Ya Bezzer!

I've said it over and over, I don't think the football is good right now. But people saying they don't remember a time when it's ever been so bad? It was worse just over a year ago. Other folk saying we have nothing to play for but survival? We are 1 point off 4th! We have a realistic chance of going further in the cup, finishing top 6, winning more games than last season, scoring more goals than last season, conceding less than last season, gaining more points than last season. I think the whole thing with Covid and people not being able to attend games before the start of this season has put some peoples sense of perspective out of kilter. The truth is we've been honking to watch, bar a David Turnbull inspired spell, since the money tap was screwed closed in the later days of McCall's era. It's nothing new.

Went for van Veen. Thought he was constantly trying to make something happen. Also couple of nice wrestling moves.

In the last few games Dundee have beaten Hearts at Tynecastle, lost narrowly at Celtic Park and got a draw against Hibernian. They are hardly in disastrous form. As for us, we are on a poor run but we've never lost more than 2 games in a row and there has been 5 draws in the 10. We should be performing better but it's hardly a sackable offence.

Well someone imagined Jake Taylor, Lee Lucas and Craig Clay were midfielders but it wasn't necessarily me.

I don't disagree with a lot of what you say here but I guess I'd differ in that I don't think we have 'an injection of creativity' and you can't inject what you don't have. For that reason I'd give the manager a pass into next season and see if he can fix that issue. If he can't then there is going to be an issue but I think he's done enough at this point to get the chance.

Not a fan. Wouldn't be in my team and my preference is for him to be looking for another club next season. However I do feel a little bit sorry for players when they become targets. I don't think he's not trying it's just he's not good enough and that's not his fault. He's been brought and played at a level of football beyond him by others. I suppose the best thing I can say is I think he's better than Carl McHugh but then considering what I thought about Carl McHugh maybe that's not something to boast about....

Another game, another goal given away by a full back. We need two new full backs next season, end of story. We also need a new midfield. I understand players are nervy, the pitch is worse than a lot of people realise (forget the grass coverage it's very bumpy) but still our passing is terrible. I realise people find the up and over balls frustrating but at this point it might be the only thing in our arsenal. Do you think our midfielders are going to split a defence? They can't make basic passes or bring a ball down. It wasn't a pretty watch but yet again we weren't exactly given a football lesson by the opposition and might have got something more out of the game than we did (Hibs, Aberdeen, Ross County, today). Need to cut out the mistakes and just grind out the results to get us Top 6. As bad as we are the opposition haven't looked any better. Might be a blessing that our next league match is away from home at this point.

Woolery was the only candidate.

Current team form in our league Aberdeen 1 win in 11 Dundee 1 win in 13 Dundee Utd 2 wins in 15 Hibs 1 win in 9 Motherwell 1 win in 10 St Johnstone 2 wins in 17 And Robinson's reign at St Mirren is played 2 lost 2 scored 0. My opinion on the standard of the league has been consistent for years but it is what it is. I do think though that fans are being a little fickle, giving standing ovations against Aberdeen and Rangers and then literally hours later howling at the team at every touch and screaming at the manager to fuck off. We are 2 points off 4th in March and could potentially be at a Scottish Cup semi final. Last night was really poor, but I don't think we are in a run of terrible performances like we were last season. We have improved, it might be from a very lowly position, and in no way am I saying we are playing magical football, but we have made a step forward on a season by season basis. There are lots of things we need to do better in games, there are things we need to do better behind the scenes and in the 'dugout' and we should always endeavour to make those improvements and, if need be, pressure those in charge to maintain momentum in that direction. That will always be the case. However just think about where we were last season and have a little bit of patience and a little bit of perspective. Under Robinson from winter break 19-20 to winter break 20-21 we picked up 26 points. We have bettered that this season alone by 9 points. That's not even taking the post winter break matches from last season in to consideration. My opinion on the manager will adapt depending on circumstances but we need to take a step back. Some of the hostility towards Alexander is out of order. A poisonous atmosphere like it was leaning towards last night won't help us and I think we all need to be a little but more accepting and philosophical about where we are right now. For me, we are still very much in a 'recovery' phase. Next season I will be looking for improvement across the board but right now I think it's a bit impetuous to demand Top 6 finishes and quality football.

Very poor quality match tonight but I don't think we deserved to lose it. Basically came down to what looked to me to be a very avoidable penalty. Kelly hasn't had a serious save to make and we missed a couple of good chances. Overall though it was a pretty dismal performance. I'm of the opinion that the manager has done reasonably well with a poor squad but tonight showed that a lot of those players just aren't good enough. Most players have shocking technique, game awareness is non-existent and our build up is s-o s-l-o-w We need to improve the quality of the squad and that's what I'll be looking for the manager to do in the close season but when you see contracts being handed out to players already you begin to wonder. I think it's important to remember we are only 2 points off 4th but we have to do much much better than tonight.

Ross County have conceded in their last 13 matches and scored in all but 1 of their last 12 matches. Looks like we are going to have our shooting boots on for this one.

Our fixtures are Ross County (10th), Dundee (12th), St Johnstone (11th), St. Mirren (8th), Livingston (7th). So you add up the league positions you get, in our case 48. Livington have Dundee Utd (5th), Celtic (1st), Hearts (3rd), St Johnstone (11th), Motherwell (6th). So you add them up and you get 26. The higher the total you have the more teams further down the league you are playing in the run in. The lower the total the more teams further up the league you are playing. It's simplistic and doesn't take a bunch of factors into consideration but it's just a quick way of comparing each teams run in. We seem to have the easiest one, at least at this point.

Taking a look at the run in to the split fixtures. If you take the current league position of each club (1 Celtic, 12 Dundee etc) and add them up we have the largest (easiest?) total by a bit of a distance. MOTHERWELL 48 HIBERNIAN 40 DUNDEE UTD 34 ST MIRREN 34* ABERDEEN 31 ROSS COUNTY 27 LIVINGSTON 26 Doesn't take into consideration home or away or previous results or current form so it's a very general guide but it looks like the current Top 6 have an advantage in maintaining their current positions. Of course you don't just get given points you have to win them but it's a reason to be positive. *St Mirren have an extra game, I only included their first 5 fixtures for their total.

Ironic that Rangers released Kelly while holding on to a howler prone keeper this season in McGregor. Woolery might just be one of these guys that's better coming off the bench.

Last game at Fir Park Bassey ran up the East Stand side giving it to the fans. Bassey lad

Can I stop looking out the window pretending it's the close season yet?

I wasn't on his back. I was criticising the team selection for the match.

I just got home from a walk and I don't even think I'll turn the radio on. But Donnelly should never have played in this game. He's slow and he gives the ball away all the time. So why would you play him on a big pitch against pacey players when we aren't going to have much possession? Put out a team for the conditions and not just the same old faces. Playing Donnelly in this match was basically raising a white flag at kick off.

St Mirren have 5 away matches from 7 including Rangers, Celtic and us.

And St Mirren losing at home for the first time since October. Do they have a new manager or something?

I don't think it's quite as stark as that. After this match we have a great run of fixtures for this stage in the season. If you'd handpicked the fixtures they couldn't be any better. Of course we have to get points out of them but they are there to be won.

I'd only keep O'Hara unless someone else can present evidence for a new contract between now and the end of the season.

People persisting with the 4-3-3 doesn't work when we are going into the final straight to the split in the Top 6 and with a better record than any other non city club over the last season and a half, playing 4-3-3 virtually the entire time. What would we have had to do playing 4-3-3 for it to have been deemed to work?

I thought we dominated the match but when it came to picking out a man of the match I was struggling a bit. I thought Shields and O'Hara worked their socks off and O'Hara got the goal so that's where my vote goes.

Absolutely. It might be mostly covered in grass but it's what you might call topographically interesting!