Kmcalpin

Wow! That's confidence for you.

If we lose to Dundee and then part company with SK that's in a run of winnable games. Not ideal timing.

I think thats the explanation for our extreme reversal in form. Of late, SK has been trying out increasingly bizarre tactics and line ups to find an elusive Plan B. A large part of the problem is that whatever plan he comes up with has to suit the players he has at his disposal.

I uncovered an astonishing statistic today, well to be truthful it was Casagolda on P & B. We have not scored a goal in the first half of any game since 3 September, 10 games ago. I knew we were slow starters but...........

I can't see Celtic letting him him go for nothing. Not their style.

I agree with your overall point but thought that we played 5 additional minutes yesterday in the second half, as that was what was announced. I didn't actually time the proceedings though. Typo?

What makes you think that? Not everyone is happy.

Fair point, but did you vote for change in the recent Society elections, if you are a member?

You could be right or maybe even for dissent.

On reflection, I think it now best that club acts to part ways with SK. Yesterday's result was the latest in an increasingly disastrous run ( 2 points from a possible 27); the line up and tactics were bizarre and the performance was poor. Its not a case of one or two players being off form the whole squad's performance has fallen off a cliff for weeks now. That should have set alarm bells ringing. SK has done a great job in jettisoning deadwood but his recruitment has been very poor. Overall, his record is not bad but that masks a wild drop off in results from a very impressive early run last season and into the start of this season to a disastrous run of 9 games without a win. Its now about the here and now. He's making the same mistakes over and again with, not surprisingly, the same outcomes. We're now 2 points off bottom, and we've failed to beat any of the teams below us and it took late fight backs to secure 2 draws. A damning fact. Handsome Devil makes good points over in P & B. Its now all about timing. We have 3 weeks until our next winnable game, the start of several such ones in December. I think most of us would agree that a game against Celtic at Parkhead is unlikely to change our fortunes for the better and is not one on which to judge a manager. There's nothing to indicate that he's going to change things for the better and his post match interview yesterday began to set alarm bells ringing. The clock is ticking and we need to use those 3 weeks to our advantage. We simply cannot afford to tread water until December's run of important games to see what will happen. The manager's job and indeed the future of the club is simply too important to passively leave to chance.

Here are my thoughts on yesterday's game and they more, or less, reflect other views on here. We were beaten before we started. The formation, personnel and tactics were all wrong. We all know Blair Spittal's strengths and weaknesses, at least we should. Pace is not one of his strengths. Why play him at LWB? He's simply not cut out for it. Likewise we've also played the exact same "front" 3 formation and it simply hasn't worked. So why play it again? Biereth is not a target man and doesn't like long high balls. Bair and Wilkinson are not wingers and never will be. The latter is a limited penalty box striker. Why all these needless square pegs in round holes? SK's early success was based on keeping it simple and concentraing on what the players at his disposal could do rather than on what they couldn't. Again yesterday Biereth was left isolated far too often and Bair and Wilkinson dropped deep at times into an advanced midfield role. The aimless long ball tactics simply didn't work. The defence and midfield were disorgainsed, or at least thats how it appeared. A bang average Hearts side were given loads of space and time especially in the middle and on the left. The referee was again inconsistent and the constant VAR delays didn't help. Boyes' penaly claim was rightly dismissed, after unnecessary fuss and delay. He was on his way down at the edge of or outside the box when contact was made. A boot struck his chest, at normal waist height and he dropped to the deck as if poleaxed with a head knock. Surely a yellow card. His theatrics in the remaining minutes also warranted a yellow card. My final word is about a minor but curious incident in the second half. Toby Sibbick stole quite a few yards at a throw in in front of the POD Stand. Despite being warned several times by the ref to stop he continued to advance to maybe 10 yards and was eventually carded. Fine you might think, but he took the throw in from the spot he was booked for. That begs the question why was he not told ordered to go back? Anyway a below par performance against a poor Hearts side, despite what the BBC thinks.

Sadly and, on reflection, I agree he is a dead man walking. We are now just treading water until the inevitable happens.

100% Grizzly. A great show of respect.

That's why I think SK's time is up. Despite certain things just not working we repeat them time after time. That can't be allowed to continue.

Don't blame him. He's a penalty box striker not a winger or wide midfielder. Hung out to dry like Spittal. If I was him I'd be totally brassed off at SK.

Outside the box? Boyce should have been carded for simulation as he was booted in the chest not head. Also not chest height

Yes, but no moreso than it was last weekend. Tuesday's result was inconclusive in my view. It may have bought him a little more time. On its own it wasn't a bad result, at a difficult venue, as time will show. A loss today, especially a heavy one, will not help matters. We can take the Celtic game out of the equation. I'd say that the 2 home games in early December will be make or break. They fall several weeks before the transfer window opens. We've got to be looking for a win today. A draw suits no-one. I'm really hoping our defence and midfield are a lot steadier today than they have been for weeks.

Thanks for clarifying that Denny. Very helpful. The issue then is one of implementation or rather lack of. No arrests on Tuesday, as far as I know, but then again no arrests for letting off fireworks (as opposed to public disorder), in public on 5 November or in recent public protests. For the record, I'm against their use in crowds, but the law has to be applied fairly and consistently. Football fans shouldn't be singled out.

I can understand both sides of the argument about pyros, but too much attention is being focused on Tuesday night at Perth. Yes, it p****d me off big time as we couldn't see the game for 5 minutes and you could feel the smoke in your throat. However you can't take this one incident in isolation as many are doing. Similar pyros are in widespread use in crowds e.g. in large demonstrations, but no action is taken. The government(s) ought to take a clear line on this and a) clarify when and where they can be used legally or B) Bring in legislation to prevent such use. Once that is done, the football, or indeed other sporting, authorities can then take action in a consistent way. As OTF shows, the statement released by our club and Sevco are somewhat different. Thats not a good start and reflects badly on the SFA and SPFL. Also it wasn't that long ago that our club was using images of such incidents on social media. As soon as the legal/regulatory framework is in place or clarified, then the football authorities need to make a clear statement, and in the interests of fairness, laws implemented by the police consistently, irrespective of location or numbers involved. Piecemeal action will achieve nothing.

A result of 2 shocking tackles by Aberdeen players, neither of whom were punished by a weak ref.

I remember him catching a cross with one hand - never seen any other keeper do it. It does help though to be 6 inches taller and about 5 stones heavier than Kelly.

Did Ross County not wrongly benefit from this recently or is my memory failing?

Is there a space for Gent further up the park where he can do little damage defensively? Am I the only one who can't fathom out why Davor isn't being given a chance given the state of our midfield? Biereth and Bair to start upfront in the middle please as a front two pairing. Wilkinson to come on as a sub if we're chasing the game.

My take on last night's game from a "foggy" McDiarmid Park. A very strange game last night but we fully deserved the draw. The proverbial game of 2 halves. First half we were dire, but in the second half we played well for about 30 minutes before finishing poorly. We could have won the game in the second half but equally could have lost it before the end. We did ourselves no favours though with the starting line up and tactics. Quite why Wilkinson is being played out wide I've no idea. It’s a role for which he’s totally unsuited and I feel sorry for him. He is a penalty box striker with no pace and is a square peg in a round hole. SK obviously didn't learn that lesson from Kilmarnock. Very unlucky to have his goal chalked off. I don’t like the rule but can live with it as long as its being applied consistently, which it isn’t. In the first half, there was no urgency and we were second to every ball. Biereth suffered from lack of service and there was no link up with Wilkinson. We had no pace and no width and our attacks comprised either long hopeful punts or painfully slow, walking pace progression up the park. To their credit, Saints had pace, width, looked organised and closed us down very quickly. No less than I expected from them. By comparison we looked disorganised and afforded them acres of space. Our midfield and defence were very poor. Saints had about 3 or 4 efforts on goal and scored with 2 of them. Certainly, the first goal looked as though it was coming. Poor defensive work at the goal itself although the lead up to the corner was 10 times worse. The Saints’ attacker advanced unimpeded to the edge of our box and was allowed a free hit on goal, which deflected off our defender. That said the goal should have been disallowed by VAR as the ball was outside the arc when the kick was taken. The first 30 minutes of the second half was far better and SK rightly hooked Slattery and brought on Bair, who I thought played well. Unless it was for game management purposes, I simply don’t understand why he didn’t start. However, putting Spittal to LWB was unfathomable. Why? Gent was then introduced and made a difference on the left. His cross for the 2nd goal was a peach. He’s a double edged sword. A young lad he’s great going forward but poor defending and was easily outmuscled. After the equaliser, Saints upped a gear and we retreated into a shell. Barring Shaw’s excellent run and bad miss we did virtually nothing else of attacking note and were lucky not to concede a late goal. An acceptable result at a difficult venue, but huge issues remain. Had we not equalised, then simmering fan anger might really have erupted. Did we just paper over the cracks?

Harri Kampmann Mk2? Can do half a job in getting rid of deadwood but not the other half of signing decent replacements.