Tweed

Yes - FOC also.

Ruddy - made a couple of mistakes but on the whole steady Jutkiewitz - had some good moments but on the whole poor. Obviously been lacking confidence as you could see from some of the decisions he has made in some games to pass rather than shoot. Hopefully yesterday's goal will instil some belief in him to go on a run and prove himself. For now would keep Ruddy and send Jutkiewitz back in January.

I don't mind them passing it backwards, sideways, diagonally or whatever if there isn't a good forward ball on. In each of the last three games I think we have been a bit guilty of retention before creation.

I would be delighted if we came third. I would also be astonished. I don't think our first 11 would be far away but the depth is not as good as United's, Hibs' and Hearts'. But that was the same in McGhee's first season yet we did it because we more or less kept that eleven fit for most of the season and we were able to do enough so it could happen. However I think we would be very lucky. I think Killie, Falkirk, Hamilton, St Johnstone and perhaps St Mirren are so poor 7th should be a shoe in. Therefore aiming for being above one of the other four should be our target. But I wouldn't be writing off Hearts. I know nothing of their game yesterday but they have been unlucky a few times late in games so I think they are in a slightly false position.

Humphrey for me. Hammell was decent, Craigan and Reynolds quite steady, apart from that not a lot there.

That game was absolute fodder. I will give them the benefit of the conditions being horrific and to be fair they worked hard and were quite determined. Good three points and games against the less good teams at home we must win and we have done that again today.

Confirmed for Tues 27th, 19:45

Pleased for him and his form merits it, just a bit concerned that h has looked a bit jaded last couple of games and thought a week without a game would have done him the world of good.

My memory is the game he did for us was up at ICT when Malcolm scored the free kick. He was fine that day - sensible and consistent.

From what I've read about Falkirk their games v Accies and Killie were dire. But the three clean sheets so there is a bit of organisation there, not that Hamilton, Aberdeen and Killie have shown themselves to be free scoring but then again neither are we. I think its a game that could peter out to a 0-0 if we not ahead by half time, though if we do get one and force them to open up then I think the pace of Humphrey/O'Brien/Mouatakil/Hammell could kill them. One thing I have noticed when I have seen Falkirk is they are as slow as hell and that gives us great opportunities to draw fouls and maybe a penalty out of them. Contorversially my team would be: Ruddy Saunders, Craigan, Reynolds, Hammell Mouatakil, Hately, Coke, Jennings, O'Brien Sutton Humphrey and Forbes to come on to inject something if we are struggling. Forbes looks jaded and a game off I think will help him, Mouatakil is basically playing winger anyway so why sacrifice having a right back. Only thing that concerns me about that team is the lack f direct support for Sutton but I think any two of the centre mids should be capable of following up epecially as one of the full backs should be a bit deeper and if worst comes to worst all defenders can move one place leftwards and Mouatakil is quick enough to fall back to right back.

Its easy for us to sit and say deserves to start or he should have had 45 minutes yesterday but we don't know how far he is off full game pace as I imagine had he been fit enough for 45 minutes he would have replaced O'Brien on Tuesday and likewise come on a bit earlier yesterday. I have no doubt Gannon's vision of the first eleven has Humphrey in it but my suspicion is he is along way behind in fitness and won't be ready for the full 90 next week. But he is a player that really excites me and an international break after next week's game will give him the opportunity to catch up.

I sort of disagree with that. We got into promising positions and the forwards were behind play. They need to get closer together and closer to the midfield or it is an impossibility to play through the teams. Its a two way thing service. The midfield need to be able to play the ball and the forwards need to be in a position to receive it and I thought we failed on both counts today meaning that often the midfield had to play sideways rather than have the chance to play the defence splitting pass.

Agree - though there are few teams in the SPL that have the pace that Hibs do and Yassin's pace will allow him to give most folk a couple of yards of a start - would suspect against most team's we play it will not be an issue. Other thing I missed off my first post was Sutton and Jutkiewitz I think need to play closer together. When we were forced to go ariel one of them often won the header but the other one was fifteen yards away and hd no prospect of winning the ball. Also when Murphy came on the few times he bombed forward I thought the support play off the ball was dire.

I'm delighted the ref didn't book him for that very reason. I'm sure the ref will have eaten the evidence by now anyway.

Disappointing performance. We worked really hard to get back into it and the last twenty minutes of the first half we were the better team. The first five minutes of the secod half I have never seen anything as amateurish as the Hibs performance. A free kick out for a shy, the goal kick that didn't get out the penalty box and Stack's clearance that pinged of O'Brien. I and ten mates could sit and get wellied until midnight and would not be as poor as that. So when they are all over the place and looking garbage, we gift them a goal and the flow of the game changes. After that we did nothing. Good to see Humphrey back, and he actually did pretty well. Next week will be a new test as we have to recover from defeat and probably be favourites again so interesting times. Thought the ref was on the whole good. Probably should have technically booked Zemamma but fans should be able to accept banter from players, hell they dish enough out and in a way I was pleased he stuck two fingers up to the technicality. Shame one of our fans let us as a support base down by lobbing something on the pitch. Also why do we stream out with a couple of minutes to go when we getting beat. For all we were poor today they tried hard and deserved a round of applause at the end.

I'm surprised at their pick but I think they have got it right. Celtic v Hearts is the best game however I would have thought because Rangers are away they may have had a greater proportion of their fans to hit to watch it so thought they would go for Dundee v Rangers. Should have been Dundee v Aberdeen the other night too. Pick the game that gives the chance of an upset that will entertain more folk rather than pander to the wants of OF delinquant fans who won't travel the length of themselves to watch.

Its a catch 22 - I think he would be a good squad player if he was playing enough to keep up his match sharpness and shape yet he isn't good enough for playing often enough. That make sense?

True but they are better than us. THe best chance to win against them is in this stage of the season when they are trying to balance European games, cup games, league - by semi final time it is a priority that they can balance with the league. Unless they were going to draw each other, or one of United and Hearts away we wanted them at FP now if we are going to win this competition.

Hibs seem to be a bit up and down, they have the players to cause us lots of problems - on the other hand they are all erratic. We need to remember we played 120 mins the other night and JG thought we looked tired during that so I hope its not a game too soon. However there is a resilience about this team and Hibs confidence will be low (I actually wish this game was away because if we start well their fans would get onto them) so I think that could square up. Going for a desmond.

Our game is a chance, my concern is that Rangers, Celtic and United will probably go through which means it will be a real tough game in the semi should we get through - to win the competition we will probably need to beat both the OF.

Despite there being obviou inadequacies about our performance last night I was quite pleased: We bounced back from a couple of set backs which we've not had to do for a while. We tried to keep the ball We scored some from open play We never gave up We won We may not get away with playing like that every week but no team plays their best every week so all in quite content. I actually think winning agame like that might be better for the players than drawing with Rangers.

Anyone just watch Nevin and Gordon talk through the eleven yellows in the Killie game there? Nevin said he got 10/11 right and see being honest watching it in isolation and concentrating on it rather than my pint I would tend to agree. My prception at the time was he was being picky but actually in hindsight maybe not. And was really pleased he did Pascali for jersey pulling - I hate that.

Inverness will still believe they should be an SPL team and TB will have them fired up to go out and prove it. Terry on the whole did well in the cups for us so we know it'll be a tough ask. We should play our strongest team however take no risks. If players have knocks they should sit it out but if not play them. So all else being equal I would play: Ruddy Mouatakil Saunders Reynolds Hammell Humphrey Coke Hately O'Brien McHugh Jutkiewcz I think we have to play two up at home, I think having someone with an injection of pace in midfield and up top will cause them more problems than Sutton hence the inclusion of Humphrey and McHugh. Forbes and Sutton have being doing well but I think speed is our best chance of beating this team and that is not their strength. However won't be gutted if either are included.

We are a bit light up top, I think any of DC or CP as mentioned would improve us - the others, I think could have done a job for us and provided different options but we'll live very comfortably without based on what we have seen so far.

Coke was the best player on the pitch last week when we played like an away team against Rangers at home. Therefore Levein was, in my view, correct to try and nullify him because by doing that he would give his better players more chance to display their stuff. I think he got his tactics spot on but being honest Dixon, Conway, Cadamarteri, Goodwillie, Swanson and Bauben I have seen them all playing better than they did yesterday. I have seen United play good stuff this season (see highlights v Celtic, game v Hearts) - it didn't happen for them yesterday which was our good fortune but they are still a team that are a huge danger as they play good stuff and are physical too.