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Seeing some comments on here I doubt many will be laughing - most will be bitching about the lack of competitiveness at the top end. It may well be everyone else weakens as well so the status quo remains but looking from the ICT perspective, to trim the wage bill and balance the books going forwards to be sustainable will need tough decisions I feel and that includes fans accepting the club may just be middle championship for a period flirting with play-offs (potentially at both ends). There needs a longer term strategy and efforts that any youngsters are on decent length deals so we don't loose quality prospects for next to nothing.

I’m just contemplating the scenario where the Irn Bru cup final against Raith takes place after he has joined them. Can we appeal against him being cleared of diving?

Yes, let's give the guy the benefit that hes a professional and will do his best for our club out of having integrity. Afterall we had no problem playing other players in the past even when signing PCA such as Shinnie.

Keatings was a signing that I was quite impressed by when he first arrived, a guy who in the past had issues but was talented and I really hoped he would have something to prove and become a bit of a coup. Unfortunately while being consistent, he's not really set the world on fire and a departure that frees up funds. I suspect there will be more away either on PCA or not renewed - its interesting that some fans still think there are pots of cash to lure players, it'll be a real awakening over the summer when us (and other clubs) trim right back and I expect the 21/22 starting team will have a lot more youngsters.

Must...resist...urge...to make jokes about their coaches...

I agree, and I was being critical last night watching the game as I want us to do well. Unlike others, I don’t think there is any evidence of players not trying. Last night Dundee had a game plan that pressed us back and didn’t give us space. Due to that we lost the midfield battle and struggled to create anything. That resulted in long balls being played which promptly resulted in us not keeping possession and getting pressed back again. We need to decide who our target man is, if indeed we are playing with one, and then build the team and formation to support that. We’ve had Sutherland, Storey, Todorov and even Keatings playing as lone striker, with mixed success. Sutherland is better up top than out wide, and with our injuries we should use Storey’s pace by playing him wide. Looking at this season compared to last season, I think there are a number of areas we are weaker. I like Duffy and he is developing into an important player for us, but he is not yet as effective as Rooney. We will see more from him next season. We are also missing Walsh and injuries to Doran and McDonald have meant we have had to play players wide who are not naturally wide players (such as Sutherland and Mackay). Dare I say it, we are also missing White, as whilst he got mixed reviews here, he was a nuisance to defenders and was our top scorer. Add to that the injuries, particularly those to Carson, Toshney and Doran, the turmoil behind the scenes with the issues faced by Robbo and Kells, the run of postponements (our form was better before the postponements started than it has been since), the number of youngsters being used (which is a positive in the longer term), of course the pandemic impact and the changes that has brought, and the financial position we are in, not forgetting that many of us on here were already hoping at the start of the season that we would simply have a club at the end of the season, and there is some inevitability that we would struggle to meet our expectations this season. There is still time to go on a run and challenge for a play off place, as Queen of the South have shown, but currently we need to focus on getting points and steering our way out of trouble at the bottom. We have three games ahead that are winnable, but equally we could lose some or all of them. We will know by 2200 next Friday which battle we are in! I agree with Naelifts, now is the time to show our support, not just to the players but to Robbo, Kells and McCann.

This is a season for surviving, rebuilding and getting youngsters in. The first of those three is most important.

Very disjointed first half and slack defensively. Dundee weren’t really that good as they should’ve won by a few more goals. Expected a lot more from the team. But maybe expectations too high for this season.