ictchris

If Ross County don't win the league from this position then Derek ADams should resign and all their players should retire from football in shame. It would be the worst collapse since MOrton but at least all their players had the excuse of having money on someone else to win the league

I think Gillet has been best at centre-half this season. We've looked most solid with him and Golobart in the middle. I've only seen Gnakpa a couple of times but I wouldn't want him at right back. It was bad enough watching him take five or six touches in United's box last night, I can't even think about him doing it in our box.

The difficulty with a back three is that it has traditionally been the 3-5-2 formation and that formation can result in either your defenders being exposed in wide areas if the wing-backs push on or your wing-backs being pushed back, leaving you hemmed in a 5-3-2, outnumbered in midfield with no width going forward. Also, I don't think the two players you have picked as right and left wing backs are particularly suited to the role, Gnakpa being more of an attacking player and Gillet being more defensive. As well as that, I don't think our midfield are particularly suited to the covering that would be required, although we showed (especially at the second goal) last night that covering runs isn't great no matter if it's four or three at the back. I'm not sure that radically altering formations etc is what's required to get us out of the funk that we have sunk into over the last few weeks. Last night we simply lacked quality going forward, every time we attacked we weren't dynamic enough and lacked pace. Nick Ross was in a pivotal role but simply didn't do anything, he was anonymous and had no snap to his play. We need to have players further up the park, willing to pick the ball up, move it quickly and make themselves available and we just don't seem to have that at the moment, every time we do anything it takes too long, we don't have proper options and things break down. Hopefully Hayes is back fit as he is clearly our best attacking player and main threat. Aside from that, I'd prefer to see Tade play through the middle and Jones getting a chance in midfield.

Absolute garbage. No pace or dynamism going forward, we just look so slow and weak. Without Johnny Hayes we aren't a threat. Esson - Poor clearence for the first goal but had a couple of decent stops. Meekings - Given a torrid time by Mackay-Steven, resorted to stupid fouls on several occasions. Tokely - Beaten in the air for the second goal. Golobart - Second best several times, including at the third goal. Looked rusty and distribution was poor. Gillet - Very slow in his use of the ball, terrible passing. Tansey - Was OK but doesn't stamp his authority on games at all. Foran - Caught out for the first goal. Sutherland - For the first half he was very poor, lacking finesse but perked up during out 'up' spell at 2-0. Ross - Powder puff, slow on the ball, didn't do anything of note. Tade - Set up chance fro McKay but nothing else. McKay - Isolated up front, didn't take right decisions when in good areas at times. We just make stupid errors and play like we are running through wet sand when we attack. We should stay up but big changes are needed. I said to my mate tonight, I can see Butcher leaving by the end of the year. If this form continues into next season, him walking is a possibility. Maybe I am just being pessimistic though - our best defender was coming back from a lay off and our two most creative players (Andy Shinnie and Johnny Hayes) are injured. The latter two fit would make a difference to us.

Go for a Marco Bielsa style all out attack, insane XI -----------------------------Esson----------------------------- ---------Tokely-----------Williams-----------GIllet---------- ---------------------------Jones------------------------------ -------Ross--------------Tansey-------------Foran------ -------Hayes-------------McKay--------------Tade-------- or a Jose Mourinho Inter v Barca, park the bus, hold out lads XI ---------------------------Esson---------------------------- --Piermayr----Tokely----Williams----Gillet----Shinnie-- ----------Morrison---Tansey----Jones----Foran--------- ------------------------------McKay---------------------------

Golobart is still injured but is apparently back in the next few weeks. ------------------------------Esson------------------------------ --Piermayr-----Tokely------------Gillet-------ShinnieG---- ------------Ross---------Jones----------Foran-------------- -------------Hayes-------McKay---------Tade---------------- That's how I think we'll go. To be honest, I'd prefer we didn't go with Tade wide left, I think he's better through the middle. I think OTJ will start in the middle, although it might be Ross who makes way rather than Tansey, with Ross being relatively lightweight for a middle-three.

BBC Subsidy probably think that as we are the furthest North SPL club we have more fans who speak Gaelic, although I'd imagine that the team most Gaelic speakers support is the one currently desperately trying to cover their 'mahone' from HMRC. And I don't mean Hertz.

MON THE BARTFORD EH

Strange game today. We probably had the best of the first half without creating any clear cut chances and were probably unlucky to be a goal down. Right at the end of the first half, Dunfermline won a free kick on the edge of our box, Hardie hit the crossbar and, when we failed to deal with the rebound, Cardle stuck it in the net. Poor defending from us - I thought the free kick was debatable but we really should've cleared it. I wasn't that downhearted at half time as we'd been in this position before in both league and cup at East End this season and come through it. For the first half of the second half though, we were very poor, far too many misplaced passes and unforced mistakes, and Dunfermline were given a few opportunities to increase their lead. In the first half we managed to make the ball 'stick' with our front players but in the second that wasn't happening and we were under increasing pressure. It was frustrating to watch and it seemed that the game was going to slip away from us. Terry Butcher was obviously frustrated as well as he made two changes around this time, with Gnakpa being withdrawn for Billy McKay and Owain Tudur-Jones continued his comeback in place of Shane Sutherland. Both Gnakpa and Sutherland had been poor in the second period and I think that the introductions of McKay and Tudor-Jones made the difference. McKay has been in and out of the team since he joined but what he does give you is good ball retention up front and that was what lead to our equaliser. McKay took the ball into his feet on the edge of the area and held off three Pars players before slipping a clever little ball to Hayes wide on the left. Hayes' cross was superb, driven low to the back post and Nick Ross, who had a lively game, was there to knock the ball home. With Richie Foran playing up front after being moved from midfield as part of the reshuffle following the substitutions we pushed hard for a winner and maanged to exert a lot of pressure without actually creating any clear cut chances. Dunfermline pushed forward as well but like us didn't really get anywhere. Overall, I don't think we can complain about a draw, although we could easily have won had our finishing been better. We played an interesting formation, 4-3-3 but with Nick Ross pushed far forward most of the time. He had a decent game but the problem we had, even when playing well, was a lack of a dangerous striker. Gnakpa isn't bad, I'd like to see him take a few more chances but Shane Sutherland had a poor showing, not using his physical prowess to impose himself and looking unsure in possession as well. McKay coming on made a big difference. Tudor-Jones looked composed and assured in midfield - I think he could be a big player for us the rest of this season. I thougth Richie Foran, again, was excellent in midfield, he is settling into this new role very well and Nick Ross showed promise as an attacking midfielder. Josh Meekings also showed drive from right back. On the negative side, our central defence had an off day, with Proctor looking particularly unsure of himself at points. I wasn't impressed with Greg Tansey, he looks a good player in the way he carries himself and moves with purpose but I didn't think had any valuable end product.

Also, if we get to the top six, we can all go to Ibrox to point and laugh at the crying fat bigots outside as the administrators rip out the copper piping to pay Kyle Lafferty's wages.

CapitalCaley> The Spider's Web is a friendly pub near Haymarket station or you could go up Dalry Road and have a couple in the Dickens Lounge, another classic Edinburgh hostelry. I'm going. to the game not to either of those boozers.

For the supreme Caley away day buy a carry out on Friday night, stick it in the fridge, get the 0650 train South, start drinking at 0651, find the roughest boozer in town that will beopen when you arrive circa 10am and enjoy the carnage.

------------------Esson---------------- --Meekings--Tokely--Gillet--Shinnie-- -----Ross------Tansey----Foran------ ----Hayes-------Tade-------Gnakpa--- Maybe swap out Tade for Winnell

I was considering it but £26 a ticket? What a joke.

The London Road Tavern is an absolute hovel. It also has the worst murals in art history. You know it's bad when you have to have a good look to work out if the painting is of Alan Thompson or Henrik Larson. The Cetlci baseball bat behind the bar is a nice touch though.

Appreciate you probably don't get to many games being in Southampton but Celtic Park is the worst away day. You can actually recreate it in your garden by following these easy steps: 1) Stand at one end of your garden. 2) Place a TV showing the game at the other 3) Place a massive pillar in the way of most of the action 4) Recruit local miscreants to holler indecipherable rhymes about religion, Ireland and themselves. Make sure they are dressed in tracksuits. 5) Get some minimum wage neo-fascists along, stick them in a day-glo coat and get them to act like onanists for two hours. 6) When the game ends, charter a plane to Beirut and walk about there for a hour or so. That's the Celtic Park experience. Having said that, when you win or get a draw from 2-0 down, it's worth it. I'm probably going to come along to this game as it happens

LDZ will not be signing for Partick Thistle.

Tyrone from STV have tweeted that we don't expect to do any business today. Apparently there are also rumours about us signing Darren Mackie that have been denied, thank feck.

Gnasher is pronounced nasher, shurely?

His wikipedia entry is good

He scored 7 goals in 12(9) games for Burton Albion and 2 goals in 5(3) games for Hereford on loan last season and this.

He's been good since he came back this season. Perhaps we will look to cash in and give Gavin Morrison more of a shot in the middle of the park. Owain Tudor-Jones is back in training as well.