wellsince75

Even if we go out I'd be stunned if we binned GA. Season 1 - took us to safety Season 2 - took us to Europe. We'd lose credibility as a club for sacking a mgr for losing a cup game , irrespective of the standard. Our style of play has been horrendous since day 1, it was horrendous for the first half of last season and we extended GA's contract - because the points were on the board. It would take a sustained period of no results and a precarious league position before the club would axe a manager and rightly so. I'm an anti fan of our style of play and sick to my back teeth of watching dreadful , dreadful matches but I can't envisage any change until we face potential relegation. In reality I think we'll be somewhere between 9th and 6th in the league and its likely to be tolerated.

I think we'll find it exceptionally difficult to break this team down. They can sit deep and afford to let us come on to them, we need the guile and skill to take on players, get past them and get balls into the box. Tierney is a good option to play in the hole but we'll need to change formation and erm can't see GA doing that. Personally I would have players like Goss, Morris, Tierney, Slattery, S'OD all playing and leave the likes of Efford & Shields on the bench Brains over braun are required,

one we got away with. The benefit of no VAR and limited away fans to make much noise.

got some sympathy for Bevis. He's a big strong chap who gives his all. What he lacks isn't learnable at this stage of his career, it's often poor positional sense or awareness of who's around him, together with being just that little bit clumsy. Hence cheap goals, sending offs, penalties will be the downside of his game. The mgr can see it and plays him pretty much every game. Thats on the mgr, rather than the player. No question Bevis was at fault at the goal but not the reason why the whole team didn't function for 70 mins of the game.

We don't learn from our mistakes. 4-3-3 doesn't several players. Many are out of their position We don't have the ability to get ourselves up for big games. We don't create many clear chances against any level of opposition. GA's assessment of the game was disingenuous . I don't see it changing. Will we maintain our win record under GA ? it's hard to fathom how he's managed it, but he has and may well continue.

GA got us to 4th in our league - anything top 6 is pretty decent so agree changing mgr isn't the answer. Irrespective of how poor we are to watch, it's a results business. Equally there's a lack of credibility in his assessments. Guys like Craigen, Fadddy and other pundits call it out - there's a lot lacking with our approach to games and as an attacking side we really don't offer that much. We miss the bit of class that Turnbull and Watt offered. Like others mentioned, tonight isn't ashock. How we'll fair against SPL time tell but it feels a long time since I enjoyed watching us. Which is a shame as FP was rocking pre game and the fans have little to cheer about.

and people question why he's hard to like .

Tonight was always going to be tough. Personal view is we should have played 5-6 friendlies to get some form of match fitness. - not 2. It was also clear that players would tire and by half time many were done. Maguire, Slattery, Morris could all easily have been swapped around, Equally KVV shouldn't have started - he could have come on for final 30 mins. On the positive thought the pitch was excellent and the fans were out in numbers.

it's a tough watch. Several players no where near match ready, KVV, Morris and others were dead on their feet by 50 mins. Why not replace them and keep our shape, poor game mgt. Pretty much the same tactics that as last seasons pre league cup games.

the excuses of only having a 2 friendlies. boys worked hard to a man blah blah. We look miles off the pace and no idea how to break a team down.

he goes on an on about Slattery - what am I missing did Slattery get booked - can't see it anywhere other than Lewis's rhetoric.

overall game is playing out as expected. Sligo less quality but well into their season. We look rusty as we ease into the first game of the season. Sadly Bevis sold the first goal. He has done, did and will continue to give away cheap goals, penalties, mistakes. He's hard working but always carries this risk factor.

Looks like FP is bouncing

im the same mad dog. less than 10 mins to go, commentators must still be in the bar

This is a really good point. I was looking at the standard of signings that Hearts/Aberdeen/Utd have been able to make. The gap between them and us is also huge in terms of budget. There was always a gap but can't remember if feeling quite so stark. The rest of us are all decreasing in quality over a sustained period of time. All that being said and done really looking forward to tonight. Let's get the season started in style.

we've got plenty of good attacking options in midfield - just change formation if needs be.

Did Robbo get us to 2 cup finals ? can't recall him ever mentioning that Don't worry about his sides poor form, he's spoken honestly to the players , they need to work harder and they'll go again . These Motherwell, oops St Mirren players will get through .

I don't believe it's doom doom doom to say this will be tough nor is it wish for GA to get the hoof. It's more t hereality of where SPL sits in the overall quality of European football. The Irish leagues at one stage where not close to be level with SPL , over the years that gap has reduced. Suspect most of Europe now consider us to be the 'Diddy' teams. I wish us well, want us to win, would prefer it to be comfortable. Equally there's not been many games against any level of competition in recent years that fell into this category.

Suspect this will be tougher than we’d like this to be .

Agreed - tough gig. In truth I suspect most Scottish Teams will get pumped out the competition by what's deemed lesser Euro Teams. From all our trips to Europe the tie against Dortmund sticks in my mind as one of the performances to be proud of. Hopefully (assuming we make it to the next round) we can re-kindle some of that pride

The signings we’ve made give me hope the 433 as we played it will change . Within defence and midfield we have a lot of very decent players . upfront is weak. I can can’t envisage a world with efford , kvv and shields bring our front 3. l could see having kvv as an out and out striker with Tierney coming from deep + a whole host of midfield options would make us a much more dynamic team. it would be wasteful to continue with the 433 as was .

I believe we have a better 11-15 than we had this time last season . Im keen to see if we evolve our tactics/formation - are we actively looking beyond being fit and strong ? playing some football would be a welcome addition to this season

did S'OD feature at all today - I'd have thought most players would be given game time at this point of pre season. can't help but think he's moving on.

there's a whole bunch of formations that could work. The ask is drop the tombolla and look for a settled team .

this is good news when you consider Woolery wanted to move on, he wasn't guaranteed a spot on the team and we got cash. Seems pretty amicable to me and happy that we reduce the squad size.