Big Stall

Also noted that Boab was certainly looking much more streamlined last night.

I would agree with that 100%, but i would also say that while it was a good solid debut for such a young lad, there was nothing there to go over board about. I get the feeling that too often posters on this board will have a wank when any youngster is brought through the ranks. On the plus side for him, he personally didnt make any mistakes which led to goals. He was eager to get forward and i noted at least 1 belter of a cross he put in. However, he does look (understandably) lightweight and i fear for him for the first time he is on the end of a mans tackle. (i dont mean john boyles) Also, i saw him belting forward on many occasions and not have the ball passed to him, aka the same thing that happens to DL Smith. Now this isn't the lads fault, but the rest of the team maybe do not have the same confidence in him yet. Certainly, Quinn would be getting fed a pass through 9 times out of 10. I like the lad and thought he did well but i dont think we should be going overboard just yet.

Two things i would say about it..... 1- If the SPL rules say we must have an all seater stadium and health and safety says you have to sit down then I don't think you have any leg to stand on (excuse the pun) when the stewards and polis tell you to sit on your arse! I don't mind the singing for the full game, think it adds atmosphere and is all good, however it leads on to point 2...... 2- every time i looked over last night, the majority of the standing up crowd were facing the other way, either shouting at the fans in the south stand or perhaps the stewards beside them. Seriously, it looked to be the full match, that squad did absolutley nae spectating. Now i can understand the game was pash, but i don't see the point in going and not watching it. Sorry, theres a third point. If i didnt have a season ticket, perhaps wasnt a regular attender and showed up, sat down near the back of that section and couldn't see the game because a bunch of boys spent the full game standing up and shouting abuse at stewards and away fans, I'de be pretty pissed off! Just my opinion.

I told my friends the following earlier today and i stand by it..... My take on the crisis is as follows..... 1st half last night we should have been about 3 up after 15 minutes, but when you are in a rut things don't fall for you. 2nd half we were abysmal. Mr McGhoo doesn't seem to be able to mix up his tactics when things go wrong, and it is blatantly obvious that McCormac was key to making that 4-3-3 tick last season. Hughes hasn't had any form and Porter hasn't been anywhere near as good as last year. As much as it pains me to say it, we are missing Clarkson big style, he's missed a stack of games this year through injury and suspension. The team are playing with zero confidence, and leaving killy aside who were pash, any decent team with something to play for (Hearts and United) would roll right over the top of us in the same manner that Hibs did. The board haven't backed the manager in the transfer market so i understand why mcghee would get angry at that however by the same token a large portion of the transfer budget will have been blown on doubling McGhee and Leitches contracts in the summer. McGhee is getting paid scandalous amounts of money for a manager of a small provincial club and as such has to stand up and take responsibility for the state we are in. Games coming up against the accies, ICT and st mirren. All should be winnable but the way we played last night in the second half, we'l lose them all and be staring at relegation. If we do, he needs to go, however it will no doubt cost us a small fortune to sack the c(_)nt, and in the present state he's not exactly got a wealth of job offers on the table. That aside, i do think he is a good manager and since its obvious he wants to manage at a much higher level, it is imperative for him that he pulls out all the stops and gets us back up that league so he can leave with a high stock value. Also, as an aside, what the fuck is Melvin Bragg all about? His posts for months have been about berating McGhee for not playing 4-4-2. McGhee decides in the midst of crisis, I know, i'll listen to some faceless fundamentalist on the internet and go 4-4-2. So, we get stuffed. Now does Bragg come on and decide that maybe McGhee was correct not to employ 4-4-2 earlier? Nah, course not. Its all McGhee should go now.....

In a terrible vein of form, the next four games we have against beatable opposition could make or break our season. On paper we should be able to beat all four of them, start moving up the table and injecting a bit of confidence into both the players and fans. Things don't work out as they should on paper though and we could just as easily lose the 4 games and wind up in seriously soapy bubble by the time our fixtures against the decent teams roll around. Optimist though, im hoping for us dishing out a comprehensive 3-0 pumping tonight.

He's also scored 18% of our goals this season so perhaps he is paying for himself.

Either that, or they are attempting to use the flood lights as extra pitch protection..... high powered heat lamps........ (Wheres the whistling smilie gone?)

Forecast on the beeb says 0degrees or colder sat sun and monday nights, with snow on sunday.............

After seeing McLean basically be responsible for us exiting the cup last season I would have been happy to never see him play for us again. However, he put in some good performances when Quinn got his tanking, and i'll happily admit I was wrong. Big man was quite silky as well.

Rather than a minutes applause, a stadium blasting a full minute of 'one fill o'donnell' at the 78th minute would be good. IMO.

Probably doesn't belong in the Craigan thread, but there have been people in here mentioning getting Craigan in and Boab out. Added to that, i had an arguament with an ardent Boab hater on Friday evening so this is fresh in my mind............. Having a quick think over results, this season we have amassed 17 goals (I think). 12 coming from our 3 established strikers with Murphy adding another 2. No-one else has scored with the exception of Boab who has weighed in with 3 goals. Put it in perspective, thats 3 goals more than the defence and midfield combined, and 18% of our total goals this year. Deficiencies in other aspects of his game aside, such as giving up when he is beaten by a man, until the rest of the team start pulling their weight, I would not be in any hurry to drop Boab, a key source of our goals this season. Apart from that, with the free kicks he has scored already this season, and a few rattled off the bar, any team giving a freekick away to us in a dangerous position will be feart when they see Big Silky marching up with his white boots and Ronaldo ankle socks.

One good thing, reading the papers and listening to the phone ins tonight, the holy goalie appears to have taken the heat off us. No-ones bothered about our pitch anymore but and focusing on calamity boruc! I suppose we usually complain when no-one pays attention to our penalty claims and ref complaints as theres usually only interest in the OF matters. If it happens in reverse this time to help us, then its all good