RicoS321

There's probably a bit of that, but there's also the fact that Rubezic offers something different to the other two, in that he's aggressive and strong in the air*. MacDonald is very similar to the other two in that he'll be comfortable sitting and watching the play in front of him and mop up behind. There's a lot of value in having the mix of both (McLeish and Miller). In theory, Rubezic should be slightly advanced of the other two, and be the one aggressively attacking the ball, closing the gap between midfield and defence. That means that he should be allowed more mistakes than the other two as he's the proactive one. It also means Jensen and Gartenmann should be constantly on their toes for slip-ups. It's a little bit easier to make no mistakes when you're not throwing your body in the mix nearly as often, so Rubezic probably deserves a little slack at times. Gartenmann is clearly a class player, but I'm not as convinced by Jensen. He's not a poor player, but he's a downgrade on Scales. Last season, Robson could play with just MacDonald sweeping behind two players playing aggressively in Scales and Pollock, whereas we're a bit lopsided this season with a distinct lack of aggression on that left (which is probably why McKenzie adding that at left back has returned our best performances). That's why I think, for now, it's still best to persist with Rubezic and have MacDonald as cover for all three roles. *Whilst being great in the air, he does seem to have got under the ball a lot this season, which is fairly basic for a guy like him.

I don't know if you know, but the spurs manager used to manage Celtic.

Really? I didn't see the game, but he didn't go for a 3-1-4-2 with Clarkson as number six again did he? How many times is he going to try that nonsense before he realises that McGrath is not Ramadani? It's not just Shinnie not being able to cross, it's expecting him to do twice the work when we've got a fixture every three days and no alternative midfield. It's like he's trying to break the guy. It's zero use having a high xG, if they can run a bus through our midfield.

Agreed, that's the lineup I'd have gone with. Only really question marks over McGarry in that, but hopefully another week to get fit has helped. I assume it's a 3-4-1-2, with McGrath pressing high almost in-between Miovski and Sokler in defence.

That doesn't anything like MacDonald. Did you mean Pollock?

In fairness, tonight's game was just a kick about for a laugh. We even got to play that lad up front in the first half that won the charity raffle.

With icy conditions, dangerous for the players who will be at risk of injury, maybe it's time to give Dadia a run as @Panda suggests? Maybe throw on Williams and Besuijen too?

Fucking hell ref. Nae luck @BigAl. Replay it tomorrow?

Rubezic needs taken off now.

@BigAl on the snowballs.

Was just about to say that I expect Duncan will get the blame for the first half. Shame for the lad.

You've got snow and an orange ball.

Drinking on a Thursday?

Hopefully that half will put to bed any shouts that we should be using the squad much more! That team would struggle against any SPFL side. Polvara a very poor replacement for Shinnie, Milne isn't Devlin and Rubezic being asked to play football is just downright dangerous. Top marks to the front two though, who are competing admirably for the position of fourth pick striker. Duk playing like he's never played for, and Gueye is what I imagine it would be like to play a young Zander Diamond up front. His legs seem to be being controlled by someone watching the game on a dodgy stream eight seconds behind. We're still in it though, thanks to that peach from MacDonald.

^ Pish. MacDonald should be centre forward

Turned it on just in time to see their goal. Not sure about the thinking behind playing Rubezic right of the three instead of MacDonald. Surely MacDonald is the more obvious replacement for Gartenmann, whilst reducing the number of positional changes?

Yep, agreed, great to see them get a run out. I can't fathom the line up. We could be playing a back four, because these lads weren't up to much, but it would seem a little unusual to bugger about with formations and personnel. Milne at right wing back (as opposed to right back in a four) seems a lot to ask of him. A large part of me would like to see Rubezic marauding that flank for a laugh. Would like to see Duncan play in behind the front two, but expect it'll be Hayes there. Has the distinct air of a preseason friendly about it, so looking forward to it.

Sokler and Miovski worked really well together against the Hun. Constantly communicating and pushing as a pair. Miovski is a fantastic team player, and it looked like Sokler has the making of one too. Duk is a reactive player, who doesn't really bring others into it. Obviously he has other great attributes, and that reactivity serves him well when a chance just lands to him. I wouldn't hold out much hope of him forming a pairing with anyone though. Not in any real sense. Even last season I got the impression that him and Miovski were scoring independently of one another as they rarely linked up, but just having two goalscorers is good just the same.

Ahh, that's shite. Much as I think he has his limitations, he's been good this season and is exactly the type of aggressive player we need. He's had a real hard time with injuries in his short career.

You think we should do a rotation system for the fans too? Not a bad idea. I think the guys that you mention probably just aren't good enough. It's not unusual when we have such a large turnover to have a few duds, and I think these guys are probably just that. For all intents and purposes, I'd probably just pretend they don't exist. The question then, is, where does that cause an issue? I think the back three will play every game except in cases of injury, as they cover much less ground. That means Williams is an irrelevance in terms of rotation. We have MacDonald and Milne in case of injury, with McKenzie also able to play instead of Jensen when necessary. Key areas for me are right wing back, centre midfield and striker (specifically Miovski). I also think that left wing back is an area in which we're weak, but have plenty cover. I panicked when Devlin went down yesterday, as there was no conceivable cover there (Hayes, probably, but it could also have been MacDonald into centre and Gartenmann into wing back), and he's fairly vital. Obviously Morris coming back can help to an extent, despite obvious limitations. I have a lot of sympathy for Robson though, no other manager we've had has had to deal with this scenario, and it's a lot for a young manager. Europe doesn't give us enough money to operate two squads, or even one and a half. It's such a fine balancing act, because it's not as simple as saying: "use the squad". He has to consider whether we're strong enough to win games whilst changing that first eleven, and that will mean switching out players at different times in order to conserve as many of the best eleven as possible in every match, as well as using subs efficiently if we're ahead in games (of course, due to tiredness, we're unlikely to be significantly leading in many games). He also has to consider the style of play too, and opt for formations that conserve energy, which is what I think he tried to do in the second half yesterday to limited effect. For example, we cannot afford to try the number six position with Clarkson or Barron, as that will ruin Shinnie, it has to be a conservative two sitting and one in front until January. We have Barron to switch for Clarkson, and Clarkson can play in the role McGrath played first half yesterday (I'd be interested to see Duncan there more often, as I think that will be his best position, and Hayes can play there if we're ahead in games and just need someone to chase people). Polvara can come in here and there to cover a few areas of the pitch, and so can Duncan, but both are a step down and too many Polvaras and Duncans in the side at once will see us losing. Whilst we spend a lot on our side comparative to other SPFL teams, we're nowhere near good enough to rest several players against most teams, especially if one of them happens to be Miovski. Our goal must be to get ahead in games and manage the substitutions well from there. Keep things very simple and don't ask too much of guys like Polvara, Morris etc. Rotate, but not too many in one game.

I've not seen anything of McGarry so far to suggest he's better than Jack Gurr, but I hope you're right!

Just back, not a bad game. First half performance was very good. It was a 3-4-2-1, which worked really well. Sokler and Miovski worked perfectly together, with McGrath excellent in behind. They couldn't deal with the ball over the top at all. Second half we dropped McGrath and Sokler back before the subs into a flat four. McGrath struggled a bit wide left. McGarry looked like an amateur player when he came on, hopefully just lack of match time. Duncan wasn't great of course but at least held position. As Panda says, we played narrow at the back and allowed the crosses in and also allowed them to wander about our box. That said, Sokler's early chance was easily as good as anything we produced. The last five minutes of the ninety we began to hold our shape and looked like seeing it out comfortably. Then VAR intervened. Once again, nobody in the crowd or on the pitch spotted anything, and the Huns got their opportunity and missed it. The ref saw exactly what happened, and - in context - decided it was a nothing incident that didn't merit a penalty, with the play continuing until their miss. Three minutes later, and with all context stripped out, a penalty is given. Every pundit then reviews the incident without context and agrees that there is a tug so it must be a pen, completely oblivious to context as always. Richard Gordon mentions on the radio that he's surprised that Walsh didn't give the pen in real time as he was looking right at it, completely missing the point that Walsh did clearly see the incident and chose not to give a penalty because it wasn't one. Again, VAR not fit for purpose. Anti football bollocks that needs to be fired into the sun. I wish Robson was a little more articulate in moments like these. I'd like to see someone from the club take all footage from the game and produce a montage of tugs on shirts in the box throughout the ninety minutes. For both sides, no partisan shite, simply to show how ridiculous the decision was. Anyway, great to see Sokler adding something and another option in setup. We're very light on options from the bench to see out games like this one. Like Duncan, Polvara held a position well, but offered little else. McKenzie will be a miss for the final in this setup.

I'd guess at a 3-4-2-1? With Sokler and McGrath getting close to Miovski. Duncan left wing back.

Wild. Duncan and Sokler.

Even with the break, I can't really be arsed with this one. With European games, I think there's just too much football. It's completely saturated. Can't wait for the winter break! I'm going of course. I think we'll lose.