ictchris

Watkins and Doran were brilliant last night.  Why didn't we play that system in previous games?

If Hughes does want to play like a Spanish side, we should play like Atletico.

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2014/01/10/atletico-madrid-proving-tackling-can-be-a-quality/

Also, emphasising possession over all else, which is what Hughes does, is out of date and negative.  Keeping hold of the ball, no matter what, is negative - you are putting preventing the opposition scoring at the heart of your game, if they don't have the ball they can't score.  The issue is that not being Barcelona we aren't good enough to keep the ball, so put ourselves under pressure and end up knocking it long and/or giving away stupid goals by putting ourselves under pressure.  Emphasising pressure over position on the pitch also means that our attacking players don't get the ball near the opposition goals - look how isolated Mckay is most games now.  It's no surprise that he's hardly scored since the turn of the year.

Pressing high up the pitch, putting pressure on opponents and getting the ball into dangerous areas had us as one of the best teams in Scotland, with a deadly striker and some excellent attacking performances.  Now we are anything but that, we are soft touches.  The team selections and the quote that we are going to 'play down the middle' is just baffling.  There is no part of the pitch that is better to play through, you play to your strengths.  We have excellent players who can attack from wide areas - Nick Ross, Marley Watkins, Aaron Doran.  In the last few games at least two of those have been left on the bench while we string central midfielders across the park, who are told to keep the ball with each other at all costs, so we get pushed back, we turn backwards, we hit it long and lose the ball without threatening. 

Leo Strauss was a famous political philosopher who taught at the University of Chicago.  In the 1950s he came up with his famous term 'reductio ad hilterum', which means that if you try to argue against an opponent by comparing their viewpoint to that of Hitler or the Nazis, you've lost the argument.

I think we should introduce a similar rule when it comes to football management and tactics called 'reductio ad Guardiola' or 'reductio ad Barca'.  Barcelona can play the way they do because they have the best players in the world playing for them. If we had midfielders as good as Xavi and Iniesta then emphasising possession, keeping the ball and moving it would be a great tactic.  We don't have Xavi and Iniesta.  Barcelona's tactics aren't a valid comparison for most other clubs in the world and they certainly aren't for a club in the SPL.  It's nonsense and painful to read the manager of our club saying things like that.  It reminds me of the rubbish Alex Smith used to come out with when he was managing County - "I like small forwards, we play the right way, pass and move".  All teh while sucking the life out of the club and achieving nothing.

When it comes to being educated, when John Hughes took over this side he'd never managed a team as good as us.  His Falkirk sides were never as good as we were in the first part of this season, neither were his Hibs side really.  His Hartlepool team were relegated and his Livingston side bimbled away in the lower leagues.  He is the one who needs to be educated by what our side achieved at the start of the season. 

He's a dreadful manager, awful appointment.  We are going exactly the same way that his previous clubs did - no cutting edge, terrible home form, bafflement from the manager.  We'll be 11th or 12th by Christmas next year, if we don't sack him quickly enough it'll be goodnight Vienna.

Will we win again this season?

Quite a few of the pubs around Parkhead will have made a fortune today.  We went to a snooker club round the corner, mobbed.

Very negative performance from us, we didn't really create a clear chance in two hours of football.  All we did was hook balls over the top to McKay and while he worked hard he couldn't  do anything with them.  We defended very well, aside from the spell around the point when they hit the post I didn't think Aberdeen threatened us.

It's disappointing that the best chance we'll probably get in a long time to win a cup we didn't put any pressure on Aberdeen, and if we had they were there for the taking.

I don't know what I just watched.  Every touch was off, every pass misplaced, tackles mistimed, defense was disorganised.  Just an utter shambles.

United didn't actually do much in the first half but we handed them three goals with mistakes and bad decisions.

NOt sure where Foran was supposed to be playing but he needs to be deeper IMO.  Against good teams we can't play the way Hughes is trying - it's one thing to beat County and Stranraer but we need to be smarter against an in-form United.

Is that Tansey suspended for the final, cup red card?

Can't see us doing anything next week, our defence has collapsed.

They hardly took that many fans to the last derby.  Get them relegated, it'd be funny.

We can't have some crappy government agency on our shirts.  The only thing that would be worse would be some sort of right-on politically correct social enterprise. 

We should start canvassing arms manufacturers and tobacco companies, IMO.

We need to follow some simple rules for sponsorship.

Foreign sponsors are the best, especially if they have foreign names.

Food products are to be avoided at all costs - do you want to walk about with 'Seriously Strong Cheddar' on your top?

Domestic alcohol is off limits but weird foreign bevvy is excellent - Carling/Blackthorn for Rantic makes their fans look even more trampy whereas Kejan is cool for Everton.

A big company with kind of an enigmatic name is best - I loved having One Touch as a sponsor.

Is there going to be a singing section?

This is the third time this season that United have had a lunchtime kickoff in the Highlands and they also had a midweek fixture here in the league cup.

When are ours going on sale and is there going to be a designated singing section?

Considering getting a train from Edinburgh to Inverness thena  football special down just for the train anarchy.  #anarchy #awaydays #amf

Aye, set up a PayPal account that we can stick cash into.

I'm assuming a massive Union Jack is what we are going for? #flaggate

I've got a shift swap.

I might not get my shift off

 Tansey has a decent shot on him

I doubt we'll get anywhere with an appeal for Meekings, even though it was a definite yellow.  I don't think the SFA like over-ruling their refs, although they've rescinded two of that ref's reds so far this season.

I thought we picked the right XI when I saw it - Ross has been inconsistent and Vincent, Tansey and Draper are all solid, expierenced players.  I think Yogi thought we could impose ourselves on Hearts and run over the top of them.  We started very well, dominating the midfield and pushing Hearts back - Draper had what looked like a great opportunity but he was stretching with his wrong foot and put it over.  Hearts were trying to play on the counter and managed to mount some attacks but didn't really threaten us, at least in the initial stages.

As the half got towards 20 minutes or so we stopped being effective and the game became scrappy in the middle.  Our midfield three weren't on top of enough and Hearts kind of hustled and pushed their way into the game.  They didn't really create any clear cut chances but had a couple of shots from distance, a header about two feet wide and got into some good positions.  It was pretty frustrating for us not to be able to press home our early superiority but we managed to create a good opening for McKay, who tested McDonald from an angle towards the end of the half.

We started the second half the way we did the first, on top and focusing most of our play down our right, where Watkins was very impressive.  We were crossing the ball into the box but McKay couldn't buzz onto the end of much and it looked as though we weren't going to take advantage.  That changed when Vincent tangled for the ball on the edge of the box and it rolled back to Tansey, who arrowed in a drive from 20 yards, a tremendous hit.  It was the sort of the goal that Steven Gerrard scores, a peach.  At that point we were in control and I would have backed us to go on and win.

Hearts came back, which was inevitable, and pressured us.  A clumsy collision between Shinnie and Warren (I think) put Hearts right midfielder clean in on goal but Brill made a great stop and the header was cleared off the line.  However,  shortly after that we were dealt a double blow when Warren was sent off for a second booking and after he trudged off the free kick was worked for Jamie Hamill to rattle it into the net.  Yogi did the obvious and took off a winger for a centre half (Doran for Devine) but a minute or so later Hamill curled in a second free kick, a beauty into the top corner. 

It was absolutely gutting at this point for Caley fans.  We hadn't played well but I think we had been the better side and to lose two goals and a man to set pieces was a massive blow.  Personally, I was pretty despondant and didn't think we'd manage anything back.  Meekings forced Hamill into a cracking save when he powered a header in from Tansey's corner and McKay also threatened with a header.  We hadn't won a match from a losing position all season, I think, and I was basically resigned to defeat.  The horrible feeling was compounded by shocking time wasting, diving and feigning by Hearts players. extremely frustrating to see.  We pushed forward but weren't able to do anything and when we went down to nine men, when Meekings was red-carded for a trip to stop Hearts getting a breakaway I was certain we were for it.  It wasn't a red card if you ask me, he tripped his opponent inside the Hearts half with players covering so it wasn't a clear goalscoring opportunity and it wasn't violent conduct, ie a kick.  Our players were seething at it but it looked like we'd end the match howling at the injustice of it all and doing little else.

Somehow we managed to get one last ball into the box and in the scramble Nick Ross, who'd actually done well when introduced I thought, squirmed the ball home past McDonald.  It was a surreal moment, where I was sitting it looked like the ball was in the side netting and I thougth it was until Ross ran to our fans and someone launched a smoke bomb onto the pitch   That was it for 90 minutes and we had the bizarre prospect of playing 30 minutes with nine men.

We did this very well.  Draper and Devine are about as makeshift a centre-back pairing as you could ask for but defended brilliantly, Draper was unorthodox but unpassable.  We brought on Tremarco, who was solid and dangerous going forward, and then had Tansey, Ross, and Watkins sitting in the middle with McKay up front.  We sat behind the ball and invited Hearts to test us, there isn't really much else to be done in this sort of situation.  It was a strange spectacle, like a defence v attack training match.  Hearts seemed burst from the equaliser and didn't offer much.  Nick Ross and Billy McKay even managed to eke out a few half chances for us but we were going for penalties.

It was noticeable that when the final whistle blew, Hearts players sank down but our players celebrated, we were the positive side mentally at this point.  Shinnie hit a poor penalty but that was followed up by an equally pish one from the on-loan striker.  Our following penalties from Tansey, Ross, McKay and Draper were perfect and it was Jamie Hammil, man of the match, two goal hero and 'streetwise professional', who had his saved bh Brill, a fantastic diving stretch.

It was absolutely remarkable, an insane game.  I wasn't drinking before it, or last night, and I just feel a buzz, I'm shaking even now.  The only big, do-or-die game we've ever won was the Clyde match to secure promotion in 2004, we're the sort of side who ploughs thought rather than wins crunchers.  It's just a remarkable achievement.  I'm normally not someone to give this sort of thing too much credence but I thought our spirit carried us on today.  To play with the discipline and control we did for thirty minutes and then to hold our nerve in the shoot-out was really driven by the togetherness of the group.  We maybe should have beaten Hearts anyway, given our sides but we managed it because of how the team worked for each other and themselves I think.

He's a long way to go to beat Paul Slane in Twitter faux-pas'.

Mark Carney visits Edinburgh - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-25930075

A sterling currency zone would be like any other international agreement - you give up some sovereignty for benefits gained.  It's up to people to judge if the benefits are worth the sacrifice.  I'm not sure that independence with another country deciding your monetary policy is exactly worth it.