MelvinBragg

Took my six year old to his first away game today. It's only his third season so he's not had to suffer too much. Given it's probably the worst result I can remember seeing, hopefully it'll be his lowest point. His assessment? The players didn't use their brains. And hard to argue with that. The decision making was atrocious. If that were the only problem today, I'd be less concerned. The problems have been done to death already on this thread. No point me repeating what others have said. What the question is, is what we do from here? I'd be tempted to say flood the team with youngsters but there are a couple of issues there. On the basis of Angol, Carswell, Moore, Cummins and Kerr, are our young players good enough? And can we really justify having the wages of senior players sitting on the bench? I don't honestly know. More worryingly, tonight I don't care that much...

Kerr Ramsden McManus Hammell I'm not panicking about this...

Good to see Kerr getting a few mentions. I like Ramsden a lot but also reckon Kerr has decent potential. If we're to let Hutchinson go in January, I could live with either of the two going in at centre back with the other playing at right back...

Can someone please enlighten me as to what Anier has brought to the team in the last few games? Just asking...

Pretty sure it's Mitch...

Utter nonsense...

Laziness is one thing you can't accuse Sutton of...

Presumably the same applied last season...

Ah, McFadden, where to start? Questions have to be asked as to why someone who was playing well last season after so long out is struggling so much this season. Did he simply look good surrounded by better players? Why has he never been fit this season? Did he let himself go over the summer? How much less fit can a single summer of inactivity make a footballer? There are still flashes but not enough to justify his place in the team...

Ref could have done us a favour and sent Hutchinson off after 10 minutes. Played like a drunk man today. Good three points. Sutton, Kerr, Carswell and McManus had good games...

Let's move on from tonight's debacle. Thinking about it is just making my head hurt. Sunday now looking like must win for both ourselves and Hibs. Team? Assuming everyone is fit.. Hollis Ramsden Hutchinson McManus Hammell Carswell Lawson Ainsworth Vigurs McFadden Sutton Try and get something out of Vigurs. Just tell him to shoot when Sutton brings him into play, need to figure a way to use him. Lawson instead of Lasley simply because if we're playing 4231, it should brolley tailor made for Lawson. We have signed these players, let's try and find a system where we get the best out of them. Angol and Moore giving us options from the bench if the three attacking midfielders aren't clicking/can't last the 90 minutes...

We already have that type of player in Vigurs. Just need to figure out how to use him effectively...

I voted for Ramsden. But playing against ten men for 70-odd minutes, your right back really shouldn't be your best player. Worst offenders? Anier, Hammell and Lasley...

Against a team with ten men who are sitting back and can defend crosses (unlike ourselves), having someone who can shoot from distance would be useful...

12 shots. 2 on target. There's the problem. Given Sutton spent most of the match with his back to goal trying to win headers against two large centre backs, need to look at making our midfield practise their shooting...

Actually thought McHugh was decent in the parts of the game I saw. Won a few free kicks, picked up the ball and tried to bring others into play. He and Sutton were feeding off scraps. For me, midfield balance was the problem. We seem to have signed Vigurs with no real thought as to how we could use him. Angol is by no means the finished article but if he's the best option we have to offer width, he has to play. Despite that, we only lost by two goals. And two cheap ones at that. Better defending sees an atrocious 0-0 achieved...

If you think that McHugh has been the problem today, there is no hope for you...

Poor decision making. Given the conditions, correct course of action was either foot through rather than try and take a touch or let it go and try and deal with subsequent corner...

In a generally poor performance, I'd say the often maligned Bob McHugh is having a good game...

I was in a plane somewhere over London yesterday when Moore and Hutchinson were doing the business. Good to see the result when I landed. Sounds like the kind of game that a few seasons ago we'd have lost. Dominated possession, somehow find ourselves a goal down. Last few seasons though, we seem to have developed a degree of resilience. What's impressive is that we seem to have that same quality with a vastly different lineup. Whether that comes from the manager or the mentality of senior players, I don't know. Even if it is the players, the manager deserves credit for bringing in guys with the right attitude. As regards criticism of the team, of course people are entitled to point out weaknesses in the team or areas they feel can be improved. But to suggest there's a litany of problems is utter nonsense. In the summer we lost our strikeforce (including the league's top scorer), the entire right side of our team, our most creative midfielder and our goalkeeper. And people are complaining that we're maybe not as fluid as last season? Get real. We're still finding a way to win games. Even yesterday, we were missing our first choice keeper (no matter your opinion of Hollis, it's a fact), our two most obvious choices for the right wing were out, it wasn't happening for our first choice strikers and we still found a way to win. As others have said, these are good times. If you can't enjoy this, there's something wrong with you...

Have they not recently acquired a rich benefactor? Might change the picture slightly...

Cue the "McHugh's found his level" comments. Which may be true but it's hard to prove you can play in the SPL when you don't get a run of games...

Brave decision by McCall, would have been easy to drop Angol and say it's a tough away game and we need our experienced players. Need to see how it pans out to see if it was the right decision...

Last lines should read.. Now he's at Tranmere instead of staying here..

Way the BBC has it listed, certainly looks like Hammell at RB. Makes sense, natural defender and more experienced than Angol so should be able to adapt easier than him...