RicoS321

Agreed, we'll see where he is at the end of the season. It's almost always a case of better the devil you know, which is why managers tend to stick with known quantities, and I don't blame them. Imagine we'd kept McGrath for example? Shinnie has to be worth a new deal on those grounds alone. If Cameron does anything between now and the end of the season then he would also be worth a punt (at present, I'd not break the bank for him, he flatters to deceive a bit despite a lot of effort).

I think it would be a big risk to keep Geiger on existing showings. I think we could do a lot better. Motherwell have about 4 better midfielders than him already! I'm not writing him off, because there is the possibility that he's just getting up to speed, but it looks to me like he's just not quite good enough in several areas. Players like that can be quite deceptive, I usually describe them as Milsom types, they look good because they have good balance, a nice touch etc, but they just turn out to be nothing players. However, if he can work on his athleticism, the average parts could turn into real attributes, if he's first to second balls and does the coverage and work required of a top midfielder. I think he has to do it this season though, or else we'll end up making the Palaversa error with him.

I am. Huge Dandy. Well dressed, and great hair.

I've never understood the expectation, and constant call - mainly by pundits and idiot managers - for consistency. It makes no sense. Ironically, it's likely the cause of most of the issues we see. It's created this ridiculous scenario where we strip incidents of all context, all deliberateness, and package them all neatly into a particular "type" of foul or punishable crime. No incident is the same, and the motivations and actions of the players involved are very often different, and can most often be interpreted best by a referee in real time and at real speed. Asking for consistency across multiple games, at different times, involving different referees and different players is the height of stupidity. It's like asking for consistency between Nisbet firing one in from ten yards, and Olusanya kicking it with his standing foot first from exactly the same spot.

Bollocks. The Judas cunt should never have left us.

It's not much of a problem though is it? The ref had already given a pen in the Dundee incident. The two incidents are similar-ish, but not exactly the same. Armstrong is already falling over and receives little to no contact. Most importantly, that we got a penalty given against us that our manager doesn't believe was a penalty doesn't mean we should get one that is also never a penalty.

I don't think @TheDonbytheDee meant that you were trolling.

They've clearly not been listening to the oil lads' orders. Didn't these cunts learn anything from Iraq? You dinna kill the bad guy straight away. You need to milk it for a few months or years. Then take the oil when the populace is fed up.

Meh, he brushed past the guy. Geiger was shite yesterday, and he started tanking around hacking at folk. He's lucky he didn't get a second yellow after the game and needs to sort his shit out.

Ah well. Never looked like getting anything from the game. Outplayed for the entire match and didn't have a shot on goal. We defended a bit better with the three in the second half, but the midfield and front two didn't get on it enough or create anything. I thought Nilsen was fine in the second. I'm not at all convinced by Geiger yet, hopefully he has more to give. Expect another easy defeat midweek before the important cup game. We've just not got a great team at the moment, I wouldn't single out anyone as being particularly terrible (okay, Morrison, but he's a young lad!), just that we don't sum up to a good side.

Devlin's been red carded before for doing what the Hearts player did there.

Back three now perhaps?

Some wild subs their. I'm guessing Shinnie on the yellow is the issue, and the games upcoming. A real concern that the other two did nothing in the first half though.

I'd rather blame those that signed him to be honest. He's a young lad that will make mistakes, and we're playing him on his wrong side, despite it being very fucking obvious that he couldn't play on his left (look at the shape of his body diving in). I've no idea who suggested he'd be getting into Clarke's world cup plans, but they clearly hadn't watched him! A bit like our scouts.

Looks to me like Geiger and Cameron are doing nothing to come and collect the ball. Especially Geiger. Be interested to hear the opinions of someone at the game, as it's difficult to tell on the telly.

We haven't been bad, we've just been below average all over the park. We've been a nothing team for 45 minutes. Have we had a shot on target yet? Our midfield aren't good enough to get us a goal or cover the defence.

He's an inexperienced young lad playing on his wrong foot. Ifil and Stewart were "seasoned pros". It's not Morrison's fault he was signed, or is being picked. It was fairly clear that we needed an experienced player to play alongside Milne, and we got that in McIntyre I suppose, and Morrison shouldn't have been signed. Nilsen would have been fine in any of the games where we've played Morrison, and then Molloy for the period until McIntyre returned. To be honest, we still have a real issue when Knoester is fit. I like him, but I'm still not convinced he really suits the league. He's good on the ball, and good positionally, but he's not brilliant in the air and often lets his man run away from him. Not the sort of guy we really need alongside a young player that we want to see improve. For this game, we should have opted for a back three in my opinion.

Our midfield are getting totally overrun. It appears to be Shinnie on his own.

That's quite a miss fae them. No replays on my stream, but assume it was Morrison wrong side?

Could be. Could just be a case of not wanting to overplay him too. He can be a bit suspect back the way too, so maybe a mixture of a few things in a difficult game.

Aye, it's not xenophobia to want a Scottish core in a sport defined by its national boundaries. It is xenophobic to suggest that there's something intrinsically wrong with foreigners, or their abilities, or "passion" or whatever else because of their foreignness, but that's very clearly not what you're saying. I liked the fact that the three foreigner rule was always referred to as such, and not the eight players from country of origin rule or some pish, for fear of offending. I'd like to see it reinstated, but perhaps with loyalty rewards for players who remain with a team for more than three seasons, who drop into the nae foreigner category. Obviously, foreigners through the youths is also acceptable. Edit: I should add that I don't think that the foreigner rule should apply to management. Not for any particular reason that I can articulate though.

That defence is very suspect. Hopefully Milne is playing on his wrong side, as Morrison is horrendous on his wrong foot. Similar to Dorrington, where we signed a guy who can apparently play left and right, but clearly hasn't done so in any environment where they might be under pressure. Body shape all over the shop, and just a general mess. Molloy is a better centre half than Morrison in general, he's definitely a mile better on his left side. I'd have had him alongside Milne with either Frame or Jensen at left back (even Jensen on his wrong foot is a large upgrade). Anyway, I'm not expecting much, so hopefully they'll pull something out of nowhere.

Armstrong is only suitable against teams like Livingston if he's playing number 8. He basically needs to be where Cameron is or not playing. There's probably a way to fit him into one of the wide roles if we're playing a back four. Probably best off the bench at the moment though.

Excellent use of an existing thread. Congratulations. Although it possibly all sits within the politics thread, or even a local council thread, but we can't have everything. What are your actual thoughts on this hydrogen bus thing? Seems to me a case of them getting out while they can. Hydrogen for buses probably seemed like a reasonable bet at the time, despite the obvious issues. Where do you think the farce lies?

Did you? Maybe it was the telly that made it look that way, but I was certain it was a back three. Molloy doesn't exactly get forward so maybe it was that, but I also thought Bilalovic did a lot of work back the way, which he wouldn't normally do, and Olusanya played narrow with Devlin nearly always on the touchline. Nilsen seemed very central too, because I remember thinking how fortunate it was that he didn't have to take it on his left very often. It was a shite stream though!