Am i the only one who was baffled by our squad today?

Apparently Wyness was injured so fair dos, but to completley exclude Wilson from the squad, and to take off Niculae when he was as effective as the next person, esp when we're chasing the game doesn't make sense.

I thought Duncan and McBain were poor today, but i was impressed with Imrie and Paaty. A draw was prob a fair result. Did i see we didn't have a single shot on target in the 1st half??

A barnstorming last 10minutes, but why do we have to concede a goal before we make the effort?

Have to agree with you. I am beginning to get a bit hacked off with the 4-1-4-1 line up....especially at home when we should be 'taking the game to the opponents'...to quote Brew this week. Not to mention Marius must be getting hacked off running around on his own with long balls hit at him in the air...not a clever strategy today Brew, with messrs Kenneth/Wilkie/Dodds in the Utd Pool. We must Keep the ball ON THE GROUND !

I don't know how McBain managed to stay on for 90 minutes and taking off Black...your creative midfielder and leaving Duncan (who had a shocker), your holding midfielder on when you are chasing the game baffles me. Not sure if there was any evidence of tactics today.

Bottom line is both sides were poor and we were lucky to get a point.

Must do better if want to keep top 6 and Brewster needs to re-take his tactics exams. :018:

We thought that Ian Black was taken off because of his yellow card earlier in the match, which seemed a good idea and better than chancing a red card as the ref seemed a bit here there and everywhere with his decisions. Imrie seemed to settle in well and can only get better once used to the remainder of the team.

Black is without a doubt one of our best players BUT we seems to run out of puff 70 minutes+ into every game

Am i the only one who was baffled by our squad today?

Apparently Wyness was injured so fair dos, but to completley exclude Wilson from the squad, and to take off Niculae when he was as effective as the next person, esp when we're chasing the game doesn't make sense.

I thought Duncan and McBain were poor today, but i was impressed with Imrie and Paaty. A draw was prob a fair result. Did i see we didn't have a single shot on target in the 1st half??

A barnstorming last 10minutes, but why do we have to concede a goal before we make the effort?

Feck me - at a game whilst on Paternity leave.  :018: But fatherhood appears to have had a positive effect on yer intelligence - or did ya copy from my match comments.  :blah01: You are beginning to sound like a Daddy Johndo.  :001:

Imrie on the right was ridiculous. His end product was always going to suffer because of his weak right foot. He is much better on the left and by all accounts impressed those at the game last week. His energy was unrelenting but all to often he was cutting back in and searching for a team mate slowing the attack down whereas a natural right footer could have continued with the run and gotten a ball in thus not slowing up the attack at all. Still impressed by him but was hoping to see him on his stronger side.

Personally I would have kept Niculae on, taken off McBain, switch Imrie to the left, brought Bayne on, drop Niculae to pick up his knock downs (if we persisted in long ball mince) and moved Cowie to the right. Players all playing in their "natural" position and no one playing in an unorthodox role like Imrie and Cowie were yesterday.

Imrie on the right was ridiculous. His end product was always going to suffer because of his weak right foot. He is much better on the left and by all accounts impressed those at the game last week. His energy was unrelenting but all to often he was cutting back in and searching for a team mate slowing the attack down whereas a natural right footer could have continued with the run and gotten a ball in thus not slowing up the attack at all. Still impressed by him but was hoping to see him on his stronger side.

Personally I would have kept Niculae on, taken off McBain, switch Imrie to the left, brought Bayne on, drop Niculae to pick up his knock downs (if we persisted in long ball mince) and moved Cowie to the right. Players all playing in their "natural" position and no one playing in an unorthodox role like Imrie and Cowie were yesterday.

first part i partly agree with, i was suprised to see imrie start on the right which although not ideal for a left footed player but i thought he played very well there, i understand your point about not getting the quick cross in but all to often i noticed there was no-one in the box which i think contributed to delaying the quick ball.

Overall i was very impressed with Imrie and i think he looks a real find and adds another dimension to our play, its just a case of getting the tactics to get the best out of him. IMO having imrie now screams out playing a 4-4-2 with imrie and cowie on the wings, duncan holding role and blackie pushing forward. The only time i would play our 4-5-1 (which incidentally doesnt work as well without Rankin) would be against the old firm.

second part i completely agree with, when i saw bayne being brought on i thought that was what was going to happen, puzzled by hooking Niculae because i though the reason he wasnt having a great game was because he was so isolated and the high balls being thrown at him were always going to be easy for wilkie and kenneth. having bayne playing along side would give him someone to run off and pick up the second ball.

why do managers constantly complicate football. surely when the away team arrive here and see us playing one  striker they are delighted . no one  will tell me centre  backs do not have a far easier  job facing this system. in the press the day before the game craig was emphasising how important it was for us as the home team to take the game to united . well apart from after they scored  we did not play  with anywhere near the urgency required . i do not think it is asking to much at home to play two up front and have two natural wide players in midfield .  i do not know is it just me but the majority of our substitutions are a reaction when we lose a goal. it would be great to see a more possitive approach before this happens . craig is doing a fine job but at times i feel he is a bit stubborn when  he hears the fans calling for a change.

With two games a week we are going to see a few changes anyway.

I hope the manager doesn't give in to the fans wanting subs on, I would rather a professional football manager made the decisions.

On saying that, how about texting in your sub at a ?1 a go and the most texts gets the player on.  joking, before anyone starts to analyse is too deeply,

We all have our own views on the merits and performance of different ICT players.

At times we would all select a team different from the one Brewster puts out.

However, I thank god it's Brewster picking our team and

not the likes of Bronson, Highlandbadger, RiG and IHE!

Must be over a month since our last victory. Surely he knows his best team, but we need a win soon n think we have 3 away games, well,hibs then celtic n looking at saturdays first half performance we will be lucky to take a point from 9!!

Hope im wrong

January 5th.............Get the contracts settled and maybe the players will perform :023:

i heard russells still a million miles away from signing. A ?50 improved offer for 3 years... :018:..

yip contracts need sorted PDQ...bit late n slow for my liking. Also his tactics been poor as of late...hope

he changes it for wednesday

With two games a week we are going to see a few changes anyway.

I hope the manager doesn't give in to the fans wanting subs on, I would rather a professional football manager made the decisions.

On saying that, how about texting in your sub at a ?1 a go and the most texts gets the player on.  joking, before anyone starts to analyse is too deeply,

Roses are red

Violets are blue

I'm a schizophrenic

and so am I

More bizarre decisions tonight...

McBain selected ahead of Blackie after Saturday's performance... Is there something we're missing Brew? Is McBain actually contributing something we're not seeing??

I'm quite upset that Brew decided to stick with McBain and drop Blackie, even though he played gash on Saturday.  Was Blackie injured or just full on dropped? 

  Any news on Marius?  Can see that knock on Saturday being used as an excuse to drop him.

Perhaps he took exception to being benched - one day we will find out what really happened this season.  :023:

That formation and that so called system tonight was an absolute JOKE.

I'm not laughing :007:

McBain wasn't overly bad on Saturday come to think of it. I think he is better suited infield however.

Surprises me that knowone thinks perhaps the mans trying to pick horses for courses here. For me Blackie will be more effective against Hibs than he would against Motherwell.

I think it should have been "backs to the wall" tactics last night - watching for the chance to hit them on the break - a draw would have been a highly satisfactory result...

Blackie can function very well as an additional defender... Hopefully he will play on Saturday and hopefully the tactics will lean towards a more defensive set up, than appears to have been the case last night. That approach has served us well, away from home in the past...

Our players are professional footballers and should be more than capable of playing two games in a week, so I don't buy this idea of "resting" players.

Nor do I, we should be fielding the best eleven avaiable for each game.

We all have our own views on the merits and performance of different ICT players.

At times we would all select a team different from the one Brewster puts out.

However, I thank god it's Brewster picking our team and

not the likes of Bronson, Highlandbadger, RiG and IHE!

...or Charlie Christie. We're on the edge of the top 6, ahead of so-called better sides, better points per game than any previous SPL season* and about due to give an unsuspecting opponent a right good gubbing...thank god it's Brewster!

*+/- 10 points

Bit harsh Wanderer, CC had us close to the mark as well.  Lets not demean the contribution he has made to the ICT cause.

Any man that thinks McBain can play right midfield, (against Rangers) worries me tactically when we have players such as Wilson and Hart not even included in the squad.