joewarkfanclub

He was also out injured yesterday. Dont know how long for, but these things can also happen....

If I was picking a team to get our best players on the park and make us hard to beat whilst making us easier on the eye, I would be going with ‐--------------------------Kelly--------------------- Mugabi------Ojala------Lamie------Carroll ‐---------------Slattery-------O'Hara------------- --------Woolery------Tierney-------Efford -------------------------KVV------------------------ There are arguments for playing McGinley at right back or even playing Sol and pushing Lamie out to the right as we did yesterday, but the midfield would allow us to link front and back without the need of a rocket launcher. Roberts and Shields would be contenders for Effords position. Donnelly I would keep on the bench as a defensive option if we need to close out a game rather than putting on 6 centre halves. Id love to get Cornelius more game time as well as I believe he has shown enough to deserve it, but that might require some more tinkering re shape. Others may have their own thoughts and Im happy to be shot down by those who are more tactically astute. But for me, our squad is capable of much better if utilised in a more productive manner.

I dont think there has been much difference between the first half of the season and the second. We maybe had a little more of an edge about us before the break and were far more clinical in taking our chances which gave us a foothold in games and probably maintained confidence in the players, but some of the football was still turgid stuff. There were games where it was a little more entertaining, the first game of the season v Hibs and the first Aberdeen game springs to mind. Was Tony Watt the difference? Hard to tell, but losing our best player didnt help, albeit his continued good form couldnt be guaranteed had the club blocked his move. The next few weeks are huge for the club and for GA. Beat Hibs and get to a Cup semi final, regardless of our league form should see him safe. Lose, but win a couple of games to secure top 6 and a crack at Europe likewise. Lose to Hibs and fail to win any of the last 3 games end up bottom 6 and it could be a different story as the fan pressure will build. I dont think we are in danger of the drop as its hard to see Dundee or St Johnstone winning 4 games between now and the end of the season. But I would prefer not to have to take that chance. Its now down to GA and the players.

Re the booing. I never boo during the game, or direct criticism at individual players for the reasons already discussed. But supporters must have the right to boo at half time or at full time to let the manager know they arent pleased with whats being served up. If we dont, how is he to know how we feel about whats on show? Whats his motivation to change it ? Given how dire the performance was yesterday, I thought the support were fairly restrained. It also struck me that whenever we actually tried to play a little bit of football yesterday we got some success in getting into their box and creating chances. Every time we lumped it forward or put a long throw into the box we lost it. Surely that cant have escaped the managers attention? I dont think our support are any worse than any other and I actually think our fans are pretty desperate to have something to applaud and get enthusiastic about (you just have to look back to some of the games at the start of the season when there appeared to be a really strong bond building to see that) Its up to the manager and the players to provide that spark.

To be fair, Robbo tried him at centre half and he wasn't that great there either......

I agree its not Donnellys fault he is being picked. All he can do is try his best. The problem is, that by only playing 3 in midfield we cant afford to have a holding midfielder who cant also build the play. In a different set up we could maybe get away with him sitting and just breaking up play whilst others do the creative stuff, but his weaknesses are exposed in this system.

I went for Lamie. Given the difficult position he was placed in by the manager, he showed the ultimate profesionalism and put in a very solid performance against his new employers. Hard to believe he is the same player who looked quite exposed at right back last season.

Not much I can say about todays game that hasnt already been said. I think we reached a watershed with GA and this team today. Our league position and points total is undoubtedly acceptable. We are in no danger of relegation and still in touch of a top 6 finish and potential Europa League qualification. We are also still in the cup with a home tie against a Hibs side that have lost their best player and in a form slump of their own. That being the case, the response from the fans at the final whistle today has to send some sort of signal to GA and the board. The fans are quite simply not happy with the product on the park. Its brutal to watch and was only ever going to be suffered when we were getting results. I actually feel quite sorry for the players, as I think they are capable of playing far more football than they are being allowed to by the manager. Whether that would result in us collecting any more points is up for question. But its clear the fans would like to at least see us give it a go. It doesnt have to be either / or. We can hit a happy medium between pragmatism and entertainment. Nobody is expecting Barcelona tiki - taka, but we do have midfielders capable of playing more football than we are currently seeing. O'Hara was our best midfielder by a mile today until Slattery came on. The crowd made it quite clear what it thought about the fact it was O'Hara making way for him. We need to change our shape and get the likes of Slattery, Shaw, O'Hara, Tierney and Goss all on the pitch together. Maybe then we can get some decent service to KVV instead of just big lumps up the pitch being knocked on to no one in particular. Our players may not be world beaters. But they are better than they are currently being allowed to show.

Must win game if we have top 6 aspirations. Will be tough as Ross County have proved in recent weeks they are no mugs and always give us a tough game. Will all be down to team selection and attitude on the night. Get both those things right and we should just about have enough quality to get us over the line.

I would expect GA to be quite ruthless in the summer. He has shown he isnt afraid to drop/move players on who arent good enough or who dont buy into his philosophy. Will be interesting to see who out of the list above he thinks he can trust.

A few players had good 2nd halves. Woolery being the standout. But Kelly was the MOTM. Without his contribution the game would have been over at half time. I thought Cornelius gave another good account of himself. Lamie was the stand out defender. The only one with pass marks in the first half and generally excellent throughout.

Very pleasing result. But we shouldnt let it cover over the cracks of a very poor first half. It was always going to be difficult with the bounce Rangers got after beating Dortmund, and they certainly came out the traps flying, but we just didnt seem to get to grips with their movement at all. If it werent for Kelly the game would have been over at half time without us having registered a shot at goal. Credit where its due though, the changes GA made at half time certainly worked and although their level definitely dropped off a little from the heights they hit in the first half, we still had to go and take advantage of it and we did. Woolery had a very good second half and showed that he does have the pace and talent to cause teams problems in our league. He just needs to have the confidence to show that more often. There isnt a full back in the country would live with him on that form. We definitely rode our luck a little at the end and I didnt feel that putting the extra defenders on made us any more solid at the back. Just invited more pressure. But we survived to take what ultimately was a very satisfying point. Just a shame the ball to Roberts at the end didnt fall to Woolery. The absolute meltdown in their support, had we actually won the game, would have been delightful!

Not expecting us to do anything tomorrow, however, this run has to end sometime. Just as we very rarely win 5/6 in a row, we very rarely go 5/6 in a row without a win. Id be happy with a decent performance that didnt involve us capitulating. A point would be nice. 3 points is dreamland!

At least Robbo will know a lot of the players, given he signed them for us!

Hard to know whether thats a point gained or 2 dropped today. Not a great game of football technically, but still an enjoyable watch with the various duels going on all over the park. Aberdeen certainly turned up to match our physicality at times, but some of their players antics (Montgomery, Hayes and Ramsay) were infuriating at times, particularly with Walsh buying so many of their dives. Thought we were the better team for the most part and looked the more likely to take all 3 points so would seem churlish to pick holes in the performance. Main disappointments for me were not identifying early enough how they were exposing Bevis on our right. We had a couple of warning shots before they scored and did nothing about it. Also leaving KVV on when he clearly had a shoulder injury and wasnt capable of continuing to boss Gallagher and Bates. Still, with other results not harming us too much again, we are still very much in the mix. Big run of games coming up after the Rangers game that will define our season.

I like Shields energy and Efford had a decent first half. Midfield wise O'Hara was good, but I thought Donnelly was our motm. He looks far more mobile than a few weeks ago and was the one looking after his team mates when Aberdeen started to try and mix it in the second half. Stood up to the task well in what was a game devoid of any real quality.

The St Mirren game in October when we were 2-0 up, He brought on O'Hara for Woolery and Carroll for Slattery at 2-0 and we lost 2 goals in the last 10 minutes. Probably not the best example, but the only one I can think of.....

Only heard the game on the radio, but that was a very pleasing result. Biting fingernails at the end with Kellys save, but the perfect response to a disappointing few weeks. Hopefully it will kickstart us for the run in. Fingers crossed for a favourable home draw in the next round!

They will also get in thru hospitality with various businesses taking boxes or booking corporate packages.

Efford and Tierney showed more purpose and guile in 15 minutes yesterday than the rest of the team had in the previous 45 mins. It was a shame the 4th goal came when it did as it totally killed the momentum they had created. Woolery offered absolutely nothing. He is such a frustrating player. As others have said above, he looks to have all the attributes to be successful at our level, but appears to have absolutely no idea what to do with them. Really not sure how you change that, but we have another 2 and a half years to try. As for team selection, I can only presume there must be Covid / illness /injury issues stopping Ojala getting a start. We all know he is our best defender so GA sure as shit knows that. The fact he isnt playing him and has played Carroll, McGinley and now Nirenold in there speaks volumes. However, GA doesnt want to talk about these matters, so we will just need to remain in the dark. The big question for me and for GA going forward is who can he trust? We were always gonna be up against it yesterday and the outcome, whilst depressing was not surprising. What is unacceptable though is players not busting a gut for their teamates and for the club. Celtic have the quality to carve better teams than us open, they proved that on Wednesday night. But once you get out of position you bust your arse to get back and help out. Way too many examples yesterday of that not happening. Be very interesting to see team selection against United, but for me Cornelius must be rewarded and several others should be benched, starting with Carroll, Woolery Donnelly and van Veen. Efford and Tierney must start and I would give Roberts another opportunity to see where his heads at.

Thought Deano had as good a game as any of the outfield players and deserves to keep his place on Wednesday. But it has to be Kelly who stopped it getting really embarassing.

Not much I can say in defence of that performance. We were totally outclassed in every area of the field. Was always likely to happen given the form they are in. Im not sure how we become more competetive in these fixtures, but todays tactics and formation certainly didnt work. Lets not kid ourselves that we were doing ok up until the first goal, Kelly had kept us in it up until that point and it looked only a matter of time. Carroll showed today why McGinley has been playing in front of him. Time and again he left Abada goalside of him and made no effort to track back and help McGinley. The changes made at half time did seem to give us some impetus until the 4th goal killed the game. Tierney looks to have some ability with the ball at his feet and appears to have the heart and desire to make thimgs happen. Efford looks quite direct and offered more than KVV. Woolery looked absolutely clueless up top and ambled around aimlessly as if he wasnt really sure what he should be doing. All in all, a thoroughly depressing experience. The only good news is that we dont have to face that level of opposition on Wednesday. I would expect to see wholesale changes and a much improved display.

Because of how they influence everything to do with Scottish Football. There is nothing better than being able to give one or both of them a bloody nose. The fact we havent been able to do it for so long when others have been able to is quite depressing.

How does that compare with our earnings due to league position? Cant be much in it surely?

Hopefully that will put to bed the idea that qualifying for Europe doesnt benefit the club. Much as I have enjoyed the re-introduction of group stages in the League Cup, Im getting a bit fed up seeing us play Annan, Morton, Stranraer and Edinburgh City!