CaleyD

Really? I thought Norway were the more likely to take something. Huffing and puffing ain't threatening. They knew our game plan and snuffed it out. End of day they had more chances...despite the fact we had more possession. Whatshisface Iwojima will never again pull on a Scotland shirt. Offside, blind linesman, perfect ball along the deck, 6 feet out, no keeper, no defenders, middle of the goal, skew it wide...a You Tube classic! I should have perhaps said "if it had been our day". It could easily have been 3-0, 0-3, 3-3....but had we got some breaks (and put that sitter in the net) then I think we were playing well enough to have deserved the 3 points. We certainly did more and played better than I had expected.

Very frustrating, but the team put on a great performance. "on another day" we'd have walked that game by 3 goals or more.

Mixed feelings on this for me. Whilst I'm not upset at the points on the board, and think we are about where I would have hoped/expected us to be, I do think that the "performance" on the park hasn't been what I expect from an ICT team....Kilmarnock game aside. Had we played every game with the same spirit as was shown against Killie we may or may not have more points on the board, but I would at least be satisfied that we'd given our all to get what we have. We can't turn the clock back and do anything about games already played, so I just hope that as we go through the season we see more and more of what we saw against Killie and that progress is being made.

Only about 400 of them, which kept a couple of the mods busy whilst the rest of us were downing pints in the Innes I've sent you a PM explaining the situation since you've been AWOL.

No it's not, it's about a thread that was already being discussed elsewhere being closed and the person ebing redirected to the existing topic.

It feels like we have had more than normal in the past couple of season, although that's gut feeling and not based on any analytical evaluation of the situation. It could perhaps just be a result of SPL football being altogether more physically demanding, which is why I opened the topic up for discussion as other people may be better placed to give opinions than me. I think you have anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments in all joints.

As I said though, are we concentrating too much on the fitness, and not enough on the strength?....hence the reason we might have guys who can run about for 90 minutes without too much effort, but they can't win feck all in the air (Black being the ironic exception against Killie) and are overpowered easily on set pieces etc.

Is it just me, or do we seem to have suffered a lot more injuries since Craig Brewster has been manager (both spells)? I'm no expert on these things, but we're always told that Athletes/Sportsmen who push the limits of their physical ability or are "highly tuned" in terms of fitness etc are more prone to injury and I was just wondering if that's why we seemed to be suffering more in this department. Brewster obviously has the team far fitter than any other manager has ever achieved, but it looks like we are paying the price for that on the injury front and I sometimes wonder if they are perhaps being pushed too far. We've had a whole plethora of injury types, but shoulder injuries seem to be the one which dominate. Could this be a sign that upper body work/strength is being sacrificed for speed and mobility?...and could that be why some of our players sometimes look a bit lightweight in the challenge or when they're being muscled off the ball? Please, let's not turn this into another "Brewsters Crap, let's sack him" thread, it's a genuine question/concern and I'd prefer a sensible and constructive discussion on it.

I think you are probably right, but as they say in Excel: =IF((?20*4,000)<(?10*5,000),?20,?10) In other words, the club gets a lot less money if they cut prices! Surely you mean =IF((20*4000)>(10*5000),20,10) ???

There's always more that can be done, and things should be under constant review....hopefully as things start to pick up again in terms of communication between club and fans then ideas will be better shared etc.

See "UPCOMING EVENTS" Thread sticked at the top of the forum.

You'll find 101 reasons for this. You will get a lot of "neutrals" who just want to go and see a "big" game, you will get people with restricted finances who maybe only make 2 or 3 games a season and choose the "bigger" games. You will get an element of who are more inclined towards one of the big two and fancy coming along to watch etc. I don't hold with slating these people or calling them part-time supporters...would you rather we only got a gate of 3500 for these games too and they stayed away? What should be happening is that they should be made welcome and steps should be made to encourage them back again for the less attractive fixtures. It's also not as big a swing in home crowd as your figures suggest. Your St Mirrens, Falkirks etc will bring a couple of hundred fans to a stand that can hold more than 10 times that. So when Rangers and Celtic fill it you immediately have an increase of 2000+ people on the attendance. This leaves only 1000-1500 seats being taken up by home fans who don't attend regularly, neutrals and those who are OF fans who couldn't get a ticket for their own end.

A Poster on each turnstile and/or handing out leaflets with ticket stubs would ensure most, if not everyone that goes in to the stadium is made aware of the event.

As harsh as it may sound I thought we were wrong to have extended his deal by 6 months when we did, especially when we were on the brink of announcing an operating loss of over ?400,000 and when it should have been more important for the club to be shoring up the contracts of other players. No idea how much Paatelainen was earning, but hopefully, as others have said, it gives us a bit more to play with when looking at deals for the likes of Black, Vigurs etc.....the younger guys who are not only the future of the team, but have the potential to move on elsewhere and net the club a decent return to invest in the next batch to come through the ranks.

Some of the requested "Heart" graphics for the ladies are now in the shop (they were last night, I just never got around to posting the fact in here) Is that a request for a "catching flies" t-shirt?

Fans expect certain things from certain players. We know what each is capable of when on form and how the can be when form dips. For that reason I think players such as Duff, Vigurs, Imrie etc who are young guys or guys making the step up get cut a little more slack as we all realise that they aren't (yet) the "finished article" and we've perhaps not seen the best and worst of them. I'd also say that I far rather a situation where we (the fans) were being a little patient as opposed to the type of dogs abuse which was dealt to Rory from day one and has, IMO, all but destroyed his confidence....and as a result we may never see/get the best from him in the first team.

I was adamant he wasn't offside until i went through it frame by frame and I have to now say that it was pretty damn close.

A couple of Tongue in Cheek designs aimed at our neighbours over the bridge. I've had a request for some graphics that are more geared towards use by the ladies, and they are in the system for approval now.

Easier if you create a folder in the gallery section, if you can't work out how give me a shout.

And I'm sure Johndo (IHE) will be along fairly shortly to deliver an extra special welcome. Welcome to the forum.

What difference does it make?

Tough call on Imrie and McBain.....McBain is stronger in the middle, but I think Imrie is a bigger attacking threat and would support Barrowman more effectively when pushing forward.

Liking the look of that lineup. If we play Vigurs wide and Cowie inside, likewise McBain wide and Imrie inside, then it'll be what I've been shouting for in the last few weeks.

Will you lot behave!!!

The one position which concerns me least at the moment is Goalkeeper. Yeah, Fraser has made his mistakes, but he's also saved our bacon on far more occasions than he's cost us. We also have a very capable keeper in Esson who will be desperate to get his chance if Fraser should be rested for whatever reason. I wouldn't be busting a gut to go after Brown or anyone else and would be concentrating money and effort on tying up players like Black on deals that will continue to reward them for their efforts and keep them here for a couple of years yet...if not longer. We'll have a bit extra to play with when the new Setanta deal kicks in, and perhaps the club could look to offer deals which are heavy at the back end (there's a term for it that I can't quite remember) to entice them to stay.