Kmcalpin

I've always been a supporter of the Society but don't always agree with individual actions or details but what member does. That said, I always favoured a private "white knight" but the actions of a few, in reality probably more than few like David Murray, Miles Brookson, and Vladimir Romanov made me think again. Not all private owners have been good for their clubs. Right now I fear for Ross County who are clearly being bankrolled by a well meaning and wealthy owner. No doubt there are similar examples south of the border, about which many of you will know better than I, as I don't follow English football.

Not boring me at all Andy. I think the overall substitutions were important in the latter stages, especially as Stuart McCall seems to be saying that Lee Erwin was in some way culpable for the goal that we lost. In the first half and early part of the second, Law was clearly playing out of position on the left to such an extent that those around me were saying that Leitch should have started instead of Law in that position. He looked very uncomfortable. McCall redeemed himself somewhat, albeit late in the day, by switching Law and the clearly unfit Ojamaa. Erwin then came on for Law. Thats when things began to go wrong. Erwin's natural position is as a striker and we assumed wrongly that he'd play alongside the clearly immobile and tired Sutton. Not so. He played in the centre but deeper and that is not his position. Ojamaa then went off and I've no problem with that. However Erwin was then moved to wide left and he simply does not have the pace for that and looked like a fish out of water. In the event he ended up playing left back for spells and having to run up and down our left flank to little effect. When Ojamaa went off we would have been better to bring Leitch on and play Erwin further forward alongside Sutton. In short we seem to have loads of midfield players but of the wrong kind giving the side an unbalanced look and feel to it.

I haven't heard the Stuart McCall interview, but in fairness Lee Erwin was played out of position as you say. He is not and never will be a left midfield player or left back. When he came on his positioning completely baffled us.

A slight improvement on previous games but not much. Still posed no threat going forward and central midfield was woeful and some of the substitutions were a bit baffling (ZFA was injured I agree). Mark O'Brien was a standout and I was impressed. I'm not a Twardzik fan but he had a great game - credit where its due. Also had about 4 efforts on target, although I use the word "efforts" in its loosest sense. Mannus in the Saints goal never broke sweat. Saints just deserved the 3 points although there wasn't much in it. Our central midfield was woeful - it lacked pace and creativity and was too often caught dithering when a quick single pass was required. Again they defended too deeply and allowed Saints to see the whites of Twardzik's eyes. Keith Lasley kept getting caught on the wrong side of his opponent. Lawson was ponderous and anonymous, but in his defence he was nowhere near match fit - Ojamaa likewise was well off the pace. Law was played in the totally wrong position until he switched with Ojamaa in the second 45. I understand why ZFA was taken off but really didn't see why Lee Erwin was brought on to play left midfield or even left back. John Sutton is not suited to the role he is being asked to play and he must be brassed off.. I didn't like St Johnstone's tactics but to their credit they worked, although they rode their luck a bit. By contrast our tactics at times were unfathomable. Its becoming clear that our loss of form isn't solely attributable to the loss of Faddy, Hutchinson and Anier, and our injuries. There's clearly more to it than that. I don't think we can simply shrug our shoulders and rely on hard work and returning injured players to solve the problems.

100% correct. The system we are using this season simply does not suit him. There are 2 choices: you either stick with the same system and replace him with someone better suited to that role or you change the system and retain him. The status quo is not an option.

He's suffering from lack of support and is being asked to play in a role to which he is totally unsuited. Give him the ball in the box at chest height or below and he'll do the rest.

The next stage will be the submission of a planning application at which point anyone is able to make formal comment.

Fair point Haggis. In terms of tactics/players he's a wee bit like Jim Gannon (in a very few respects) in that you can't really fault his tactics on paper its just that he doesn't have the players to carry them out. In other words the players and the tactics don't match. In terms of his signings I'd agree. There doesn't seem to be any overall strategy or plan. For one thing we're badly short of pace, especially in midfield. In today's game you need pace. Lawson & Vigurs are both decent players in the right set up and with the right players. However take them out of that system and they struggle. John Sutton - he's a poacher and a good one at that but he can't play on his own. If you're going to play with one striker then its not John Sutton. A lone striker needs fast midfield support which we don't have. We only seem to have 2 lads over the age of 17/18 who can play left back at the club (and both are injured as luck would have it). Goalkeeping - don't get me started on that. As you say these and other issues indicate that there's no overall plan. I'm sure others can think of more examples.

Fair point about our keepers. Gunnar is technically excellent and shines at training but he does have confidence issues during a game. As far as goals from outside the box are concerned , I've been banging on about this for years. Our central midfield sits too deep and allows attackers running at us all the time and space in the world to pick their spot. Thats where the problem lies initially. It leaves our keeper, whoever he is, terribly exposed. Decent teams defend outside their penalty box and you have to be pretty damn good to get the opportunity to have a crack at their goalie.

I was discussing this very issue with JoeWarktheLegend last week and although we have no concrete evidence we have a hunch that something just isn't right behind the scenes. Too many things just don't add up.

Very true Andy. The club has said its taken a calculated gamble and it came off last season...just. We're only weeks into a new season and that's now 2 on the trot in which we've had a shocking run on injuries. You pays your money you takes your choice.

Without being unkind, John Porteous is getting on and I think wishing to wind down. He's taken the Hibs post temporarily to help them out. Adam Stokes is an up and coming physio, and we probably didn't want to lose him. Natural progression I guess.

Paul Lawson and Iain Vigurs are now fit so that's some positive news. Can O'Brien play left back?

I'd be surprised if that was the case. Ramsden is not a centre back and has never seen himself as such. Bradford fans were surprised were were playing him in the middle of the defence. Certainly Stuart McCall was looking to replace Hutchy with a "mobile" central defender.

Was it not Faddy against Dundee and he came on as a sub to play left back, if my memory serves correctly (2001/02?). Lost 3-0. At the time Pat Nevin said he could play anywhere on the left hand side. Don't recall if he played left back again certainly.

You're spot on mate. This was a serious error of judgement by our manager. I really hope it doesn't shatter his confidence. I'm all for blooding youth but this was a completely wrong call. At best he was badly advised by somebody on the coaching staff. No problem whatsoever with Lee Erwin but he is not a left sided midfielder and it was unfair to expect him to play in that role.

I agree with you about a long term model built on a youth system and the lack of an Under 20 left back and am not in into a blame game, but surely someone is in overall charge of the club's footballing side. If there isn't one single person then there certainly should be. I find it absolutely incredible that we don't seem to have an under 20 left back, unless we have and he's injured.

It always has Mitch. He is a penalty box player nothing more nothing less. John McGlynn at Tynecastle never learnt that lesson and it seems Stuart McCall doesn't recognise it either. Sutton is a decent striker but has to be given service and for him to play successfully in a lone role he would need midfielders in the mould of Chris Humphrey, Nicky Law, Phil O'Donnell or Gavin Rae to feed him. If we must play one striker up front then Sutton isn't our man to do it.

I stand corrected I meant the Premiership. As to your second point, no I wasn't joking - not my style of humour. Reid has done a good job when played there before and I thought Jack Leitch did well enough on Wednesday to retain his place in the starting line up. Reid certainly has much needed pace.

First of all I agree with almost all of the comments about an unfit team unable to compete, shapeless formation, players playing out of position etc etc. Its also worth commenting on young David Ferguson. He did his best and was very much out of position but was totally out of his depth and looked s***t scared. Yes, he received no protection. Not the lad's fault and he was hung out to dry. He should not have been put in that position. Probably our worst performance in years. It was so bad that it took us until the 10th minute before we could reach 30 metres of the ICT goal! It has to be put in context though - we are carrying a lot of injuries and missing players. Thats bound to have an influence on performances and results. No need to panic just yet though. Ojamaa and O'Brien should hopefully help to bolster our ranks. Two things however stood out for me and should give us cause for concern. Why do we not have an under 20 left back who can fill in, in an emergency? By comparison, we are well off for right backs (Ramsden, Kerr, Reid and Law). Secondly our centre midfield is of longer term concern. It is slow, uncreative and lacks aggression. In short it isn't fit for purpose. Our strikeforce, such as it was, was not supported today and our defence not shielded. It was the same in the opening 2 games. I would argue that Keith Lasley, our captain, is now struggling badly at this level and has lost a bit of pace since last season. He was awarded a 2 year contract in the summer. Stuart Carsewell, in my view simply isn't up to it and won't make the grade at SPFL level. Not a good position to be in. Given our budget is limited maybe its time to try out Leitch and Reid in the engine room once injuries permit. Maybe not the best solution but the best in the circumstances. Business as usual simply won't do.

Can Reid play left back? I know he can play right back, centre back and midfield but didn't know he could play left back too. If he can that will solve a problem.

Well done folks and well done Iain for organising this. It reflects well on the site.

Iain Ferguson?

He did well today and as it turned out scored our winner. Definitely shows promise. I think he looked a bit raw, not surprising as he's inexperienced. Yes he needs more game time but we shouldn't expect too much of him at this stage or put him under too much pressure. Thats really it Iain. As for some of the others, I agree with with Wee Alpha - a few were carrying knocks. Overall happy tonight with 3 points won, the prospects of 2 new signings, if only on loan, and players returning from injury. As with any new season issues will emerge and we'll see how management reacts. At the moment central midfield seems to be causing a bit of concern. Too many unknowns at the moment to draw real conclusions about our defence.

Good post. The result was possibly more important than the performance today. I thought Twardzik, Kerr, ZFA, Law and Erwin all had decent games but Lasley and Carswell were poor and failed to protect those behind them. Given that we had a makeshift back 4 you'd have thought that they'd shield them more effectively. Good to see Erwin score on his debut. He did well but not quite ready for frequent first team just yet - a gradual introduction from the subs bench will do him good. Our organisation was lacking today - Saints found just too much space all over the park. Still they couldn't score - not our problem! Onwards and upwards. .