Kmcalpin

To put things in perspective, I was talking to Joewarkthelegend earlier in the week. We've both been going to Fir Park for decades and we agreed that last Saturday's cup performance was the worst we'd witnessed for many many years. That's how poor it was. We're hoping for changes this Saturday, but above all, a change in attitude both on and off the pitch.

In the great scheme of things, the referee's poor performance on Saturday wasn't a huge issue. We had other more pressing issues with which to contend. However, John Beaton was very inconsistent. Yes, I recall that very incident which had many fans on their feet in protest. I can't, in all honesty, blame SK for complaining about those decisions. I'm one of those sad fans who dislike stealing yards at free kicks and throw ins and so take an interest in such decisions. Beaton constantly pulled up our players for stealing yardage at throw ins but blatantly failed to do so with St Johnstone who were equally as guilty.

Possibly Paton?

I suspect we'll receive something like £3.5 - 4m for young Miller. Time will tell.

I suspect when he goes and how much we receive for him, will be largely outwith our control. Whilst we'll have a modicum of control, I think the lad himself and his agent are in the driving seat. There will be clauses in his contract to cover exactly this type of situation.

I wonder where this information came from. Reported by Sky but nothing on the Club's Official site nor on its Fb page.

Valakari had done his homework and outhought us tactically on Saturday. So more of the same tactical approach from us will be equally as ineffective. Aside from that, personnel changes will also have to be made, as at a minimum, Vale will be unavailable. Maybe now too, SK will have a better understanding of the strengths of St Johnstone's central defence In short, SK will have to adopt a different gameplan. Hopefully, Paton and Gordon will be available. We've bought our tickets and will be expecting to see improved attitude, tactics and team selection. Its an important fixture for SK and the team.

Yes, Celtic away.

Views probably conform to a normal distribution curve. There are a few who will back him come what may and a few who have never liked him. The vast majority will be somewhere in between.

Its a sad fact of life that managers suffer abuse at almost all clubs when things go pear shaped. Our club and fans are no exception but not nearly in the same league as has happened elsewhere thankfully.

It's far from simple. However to date, SK has proved to be inflexible and slow to learn from his mistakes.

If you had been there at full time you would have felt and heard the toxic atmosphere. Whilst I wouldn't care to apportion a specific percentage you can be assured that loads of fans have turned against SK. That said, I didn't hear much abuse thankfully.

Whilst that will be critical to a good result, we'll also need to set up correctly and change our tactics. We have to be prepared to counter a high press. More of the same won't do. Let's keep the ball on the ground even at corners. Up front the strikers need to link up and play as a unit. Is SK capable of adapting his approach?

Anyone hear about trouble after the game?

We're sitting just 7 points off 11th place and Hearts are improving. Can't see us taking much off St Johnstone and Celtic.

A rumour on P & B that Ross Callachan is out for the season. No harm to the lad and I hope he recovers, but if true, that's one wasted wage. He did come with a bad injury record.

Our group will be represented next week and I'll be there. However it'll be out of a sense of duty to our club. Not expecting much.

That's it for me. As mentioned elsewhere I.e.P &B its hard to detect any kind of system, structure or shape. You can't put a label on the team (no snide answers please!). We look shambolic and disorganised. The defending when we conceded the corner which held to the goal yesterday was downright shocking. Schoolboy stuff. Wilson's positioning was poor but he received no support from anyone.

The travelling support.

Having slept on yesterdays game (not during it), I'm angrier now than I was at full time. I think he's now lost the support and if the directors don't act soon, attendances will plummet forcing their hand. Tentative signs yesterday that the players had lost faith. I can stomach dull football, but not if results are equally poor, which they are. Kettlewell has suffered horrendous bad luck (?) through injuries and I get that to some extent, but his reaction to that has been less than impressive. His summer signings are now coming under the spotlight for different reasons and many are found to be wanting. His now weekly meltdowns and yellow cards also indicate a manager under great pressure and he's not handling it well.

If Stama was a meant to be that person then he was very badly scouted. Surely its obvious from videos that he doesn't have the physique? That shouldn't be hard to find out, even remotely. Yes, others are involved in recruitment and must take some responsibility, but the onus lies fairly and squarely on SK's shoulders. He takes the decisions and is paid accordingly. Whoever is in the hot seat big changes are required for the summer. The problem is that planning is well advanced for that.

There's no point in repeating many of the above comments with which I agree, and so I'll highlight a few other thoughts after today's debacle. On paper our line up seemed reasonable given our injuries although playing Maswanhise out wide and isolated from Vale was a big mistake. I was a bit disappointed that 16 year old Jack O'Connell was named as substitute goalie. I quite get that it may have been difficult to source another keeper at short notice though. OK it was unlikely that he'd be called upon but potentially chucking on a 16 year old in goals in a cup tie? Really. It came as no surprise to me to and some others, whatsoever, that West Ham recalled Hegyi due to lack of game time. We were expecting exactly that. If we could see that why couldn't management? A lack of planning. Early days and although Mair didn't have much to do he didn't inspire confidence with cross balls and fumbled one. Could he have done better at the goal? Its the first time I've seen Kai Andrews but he looked a little boy lost today. Too early to judge a very young player but was he a panic knee jerk signing? Our gameplan, if it could be called that, defied belief. I'm no tactician but constantly firing high balls down the throat of 2 huge central defenders is ever only going to end one way. Talking of defences, our central defence needs completely, and I mean completely, revamping for next season, maybe Gordon aside. No manager is going to have 100% success with signings but it seems to me that SK made more than a few errors last summer and some of his choices & decisions are now looking to be mistakes. A point made by a few posters before. Management and players let down our big travelling support badly today and they won't forget it in a hurry.

I don't know about that. Certainly we do miss Bair - no argument about that though. Stama has the makings of an excellent striker as does Vale. However they're not being used correctly. Neither is a big physical target man although that's how they're being asked to play. I felt very sorry for Vale today having to compete in the air with 2 6-4 centre backs. Hung out to dry. They both need to play off a big target man but that's not how we set up. Given SK's preferred style of play with one striker I just can't understand why he didn't sign a big target man in the summer. A mega mistake on his part.

Agreed, its not all on SK. There were several occasions today when players pulled out of 50/50 challenges or made no effort to put in a very winnable challenge.

Players are only human and whilst they should be professional, it must be hard to give of your best if you're constantly being asked to do things for which you're not suited. I've been in the position of losing faith in a manager and believe me it's very hard, in that situation, to give 100%. In such situations I resorted to vicious compliance. The problem for players is that in such a situation the fans can blame them.