Kmcalpin

I'm no apologist for the club but I guess she's been very busy lately. * Stadium matters and emergency repairs (the safety officer left and a new one does not start for a week or two) * Sorting out transfers and contracts * Busy with the search for a new manager and his assistant * Fixtures to organise * a whole host of other routine issues to attend to which go on behind the scenes.

I remain convinced that there is something fundamentally wrong with the team's atttitude. However its much more difficult to put your finger on the reason. Some players may be downright tired; some could have atttitude problems like some recently departed loanees; and some simply lack confidence or an aggressive will to win attitude. Catweazle's Ring is right about our midfield. Hateley (as a midfielder), Lasley and Jennings are all basically defensive midfielders and thats the wrong comibination. Add to that Ross Forbes' deficiencies and we have a problem. All too often yesterday and on Wednesday the striker(s) tried to mount an attack but the central midfield just wouldn't back them up. My assumption (and thats all it is) is that the central midfielders lack pace, know it and are afraid to commit themselves in case they have to backtrack PDQ. At times John Sutton looked disgusted and Chris Humphrey looked frustrated too at the lack of support. Impresssed by some ICT players yesterday and also Dundee United's - ok they're no world beaters but they never gave up and harried and chased - something we're not doing to the same extent.

Pleeeeeaaaasssseeee Flow can you upload our details. I know you've been busy.

A poor game today and that was due in part to the appalling weather conditions. However good teams can grind results out in all kinds of weather. For me Randolph and Hutchinson gained pass marks. The latter came in and gave an assertive display at the back although he did have one bloomer in the second half. Defence again looked a bit shaky and at one point lost 3 headers in our box in as many seconds. When will Stevie Hammell ever beat his man when on the attack? Midfield? Another poster referred to them as plodders, and with the exception of Humphrey had no pace at all. Without Humphrey we can't mount a fast counter attack. Too often we overelaborate and miss the early killer pass. Humphey didn't cover himself in glory but it has to be said that until the latter stages his service as woeful. Too often he'd receive the ball with 2 defenders breathing down his neck. Thats not his game and we should learn that asap. Felt sorry for Ross Forbes - the lad is just not cutting it. His lack of positional sense caused problems for our defence, especially Stevie Hammell. The strikers did ok up to a point but Jamie Murphy needs to find a killer touch. Steve Meechan had a mixed debut and didn't really do enough to be able to assess him. Our biggest problem today again was lack of confidence/lack of determination and too many players just didn't seem up for it. Quite tellingly a few folk round about us concluded that something is not right off the pitch. Clearly something isn't right and the club itself will know. SM must address this attitude problem as a matter of priority. Too early to judge Stuart McCall who has been left a bit of a mess. However he should have made changes long before he did eg substituting Ross Forbes. New blood is essential, but January is a hard time of year to acquire it.

The January window is not the best time to be losing players. Most players that are available tend to command fees. I'm of the opinion that Craig Brown left us in a bit of a mess and Stuart McCall is having to pick up the pieces. Still we appear to be reasonably well covered in central defence...for now. A threadbare squad loses another member though.

99% agree with that. Tom Hately is a central midfielder or nothing though. Even if only for a short time we should play Reynolds and Hammell on the left.

Ross Forbes is a talented player, but crucially is short of pace and nothing will change that. That means he's going to struggle in the SPL. At the moment we are incapble of mounting a fast counter-attack up the middle and thats costing us. Last night was a case in point.

Spot on about Sutton and Murphy and I was surprised that we started with that formation and that it took so long to change it. Jamie Pollock... a good propsect perhaps but he looked out of his depth last night. Needs another couple of years to mature.

Seconded.

That could also be said for half the team. Keith Lasley, Tom Hately and Steve Hammell, and some others were all prone to doing this. Jamie Murphy and Chris Humphrey were continually given the ball when closely marked by a defender or on some occasions 2. As at Hamilton we didn't seem capable of playing one touch football. Our build up, in general was painfully slow unless we fed Jamie Murphy early.

By not buying a Tannadice pie last night I saved £2 - that would do for starters.

Very poor show tonight and reminiscent of the Accies game on New Year's Day. We lined up 4-5-1 with Sutton being the sole striker - a role he is not cut out for and which many of us knew beforehand. Midfield was lightweight and sat too deep leaving Sutton isolated. The defence once again looked most unsure of itself nad is in need of major surgery . What concerned me most was we lacked any kind of fire, spirit or determination - all qualities I was expecting Stuart McCall to instill. We looked petrified of United for spells although we came on to a half decent game in the second part of the first half. Very worrying. Pass marks? You had to feel for Darren Randolph, who put in a reasonable performance despite being left exposed by his midfield and defence. Steve Jennings was the pick (?) of a poor midfield, an Jamie Murphy looked promising in the first half. The game passed Jamie Pollock by when he came on, but at least he'll have gotten a bit more experience. In general the midfield lacked pace and creativity. United weren't great but worked harder than us, showed more belief and determination and thoroughtly deserved their 2-0 win. We need to bring in bodies and quickly.

I've been in favour of just such an idea for some time so long as no-one is coerced into it. Other clubs operate similar schemes.

Good luck to the lad. He'll probably be paid as a regular up north, whereas he was paid as a squad player with us. If not, then questions need to be asked of Ross county, not us.

Looked quite sharp on the deck when he came on but not a target man, I agree.

A fantastic draw for us. A good away day in propsect.

I see Keith Lasley more as a defensive player or man marker. He's committed, gives 100% and has good positional sense. However he lacks pace and is not a box to type, although he's capable of scoring a nice goal now and again.

According to Stuart McCall himself he's looking to bring in a left sided player in this month's transfer window. Could it be that he's waiting to find out if he can land that type of player first before deciding on Marc Fitzpatrick's future. For the lad's sake I hope he knows where he stands quickly, so that he can get fixed up elsewhere if his contract isn't renewed.

John Boyle was spot on in his comments. Good to hear our point of view being promoted in an assertive way.

Blackford just off the A9 had 4 inches of snow on Friday night and the same again last night. Not looking good for travelling fans. Undoubtedly the weather will cut our support even further.

There's also the problem of getting to the game. Snow in Mid Fife is very thick maybe 8-10 cms deep. A lot might depend on conditions on the A9 in Perthshire. hopefully Police will take into account safety of travelling fans and not just those living a kilometre or two away from Dens.

Remember folks that any player playing in the cup tie at Dens will be cup tied. Will that affect the team selections on either side? Also worth noting that if Alan Gow had played at Dens he too would have been cup tied.

Just behind two big strikers?

Ah yes they will have to go some to fill the boots of great youngsters like Darren Mackie, Zander Diamond, Chris Clark, the Young brothers..... Just like Hibs ..... Aberdeen + young player = great young player. Not getting at you Lobey - this is a perpetual media myth.

That was always going to happen - well it was apparent as far back as a month or six weeks ago. When Dundee fans were moaning about having to field a skeleton side against us in the cup I can recall thinking - we'll lose more players than you will before the cup tie.