wellfan

Sensible post. Yes, Kelly may not be perfect, but I'm delighted we've got him over what we would likely have had we not decided to splash out on a relatively good keeper.

Which he squandered on Obika, Wilkinson, Bair, and Shaw. We've also saved money on attackers' wages by punting Sheilds and putting Mahon, Tierney, and Ferrie out on loan. You could also add McKinstry's wage to that list. I get the need to cut the wage bill and not directly replace players, which has been done. But, Biereth aside, Kettlewell has absolutely pissed the KVV+ wage up the wall.

I find it interesting that Kettlewell sent Frail out to do his pre-match presser. Maybe there's nothing in it, as number two's do this sporadically. However, it was noticeable that Frail kept talking about the 50% win rate, which is excellent to be fair, but it's the feast or famine that's irking the fans. You could win every game one season and lose every game the following season. The former will not prevent the latter from leading to a manager being emptied. The here and now is the most important, and it's not good enough. As I said previously, I'm not calling for his head, but I think he'll be a dead man walking should we lose tonight.

I'm not sure about Levein. He's been out of the managerial game for over four years, so it's risky for St Johnstone to expect someone like that to come in and save them and take them forward. He may well do it, but he's still an unforgivable 4-6-0 prick.

That cheered me up, thanks!

In a weird case of what feels a bit like Stockholm Syndrome, but that's not quite the correct analogy here, the more games that pass, the more I find myself liking Bair for his effort, but only as long as you consider him as not being a goalscorer but as a foil or battering ram or whatever you want to see him as. It does feel a little like clutching at straws, but it's all we've got when the alternative options of Wilkinson and Shaw are considered. Also, perhaps Obika will come back and link well with Biereth?! I am scraping the barrel for positives here.

I hear what you're saying, but he also said, "going down in a blaze of glory" and "livin' on a prayer". In all seriousness, I'm not calling for the manager's head, but as I said above, at what point do we recognise that a bad spell has become terminal? Persisting with a busted flush because we can't be seen to empty yet another manager has all the whiffs of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, although I don't think we're there yet. Tuesday is now massive, however.

And how will SK address that? By changing the personnel and formation yet again on Tuesday? He needs to get back to basics or he'll lose his job.

Inspirational stuff.

I used to think that, but now I'm beginning to think that KVV deserves credit for bringing out the best in SK. From my perspective, SK had little part to play in KVV being immense at the right time. I think the only motivation KVV needed was his chance of a big payday back home, which he worked his absolute socks off for and deserves, and we (including SK) benefitted from that exceptional individual effort and talent.

I agree, but when does the bad spell become a terminal decline?

It's beginning to look a lot like it was actually KVV who did a great job of keeping us up last season.

If we lose this, I see no road back for Kettlewell.

I didn't go to the game yesterday because I had more important things to do, and it looks like my decision was correct. Going by the posts here, it seems like Kettlewell has lost the plot, and the players have downed tools. Very concerning.

If we go a goal down early in the first half, which is highly likely, we're toast.

There's no way that Kettlewell's job should be under threat already. This is the first bad run under him, and it's a bad one, but it's up to him (and many of the players) to sort it out. However, I don't think he has the personnel to do so, which is partly his fault and that of previous managers. But he should be given the chance to fix it because it's his job. And where have we heard this before?! He's inherited some crap, signed a lot of crap, and his usually reliable/good players have turned into ghosts of their former selves, and we should ask why the latter has happened? I would suggest it's a bit of mental fatigue coupled with frustration from being asked (by Kettlewell) to do the same things every week without reward due to the limitations of the players he continues to select, which is also the result of him having to cut the squad size down. The manager looks out of ideas already, other than being able to deploy Biereth to batter holes through teams every so often, which will see us continue to drop down the league. As many great thinkers have said, you can only pish with the cock you've got, and he's signed a lot of floppy cocks, which, as I said above, I think is having an impact on our generally decent other players' ability to continue to make things happen against the odds. Imagine being one of those midfielders busting your pan in every week only to discover that your out ball takes the form of our current crop of 'strikers'. It has to be having an impact. That doesn't excuse our leaky defence, however. And I don't have an answer to that, except maybe try a back four with a holding defensive midfielder sitting in front. In short, some of our players are sometimes lazy and blow hot and cold, but that is our level (e.g. Slattery & Spittal). Others are just not good enough (you know who). And the defence is currently a mess, although some players are generally decent (e.g. McGinn, Butcher, Casey). Kettlewell needs to find a way to get the best out of the busted flush he has in part created, which he's shown before that he can do, albeit with KVV being the main factor in our turnaround in form last time. Can he do it again? Whether I agree with this assessment, I think he'll be given until at least January to put things right. I include a January transfer window budget as I can only assume the Board will be reluctant to punt another manager again so soon.

The ref was a total donkey, but he was one of several donkeys on the pitch last night.

Yes, those deficiencies have also been very apparent recently. But our strikers are still a problem as well, right?!

The next three games: Killie away St J away Hearts home We need to take at least 6 points from this run to turn things around before Celtic pump us at the end of the month.

Given the stinking recruitment in the attacking department, with Biereth being the exception, perhaps we need to revisit this thread to take our minds off of the recent performances.

It's a good job we've forgotten how to play football, as that plastic pitch won't allow that anyway.

Much like Saturday, his answer was to throw the stagnant game plan out the window and bring on all the subs when it was too late. It has all the whiffs of panic and it cannot continue like this.

It almost beggars belief that we're so painted into a corner in terms of personnel that this now seems like the least worst option.

Careful now, the hyperbole and language police are about.

Can't we just sign 11 Biereth's, please?