fat_tony

100% this. Despite his failings, Lasley has an energy and determination that was sorely missing today until Moult came on. Extremely poor stuff today, and the really worrying thing is not the quality of player, as I think the majority are capable of so much more, it's the attitude. Nobody was up for it today, so they just left everything to somebody else.

Gutted. That means I now can't make either match. :-(

Tom something?

Yet we beat Celtic 2-1 and Accies shipped 8 to them. And last time we played Dundee we beat them. Taking games in isolation really doesn't mean anything. Accies are still below us in the league, we still have two very winnable games in hand, and we're still only a couple of good results off the top 6. I don't think anyone at the club is under any illusions regarding our league position, we're still far too close to 11th, but we're also an extremely long way from being cut adrift, and the majority of our recent performances have been better, we're just lacking in a couple of main areas. Plenty of cause for optimism yet.

Must be a slow news day

Might be thinking of a different incident, but did he not get flagged offside at that point anyway?

It's not 100% on McGhee, of course not. The manager is responsible for choosing the team, and getting them to carry out his instructions. In his team selection, McGhee got it horribly wrong today. While our defence isn't exactly airtight, it has been fairly settled, and looked like a more cohesive unit. He undid all of that today by accommodating for a missing midfielder by moving two defenders out of position. The players are responsible for the execution on the park, but today, we were unsettled from kick off. Any communication and understanding built up in previous weeks by McManus/Hammell, Hammell/Johnson, Hall/Law, was undone by the team selection. Very few players performed today, but they were out of sorts from the start. It was always going to be tight against Hearts, but there's always a chance if you stick to what you do well, and players perform on the day. If there was a day for things to go wrong though, I'd much rather it happened today, than against Killie, Dundee Utd, or Partick. We've been much better in recent weeks, so this is now all about how the players pick themselves up and get back in the game for the County match.

Maybe if he'd kept a settled back four instead of fucking about with the team, we'd be competing more. Whole defence has looked shaky since kick off. Big, big mistake by the manager today.

We've got to stick with as much of the same formula as possible, since it's worked well recently. Keep our form players (Moult, McDonald, Johnson, Hall, Pearson) where they are, and make personnel changes to fill the gaps, rather than changing the whole team around. Any two from Laing, Leitch, Cadden (in that order) to replace Lasley and Grimshaw will do just fine.

Yet 3 years ago (season 2012-13) we were playing probably our best football under McCall, were genuinely entertaining to watch and went on to finish second in the league (and finished closer to Celtic than Aberdeen did last year, despite all the fanfare they received). If that's not good enough for some, I'm really not sure what can be done to turn things around. Some thought the intensity of a relegation scrap would bring back the fans. We did that last year. Other than the playoffs, that didn't make a bit of difference. European football hasn't done it. It really makes me wonder what people are expecting.

Cracking reactions from Moult for the goal, no idea how he didn't get a second at the death there though! From those limited highlights, Johnson looks like a totally different player. Let's just call that one revenge for Killie's late winner at Fir Park in McGhee's first season.

Not to mention big Hutchy being horse-collared by Vernon (I think) as the corner was taken. There was an absolutely perfect shot of it on here after the game. I always throw that one up whenever Dons fans are (still) moaning about that to me.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, but I'd still rather have that, than not have anybody in the right place at the right time. To use the old cliche, goals are what wins games. All the running, and all the fancy tricks and flicks in the world don't mean a thing if you can't put the ball in the back of the net. I'm not saying we should have built a team round Sutton, but his nack for scoring goals is something I would love to have at the moment.

A bit of fun to lighten the mood. Last time round, we had the joy of watching several players find a new lease of life under Mark McGhee. Steven McGarry and Jim Paterson turned from a couple of chunky, Sunday-leauge players into, well, not world beaters, but good SPL players at least. David Clarkson seemed reinvigorated, and discovered an eye for goal culminating in a Scotland call up. And latterly, Jim O'Brien was developed from an extremely raw talent, into a mainstay of our first team in subsequent years. So, assuming that big Muttley still has the magic touch to turn a player round, who do you think will be the "Most Improved Player" this season? Will Josh Law become the next Dani Alves? Or will "marvellous" Marv finally live up to his potential? Perhaps David Clarkson will roll back the years to discover his scoring touch? Answers on a postcard.

Bit of a strange one today, and I was flummoxed when I saw the starting lineup. The more I think about it though, given that today's game was in some ways a "freebie" for McGhee, I think he's taken the opportunity to experiment a little with a few things, and also to evaluate some of the players he doesn't know so much about in order to see what the capabilities are and where the problems lie. From his post-match comments, the Laing-to-midfield move was an experiment to see if he'll be capable of being the defensive shield our midfield badly needs, while the combination of Moult/Fletcher/Johnson rotating with McDonald/Ainsworth/Thomas was to see if our forwards were capable of rotating and interchanging with each other dynamically. There's no excuse for not being able to achieve even a basic level of technical ability, such as controlling a ball, or finding a team-mate with a pass, but I don't believe it's just that they're shite. Something has clearly been wrong at the club (and perhaps still is) that is affecting the mentality of the players (some more-so than others). I don't see McGhee being the sort to stand for that sort of thing though, so I wouldn't be surprised if a few players end up with an ultimatum before too long. I just hope it doesn't take too long to start the healing process.

To be fair, you'll probably find exactly the same comments about any one of our previous managers. Football fans aren't exactly known for having long memories.

Absolutely no problem with McGhee returning. If he can get the team performing even half as well as his first season in charge, I'll be happy. No pre-season in Austria this time though, which may mean it will take a while to see an effect, but I'm certainly not going to moan about big Muttley coming back. He may have left under a cloud, but people say there's no room for sentiment in football...what not apply that to the bad, as well as the good? Clean slate for me, let's give him a chance to turn it round. Lasley, Hammell, and Clarkson were key parts of his team, let's see what he can do with this current crop before judging him.

It's been far, far too long since I've seen this!

Just give him a lassie's wig and send him on a night out with Craig Reid.

I'm wondering if there will be any omissions from the squad on Saturday as punishment for the dressing room bust up on Tuesday night. Les Hutchison was pretty bealin on the radio with his comments about some of the players and how they should be ashamed of themselves. Pure speculation mind, but everyone else is doing it, so when in Rome!

I don't agree with this at all. I think the setup of the club as a whole is in a much better place than under McCall, and although a lot of players have been under performing, and some may not be good enough, McCall simply had no options due to having a tiny squad. We at least now have options to shuffle the pack and try different things.

Just wanted to pick up on this point, as it's something I've been impressed with this season. I was very critical of Ainsworth's attitude at times last season, but this year he looks like a different player, and seems to really be working hard to help the team. Sure, he's still a rather slight winger, so he's not going to go steaming into challenges like Lasley, but his workrate has come on leaps and bounds. I've been all for giving Baraclough time to turn things around, but rather than showing signs of improvement, we seem to be getting worse with each passing week. I don't think we have a team of cut rate players. Even guys like Johnson looked like they had something about them last season, and in the very occasional flash this year, but there seems to be a lack of confidence or clarity as to what the manager is asking for. I still believe there's a decent team in there somewhere, but it's looking increasingly likely that Baraclough isn't the guy to get them playing to their strengths, as he either can't see what they are, or refuses to change his approach. Either way, if the stories are true about players moaning about the manager behind his back, that's extremely worrying, and reminiscent of the Gannon era. I was really hoping it would click and things would start falling into place, but unfortunately it seems to be going the other way. EDIT: I wrote this a couple of hours ago but forgot to hit send. I should really have refreshed before posting!

That's what the BBC is these days though. Half the time on Breakfast they ask people to tweet in to give them more details about a story. Utter dross.

STATISTICS!

Exactly how I'm looking at things this season. We've had a bit of a slow start and been unlucky in a couple of matches, as well as turned in a couple of howlers, but when I see us play now, I can see where chances are going to come from, and we look like causing problems if we can just have a little more composure with that final ball. Contrast this to last season, when it was difficult to see where the creative spark would come from at all.