Tweed

Yep, I've had this thought too but if you look at who Thistle have played: United - been dreadful in two games, did OK against Hibs until lost a man and then fell apart against the worst team in the league. Nothing special. Ross County - did OK for five minutes against Celtic then backs to wall, only luck saved them a doing, humped by Thistle, humped by St Johnstone Hearts - good luck saved them a hiding from Saints, lucky to beat a rotten Hibs team and nicked a scarcely deserved point from Thistle. So they have two more points than us having played some of the league's cannon fodder and we have played two of the best three teams outwith Celtic. I suspect the situation isn't as grave as we feel, it is just we are so used to success. Not saying it will be pretty, not saying we will suddenly be at last season's level but every chance we can win this one.

As long as we stop at Gannon/Brown and don't descend to Malpas.

Disagree, both can play in a few positions so in a smallish squad are worth their weight in gold.

Sevilla v Atletico kicking off just now, given the time difference at 11pm on a Sunday night - any takers?

Watched it a few times and I am unconvinced. Vigurs makes it a hard decision for the referee because he seems to be collapsing before the defender slides in and I think that is what puts doubt in Brines' mind. On the flip side it is a tackle the defender does not need to make as Vigurs is having to take the wide line and he could easily have nipped it out which makes me think he clipped him. Actually having seen it several times I'm still unsure and as much as it annoys me on this occasion, if there is doubt the referee should not give a penalty and on this one I can understand why he chose not to give it.

To be honest from what I have seen, every formation we think of doesn't work because this team has no pace at all apart from Angol but even then he isn't lightning quick and one of them is no use because if someone keeps up with him from the opposition there is nowhere for him to go. Look at Celtic's 2nd goal yesterday. Forrest went like a train down the left wing, had that been us and Angol and Reynolds defends it properly, Angol has nowhere to go. Yes, Celtic got a fluke that it spun off Reynolds and in but we wouldn't have anyone there so he couldn't even have tried to square it. Pace is the problem. Also because the midfield are so laboured the defence is under more pressure than it should be which is why in the law of averages we eventually make a mistake. I think we are only one maybe two players from sorting all our problems but if we don't do it this is going to be a season of many turgid games which we will get edged out of.

Not watching or listening as I find football on the radio incredibly irritating but no matter what happen today, we will have at worst lost to two of the best three teams in the league outwith the OF and McCall is still very aware of what our weaknesses are and working on them. Not pleased, and feel we should have had this sorted but I'm not thinking this is the end of the world yet.

The problem they have at corners is that there are at least six one on one battles and no referee can possibly watch all of them all the time. the way to cut pulling out is to penalise it when you see it and I support referees doing it but they will always miss some.

First half they were collectively fine but nothing much stood out, second half the midfield were so immobile it was frightening but today I don't blame the players. Faddy has receded since last season, but perhaps we could afford him the luxury because we had so many other players that couldn't be ignored last season so teams couldn't double up on him the way they are now. Second half was poor though, Anier kept going and for that he did well and for that reason he gets my vote. Took his goal excellently. I find it hard to understand a vote for Hollis today, he made a couple of poor errors in the first half, not coming for a ball and a very lazy clearance but nothing that cost us and he did make several saves and one excellent save with his feet just before the second penalty. Got to say his shot stopping doesn't worry me at all, it is how he deals with managing the box at set plays, through balls and back passes that worry me as most of his mistakes seem to come from them. However we have had many worse goalies than him so this scapegoating has to stop, it doesn't help him, the defence or anyone else. I really hope he pulls through and wins the fans round a la Higdon, though much harder for a keeper.

Whose to say we didn't try and he told us to bolt because we never gave him a chance last year. Having come here to get game time he has every reason to be a bit miffed with us. I know the game changed when we got Faddy. I actually think, whilst he is a good player, it is a quicker player we require and I'm not overly bothered he has gone to the Nettle. But one thing that is clear, we are one dimensional and if Angol gets injured we are completely Jimmy Rucked for pace.

Disappointing but unsurprising result and performance. The game was equal in the first half though we did at times ride our luck, with the two shots off the bar and McGinn being flagged when one on one when he was in his own half. However we were giving as much as we were getting. But in the second half every time we came forward the midfield ambled up and when we lost the ball they ambled back and it was clear our defence were getting too isolated and we should have had Carswell and or Lawson on much sooner to try and stem the flow of the game. Hammell again made a huge goal costing mistake but I think more of the blame lies with McCall as we were screaming for a change. Yes, we have some underperforming but they'll come so I'm not overly concerned and we'll not have that scenario with the travelling again so we move on.

From what I've seen they could be right. Inverness are a bit of an unknown again and could go well but from the rest I think Aberdeen, us and St Johnstone are light years ahead of the rest (obviously excluding Celtic). Aberdeen's defence had a 'mare against us both in September and on Boxing Day last year but generally they were watertight. If they can add some goals other than McGinn's they will be a good team in this league. Fancy if we are to win today we need to get ahead early as I don't see us chasing down a lead if they get ahead as the travelling will catch up with us later on. THe 2nd half against St Johnstone last year we were dead on our feet and Greece is a much easier journey than Krasnodar was though I suspect the humidity during the game was less. Not impossible we win today but I make Aberdeen favourites.

I may reluctantly invest some of today's winnings on that.

I've said before and I will say again, Hateley wasn't the perfect right back and made mistakes but at least he generally made them far enough up the field they didn't tend to be big chance or goal costing. Ramsden has worried me when I have seen him at right back in the preseason games because he seems to have a tendency to wander infield and leave space on the left wing. But as with the rest of the defence it is a work in process and I don't doubt he is good enough and adaptable enough to do a job for us there.

If it was a cunning plan he'd have taken them 1) as a decoy and 2) to try and influence a change.

I think Krasnodar are about as good as Celtic are - how often have they lost 3-0 at home to teams like us in the last ten to twelve years? Maybe once, so our chances of doing it are 1 in 200. Why would we risk three guys who are carrying knocks when the odds are so long. I'd like to think if we were starting 0-1 we'd have had a right good crack at them. As much as its annoying I can't fault McCall for being risk averse this time.

100% agree with this.

How many times have you seen a game like that pan out at Fir Park and we lose 1-0 with a late goal? Rank rotten games happen in every campaign and when they do the trick is to make sure you do nothing silly and they end the game on 0, you take your point and move on. As a bonus we got the goal and the other two points. Not a tough game to analyse, nothing happened for 70 minutes apart from their early run of corners. However, if we had lost a goal due to one HEADER beating the whole defence I think I would have torn out every remaining hair on my head. Good finish by Anier but their defending would not be replicated in a school playground.

He played yesterday. Absolutely shocking tackle on him led to a Charlton red card.

Comparing Kuban with Rosenborg is a pointless, futile exercise. St Johnstone got a good draw and have made the most of it so fair play to them. We got a tough draw and had to do a good professional job to have a chance. Kuban were a clever team, they very quickly worked out that our best attacking options were all going to come from Francis-Angol or McFadden and doubled up on them. I like Vigurs and Lawson lots however, I don't think they are the central midfielders who are going to pay the cutting defence splitting pass that Law could whilst there last season and what has effectively happened is we have become a wee bit more one dimensional. When they had the ball they had some good players, especially the guy wearing 99. He rarely wasted a ball and his movement off the ball created more and more space. In saying that on the mostpart we did a good job of matching up to them. Unfortunately we occasionally gifted the ball away cheaply and they were just a tad too good for that and when we did we were punished. The first goal was poor but the second one was an absolute joke. Hammell wanted to play the ball right but couldn't because we had FOUR players standing offside - mistake one. He then tried a Hollywood ball to the left and didn't make it - mistake two. They then wandered past someone as if they weren't there, we should have fouled them - mistake three and then Hammell stood off the onrushing player - mistake four. Not only were these all mistakes but they are mistakes a pub team wouldn't make. That sort of goal is what makes it so incredibly disappointing and frustrating. Got to say I always thought we would lose as this team are playing and doing well in a much stronger league than ours but having seen them we lost to a team that played on a level that was well behind Celtic of last season at their best. My suspicion is they under performed big style last night but if you had told me they would play as they did, I'd have been confident of a getting at least a 0-0. Dead easy to say we should have had more of a go. I don't necessarily agree with that. THey didn't give us much room to play and our only hope of having a chance is if we went there either ahead or with them on 0. I think trying to keep it tight for an hour then having a go was the right idea but we let ourselves down by conceding the cheap one after 51 minutes.

Think our defence was the strongest area of the team but each of them had one howler of an individual mistake. Hammell was unlucky his got punished. However overall I think McManus looked most in control so gone for him. Think Lawson and Vigurs will be good for us in the league. Vigurs is a bit prone to giving the ball away though, I've only seen Lawson give it away twice in three games now - an outstanding steady Eddie.

Either that or we fluke a draw against an English team in Europe in years to come.

Club have made the right decision unfortunately, we don't have the money to throw away with a fine and it only takes one idiot to cause it. Shame because 99.99% of the people behave impeccably always. The fan displays as well as looking excellent bring the fans together in a common cause and are so simple and effective. We just need to make a hell of a racket, get right behind the lads and hopefully the Russians get stagefright.

Unlike the other two friendlies I watched I thought this was pedestrian drivel and fifteen quid down the toilet.

I love watching the Champions League as a spectacle but you have to be very naïve to realise that it is what making the rich get richer and the poor get poorer across football. It forces teams to chase a dream that is unrealistic (e.g. Rangers) and basically the top few are pulling away from the rest and as they get more powerful the rest of us are left to feed off the scraps being dropped from the table. Thing is Europe is getting smaller and only a few countries would have caused us this logistical nightmare. Because the strength of Europe is in the West regionalising it would only lessen teams like ours' chances of qualifying more and more. Aye we got a shiter this time but over the piece I'm willing to take my chances.