StAndrew7

Aye, although you'd expect the team to head up tomorrow and stay over, so I guess if they're there, it can go ahead? I agree re: fan/travel safety, it'll be interesting to see what happens if it's as bad as feared if the team is already there and the pitch is alright.

Aye, I do have a bit of confidence now that Sparrow seems to be adding some forward thinking runs/passes to his game. I'm by no means a fan of Paton, but again, his desire to carry the ball and be more attacking than Halliday is welcome - the link between Miller/other DMC has been missing all season; if we can get that sorted hopefully it'll lead to us being more efficient in our attack. You could argue that the first half against St Johnstone was full of promise from that perspective; we created a fair bit and Stama and Maswanhise could be a really effective front two. The issue that came in the second half was them nullifying our most effective outball in Marv down the right and Kettlewell (surprise surprise) not really adjusting for it.

Provided the game is on, here's some thoughts on starting formation... We all know Kettlewell won't change the system from a back three/five and with Gordon being available again I'd go for this (with Balmer/Casey playing whichever side works best; Balmer appears to have some kind of left footed ability so makes sense to play him there): Ox Casey - Gordon - Balmer Kaleta - Miller - Wilson - Seddon Sparrow Maswanhise - Stama Wilson and Miller sitting and Sparrow breaking beyond the midfield to support the two up top.

Aye, I agree with trying that at some point, but I'd say you can't drop Maswanhise given his form. So would either need a change of formation (which we all know Kettlewell won't do) or playing one of them out of position. Would Watt at 10 behind Stama/Maswanhise... that bad?

Yup. County fan on P&B saying they've had more snow overnight, with more forecast. They're not sure it'll be on.

I think this one might get postponed, looking at the weather...

Don't forget to include the inevitable "left back switches to right back across the defence" initiated round of applause from our fans.

Aye, I'm also of that opinion. I believe Boyle was the one who was throwing the daft contracts about as much as Nevin was. He's said a few times that he had to talk Boyle down from splashing mental money at some players.

Unless we get rid of a forward or two I doubt he'll be back in January, as it's a season long loan I think? Better to have him playing regularly for Morton than warming our bench and getting the odd cameo, imho.

Aye, I think all of us are guilty of expecting new signings to come in and immediately set about playing every week and dominating matches. We've had it pointed out to us on several occasions just how shite the Australian league and the defending there is, so perhaps giving Stama some time to properly bed in and get used to the standard here before writing him off isn't a bad shout. Or, y'know, we could just decide he's shite and should head back home. Cautiously optimistic about the rest of the season but I do feel our next run of games are crucial, prior to the absolute car crash of fixtures over the festive period.

I don't think that's what they're saying at all. It was our first semi-final in seven years and if you believe some of the pish spouted on here, it's with our worst ever manager, squad and tactics. I think Kettlewell got his tactics wrong on Sunday but we competed with Rangers for the majority of the game. The issue is the massive gulf in quality makes it difficult to maintain that competitiveness, without adding in shooting yourself in the foot by making ridiculous/baffling/poor substitutions. I said it on another thread somewhere that Stama scored goals with proper supporting play; he was either always in a pair with wingers in a 4-4-2/4-2-4, or in a 4-2-3-1. We don't have the players fit and available to play any of those systems (yet). The clear difference in those formations is that they provide real attacking width. Our wing backs don't provide that as often as I'd like but I think that will come. Kaleta is raw but has capabilities that I think are similar to Gent. Definitely an athlete and with the right coaching could become a real threat. Seddon has quality in his delivery and I think him and Wilson down the left could be a real pairing if given time to develop more.

Aye, absolutely. All about 'forwards' nowadays rather than the strikers, Haaland and the two you mention aside. Although the supporting cast around him are so good he can essentially just poach like Lineker did in the bygone era etc. I definitely have issues with Kettlewell's tactics but I do think he's hamstrung by the injuries we have currently. I know it's an excuse but it's glaringly obvious we're missing Paton's ability to carry the ball into the box (something I never thought I'd type, tbh) and Nicholson's creativity.

I totally agree. I do think that's what is so frustrating about it; they were absolutely there for the taking and we stuck to a rigid counter-attacking style with a really ineffectual press on their defenders. They definitely went up a gear in the second half. They took Miller out the game completely by sticking Barron on him at all times and doubling up when he was on the ball. That completely nullified our game plan because we had no other creative outlet, particularly after Kettlewell's mind-boggling double sub.

You'd have thought with everyone being so well informed about how shite Kettlewell, the players and our tactics are, that they'd have been able to prepare themselves for the result on Sunday and not get too upset, eh? I do hope that all of the ACLs and other ligaments that have been ripped apart by the knee jerks heal up well. For the record, Sunday was pish. It wasn't season and managerial career defining by any means. He fucked up and he'll hopefully learn from it moving forward. Fifth in the league on goal difference with a game in hand on fourth, four points clear of sixth with a game in hand and two games in hand over seventh, a cup semi-final and all with a team playing shite football without a striker who's scoring goals.

Aye, it's definitely a step in the right direction but I agree with others that it does feel like a relatively minor one. It is, like I say, moving things forward and demonstrating the model can/will work. There's undoubtedly more negotiations taking place in the background as well. The app sounds like it will provide a lot of answers to questions people had about how they can manage their contributions, see what they've paid in etc. @Kmcalpin I accept it won't be for everyone but it will cover off a significant portion of contributing members. I would imagine once it's in place, there'll be a relatively straightforward plug and play into the back end of the Well Society website to replicate its capabilities for those who don't use their phones/are desktop based.