mfc88

Good point and we look a lot more organised defensively. A few signs there of how Alexander wants us to play. That was a difficult watch in the second half though, defended far too deep. Put it down to lack of confidence which hopefully this point reinstates some of. Thought we looked good in the first half when we went forward - great play for the goal.

I really hope we can take something from today to give us something to build on going up to Aberdeen and dingwall. Not feeling optimistic though. Hope I'm proved wrong. COYW

Why? What has other sports or other countries got to do with it? Personally, I don't want to see the SFA copy what other sports or countries are doing, I want to see them demonstrate proper leadership and show that they take the covid situation in this country seriously. They haven't done that IMO. I agree with you that the 3 pts shouldn't have been awarded in the first place, rather a heavy, non-suspended fine would have been more appropriateat the time. But what has resulted, a 10k fine is pathetic and an insult to everyone working their asses off in hospitals, pharmacies, care homes etc to get the country through this.

Forget about motherwell and 6 points. Do you really think the punishment fits the crime? The season was given the go ahead to kick off under conditions that covid protocols were followed by all clubs and killie and st mirren failed to do so, caused an outbreak and affected the fixture schedule. And this is ok - just a slap on the wrist? Really? For me, 3 months ago, they should have been given a heavy fine and rearranged the matches. Now though, with a lot less of a window to reschedule games, the weather affecting "all weather" pitches, the lower leagues postponed, the entire country on lockdown, celtic doing their best to null and void the season and most importantly covid still looming (which could bite anyone in the ass at any moment), I just cannot fathom the logic of this outcome. This bizarre notion that killie and st mirren should be "happy" with the punishment is laughable. Its not a punishment otherwise, and cant believe they've not only got away with it but had their fines reduced. You literally couldn't fucking write it!

Football aside, we are in the middle of a pandemic and no matter what you think of our government and how they've handled it, they need EVERYBODY on side, behaving, following rules to contain the virus. The fact people haven't is the very reason this country's in this mess. You only need to look at countries like Australia and NZ who acted quicker and, critically, harder than the UK to see that. Killie and st mirren (the clubs, not rogue players) have, by their own admission, FAILED to comply. So what message is an absolutely pathetic punishment sending out? Yeah break the rules, it doesn't really matter. Had they ordered the games to be replayed but given killie and st m a proper, non-suspended fine (say 150k) then ok - they have been dealt a proper punishment. 10k with 10k suspended is fuck all, you will make more than that back off pay per view streams of the games. This debacle has taken over 3 months to close out and now, the only innocent parties in all this are losing out by having to shoehorn in the extra games before the split. What if we now have a covid outbreak, are out of action for 2 weeks and then need to fit an additional 4 games in before the split? I get you're happy with the outcome - I would be in your shoes - but if you don't accept that not only is the punishment a joke, but also that Motherwell and to a lesser extent, hamilton, have been fucked over here, there is no point even trying to debate it. I only hope nicola sturgeon doesn't cotton on the the fact the sfa clearly don't give a shit about protocol breaches because, with everything else going on with celtic, and the lower leagues postponing, it would not surprise me if she suspended the game.

The spfl are unbelievable.

St mirren have just tweeted their delight at the hearing outcome?? What. The. Fuck.

Don't disagree, but i suspect the spfl would copy what they do down south and interrogate everything. I could be wrong on that. For me the var ref should get a time, say 15 seconds to make a call. If it is "clear and obvious" then you should be able to make that call in the given time. If you need to get the ruler out and start drawing lines and all this carry on, then its not a clear enough error to overturn. I think we all know how these decisions would go in certain circumstances though...

Seeing the mess that the EPL have made of implementing var, the thought of letting the SPFL loose on it gives me the fear.

Looked much better in the first half than of late, polwarth in particular looked like a different player. Disappointing second half but didn't think their penalty should have been given. Erwin was backing in so much that he lost possession of the ball and threw himself to the ground once he realised the chance was gone. Thats how I saw it anyway, didn't see enough contact from mugabi and gallagher was only holding his ground. Story of the season in terms of not making the most of chances when on top though. So a disappointing point in the circumstances but some definite positives there. A few reinforcements this month should hopefully see us fine.

Lets see how we get on tomorrow, but if the board and players think lasley is up to it then I'd be happy with that appointment. He is his own man and we shouldn't hold the fact he has been assistant to robbo against him. Robbo was assistant to mcghee and baraclough and that appointment turned out alright - and drastic changes were made once he took over. I know he had only been back a month or so under mcghee though. Las was a great captain for us and knows the club inside out.

A lapse cost us the goal but what cost us all 3 points was our failure to convert chances. We should have been out of sight long before injury time but when we don't take clear chances and end up protecting a 1 goal lead we're going to find ourselves in this position often. Lang squandered everything that came his way, could have had a hatrick and cant believe he didnt slip polwarth in, before missing the target entirely. Said I'd accept a 0-0 shitfest so looking at it objectively I'm happy, just disappointed in the nature of it. Favourite moment was seeing carson go mental at one of our midfielders - that type of character is what we've been missing from the starting 11 recently, someone who's standards drive up standards of the rest. Great to see him back. Jim mclean is before my era but always sad to hear of the passing of such characters from the game! RIP Jim!

It was a poor poor watch but a point against one of the top sides in the league is something to build on. More concerned about the results at this time than the performance . As they say - build from the back, and if we can keep things tight, we won't lose many games. Surely o'hara must stay there now. The midfield and attack are severely lacking in confidence though, with the exception of watt. I love Campbell but it was the quietest I've seen him in a long time. All in all, given recent form, I'll take it and will take the same again on boxing day if i'm honest - not pretty but something to build on and will let us go into the killie and accies games with a bit more belief.

On our radar and in our budget? Its going to be tough. Then again we plucked aldred from nowhere so what do I know. I'd rather not find out, put it that way. Unless we get offered silly money, I'd much rather we focus on strengthening rather than chasing our tails for a few quid. But i suspect at least gallagher will be away.

Yes. Very worried at the prospect of losing campbell and/or gallagher. Don't know how we'd replace either, nor manage without.

Yeah I think the loss of both tait and hartley was a mistake for this reason, even their influence in training and in the changing room will have a positive impact on the rest. That said think they'd both be in our starting 11 right now if fit.

In addition, it often feels like every season we sign players without much thought to how they are going to fit into any system. Seems like we sign and hope we can shape a team around whats there rather than targeting players to fit "our" system. A real bugbear of mine last few years. No doubt we've had successful signings in that time, but surely we can be more shrewd about how we go about things.

Not so sure - its a bit harsh blaming him for the first. Boyle was his man, but he went to put pressure on Nisbet (i think it was?) who looked like he was about to have a free header. 3rd goal, yeah, brutal but like you say game was done. Personally I believe there's a player in there. Have never been a fan of robbo's back 3 lineups, but I think its needed right now - O'hara, dec and mugabi.

Thought we played well first half and could have well been ahead at half time. Had that been the case i suspect a different outcome. However not excusing a completely inadequate performance in the second half. Pathetic, frankly. A few players need to take a good look at themselves.

Declan was immense. Amazing considering he has spent little over 2 years at the top level in Scotland and had their star man, a 20 odd million pound striker, in his pocket.... whilst on the softest yellow card ever. Stephen o donnell was also absolutely solid. His best performance for Scotland. Not a failure in the team tbf, but these are OUR boys, and two of the top performers for me. Hardly slept a wink, but still wide awake off the adrenaline of last night

Mcginley or watt for me, went for mcginley. Looking to be a good addition.

Great performance, after a month off wasn't expecting a 4-0! Probably watts best game this season and I thought Barry maguire did well - he just needs to do what he does a bit more assertively, hopefully comes with confidence and game time.

What constitutes close contact is probably subjective and a bit of a minefield. It is just a bit suspect that the two positive cases midweek only resulted in one additional precautionary isolation, yet the third guy that tested positive resulted in their remaining squad size reducing to 12. So taking out 10+ players or so? Doesn't sit right. There may well be an explanation but I doubt we'll get it either way.

Good one. What's a discussion forum for like? If you actually read any of my posts you'd see I'm not saying "no one need to isolate". Anyway, its an opinion. You don't need to get personal.

If one person is coming into close enough contact with 20 odd on a daily basis something is wrong. Clubs should be doing everything to mitigate the spread - avoiding indoor contact, distancing/ limiting numbers in the gym, training in smaller groups, blah blah blah. We don't know the full details of the situation, but 3 cases equalling a call off smells like shite to me tbh. It took 6 positive cases at killie to force the game off.