently in results and performance. If we do stick (which I am sure we will!) with the system hopefully Elvis will improve us on the right hand side. Hopefully the manager can do some wheeling and dealing over the next few weeks and get a couple of fresh faces in.

Another worrying performance, devoid of ideas all over the pitch. Even more worrying the manager keeps bleating on how we don't need to change anything. Does he not think that teams have now worked out how to play against us? Yet he sticks by the same old system week after week (albeit with different personnel). We have 6 or 7 options up front but being honest only 1 or 2 are fit to wear the shirt. O'Hara's captain's armband must weigh him down as he is nowhere the player he was on his current form. Though we could give him some help in there by replacing one of the three stooges up front and put an extra player in there. How about a good old fashioned 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 Robbo? As it cannot be any worse than the rubbish we have been served up since early October.

Sorry, but not buying that if he said that. Ryan was the best player on the park by a distance and was still looking the most composed player to create something on the break. Far to many players rushing and panicking on the numerous breaks we had towards the end of the game. If we want to maintain our position or progress next season the whole left hand side pf the pitch needs to be upgraded.

I wish I shared your optimism, you refer to one time costs in your posts. Do you have any idea what these are or are you just falling in line with the statement issued by the Chairman/Club when the accounts were published. Ralston, imo, does not fall into a one time cost as there will also be repairs and maintenance needed, which any company worth their salt, would have a budget set aside every trading year for this. Perhaps you could enlighten me to these? Very positive league performance - we are currently lying 6th and have just as much chance of finishing in 10th as we do of reaching 4th. Attendances - Definitely on the rise, great that the club has a lot of different initiatives on the go. Hopefully there is a lot of full paying punters among this rise in attendance. Multiple sellable assets - Remains complete conjecture, I would certainly not be running the business on that basis. The manager - Doing a great job for the club but speculation does not pay the bills i'm afraid. A loss of 1.6 million for a club of our size (whether on paper or in actual pound notes) is alarming and horrendous to say the least. I am struggling to see why there are not a lot more of our support concerned about this.