weeyin

I always enjoy a good battle with Hearts and this one has been up there.

I don't know the last time Hearts beat us by 3 goals at Fir Park, but all the recent games have been pretty tight.

Soccerbase has our team listed as : 1(G)T Carson 2(D)R Tait 4(D)L Grimshaw (71) 6(D)P Hartley 8(D)C McHugh 18(D)C Dunne 21(D)C Kipre 7(M)C Cadden 15(M)A Rose 9(F)L Moult (89) 12(F)R Bowman (56) SUBS: 13(G)R Griffiths 14(D)E Plummer 11(M)E Frear (56) 20(M)D Petravicius 22(M)A Campbell (71) 17(F)A Fisher (89) 27(F)C Tanner 1 (G) T Carson 2 (D) R Tait 4 (D) L Grimshaw (71) 6 (D) P Hartley 8 (D) C McHugh 18 (D) C Dunne 21 (D) C Kipre 7 (M) C Cadden 15 (M) A Rose 9 (F) L Moult (89) 12 (F) R Bowman (56) 13 (G) R Griffiths 14 (D) E Plummer 11 (M) E Frear (56) 20 (M) D Petravicius 22 (M) A Campbell (71) 17 (F) A Fisher (89) 27 (F) C Tanner

I don't disagree, btw - just pointing out that we've done it before. Also, as much as I enjoyed the Scotland game this week, we haven't actually qualified yet.

Wee (Hall of Famer, Stand Namer) Tommy did that for his brother's Dundee Utd team that had just made it to the UEFA Cup Final. It worked too, because then we beat them.

I don't disagree with this at all, but the modern game doesn't seem to care about full backs being able to defend - it's all about their attacking play, Drives me nuts as guys like Joe Wark were excellent going forward and even better at defending. So it's perfectly possible to be good at both.

I'm a fan of Mugabi, but while he's a decent stand-in at right back he's not what we need there week to week. O'Donnell offers more width going forward and has a better delivery into the box.

I don't think the Rangers fans could handle that on top of Gerrard leaving.

Yes. or no.

If we avoid our usual, sluggish post-international-break first half we have a decent chance of winning this one. Assuming, of course, we haven't performed our usual trick of injuring a couple of our key players in training.

The bottom line is we're having to try and replace Campbell and Turnbull in the midfield - which is an impossible task. We do need to try and find some balance, though, and like the defence, having or choosing to play a different starting combination every week isn't helping continuity.

I remember saying at the time that felt worse than losing with a poor performance.

Bowman on the scoresheet again in his FA Cup tie against Stratford Town.

KVV's finishes were excellent and Kelly's saves were made at crucial points in the game, but I ended up voting for Goss purely because it was good to see a midfielder put in a couple of quality balls. I read today he had a chat with KVV at half-time and told him he thought there was more space on the left and he was going for the early cross straight away - and it worked first time.

It's the way of the modern game. Any time people talk about top class full backs these days they are referring to how many times they bomb up and down the park and the quality of their crosses or number of assists. I can't remember the last time I saw any stats anywhere about their number of tackles, balls won or crosses stopped - which for me is the most important part of that position, but barely gets a passing thought.

Old school! Training in the morning, fritters for lunch then down the snooker club for a couple of beers and a smoke.

Much better second half performance that was worth the 3 points. Great result to take some momentum into the international break and good to see a couple of quality goals from the footballers in the team backed up by some quality defending when required.

I was thinking 4, but I admire your optimism.

Nicely worked free kick routine - although I thought the initial award was a bit soft (not that I'm complaining!)

2 hospital passes from our players didn't exactly inspire confidence. Maybe stop making our back passes 50/50 balls.

There was also the famous altercation at Love St where he went at it with Billy Abercromby. He was sent off after a scuffle with Abercromby in the box and Abercromby managed to pick up 3 red cards for the same incident (and a 12 match ban).

I never understood that. Stevie was one of my favourite players from Day 1. He wasn't always brilliant, but he was usually entertaining. Mair and Murray on the other hand...

They were - but he only got away with it in his first SPL season thanks to reconstruction, as we finished in a relegation spot despite parking the bus and winning only 7 games. The league structure didn't encourage risk taking football of course, with 2 from 10 being relegated every season. As you say, though, he slowly changed that over time and when players like Russell and Cooper were introduced our focus and tactics changed for the better.

A bit like your posts, but I imagine he'll keep playing and you'll keep posting.

Two interesting stats I read in today's Scotsman that I'll post here rather than in a new thread. Callum Slattery has contested more defensive duels (121) than any other player in the Premiership this season. He also heads the list for most fouls won per 90 mins and total fouls won, as well as being the leader in total fouls conceded. Liam Kelly is first for both saves and shots faced, (but not for goals conceded).