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Ditch the 4-2-3-1 formation again, even though it works and the players are most comfortable with it, in favour of a 4-4-1-1 system? CHECK. Two central midfielders playing out of position on the wing, with no wide players picked whatsoever? CHECK. Telling the players at half time to sit in and invite pressure, even though we were massively on top in the latter stages of the first half? CHECK. Not changing things around in the slightest even when St. Mirren changed their system? CHECK. Bringing off our centre-forward and replacing him with a winger, who looked like he had never played centre forward in his life? CHECK. Firing off a load of pathetic clichés in the post-match interview? (Probably - I haven't heard it yet, but it seems like a safe assumption). The thing is that I thought the players did the best they could today, even though they were held back by dreadful tactics. Vincent must be regretting signing that contract, when Hibs would have paid him more and played him in a position he's comfortable with. It's no secret that St. Mirren's right-back, Naismith, likes to bomb on at pace, but Yogi clearly hadn't scouted St. Mirren at all and so Vincent got left for dead again and again by an overlapping full-back who was so much faster than him. Our midfielders did their best to get on the ball in the first half, even though all four of them kept trying to occupy exactly the same areas of the pitch. Add in a useless referee - and they don't come more useless than Willie Collum - and you have a side who were a bit lucky not to lose to a St. Mirren team who were possibly the weakest I've seen us play against all season. They were dreadful, even when we were down to 10 men. Not happy. Not happy at all. We have a decent squad of players, you know. Their attitude is superb, and they can play a bit too. But they're being held back by a manager who doesn't know what he is doing.

What the problem with the naysayers about John Hughes on here is : 1. NEVER CHANGE THEIR MIND 2. always LOOKING FOR THE NEGATIVE COMMENT 3. DON'T SEE THE PASSION AND EXPERIENCE OF THE MAN. 4. Can't appreciate that he will gain nothing against a stressed and tired bunch of good lads by getting angry, petulant, overly critical and berating them for every mistake as soon as they get back into the dressing room. Did you hear what he said about Brill--he balanced the mistake he made in the last game against the excellent save he made in the previous game. 5. They don't fully understand that it's not all just about winning games because without adversity, and the cauldron of fire to stress the steel and harden it , you don't get the growth or the resilience to realise that life is a battle-- unless you want to crawl into a corner and hibernate. So I suggest that you adopt a completely positive approach and listen to the voice of experience, John Hughes ,his fired up imagination and passion, his positive ideas, his vision and frankly his inspiring thoughts. And learn.

Collum needs a huge kick in the balls - by me! he is a feckin useless article, and a disgrace to football. that move we had in the second half, when we had a foul, we played on, nice ball forward to Billy, looked like a good break and the fanny calls it back! - wee c*nt. Apart from that... what happened in the second half? different team! not 1 attempt on goal from us! feckin shambles.

Take a bow, Ryan Christie. Other than that, we were quite flat today. So AGAIN we tried to squeeze Vincent, Tansey, Polworth, Draper into the midfield. It doesn't work: width is needed!!! Red card was a farce. Opportunity missed, given other results

Agree with most of Hislop's points, but disagree on Watkins. He chased down and pressed the St Mirren defenders into a few mistakes and looked dangerous on the break. Billy McKay needs to be rested, he's running on empty.

What the problem with the happyclappers about John Hughes on here is : 1. They think he has a track record of turning around corrosive, terminally bad form. 2. They're right good honest laddies who roll their sleaves up and dust themselves off for the last dance back at the well to go again. 3. The think defenders taking 3 touches to make an 11 yard pass sideways is slick, imaginative football. 4. TOGETHERNESS!!

Brill is actually well on the way to rivalling or bettering the amount of clean sheets in a season at 20 (a record currently held by Ryan at 23) This doesn't tally with the current hand-wringing about him. He makes the occasional mistake and as a goalkeeper is in the full glare of publicity - nowhere to hide and all that. For the manager to drop him at this stage in the season and with that kind of record would be odd in the extreme. If you looked at his averages for kick completions etc., I'd be surprised if he was worse than anyone else in the league, apart from Forster. I certainly couldn't see Hughes behaving towards him in the same way that Adams has towards his goalkeepers this year and thank goodness for it. In terms of Hughes, I still feel that Wednesday night had width in the side and it was a game that we could have taken something from and that against a side that has a massively better playing budget than ours and a commensurately massive level of debt attached to it. So does Aberdeen. So does Motherwell (although their debt figures are better) Celtic are ahead of everyone else. So where does that leave us? As high in the table as we are likely to ever logically be. Football is good at defying logic though, but a small and increasingly knackered squad is less likely to challenge it. As well as the physical demands, the mental strain of two or three games a week for weeks on end catches up. I know that people expect high standards, but they are bound to vary. It wasn't the "rubbish" that others have posted. There's a case for bringing Christie, Polwarth et al in but not yet at least en masse, not until our season is over. We are 5 points behind United with a game in hand. Our next games are against St Mirren (with Motherwell in the middle) and County, theirs are against Aberdeen and Celtic. Which would you rather have? After the split everyone will take points off each other. Season over? Don't think so, and with all due respect it's a bit short sighted to contend that it is. There's much concern about the current passing from the back game that we seem to be adopting. Getting the ball up the park as soon as possible appears in post after post, despite the fact that Butcher was lambasted for that approach in his early reign - keep the ball on the deck was the cry at that time. Of course it's early in Hughes's reign but their are signs that he wants an already passing team to do it even more. Can that be bad? With a fresh team and more options, especially up front we might see a different beast next year. Some of the criticism and language directed at Hughes recently has been saddening. Ok the guy doesn't have a PHD in english, but did he have to? The remarks scattered around on here about his command of english are a poor reflection. He is a far more insightful and perceptive individual than his predecessor who is wedded to the ideas of the club, not his own personal power base. He is far more open and frank and engages on a far more equal basis. If he deals with the players in the same manner, I am more than happy that they will buy into his philosophy and take the club forward. That has to be better than the constant carping, sniping and infighting that is the alternative.

I think we have to go back to the blue and red stripes. The best tops we have had IMHO

Team selections are not doing Hughes any favours. You've got to admit that the goal at Tannadice and the second today had more than a touch of class about them; that's how Hughes wants to play, which is fine.....but.... the team we have built its league position on solid, no-nonsense defending and swift counter-attacking with width, giving Billy tap-ins. Slow, tippy-tappy football won't give Mckay those chances. We're too narrow and too slow and deliberate going forward. It's not needing a huge change, just playing people in their natural positions and being brave enough to drop one of the central midfielders to give balance and width. Has he got the b@lls? Not so far...

IHE ? Planning for next season why? Because we played a refreshing team which included three young inverness lads - who contributed more than our 'more experienced' senior players (Meeking,Vincent,Draper). The back four were at sixes and sevens from the off but seem untouchable in terms of team selection. (Have a look at our goals for/against column lately). Kingsmills - negativity seems to be your forte but not a word of positivity. And that goes for Macduffer too. Having been at the game I was more than delighted to see Polworth and Christie starting and even more so as the game progressed and both contributed to most of our good play. Surely these guys have to figure from the start in our remaining fixtures.

Am I the only one who thought the Meekings red card was an easy call for the ref?? Yes, shinnie was doing his best to cover but he was still behind play at the time and not guaranteed to get there in time. Josh had a really bad day all round, as did most of our defence. Definitely time for Devine to get more match time. Vincent out wide didnt work at all, feel sorry for him in many ways as he's a great player but it seems that there is onky one role that he can play in our current set up, and Christie has first shout at that at present. Draper was easy call for mom (not that anyone really impressed in second half) as he bossed the midfield. Lots of weaknesses elsewhere and kind of disappointed that at least one out of Williams and Watkins didnt start out wide. Time for a radical rethink. Tremarco and devine should get a start with meekings and raven having a break at the back. Its hard to call beyond that but I'd base it round Christie, Draper, Watkins and Mckay.

Brill Raven Devine Warren Shinnie Draper Polworth A WINGER Christie A WINGER Mckay

Collum I believe holds about 70percent of our red cards .does anyone have the stats .?surely it is worth pointing this out to the Spfl just to confirm we are not getting a fair crack of the whip Did we deserve 3 points - maybe!!

We'd have won that if it wasn't for the red - joke.

Yes, I agree. Hughes is, and has been, trying out different combinations of players and tactics. Hopefully this will stand us in good stead for the future, since we did become overdependent on one system, where the goals had dried up.

Bughtmaster is tiring. Cites O A M on view--he really means Old Age Man, then?

Glad you've wakened up Scotty............I'll tire soon

With an assist by Shinnie.

Ben Greenhalgh has just scored for stenhousemuir

At least its Robbo on OAM and you can easily tell an ICT goal from his tone when he shouts ... "goaaaaaaaallllllllllll"

Taxi for Dilo!

Best of luck to him though.

I told you, you shouldn't have bought your pc from the Dingwall Tescos

I think it's probably the beginning of the end for his tenure at ICT. He never broke into the 1st team and I suspect just didn't make the grade. Signing freebies is always going to be a little hit or miss. And lets face it, if he wasn't good enough for Jose, he aint good enough for us.

I Don't see many games as I live in Spain but has our drop in results not run in tandem with McKays drop in form - and is that dow to tatics or is Billy just going through a Barren patch. I think what it does show is that we need to sign at least one striker this summer to give Billy back up/ competition. so I would leave Hughes there give him a chance in the transfer window and see where we go from there

There's a famous quote by Thomas Jefferson which is "Dissension is the greatest form of patriotism". So it is with this. I don't want to criticise Hughes, he seems a nice man and does seem to genuinely want to be here, but the fact of the matter is, I have to. There's nothing wrong with playing possession football and we all want to see the ball on the deck, but Hughes strikes me as a man who is a slave to his philosophy. People are debating whether or not it is Dean Brill or Josh Meekings to blame for the second Dundee United goal, but they are missing the elephant in the room entirely. If they weren't instructed to pass the goal around the defence so much, this wouldn't have happened and Tuesday wasn't the first time they've been caught out, as we know. Hughes's teams have had this problem at the past. His Livingston side did much the same thing. Keeping the ball at that end of the field and not going forward with it, just invites the opposition to press forward and put us under pressure. This then leads to the inevitable pass back to the goalkeeper to hoof the ball up the park. If this is 'good football', I for one am not impressed. What has become of our slick and effective counter-attacking? A good example of this was on Tuesday. Vincent won the ball when the United centre-backs were back-peddling. Under Butcher he'd have driven forward or switched the play and had teammates striving forward to score. We were good at that. What did he do? Put his foot on the ball and pass it back the way. There was no drive to get forward from any of them and any chance of creating a goalscoring opportunity was gone. When we do get forward, we seem to be trying to pass the ball into the net. It's usually ineffective and we need to do more of what Polworth did on Tuesday - putting a foot through the ball. People can talk about making progress and waiting for things to click, but as I said earlier in the thread, Hughes was manager of Falkirk for seven years, yet they didn't score many goals and were nearly relegated as a result. It should be no surprise that our goals have dried up as well. You can tell things aren't going to plan by looking at Foran. He's getting back to what he was like a couple of years ago when things didn't go to plan. An irate seething man, who's liable to do something rash, with his general performance negatively affected as a result. Does Russell Latapy actually do anything? He looks to me like a boy on work experience. Remember, this was a man who's played at the highest level and managed his national team, yet he stands out the front watching, only for Hughes to come over and whisper in his ear every few minutes. What's the deal with that? And here's another thing: Has anyone else noticed that we've been poorer since Duncan Shearer disappeared from the dug-out? Has his absence had an impact on the players? Surely he'd be a good foil for Hughes as well. Did the board make the right choice? I don't think so. Our results and performances have nosedived since he's come in. Should Hughes be sacked? Absolutely not. He was the man chosen by the board and given a two and a half year deal. He deserves to get the end of the season and up until the first round of fixtures next season. If we're heading on downward spin and things are really looking bleak, then that'll be the time to really discuss whether he is the man for the job. Don't get me wrong, there's a number of things I do like about Hughes. He seems a genuine and nice man and I like the way he's not afraid to get the youth involved, but things have slipped to a worrying state when you consider where we were and what we were like when he took over. He shouldn't and will not be sacked any time soon, but if things continue as they are over the course of next season, then serious questions will need to be asked.

I wouldn't sell Brill or chuck him at the end of the season plus he is under contract. Perhaps one of the problems is that he has nobody to challenge him. I have to admit that the last keeper who made me nervous was Reguero. Again had some great games but lacked that bit of stature and composure. Esson has taken more and more of a back street so we need to sign a keeper anyway.

#TeamRoberts # Swaggy #CrepeCheck

He might have a bit of skill and pace but he'll never be a good player I reckon. He's a quintessential modern-day brat. An absolute ned, who think's he's miles better than he is, and include that with the fact he's an angry little man who, much of the time he was here, swaggered around like he couldn't care less. I couldn't stand him when he played for us. A career in the lower echelons of the English southern leagues awaits.

I was asked for my opinion and I have it - warts and all as ever !! And I have probably been as defensive of and as complimentary of this side as I ever have been - and they deserve that level of support generally. I also have confidence that we will continue to achieve on the level that we have been and that we have the right partnership in control. It is as much a defence that keeps clean sheets. I had reservations about him from the off and I do feel that he has made more than the "occasional" mistake. That saps the confidence of those in front of him - perhaps wrongly expressed by Foran recently. I also agree that we have had a very, very challenging run of games both in regard to the quality of the opposition and the frequency. I also agree that things may be clearer and improved prior to the split and then as is said - anything goes and any team that goes on a run at in with a shout of top three alongside Cellic. Possession football is the name of the game and to me what we have been lacking in is both the ability to attack rapidly and from deep and a worrying lack of support to Mckay when we do. I also feel that we have been utilising the long ball to McKay too much instead of looking to attack from wide positions! seeking out ( or even seeing) some of the fine runs that McKay has been making. That is where we miss the likes of Rankin in the middle and Shinnie in the hole? Playing three in the middle in such circumstances is folly I do not feel that criticism with rationales is summat that should not be posted - and there have been some tactically well driven ones of late - although the personalised "told you so" crepe is futile and embarrassing.

You may also notice in your table that we have one of the best defensive records in the league in that period also, so not turned into the defensive shambles many have claimed. The thing with pretty much any team in the SPL is that by and large they're fairly evenly matched. How often in the past have we seem evidently bigger and more seasoned clubs surge into 3rd one year and then have a stinker the next? People say "Oh but we finished 4th last season and were up top with Butcher" Yes that's true, but the season before that we flirted with bottom, and before that had a strong return to the top flight. Also do people not remember that last season we didn't win in our first 7 games? 5 draws and 2 heavy defeats. People wanted Butcher out, he then took the team to 8 games unbeaten (2 of which are part of the no wins in 7), winning 4 of them. Which also coincided with only losing 1 in 17 (winning 9) Up until the 30th of January we'd only lost 3 games. Twice to Motherwell (4-1, 5-1) and Celtic. We'd won 9, drawn 10 in 22 games. Doing well and everyone was happy. We then lost 7 in 16, Including 4 in our last 5. Only winning 4 in total from January 30th onwards. 2 at home. That run at the end and a final day loss to RC cost us a place in Europe. So to get to the point, perhaps, just perhaps it's not necessarily just down to the manager. We seemed to have developed a habit of doing well early on and being in a good place in January before form deserts us and we fall away. Maybe more down to the fact we have a small squad of players, all made up of free transfers. They have qualities but also limitations. Unless we manage to get a top class team the likelihood of season long consistency is unlikely. Also with a small squad, injuries, suspensions and fatigue all play their part. If someone told me 2 seasons ago that we'd have an average position of 4.5 and still in with a chance at Europe I'd be quite happy. No ecstatic. So stop being typical football fans and be done with these fickle notions.

You may also have observed, Sneckboy, that until Brill came along we were leaking goals on a regular basis, the defence were playing without direction and we never had a keeper that could deal with crosses into the box. That said IHE is correct in his feelings of misgivings about Brill's capabilities with dealing with back passes and clearance kicks but most of the time it is because he is put under huge pressure by the passers back not dealing with the issues themselves or giving him little chance to get to the ball and clear it safely. He has been instrumental to the success we have had this season and I for one still think he deserves his place.

Having studied the Well game I agree that there are a few tactical faux-pas and bizarre selections. Personally I have always had reservations about Brill - he has really good games but his bomb scare moments are not just now and again they are becoming regular. That does not instill confidence in those around him. I can see Esson being drafted in the near future and the acquisition of a keeper has to be one of the summer priorities. I also agree that there appears to be a degree of trying to put a system - especially in midfield - to fit specific individuals. I am surprised by the recent selection of wide players and a lack of consistency in identifying support fer Billy - I am even more surprised as I suspect that this is as much to do with Latapy as it does with Hughes. I will continue to reserve judgement until next season. I just hope that this is a honeymoon period for Yogi and Latapy and that they are bedding in and looking at what extra is needed fer next season. In many ways our current position may actually be good fer us as we now have a bit more leeway to experiment.

Life size cardboard cut outs of Andrew Shinnie.

Red and blue hard boiled sweets. I'm sure they'd be a hit with the mainstanders ;-)

Red and blue stripes with black trim should be our identity. Currently, it is not easy to distinguish our strip at any distance from that of the team who bought over the Rangers franchise.

+1 for Red and Blue vertical stripes. Should always be the case.

Whether it's the 20th anniversary or the 100th anniversary, it should always be stripes IMO. The first kit in '94 really looking back, was a disgrace for a merged club. It really was nothing more than Caledonian kit and while some of the more recent kits still are too blue dominated and don't have enough red (IMO), they're all still better than that first one. I wouldn't be keen on a recreation of that first kit.