Okay, I expect what the reaction will be to this but hear me out & hopefully, some of you will agree with me here. Ive been to all our games this season, seen todays cr@p & read most of the post match forum comments this evening & for me the critisim Russell Duncan is unjustified.

His role in the ICT team is to break up play in the midfield, get the ball out of danger areas & provide cover in defence. It aint a pretty role but he does the job expected week in week out. So when things dont go well like today then everyone jumps on the bandwagon & starts slating him.

If we had won today everyone would have been saying how well he had played & most probably his best performance of the season. For me he misses playing alongside Ian Black & like Foran, is being exposed/let down by the very average players around him.

Cox has been a massive disappointment & he is constantly getting dragged into central defence to help Granty cover Bulshitis. Today he spent most of the 2nd half as a Sweeper!

We have many SPL quality players, Esson, Tokely, Munro, Foran, Imrie, Hayes, Mcbain & DUNCAN. We are being let down by the poor Butcher signings (apart from Hayes) & a major lack of ideas tactically. There is only one area we should be pointing the finger - squarley at the management team.

As someone else said on another thread - that's my rant over!!!

Sorry mate, but i disagree. Duncan is a woeful excuse for a professional football player. He can't jump, tackle pass the ball or shoot on target. However he is still better than stratford. Which is very concerning

Agreed, Russell gets regular stick on this forum which IMHO is well OTT. The guy plays a thankless role and never shirks responsibility or hides.

Sorry Bronson, not one for quotes but just review your statement on the guys professional status, your bang out of order.

Bollox I am. The guy has played like that for years and gotten away with it. Now as one of the more senior and experienced players the expectation is on his shoulders and he simply doesn't have it.

Sorry mate, but i disagree. Duncan is a woeful excuse for a professional football player. He can't jump, tackle pass the ball or shoot on target. However he is still better than stratford. Which is very concerning

:baby-pram: :angry: :angry:

I thought Duncan was pretty good today. He had a terrible shot which would have looked more at home on a Rugby pitch but apart from that he was good

He made a few good tackles, one of which was never a free kick. He got the ball down and spread the play out to the full backs to push on and start an attack.

One of out better players today

Sorry mate, but i disagree. Duncan is a woeful excuse for a professional football player. He can't jump, tackle pass the ball or shoot on target. However he is still better than stratford. Which is very concerning

I thought todays first half i was going to have to come on here and take back everything but second half it was Russ as usual, and when he kicked off at Bull.. that made me want to kick off at him!! Gringo Jr would have hurd me today im sure.

HA! when i first read your topic i thought you ment... Sack him not get off his back lol

Edited October 10, 200916 yr by Georgeios

Not buying this pish about "a thankless role" - and let's be honest here, it's just plain pish. It makes me wonder just how much some of you who trot that out actually know about football. Because if you actually make a point of just watching Duncan during a game, he doesn't do anything. Sure he might get the occasional tackle right but then after he gives the ball straight back to an opponent 5 yards away with a "mis-placed" pass - he then has to run like hell after the ball to make it look like he's working really, really hard.

Duncan is f**king attrocious and isn't fit to polish the football boots in the changing room. His whole "contract saga" a while back made me want to vomit.

Not buying this pish about "a thankless role" - and let's be honest here, it's just plain pish. It makes me wonder just how much some of you who trot that out actually know about football. Because if you actually make a point of just watching Duncan during a game, he doesn't do anything. Sure he might get the occasional tackle right but then after he gives the ball straight back to an opponent 5 yards away with a "mis-placed" pass - he then has to run like hell after the ball to make it look like he's working really, really hard.

Duncan is f**king attrocious and isn't fit to polish the football boots in the changing room. His whole "contract saga" a while back made me want to vomit.

:008: :33: :angry:

He's pish, simple as that.

Sorry mate, but i disagree. Duncan is a woeful excuse for a professional football player. He can't jump, tackle pass the ball or shoot on target. However he is still better than stratford. Which is very concerning

Agreed

Duncan or Stratford?

Duncan or Stratford?

McBain.

Duncan or Stratford?

McBain.

Agreed!

But out of the two options - Duncan by a country mile. He may make mistakes but he doesn't shirk from them, he'll do his best to rectify them. Ok, yes, that usually results in a booking 99% of the time, but he tries...

I'm disgusted by a lot of the fans reactions to Duncan (see previous posting about women laughing about us losing match as he came on as sub) - ok he maybe shouldn't be on the pitch but it isn't his fault that he is, he tries his best when he is. Same as Eagle, Stratford etc - they're not good enough but it's the manager that's putting them in the embarrassing position of publicly doing a job they're incapable of doing.

Duncan or Stratford?

Chips.

Duncan or Stratford?

Chips.

Thats just made me call up Ms Georgeios to read it, she didnt get it untill i said Daddy or Chips, Funny as dude!! I'd Go with Jay_7 and say Mcbain, but i am hungry so chips is also in the mix

It makes me wonder just how much some of you who trot that out actually know about football.

The same could be said about all you folk who slag off Duncan every week. What level have you played at, and how many years have you been watching?

Because when I keep my eye on him, I see the very opposite from you - Duncan working extremely hard whether it's him that's lost the ball or somebody else. So what if he thinks he's better than he actually is. He never hides unlike a few others that 'grace' our midfield especially this season, and he gets stick for gifting the second goal to Buchanan last week despite the fact he was the only ICT player within 30 yards. Never mind just Stratford, I think people should be looking at the darling of the fans, Cox. What's he done for the past 6 or 7 weeks?

It makes me wonder just how much some of you who trot that out actually know about football.

The same could be said about all you folk who slag off Duncan every week. What level have you played at, and how many years have you been watching?

Because when I keep my eye on him, I see the very opposite from you - Duncan working extremely hard whether it's him that's lost the ball or somebody else. So what if he thinks he's better than he actually is. He never hides unlike a few others that 'grace' our midfield especially this season, and he gets stick for gifting the second goal to Buchanan last week despite the fact he was the only ICT player within 30 yards. Never mind just Stratford, I think people should be looking at the darling of the fans, Cox. What's he done for the past 6 or 7 weeks?

i've given russell and others some deserved and maybe some undeserved stick in the aftermath of the pishy home performances but i'd have russell in my team and stick macbain in with him. some of the criticism of him here is way over the top and if he was daft enough to read this forum i'm sure he'd know half the stick is out of pure frustration and the other half is just wrong :D

I agree with Mantis.

Don't see McBain as a defensive mid. He's more a touch player. Never one to roll his sleeves up and get stuck in (don't mean he's lazy, just not that type of player). Rather, he's best playing off Duncan or Cox, or out on the left.

It makes me wonder just how much some of you who trot that out actually know about football.

The same could be said about all you folk who slag off Duncan every week. What level have you played at, and how many years have you been watching?

Because when I keep my eye on him, I see the very opposite from you - Duncan working extremely hard whether it's him that's lost the ball or somebody else. So what if he thinks he's better than he actually is. He never hides unlike a few others that 'grace' our midfield especially this season, and he gets stick for gifting the second goal to Buchanan last week despite the fact he was the only ICT player within 30 yards. Never mind just Stratford, I think people should be looking at the darling of the fans, Cox. What's he done for the past 6 or 7 weeks?

Well said, Duncan has an ego but which footballer doesn't... at least he has some fight, which is something we seem to be lacking at the moment.

Jay... answer the man!!

Cox hasnt been playing his best but again, he hasnt been poor enough to be one of the leakers, Duncan does have a heart, but its more IMO to do with him being pissed off with his own inabilitys that cause him to lose his rag.. Duncan needs to be taken to one side during training and shown how to pass and watch the game.. Can we teach an old dog new tricks?

The same could be said about all you folk who slag off Duncan every week. What level have you played at, and how many years have you been watching?

Because when I keep my eye on him, I see the very opposite from you - Duncan working extremely hard whether it's him that's lost the ball or somebody else. So what if he thinks he's better than he actually is. He never hides unlike a few others that 'grace' our midfield especially this season, and he gets stick for gifting the second goal to Buchanan last week despite the fact he was the only ICT player within 30 yards. Never mind just Stratford, I think people should be looking at the darling of the fans, Cox. What's he done for the past 6 or 7 weeks?

You see Duncan "working very hard" because he's chasing the guy he has just given the ball to! I've said it on a different thread that Cox has become a shadow of his former self for the last month or so. In fact, the last time Cox showed up for a game was against Dundee.

I stand by my statement though, Duncan is attrocious. Cox can at least pick a 5 yard pass.

Edited October 12, 200916 yr by Jay_7

The same could be said about all you folk who slag off Duncan every week. What level have you played at, and how many years have you been watching?

Because when I keep my eye on him, I see the very opposite from you - Duncan working extremely hard whether it's him that's lost the ball or somebody else. So what if he thinks he's better than he actually is. He never hides unlike a few others that 'grace' our midfield especially this season, and he gets stick for gifting the second goal to Buchanan last week despite the fact he was the only ICT player within 30 yards. Never mind just Stratford, I think people should be looking at the darling of the fans, Cox. What's he done for the past 6 or 7 weeks?

You see Duncan "working very hard" because he's chasing the guy he has just given the ball to! I've said it on a different thread that Cox has become a shadow of his former self for the last month or so. In fact, the last time Cox showed up for a game was against Dundee.

I stand by my statement though, Duncan is attrocious. Cox can at least pick a 5 yard pass.

Re Duncan: see the bold bit!

Re Cox: Yeah I actually saw your post Jay but I'm referring to 'people' not you specifically.

Georgeios - is it not a case of teaching the old dog some of the tricks he's forgotten? Duncan was a stalwart under Pele and Robbo. He was outstanding against Celtic in the LC 4-2 game. His passing was never the best but he was never singled out for abuse till we were in the SPL.

p.s. Don't even get me started on 'backpass' Eagle :P

Edited October 12, 200916 yr by The Mantis

Thats the point kind sir, in his days he was mint, hes getting on abit, I will say I did think before that Jay_7 was abit OTT with him, untill I WATCHED him over the last bit in the SPL and then during friendlys pre-season and saw the bother with the lad!! and agreed with Jay..

Thats the point kind sir, in his days he was mint, hes getting on abit

He turned 29 last month.