AJS

Renegade is correct, OT Jones played holding role in midfield for 3 games before getting crocked.

I decided to take a day to think about what i have to say because i was in need of calming down after what i witnessed yesterday. The confidence in this team is as fragile as it has ever been. Never in my entire life have i seen an ICT team crumble like a freakin digestive as that team did yesterday. At 2-0 i thought we had really turned the corner and were maybe going to push on for more but how stupid was i? Johnny Russell came on and instantly dominated the game bringing it back for United and after that the rest of the game is just a blur. Golobart's OG was a howler yes but Tokely should never have given the ball as easily as he did and Gillet shouldve stood stronger against Russell for the 3rd, yet again individual slackness and lack of confidence has cost us. In terms of tactics i would say Butcher got it wrong. Ive heard that Piermayr was unfit so if thats the case nothing can be done. But putting Davis at right back was the wrong move. Especially against Mackay-Steven who spent the whole game running round him and ultimately getting him sent off. Cox for me would have faired better at right back or Shinnie on and shifting Gillet to center back. The goals were well taken especially Billy McKay's, a wonderful swerving header and if he carries on producing things like that Butcher may well have a decision to make on how to accompany Tade. There is no question about it though, our confidence is as low as it could be imo, even after picking up results we seem to struggle when up against it in games and we dont seem to cope under pressure. This has to be addressed and fast if we are to have any chance of improving. Hogg's injury looked a nasty one. Its ashame becuase he has never had a chance to get to full fitness or form and if he is out for the season imo he would be a massive loss to the defence. Regardless of his length of time out we need at least 1 new defender in January, one of experience and composure if possible, i think its pretty clear though that our defence is not working no matter what is done to change it (which may be a problem in itself). But the quality and depth in quality is defnitely not good enough.

Davis saying in todays P and J that he wants to remain here for the rest of the season.

If it is true he isn't really the type of player we need just now, we have Tansey, OT Jones, Cox and potentially Davis all vying for a spot in midfield for the rest of the season. Think we should be concentrating on improving the quality of our defence.

Going with 3 in defence, with a midfielder at center back against a 4 pronged attack that included Hayes and Shinnie....erm yeah i think he did too.

Esson Meekings, Tokely, Hogg, Gillet Davis, Tansey Hayes, A Shinnie, Foran Tade Subs: Tuffey, Golobart, G Shinnie, Ross, Cox, Sutherland, McKay

Aluko is either deluded or incredibly stupid. He dived and the fact he is trying to defend it is ridiculous. Hope the SFA throw the book at him.

It also gave Gary Teale man of the match and Stephen Thompson got the best rating. Was their man even at the game yesterday? His review was laughable. Its not the first time theyve done this. Earlier in the season when we beat Killie 2-1 they gave Dayton motm, despite the fact he threw a blantant dive to win a penalty and im pretty sure it was the Killie team that got the more favourable rating. What a load of bull.

A well contested game that was fairly even throughout with us just edging it slightly and deservedly. St Mirren started the brighter with Thompson missing an absolute sitter from a corner but not long after a slack piece of defending left Jonny costing through who then squared to Shinnie who rolled it home with ease. Afterwards we seemed to get into our stride, Tansey knocking a shot just wide from the edge of the box and McKay having a goal ruled out, only had one look on TV but i thought it was tight. Id like to know where the 2 minutes of stoppage came from? There were no subs or injuries so i fail to see where the ref found it. Defending was good enough, Thompson was the tallest player on the pitch but was given all the space needed to head home, left me with a bitter feeling but i hoped we would come out fighting in the 2nd half. The players obviously got a good talking too over the break and came out fired up, Davis and Tansey dominating the midfield and Rosscoe and Gillet bombing forward offering support. I Felt Billy McKay struggled to get into his stride but seemed to grow into the game more in the 2nd half. Jonnys goal was a cracker, Tansey picked out Davis who left it for Jonny and he was given the time to curl in an absolute peach from the edge of the box. Dont know if something was bugging Jonny, he seemed very subdued in his celebration. St Mirren huffed and puffed but in the closing stages created very little and i felt the defence looked as strong as it could with their backs against the wall. Butcher brought on Tade who once he took to the pitch ran St Mirren ragged for the last few minutes, didnt deserve to be dropped and hope he is reinstated next week. Few players deserve some praise. Tokely, put up with constant flack but stood strong and did what was required, as did Golobart. Im sure eyebrows were raised at his inclusion but he kept it simple and stayed fairly solid. Tansey i thought was immense, covered every blade of grass, picked out some great passes, was unlucky not to score and did the right thing to set up Jonny. Davis also providing another effortless display. A few bones to pick, one was St Mirren, their challenges at times were very rash and some pretty dangerous. Referee seemed oblivious to this but was more than happy to book Davis for one late challenge. I dont know what had St Mirren's dander up but they were ruff to say the least. The other was Foran, ive tryed to defend him this season but i lost patience with him today, he did little to influence the game, lost posession alot and spent most of his time barking at players for his own mistakes. He cant play out wide, he has lost that yard off pace, it comes with age, think he'd be better suited to the middle. To conclude, happy to be off the bottom, hoping it stays that way, very encouraging signs from both attacking and defending perspectives but we HAVE to build on it.

Me plus 5, bring it.

Disagree, Golobart will be gone in January, as well as Chippendale and i wouldnt be suprised if one or two more go as well, that will free up space that i think Terry will use should he feel the need. The boys on loan wont be here on nothing so that could free up some funding.

He had to say something, no clean sheet all season and im suprised he didnt say it sooner. Im glad he withdrew Tokely from the criticism, Tokely has been the standout in recent weeks and was without question the best player at Tynecastle. Singling out people could go either way. It will either turn players against Terry or it could get the reaction he wants, im looking to Saturday with much anticipation now.

Regardless of Jones's health, if Davis has his loan spell extended it will be him keeping Jones out of the team.

How would that be any different than what happened with the likes of Rooney and Cowie? We are never going to be able to hold on to our best players forever. If a player leaves we replace them, thats the way its always worked and that will never change. And dipping into the loan market this season was out of necessity with all the injuries we had at the start of the season.

Esson Meekings, Tokely, Hogg, Gillet Davis, Tansey Hayes, A Shinnie, Foran Tade Subs: Tuffey, Piermayr, G Shinnie, Cox, Ross, Sutherland, McKay

Which calls into question the quality of our defence.

A modest but truelly brilliant footballer who had terrific prospects as a manager, RIP Gary.

Defence is the biggest problem for me. That was supposed to be our strongest back four out there yesterday and they were feckin abysmal at times. We have no real competition either, our back four were poor yesterday but are defnitely capable of doing better but the likes of Proctor and Golobart are meant to be cover? Get a grip. The managment have to take the fall for this because Tokely and Esson aside this is Terry's defence mainly and it is clearly not up to scratch, i think it needs to be priority in January if the funds are there. Alot of our success over recent years has come from having a solid foundation at the back and was never really tinkered with and when it was it usually proved to be our downfall in games. We are nearly 6 months into the season now on the back of wholesale changes and we still havent found that solid foundation and suprise suprise our main downfall has been poor defending.

Two very different performances either side of half time. 1st half had us attacking Hearts on several occasions, Tade getting his routine 1 on 1 that he passed up and Shinnie cracking the side netting with a great turn and shot. For most of the first half Hearts huffed and puffed but produced very little and Tokely and Meekings in paticular were producing some solid performances, Meekings was especially composed at dealing with Templeton. 2nd half the good old crap defending returned in an astonishing 15 seconds approx. Couple of passes, one punt and suddenly Skacel has all the space and time he needed with everybody looking at each other wondering what went wrong, eejits. We struggled on but won a free kick which was well dispatched by Jonny with Rosscoe catching on his head very nicely. The problem was though we failed to build on the equaliser. Hearts began pressing more and more and sadly Proctor came on just to confuse matters and make life easier for Templeton and then a few moments later Hearts win the game with Jonsson having all the space needed to head home. Points go to Tokely, Meekings and Esson. Tokely gave a solid display at the back, winning his fair share and probably cheesed of with what surrounded him. Also grabbed his goal very nicely. Meekings seems to have a wise head on those young shoulders. Today was a big test for him against Templeton and i thought he coped very well and it was only when he went off that we began to struggle at the back. Think Terrys made a decent find there. Esson also did his best to keep Hearts at bay was again let down by others around him. My qualms for the day go to our midfield who tryed far too hard to impress, Davis looked lost, Tansey got it wrong alot and Tade got very little service and more often than not was feeding of punts. Another goes to the overall quality of our defence. Hogg and Gillet were poor but i know for a fact they can both do better, but we need better quality brought in during January. It baffles me that our managment team is made up of internationally decorated defenders that cant even patch together 1 clean sheet in 16 games.

Think it might be Mikael Antoine-Curier. Trevor Benjamin must win most clubs in a career.

Esson Meekings, Tokely, Hogg, Gillet Davis, Tansey Hayes, A Shinnie, Foran Tade Subs: Tuffey, Piermayr, G Shinnie, Cox, Chippendale, Ross, Sutherland.

Me + 5, first time to Tynecastle.

So who do you think the player is that Butcher was referring to ? Ever heard of a witty thing called sarcasim? And im glad the club is appealing. It would appear we have overwhelming support from other names within the game this time whereas on the previous occasions we've had none. I hope it makes a difference come Thursday.

I beg you to stop DC please, my sides are splitting with laughter

Im very proud to be an ICT fan today, not many teams would go down to 10 men against the Old Firm and stay as solid as we did, Stokes is one of the best strikers in the league but throughout the whole game Celtic were made to work for the chances that came their way and they didnt have that many. Now onto what everyones been talking about. Stephen O'Reilly you must be broken, that has to be the worst card ive ever seen. There was no elbow, no intent to injure Samaras, though i wanted to skelp him for the way he went down. Imo O'Reilly guessed that red card, he had an obscured view and i think his call was based purely on the reaction of Samaras. If thats the case then O'Reilly needs to take a good look at himself and if he has any decency he will admit to getting it wrong...not holding my breath though. After that credit to the boys, i think we all knew what would follow eventually but they did their best to make a game of it. Jonny was my pick of the bunch, defensively he chipped in where needed and was probably our biggest threat on the attack. Thought Josh Meekings did ok as well, this was a big test of his nerve today and i thought he contended with Celtic well. Could prove to be a decent find. Hope the club appeals Tansey's red and more importantly i hope the Panel watching has at least one brain cell between them. Roll on Tynecastle.