ictchris

I always enjoy reading these threads to see what you'll come up with. I see the 3-3-3-1 is out the window now we have Djebi-Zadi in the Platini role!

If we score in the last ten minutes you'll be fine, most of the 'loyal' fans are in the car park by that point. I am going, can't wait.

I'm about to do the preview.

There were about 125 at Morton, surely we'll get 200-250?

There is a train from Grahamston to Edinburgh at 2222 and another one at around midnight I think.

I really hate Spurs.

I don't think Brewster should be sacked. What would sacking him achieve? We have a decent group of players and have slipped towards the bottom of a tight league. As I said in another post tonight, the main issue with our season so far is the inability to hold onto leads at home and the fact that we have consistently come out second best in tight matches. I think this is due to the fact that we have a relatively inexperienced squad and that we need the players who have experience to step up and provide on the field leadership. In terms of team selection, can anyone honestly say that Brewster is making such huge errors of judgement that he needs to be fired? Today we lined up with what is our strongest defence, we had two wide players in Cowie and Imrie who are capable of getting forward and providing a threat, our two regular central midfielders and our two top scoring strikers who combined well last week to score. Would another manager have set the team up differently? I don't think so. When it comes to signings, I think that the players Brewster has brought in are doing pretty well - Adam Rooney has impressed when I've seen him, Dougie Imrie is clearly one for the future and Barrowman is adjusting to thsi level but has shown promise in some of his displays. We do need more experience but the fact is we tried to sign several seasoned defenders but were priced out of the market. Brewster has also tried to bring in some of the young players from the Under 19s and reserves with Jamie Duff, Iain Vigurs and Garry Wood showing promise. We haven't had as many players from our youth set up in the first team at any other time since we came into the SFL - I think this is a good thing but it also causes it's own problems, i.e. inconsistency. We are in for a difficult season but I think that sacking the manager is something for when there are obvious, intractable problems at a club - look at Juande Ramos who just got binned by Spurs. To my mind we do not have intractable problems with our manager, we are going through a difficult spell and have found it difficult to pick up results. Looking forward there are two ways this can go - we continue playing well and begin to find the steel necessary to turn single goal defeats in draws and wins and progress or we start playing poorly and become embroiled in a sustained relegation fight. Either way, to fire the manager now would not be the best decision at this time.

No-one who posts that they have insider information has insider information. The internet has allowed legions of fools to post 'inside' information that they heard in the pub. It's all bollocks - look at any clubs message board and it's chock full of attenion seekers who claim to have the inside track.

Everytime there is a free kick in a decent position for Cowie to take it, imrie jumps in and takes it and always misses the target! Cowie is a much better free kick taker and finisher, Imrie is just poor and a liability for getting sent off all the time. Imrie should be on the bench at the most! But Brewster is to scared to do that, cause he'll run straight to the press like he did a few weeks ago when he got left out! Imrie's only been booked four times since he signed for us and the only time he's come close to being sent off is last week when I thought he committed quite a few fouls. Of course, he was also probably our best player last week, maybe he needs to kick a few more opponents. I like Imrie - he is a bit of a rough diamond but he gives us a bit of pace, persistance and drive down either flank. I doubt anyone cares that he spoke to the press saying he was pissed off to be left out. edited to remove a word from one of the quotes Chris (AM)

I didn't see the game today, you'll notice that my post doesn't actually refer to today's game in any way, just to general points over a season. Cowie had a good game last week, he is also a goal threat from midfield and a threat from set pieces. Wood is far better than Rory - again he had a good game last weekend. I presume when Rooney came off Imrie pushed up alongside Wood and Vigurs slotted in for Imrie?

What's interesting is that we aren't obviously falling well short in any particular area. We haven't conceded more than two goals in any game, we haven't lost by more than one goal, our defence is either as good as or better than half the leagues and we outwith the Old Firm only two sides have scored more goals than us. I think the problem is that while we don't obviously fail anywhere we don't seem to have the fortitude to grind out results. We haven't been ouclassed in any of our matches this season (except for periods in the game at Tannadice where United were clearly superior) yet we have lost six out of ten league matches. We have a younger squad than at any stage since we've been in the SPL - from today's squad six were 24 or under (Duff, Black, Barrowman, Rooney, Vigurs and Wood) and we have more youngsters involved regularly in the first team than at any other time since we were elected to the SFL. Add to this the fact that we have players older than the guys above who don't have a great deal of experience uin the SPL (Imrie, Fraser and Cowie for example) and we have a situation were we need real leaders in the squad. Guys like Russell Duncan, Grant Munro, Roy McBain and Phil McGuire need to start dragging our players to the next level. From what I have seen in away games we don't lack talent. Regarding substitutions I think they are severely over analysed on this board. It's easy to say 'if player a came on at time b then we would have had result c' but football rarely works like that. For example, when Brewster pulled Blackie off at Tynecastle (steady) everyone went apeshit - if Black had stayed on we wouldn't have been any more likely to win that football match. If you want to analyse substitutions then I think there's a better case for Brewster using substitutes very well this season - against Falkirk away we won with goals created and scored by substitutes that Brewster brought on, against Morton in the cup both goals that took us through were set up by substitutes that Brewster brought on, against Dundee Utd the introduction of Barry Wilson and Adam Rooney saw us come right back into contention for a result were it not for a linesmans flag we'd have got a point and against Celtic Rooney set up a goal within five minutes of coming on as a substitute.

Third time in six home games this season we have taken the lead and not won the game.

According to BBC Black is injured but John Robertson said on the open all mics he was surprised to see Black go off. 2-1 Well.

1-1 Porter

Goal came from a 'Well corner? Like it.

Conditions sound terrible.

--------------------Fraser---------------------- --Tokely----Duff--------Munro-----Hastings-- ---Cowie----Duncan----Black------Imrie---- --------------Wood-------Rooney--------------

The league reminds me a bit of our first season when four teams went into the final day of the season with the possibility of being relegated. We were embroiled in it until mid-January when we went on a great run and pulled away, almost making the top six. The only team I could see ending up marooned would be Accies - after a good start they have lost six of their last seven in the SPL and look like making it seven from eight against Rangers this afternoon.

Yeah, think so. That 2-1 game against Livingston still sticks in my throat a bit, we should have had that won by half time. Pretty poor that there is no bus running, especially with the decent ticket prices. How many buses do we take to a normal SPL game?

Stoke will only buy him if he grows four inches and learns how to launch a throw-in sixty yards.

Daily Record Story It seems that the new owners aren't honouring debts incurred under the previous regime. The former website administrator has taken them to court and could possibly freeze the clubs bank accounts over ?1,600 he is owed. On Pie and Bovril, the guy in question has posted several times on the link below, along with another fan who is due money. P&B Thread on subject It seems that Livingston are constantly in the news for these sort of financial shenanagins. From Kachoul being signed as a shamateur, to Pearse Flynn refusing payment to Dorado, to this - not to mention the previous regimes of Bill Hunter and Dominic Keane which collapsed due to huge financial problems. It would be easy to gloat but most smaller clubs in Scotland have faced these issues, including ourselves. However, none seem to have been as consistently involved in financial crises as Livingston. If they are witholding payments to their own fans then perhaps the Rubicon has been crossed and, to mix a good metaphor, the writing is now on the wall.

I went to our CIS quarter final against Livingston a few years back and there was a pretty decent crowd down. Surely we can pull a few in for this? I'll be there.

Good post.

Headed goals this season: Hastings v Morton Black v Killie Headed goals last season (from memory): Tokely v Motherwell - ??? Wyness v Aberdeen Proctor v Celtic McAllister v Gretna Tokely v Gretna

Four defenders is not too many. If you played three at the back with wing backs you would have three central defenders in a smaller area than before, meaning more likelihood of them getting in each others way.