Kmcalpin

Merry Christmas to you and yours Grizzly. The same to Steelmen everywhere.

We all make mistakes, especially when making split second decisions. However he was offered a way out by his VAR colleagues but chose to ignore their advice. That's fine if you're right but if you're wrong..........

Quite right too but some damage was done on the night. Having to play a man down for a bit of time. Ridiculous decision on the night.

Dan Casey appeal submitted.

The club has said that it has a contingency plan to bring in a replacement midfielder if Lennon Miller goes next month. When he does depart the team will unquestionably miss him and I'll miss watching him. He'll be a loss. However, I think our tactics and midfield set up are heavily influenced by shoehorning him into the team, playing in a way that otherwise wouldn't be our preferred set up, other things being equal. His departure will allow us to set up differently and perhaps more effectively for our level, if SK takes that on board. My somewhat rudimenatry take would be a physical and mobile defensive midfielder; a No 8 or box to box type like Harry Paton; and a No 10 like Sam Nicholson. More sophisticated derivatives than my basic model would be possible.

Of course there's some truth in what you say, as the ebb and flow of a game is down to the performance and tactics of both teams not just one. However, it was quite clear on Friday that, even when presented with the option of advancing out of our own area, our midfielders quite clearly chose to be cautious and remain in situ. That was both with 10 and 11 men and clearly a conscious decision and nothing to do with Kilmarnock.

Maybe our result on Friday doesn't bode well For Celtic.

I get most of that and I agree. However we don't have the squad to shitfest games, especially at home. We don't have physical, trench warfare type players that the likes of Killie, St Mirren, Dundee United or Ross County do. Don't get me wrong, you can overdo that quality. As with many things its getting the balance right. My ambition in football is simple and modest just go out and win games, by whatever legal means. Yes, I like expansive football too, but its not achievable at our level whilst picking up points. SK's overly cautious defensive tactics were a talking point amongst those around us on Friday evening. Not for the first time we take a slender single goal lead in the first half then sit in and invite the opposition to do their worst. Thats fine if you're 2 or preferrably 3 goals up. We've seen the pattern played out on Friday night oft before. The midfielders sit deep on the edge of our box or even in it. The 2 wing backs are left exposed - Killie hit the by line with alarming ease; they rained in crosses from only 30 yards out. Our keeper is going through a bad spell with aerial balls, and the central defence isn't exactly watertight in the air. When we managed to clear the ball to the 30/40 yard mark our lightweight midfield was clearly instructed to remain in situ and not move out with the inevitable result. Even when we randomly pack the box with 9/10/11 players the opposition still find plenty of space to test the exposed Oxborough (forced into the highest number of saves in the Premiership). Just look at Polwarth's goal on Friday - all the time and space in the world to pick his spot. I get that injuries and tiredness eg Paton and Halliday play a factor but we really do need to up our game considerably during spells when defending and not in possession. I do wonder if 2 banks of 4 midfielders & defenders, with instructions to halt the attackers at the 40 yard mark would be more effective. Either way, if we must persist with defensive shitfest tactics during games then we need to bring in players with more physical/abrasive attributes; adjust our formation accordingly and be more proactive with substitutions

Wunderwell is quite right to withhold the identity of our possible signing. I understand his/her reasoning and would do exactly the same. Checking out some of the obvious possible sources, I've come up with 2 names Craig Sibbald and Joe Newell. Sibbald is relatively small at 5-7 and so I'll plump for Newell. The news that SK is is looking to strengthen this position is very encouraging. We need at least 2 new signings next month.

I think you're right. However, I think clubs do make contact with players "tapping them up" well before they're allowed to do so. I suppose there's various ways to work round the rules.

It was clear long before Killie scored that they had the upper hand that we were defending deeper and deeper and withdrawing into our box. Our midfield had disappeared. We had no width and no leadership on the pitch. No problem with Paton and Halliday being taken off for the reasons that you say, but it was too late and the wrong changes made. They should have been retired at about the 55/60 minute mark and Sparrow and Manwhanise introduced to the fray. That was a huge error of judgement. When Davor appeared Killie would have been given a huge psychological boost. That signalled to them that we were quite happy to sit back and soak up any pressure.

I've got a lot of time for St Johnstone fans. A generalisation I know, but they tend to be more modest and pragmatic than us. All they want is success on the field. They're not overly fussed how that's achieved. They're delighted to sit through shitfests as long as the team wins by a single goal.

Just watched the TV highlights of the game. Our defending at Killie's goal was criminal. Attacking players only 6 yards from goal in plenty of space! The red card? No way. Casey grabs Armstong's shirt at chest level. Not the first time Armstrong's been involved in trouble. Why was he booked? Having reviewed the footage, he seems to catch Casey's foot badly enough for him to react angrily. Was that why he was booked? It seems to me he could well have have received 2 yellow cards and was fortunate not to.

Just to add to the refereeing discussion. Killie should have picked up 3 yellow cards in the first 15 minutes. They set out their stall early on and tested a weak referee. The first was a deliberate very late tackle on Lennon Miller. No card. Harry Paton committed an identical offence late on and was rightly booked for it. Another was a deliberate elbow to Lennon Miller's head; again no action taken. Total inconsistency. As an aside, teams are now starting to target Lennon Miller. He'll need to learn to deal with this kind of treatment as he'll face much worse if he moves south to a big team. I think the SFA will indeed take the referee's performance in to account when making allocations for future games. Just to make a point they will give us him again very soon. Criticism of referees won't be tolerated.

Rest easy as he was injured against Hearts. We desperately need a big target man up front and a big nasty defensive midfielder. A few candidates to be shipped out to make way for them.

VAR is not the problem. Its down to the officials administering it.

I won't comment on the refereeing as thats been well covered elsewhere. A share of the points was about right. We took an early lead and as the game wore on SK decided to sit in and hold our lead. Big mistake as we simply don't have the midfielders or defenders to play like that. Everyone could see the Killie goal coming long before it did. I couldn't fault our starting line up but as half time approached it became obvious that Tony Watt and Stama weren't working up front. Playing a long ball game against a big physical team was never going to end well. Things deteriorated even further when Paton left the fray (understandably given his lack of fitness). It was a big mistake to bring on the anonymous Davor and not bring on Manwhanise earlier. That simply signalled our intention to pack our penalty box in a throw back to Graham Alexander's reign. I thought both wing/full backs, Kaleta and Wilson, were hung out to dry and suffered a roasting. One effort on target and 2 corners all night tell their own story. 2 points needlessly dropped. If we absolutely must play this type of game then lets get in the appropriate bodies to do it effectively. As they say in boxing "A good big 'un will always beat a good little 'un". Stephen Robinson will happily provide SK with advice.

Unfortunately plenty of refereeing issues tonight. I'll add another. I thought it was a yellow card offence to boot the ball away after a free kick was awarded. Rarely implemented these days. Tonight a Killie player booted the ball over the East Stand and out of the ground. Never seen that before. No action taken by ref!

I can understand why he wouldn't change his mind. He wanted to show he was in charge and had to save face. What about our penalty claim when Stama's shirt was almost ripped off his back as he tried to run onto a pass?

I can't agree. He gave us red and yellow cards.

If that incident had occurred in the centre circle, would it have been deemed to be a foul? I think not.

Your wish is my command. "Let’s be clear, United lost this game because of how they defended, not because of decisions made by the officials. But VAR is really starting to infuriate me. United games have seen VAR intervene on penalty decisions in each of the last three games. Each decision has been argued over plenty. Kevin Holt indicates a pull on his shirt to referee Nick Walsh at the end of Saturday’s clash. Image: Craig Foy/SNS My main gripe with it is how the new technology affects the way defenders defend inside the area. I noticed this quite clearly in Saturday’s game. Incidents where a few years ago a defender would have no hesitation in sticking a foot in to win the ball now see defenders sit off. It does impact the way teams defend because players aren’t thinking so much about how to defend but more about not giving away a spot-kick. I dread to think if I was playing how I’d be treated these days! It doesn’t take much for a penalty to be given. And I do feel sorry for defenders, sometimes there really isn’t much they can do. That goes for the penalty United won on Saturday. It can be difficult to say in the moment but I’m not convinced Liam Gordon did enough to send Louis Moult to the ground. Moult is clever in these situations and has shown that in recent weeks. Then there’s the one Motherwell didn’t get from a Luca Stephenson challenge on the edge of the area. And United were adamant there was a handball by Apostolos Stamatelopoulos before Motherwell’s fourth goal. Add that to the decisions against Kilmarnock and St Mirren and it feels like Dundee United are becoming a magnet for debatable VAR calls." (source Courier) Clearly there is confusion about the handball rule even with in the game. Not sure I agree with him about Louis Moult and the penalty though.

Lee Wilkie's take, in the Dundee Courier, of last weekend's VAR controversies. https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/sport/football/dundee-united/5146219/dundee-united-var-lee-wilkie-magnet-questionable-calls/

I wonder if they'll be charged for setting off flares in Glasgow City Centre? Its not in a football stadium certainly.

O'Donnell to start?