joewarkfanclub

Not sure where to start with this? I think its widely accepted by most on here that our recruitment up front and in defence has improved both areas of our squad. We look much more like scoring goals and much more solid at the back, hence our healthy points total. I think its also widely accepted that our midfield looks disjointed and outnumbered most weeks. So the question is clearly how we improve upon that. Given Goss was brought to the club and paraded as a cultured midfielder with good ability on the ball and a sweet left foot, its surely not unreasonable to think he might be a usefull addition in midfield and help Slattery and improve our ball retention. You dont need to be set up to dominate other teams to believe that keeping the ball when we have it is a good thing. Re the 9 for 3 spaces? Who are they? Other than the 3 that are playing and Goss who is injures we have Donnelly and Maguire who are more like for like replacements for Grimshaw and O'Hara. We have other attack minded players like Roberts or Amaluzor, but you cant class them as midfielders. Are we counting Cornelius, Crawford and Lawless who all appear to be well out of the picture? Robinson was criticised for his comments about strengthening 12-18 in the matchday squad and rightly so. If we want to keep progressing as a team we need to identify where we are weak and improve there. If the players we have are "contributing little" lets get them moved on and get better players in who can contribute. Thats how you constantly improve, no?

I thought both penalties were of the soft variety. Not sure there was any actual contact on Boyce for the first one and Slattery looked as if he just leaned into Devlin who just threw himself to the ground for the 2nd. Id have been claiming for them at our end without really expecting to get either of them.

He does seem to blow hot and cold. Not seen enough of Shields to judge whether he is good enough, but if KVV is injured or outnof form he deserves a chance to prove himself.

I would stick with Woolery as I think hebis improving and I dont think putting him on the bench would allow that development to continue. He is our player for 3 years so its in our interests to make sure he fulfills his potential. Ive no issue with Roberts. I think he probably is the more complete atricle, but he is a loan player and does provide us with an impact from the bench. The McGinley/Carroll conundrum is a difficult one. For me McGinley is the better defender, but his delivery has been poor. Carroll is generally better going forward but he regularly gets caught out of position causing him to make rash challenges. Both do an adequate job at our level. I just hope Goss is going to be the answer in midfield because thats where our issues lie. However, even if we get him fit and he does a job, we could be doing with another body in there in January to cover for him or Slattery if either are out, because all our other options are a drop in quality.

Not far away from what I would go with...... Kelly SOD Ojala Sondre Carroll Slattery O'Hara Goss Woolery Watt KVV

Missed most of the first half, so cant comment on their goals. Thought we finished the half strongly and but for a very good save from Gordon and a lack of composure from the resulting corner, we might have got one back before half time. 2nd half Hearts started the brighter. I thought their player went down very easily for the penalty, so it was nice to see it saved. That seemed to kickstart us and I thought for the rest of the half we had the better of the play and chances. A mixture of good goalkeeping, poor finishing and bad decision making stopped us from getting a foothold in the game. It would be interesting to see how Hearts would have handled it at that stage. Overall, a disappointing result, but the character of the team remained on display right to the end. We know the issues in midfield. Hopefully Goss and Sondre can both be fit for the Celtic game and we can get our strongest 11 on the pitch.

Agreed. I just quoted the Sun as the OP used them as a link to the story. Very little decent journalism around these days. Particularly in the tabloids.....

Its an article entirely manufactured round that tweet by The Sun. They dont appear to interview anyone or do any actual journalism anymore.....

I dont see Zander Clark every week so impossible to say. But by the same token, the elected member doesnt see Liam Kelly every week. He would have a point if he simply directed his fire at McLaughlin as he isnt playing every week for Rangers. But to say Clark isnt getting selected for Scotland because he plays for a provincial club is laughable given who Kelly plays for. Overall though its just a pish story from The Sun to fill pages by trawling Twitter to find anything remotely contraversial.

Tony Watt by a country mile. A few others had good games and Slattery was no doubt the pick of those, but Watt's touch, hold up play, ball retention, work rate were all first class. The finish for his goal was none too shabby either.

He has been in this vein of form for over a year. If he was challenging for a midfield berth I would agree with you, but we are really short of strikers and it would only take an injury to Adams, Dykes or Nesbitt to have him under consideration given our dearth of alternative options. Much in the same way Gallagher got into the squad, you only need to be the right guy at the right time.

He hasnt featured in our matchday squad since 21st August. His appearance at Ibrox was on the 29th August.

Beginning to wonder if his non appearance on our bench is due to discipline issues and he has just chucked it. Even Robbie Crawford has made the bench the last couple of weeks.

Not sure googleing "why is Steven Lawless a mutant" would have shed any light on the original post......

As well as a mutant? Poor guy......

Certainly an area of the team Scotland are short in. Not any worse a shout than Nesbitt on current form.

To be fair, Im not on Twitter so a bit of context might have been useful. Totally agree he shouldnt be tweeting about other teams. Thats a discipline issue Hopefully GA will deal with it.

Im not sure that Grimshaw has been poor. Grimshaw has been Grimshaw. We all know he is limited on the ball, but will run himself into the ground for the team. To progress, we need more than that. But right now, we dont appear to have many better options that are fit to play.

Really? Is this purely because he is a Rangers fan? If you want to question his football ability fair enough. But we arent a big enough or rich enough club that can afford to ignore players becausen of their personal preferences, surely? For the record, I dont see him as a first team starter.......

This could be a proper battle. I hope it turns out that way as we are perfectly set up for that kind of game and to play on the counter attack. It would be good to have Sondre back, but to be fair to Lamie and Mugabi they both look better players alongside Ojala. Huge game and another massive test.

I read that Celtic have denied Dundee United tickets for todays game as well. Althought to be fair given the view at both grounds, you would be as well staying at home and watching on a stream.

That was the one that put the tin lid on it for me. He had been horribly inconsistent all game and was lecturing players like they were wee schoolboys when they got annoyed at him for damn good reason. But you NEVER see that decision given. A shrill blow of the whistle and a waggy finger to get back is usually about it. To make it worse SOD hadnt actually stolen that much yardage. Just a very officious humourless robotic performance.

Really good 3 points from a tough fixture. Ross County moved the ball about well, but similar to the Aberdeen game, we limited them mostly to chances from wide angles and Kellys saves were all ones youd expect him to make. I think until Goss is fit or we stumble across some other combination in midfield we will just have to get used to this style of football. It is effective, if not overly easy on the eye at times. Slattery was very good again today, he is carrying our midfield pretty much by himself every week. He is the only one in there with any composure ir ability to make a forward pass. With another decent player in there beside him he would look even better. Took his goal very well. Tony Watt was outstanding though. His first touch is excellent and his ability to take the ball in and drag us up the field, dance round players or just buy us a foul is a joy to watch. Bring on the Jambos!

Always seems to set the right tone. Still early days, but if the team keep following his mantra, you cant help but feel we are headed in the right direction. Disappointed that Sondre is out, but if Ojala has shaken off his knock then we should be ok at the back. Would like to see some fluency coming into the midfield, but ultimately any kind of win will do!

Just cause Kirky isnae in yet!