DLBud

Direct Line. I was working there years ago when I set up a forum name and I couldn't think of anything else.

I'd much rather focus on the shadow of a player he's become in the glare of all this media attention. Really poor display from him today. He seems frightened to put a challenge in and when the inevitable booking came it was for shirt tugging. FFS Jim, get your finger out.

First off, I'm no Lennon fan and would be quite happy if he simply chucked it tonight. I think he's a poor manager at this level who, the wonderful day at Hampden notwithstanding, has regularly underachieved with a good group of players and I think we are in real danger of going onto the playoff if he is allowed to continue. That being said, he came across as a really likeable guy at the Cup Final celebration night and I'm informed, by a good source that I trust, he works his @rse off on a daily basis to bring success to the club. With that in mind it would be good if the shit slinging didn't become personal IMO as that would be unfair on the guy.

Totally agree mate but you're not saying anything most people on her don't say week in week out. Problem is the manager is either unable to see it or unable to do anything about it.

Don't agree with that . I feel he suffers as a result of the lack of players willing to get into positions to receive the ball and therefore tries to do something that's not on or holds it too long. I do agree we've got a lot of deadwood that needs clearing though. Goodwin was a disgrace today. If he's not willing to make a challenge he shouldn't be out there. We've got a team of ball watchers with little appetite for the scrap. Doesn't bode well for the next few months.

Yeah, because Paul McGowan is the problem here.

He's been the manager for long enough now. Why is there any need to compare him to his predecessor? That's just a smokescreen and IMO is an attempt to deflect attention away from a shocking record,

Not sure that the guy was trying to belittle the result at Easter Road but merely state that the result, as good as it was, took the heat off Lennon and, in essence, "papered over the cracks" and there are cracks, big ones. I know you get tired of the same moans on here week in week out but you have to ask yourself why people feel that way. The football this year has been pretty poor for the most part and I'm not sure that this group of players has got what's needed to get us to safety. I hope I'm wrong.

Was out last night so missed all the deadline day "excitement" and woke up this morning with the hope that we'd addressed the issue that's been our undoing for the last few years (centre of defence) but no, we hadn't. So, we move on with what we've got in the hope that Thistle or County are just a little more shit than us in the coming weeks. Pretty depressing state of affairs really.

That common sense has no f**king place on this forum. Shame on you!

Probably unlikely as they are complete financial meltdown yet again. If they are bringing anyone in they'll need to move someone on and even then it would be unlikely they'd spunk another couple of grand per week on Stevenson.

I like the look of Campbell as a player but I'm not sure where he fits in with how we are set up to play. We tried going two up front v Killie and Celtic and were overrun in the middle both games so it looks although we'll be sticking to 4-5-1 this season. If that's the case then I'm not sure where we would play him as, judging by yesterday's performance, it's not wide right. Bearing all that in mind I would probably have taken big Iwelumo over him as he'd allow us to continue to play our settled formation and style of play when he was spelling Thommo.

I don't think there's any fascination. My memory of Kenneth was that has was a big, aggressive centre back who attacked any ball that came near him. He played some good years in the Utd defence and I think he was released by Bristol Rovers primarily as he'd been beset by injury during his time there. He's a free agent and is training with Utd again to prove his fitness but if he can recapture his previous form then he would be an asset to our team IMO. Just about every centre half at this level is prone to the odd howler. I would rather those came about by trying to win the ball than sitting off it and letting other teams centre forwards (even the smaller ones) take the advantage. It was obvious Mair wasn't going to get a game so someone like Kenneth would be good for competition in the squad and if he gets his chance and plays well, then he stays in.

Yea, they would have been ideal in terms of what we need IMO.

I agree mate but the names mentioned above didn't really fill any of the gaps that were obvious to us all in pre-season and still remain. We still require a big striker to give Thommo a break and a big f**king bruising centre back that will dominate the long punt up the park which invariably causes McAusland and McGregor so much trouble. We've been unlucky that we've lost Teale and McLean for large chunks of the season but that's football and the reason you need depth. We don't have the personnel to play 4-5-1 IMO as we've got little natural width and a clutch of midfielders who rarely go beyond the ball into attacking areas. Wylde coming in and the return of Teale and McLean will certainly help that but the other gaps will still be there.

Some of the stuff on here is just so repetitive .We're an average team that, like other average teams, lack consistency. Add to that we f**ked up our squad in the summer and have little or no depth at key positions and you get another bottom six year with a relegation scrap. I'm not sure what people expect once the season is underway? Anyone who watches us knew where the issues would lie and that's been the case. We maybe have a chance to change that in the window but I wouldn't hold out much hope and tbh I'm not sure the manager would be able to get the best out of f**king Barcelona so it might be pointless bringing in new faces. All that being said, if we beat Hearts on Wednesday then we'll have taken 7 points from the last three games which I'm sure we'd all have been delighted with at 3pm last Saturday?

Rather they calked it off now then let us start the game, get in front and the pull it.

The key difference in our style of play now is that we no longer build from the back. I can't recall exactly how many times I watched through my fingers as McAusland took a short pass from Samson and dithered before dropping a team mate in the shit with a poor pass during that time but there were a good few. Not blaming the player mind you as he was following his manager's instructions and trying to play football. We did have success with that style, that cannot be in question, but what is also true, as has been pointed out, is that teams sussed us out and started pressing us higher up the park which put an end to the build from the back philosophy and reintroduced "route one". Problem is you need pace to play 4-5-1 so the wide men can get down the flanks and turn it quickly into 4-3-3. We had success with Teale down the right and Isma had real joy drifting wide but we've had a succession of full back and central midfielders playing the wide roles this season and it simply doesn't work with Thommo often cutting an isolated figure up front. We're a lightweight team who have very little pace and are now lacking in confidence. Not a great combo and I'm slowly coming round to the idea that what we need to change is not so much the style of play but the manager, sad to say.

He won't be resigning and he won't be sacked either but I just don't see how he gets another deal. This "famine or feast" shit is beyond the pale and we are now looking like one of the teams who'll be in the playoff dogfight and with the talent available at his disposal that's just not good enough. How about one f**king season where we're comfortably in the top 6, just one! St. Johnstone, ICT, and Ross County have all done it. Why do we need to suffer the same shit every season? Horrific start to the season followed by a steadying of the ship and now back in the mire. The Hearts game was the genesis of this run and that was squarely on the manager's shoulders IMO. We were absolutely coasting in that game until he fannied about with the team at half time and we haven't played a decent game since. I simply don't see us getting anything from Easter Road next week and then we have a HUGE home game against Thistle. I left at the fourth goal last week, the second time I've done that in a year v Celtic and today only one of the usual five that travel to all away games went. We're all sick of watching this shite and it's gone one long enough. I know there will be a few of you come on and defend Lennon and, to be fair, some of you have made valid points in his defence in the past but I think even the staunchest Lennon supporter must be wondering whether their faith has been misplaced. He said post match that today was just a "bad day". 5 wins from from 21 games would suggest otherwise.

Yesterday was another example of individual errors costing us dearly and when those errors come from our "experienced" players (Grainger) then we've got real problems. The amount of times we allowed a player to run off unmarked from a simple give and go was depressing. We looked like a team of boys yesterday and, with results elsewhere going against us recently, are right back in the mix for 2nd bottom. I don't expect us to be challenging for Europe or even the top six every season but now and again would be nice. This depressingly familiar shit of fighting relegation cannot be accepted each and every season and we need to find a solution. I don't think our current manager knows what is required and, if we manage to stay safe this year, he shouldn't have his contract renewed IMO. Experienced players are one thing. A manager who has a clue is more desirable at the moment whilst we have a pretty decent squad that is not close to living up to what we have every right to expect from them.

Bottom line is, every manager makes decisions that baffle and enrage their supporters. In that, Lennon is no different from the rest. Maybe if he explained his thinking in the post match interviews it would help. We may not agree with what had happened but at least you'd have some insight into why it happened. I understand why this topic has raised its head again. The last two games have seen some really strange tactical decisions that IMO have cost us, at least, 3 points. Two holding midfielders and moving our wide left player to centre back against the worst team in the country was bad enough but any time Thomas Reilly and Gary Harkins get near a jersey just about does it for me. Then there's the curious case of Marc McAusland.................

Well that was all sorts of shite, all over the park. The only one who was going to get some sort of pass mark was Thommo but his second half miss was unbelievable so that takes care of that. Did not see a performance like that coming at all after the last few games. I know we're not the most physical of teams but neither are they and they bullied us all over the park and that was really disappointing. I excuse Thmmo from that as he won almost every header up front but there was nobody within 20 feet of him most times and we we're crying out for Bahoken at HT to try and change the pattern of play as the ball just wasn't sticking up front. They were very good yesterday but it still took two shitty goals to get them in front at HT but as soon as they got them the confidence just surged through the team and guys like Gauld and McKay-Stephens wanted it all the time. I'm not a Lennon fan (neither am I a Lennon basher) but the lack of international between him and the team during the game was indicative of the fact he didn't know what to do to counter the f**king pummeling we were taking. Maybe he should sit up in the stand for a bit as it was patently obvious to most of us what was going wrong with the formation and tactics employed yesterday yet he stubbornly persisted with the same shit throughout the 1st Half, start of the 2nd half and even when we brought the three subs on we kept toiling away with the same formation. Very frustrating! Two big games coming up and 4 points from those are pretty much a must if we're not to find ourselves anchored in 2nd bottom come the turn of the year. Incidentally, the abuse meted out to players and management yesterday (Goodwin and Craig in particular) from some supporters was shocking. These guys need to have a good look at themselves because there is simply no excuse for that shit at all, irrespective of the result on the park.

If Kenny McLean can show Saturday's form throughout the rest of the campaign we'll be lucky to hold onto him in January never mind next year. Gowser will likely be gone too and the rest are playing for a contract from here on in. I would imagine the key to any contract discussions would be the manager. If we have a relatively strong league performance over the rest of the season then it will be Lennon IMO. If not........ I would imagine that Thompson, Teale and McGregor won't be too hard to deal with as well for different reasons.

So, you wouldn't have made the same changes then. Well, that's at least cleared that up. Here's hoping that if/when the club is sold that the upward trend in recent performances have continued and the new owners give Lennon a chance to continue that. I'm done with this. You can continue your with your witch-hunt if you so choose but it's obvious from your last comment that you don't feel either of the managers who've given us our best results since the early 80's measure up to your own personal standard so there's really not much more to say. You've really shown yourself up here Billy I'm afraid.

Who you met and roomed with is about as relevant to this discussion as the number of committees you managed to get yourself involved in or what you were doing "last century". You took the first shot when disagreeing with my assertion that Lennon had made some brave changes and inferring that everyone but Lennon knew what needed to be done. However, when I pointed out all the changes made you still only referenced the Goodwin move as one, with sage like intuition, you would have made last year. So, Teale and Grainger out after ICT? Yes or no? If the answer is no then you really should think about your petty wee vendetta against Lennon and what it says about you, particularly in light of your recent misty eyed, named dropping bollocks. No mark? I'm almost choking on the f**king irony.