RicoS321

Tax doesn't have to be taxing Some cunt on thon advert.

It was the "nearest competition" part that was strange. They're in third place and finished last season in third, with their nearest competitor being St Johnstone in 4th. It is very likely that they will get regular european football, I don't think that is in question. Remains to be seen how far they can get.

"Hope" makes it sound like we're not giving the guy a chance and that he's only a goal away from becoming a decent striker. He's actually a really bad footballer who doesn't deserve the opportunity we're continuing to give him. Hope we should reserve for guys like Wright, Ross, Smith, Shankland, Nuttall and Magennis who've come through our youth and shown potential at times. These types are the guys that have been sidelined for years to give game time to charlatans like Maynard, Parker and so on. We've sent 19 year old Bruce Anderson away out on loan. He simply couldn't have done worse than Maynard - it isn't possible. Connor McLennan on loan to Brechin. 530 minutes of wasted pitch time in return for nothing. And it should have been obvious. I'd rather we wasted that on someone we're already paying for. We need to cut out this dross-employment. There's at least one in every season, and usually 2-3. Last season was Morris (anyone?), Burns and Storey. This season it's Maynard and Ball. They can both fuck off in January, but we need to learn not to replace them again on a whim. I can accept bad signings, but these are not that. They're punts to make up the numbers.

Did you see Maynard against Hibs? He took Josh Parker to whole new levels. Fucking awful player that I think may have just played himself out of even the token last ten sub appearance.

Considine was excellent last season, and again against Hibs. It's no coincidence that when we play to his strengths, it works. His attributes as a left back are obvious. He gets very close to a more slight player and bullies them with his strength and in the air. Leave a gap there by playing a back five or him at the left of a three and we're screwed. Pretty simple really, not sure why McInnes doesn't see it. He dominated Boyle(?) at the weekend and his pace didn't come into the equation as he was never given the space to run at him, ably assisted by a winger for the first time. That's why the 4-2-3-1 is important, as is another good performance from GMS. In response to yer question, May has the pace to press the back 4, and the willingness. He was poor on the ball at the weekend a lot of the time, but the number of times he pressed the back four and - more usefully - stole the ball off the holding midfielder never giving them a minute's peace was excellent. I don't think he does that from behind the striker as well, as they see him coming and he struggles to understand positioning (when to press, when to stay) in that role behind Rooney. So I'd go the same as you, but switch Stewart for Rooney and push May on one. I think McInnes will pick your team with Stewart in for Wright though. I just think we need to maximise the pace at the top end and I don't think that Rooney offers that. Too often a midfielder will press, but Rooney is not there to cut off the easy pass to the other centre back because he's been stretched wide previously and not had the pace to get back. I'd be concerned about Wright, as he's been inconsistent, but I think throwing him in at the deep end might do him some good.

However, we did exactly the opposite for the hibs game and it worked a treat. We allowed them possession in their own half and then picked them off. We maintained our shape and didn't get dragged toward the ball. The problem we have with pressuring the ball high up the park is Rooney. If we're playing that game - and I think we should - then Rooney has no place on the park. His effort is unquestionable, but he clearly is nowhere near quick enough for that game. If we had Christie we might get away with it as he'd do the running for two and cover the gaps, but we don't. I'd play the same team as the weekend but with Stewart in for Rooney. Not a slight on Rooney, just he's not suited to this fixture.

The only outfield player from the weekend not to have scored for us so far this season is Maynard. No real surprise, as he's absolutely pap. Impressive otherwise though.

He's way past his best anyway. Think he'd struggle up here these days. A year ago maybe he'd have been arite, but I expect he'll be retired in a year. Although Miller is still doing the business, so who knows.

I refuse to accept that.

Nah. He fucked the huns over. It was only Milsom he kicked mine.

Me neither. I just heard the Tim fact this morning on the radio about Delia's points total. Interestingly, I couldn't find a "same point last season" league table for the SPL anywhere on the internet (fairly limited search), meaning I had to manually count our totals after 19 games last season. Seems a glaring omission from all the dross that appears on the various fitba websites.

Me neither, I checked it back on the BBC highlights after Ten Caat mentioned it. It took me a lot of careful re-runs to hit the pause button at the correct time before taking my screenshot. It's probably as accurate as any sportscene effort.

Is it all in our heads? The tims are now 1 point worse off than they were under Delia a couple of seasons ago. The dons are now 5 points better than they were last season. McInnes is questioned (judged against his own performance), with Rogers given massive credit versus his predecessor. In the end, is it all easily measurable by the points gained at any one point? Will the questioning of McInnes subside after the tanking of hibs and previous fucking off of the huns? Will Rogers' deified position be quietly sidelined when the Tims start to question his abject European efforts and his inability to sign an actual centre half? More importantly, what makes us (including me, obviously) behave like hysterical mentalists and fail to notice the bigger picture of points return? Or are we correct? That's why I like going to the fitba. The answer is obvious to those who attend matches. We can see it for ourselves. We're all right, and every other cunt is wrong, of course.

You can see it better in the BBC highlights at around 3:40ish. When May kicks it, assuming the grass lines on the pitch are straight (sack the f'n groondsmen), then it's aff by about half a yard. Very difficult one for the linesman to spot given the trajectory of the ball etc.

Here's confirmation. Offside I reckon.

Made a soup the nicht because of this thread. Thai sweet potato and red lentil. I probably won't have any of it, it's for the wife's lunch the morn. Made a bit of effort on it this time, it looks fine. Didnae take photaes as it's in a tupperware.

Cheers lads, I shouldn't have doubted Rooney to get a goal against Saints, he loves scoring against them. That's not an appropriate comment to make about another person's daughter.

It's because of its shite location. It's an out of town shopping centre. Perth is a lovely city otherwise. We'll tank them. 0-3. Christie, Arneson and May

They look pretty phenomenal. I'm a bit lazy with my soups, leaving them a bit lacklustre at times. Div you use actual stock? I find this makes a big difference, but I don't eat a lot of meat, so I never have bones often enough. I struggle to make a really good veg stock too.

Mr Robot series 3. Very good. Very good series indeed.

They've just completed a new stand, I think any off-field failures can be allowed at present. They seem a reasonably well run club with a large fan involvement. However, they're playing 16 and 19 year olds because their first 11 is pap, not because they're running an amazing youth setup. It's like us playing Fyvie and Pawlett under McGhee and Brown. They were decent, but way too inconsistent to be regulars - they were just there because our first 11 was pish. Whilst McInnes is pap on bringing through youth in general, we have seen a lot of inconsistency in players like Wright, Storie, Smith etc whilst maintaining a strong league position, which sort of justifies his approach. McKenna has performed consistently and been rewarded for it. It's a catch 22 which McInnes isn't quite on the right side of I don't think, but just throwing youngsters into the team probably isn't the solution, and I fail to believe that Levein is the genius that will make it work.

It was blatantly obvious that he'd not be available in January. Too many clubs can afford the 600-700K that will be required to sign him. It was a one time only option to sign him really.

Why does Ross deserve a place? I'm not saying he doesn't, just intrigued by why you think he does. Given he was taken off at half time, I'm wondering if he maybe would be better coming off the bench. As for Harvie, I'm pretty certain he's a right back. Would prefer him to get time in his favoured position. Again, maybe from the bench. Logan deserves a rest. Played every game since he arrived just about.

I'm not sure he deserves his own thread.

You could be right, but it's a decent glass ceiling until we get the club on a better footing with a decent succession plan in place (not just for manager, but for the rest of the staff). However, it wasn't - necessarily - McInnes that didn't get us in to the group stages in Europe. We simply didn't have a good enough team. If the board - and I assume, here, that it was the board - had sanctioned a move for Moult, we'd have been there. The limits of our team were what didn't get us through as much as McInnes' limitations. We had no striker that we could pick away to Appolon that would have got us through.