bdu98196

Just now we are suffering from a thin squad and having Foran out injured, the games he played in that we lost and infact all the games bar the M'well game we deserved more than the results show. County have been lucky with al players staying fit and bringing in new faces who have had an instant impact - had they got Vigurs, Brittan, Sproule injured than it would be a significantly weaker team just like us without Foran. TB has to work out on Sat how to deal with that horrendous pitch - I'm confident he has a plan and starting with 3 pts tonight and a draw on Sat will do nicely keeping us in 'pole position'.

Naelifts Im sure we will.

Warren & Meekings - yes we have conceded goals, but I think over the season they are developing more awareness as a unit. Its up to the others to force their way in or prove they are good enough in the case of injuries or suspension. While I'd like to say Hogg he not only has to get match fit but prove his capability after being out so long.

Just shows how effective Zaliukas was

County's run has been good since the winter break, no disputing that - but Sproule is one factor and his excelelnt form since signing but also how much is driven by the home results which I think the awful pitch has a huge influence, so much sand the ball hardly moves or bounces and visiting teams struggle to adapt. Hopefully we don't get caught out.

Its deluded for those fans to believe they have a big club, it may have more finance than ICT, but being honest in terms of English football Swindon is a small club, if TB moves it would be for a club that at least has EPL potential - the Barnsley situation showed that IMO. Are Swansea not the team where the ex-manager Di Canio paid 30k of his own money to fund loan players salaries - hardly a club with a sure financial footing.

Not signing BW was a good move IMO. Killie are just keeping Boyd match fit for him returning to the orcs in Sept. He almost said as much on the radio yesterday.

Always said that the Motherwell game was going to be the hardest of the run in and all the rest were win-able, lets hope that this is the start of another run and cement top 6. Assuming there are no calls for TB to be sacked this wk then?

Must not laugh at others misfortune..........

......and me

Bye bye Andy Driver - offski to the States to play, combined with Zaliukas out, must give us a good chance now!!!

Same again but keen to see Rugero play instead of Esson. If Foran is back he replaces Ross. Pepper, Ross & Sutherland to get a run out perhaps for Foran, Doran & McKay after 60 mins (depending how the game is going). Hearts were poor in the cup semi and have Zaliukas out for the rest of the season, so should be weaker in defence as their wknd result suggets. We go with Warren man marking on Ngoo as he is the only real threat. Its not broke, regardless of the last few results and I dont think it needs 'fixing' - played well against Killie & St Mirren yet never took what we deserved, better against Celtic than the score suggets, played poor against Hearts yet still only lost on pens, never saw the Killie cup game and Well have the measure of us it seems. This is the start of a set of winnable games til the split.

Today is the hardest game imo. All very winnable just need to watch the new manager effect at united but i see no reason not to be top 6 easily at the split.

Sooner or later with the chances we are creating and the way we are playing someone will get ripped apart like the united game which kick started the last run. Why not today?

TB has a point, its been discussed before on here - 2nd in the League, attractive football but folks dont turn out to support. A midweek game isnt a good example though, but we really deserve more. However looking at the comments on BBC sport citing the stadium is too far from town, its cold, its wet, its windy - this sort of mindset you will never change. Generations would rather glory hunt being OF fans than support the local guys - this needs to change with the next generation!!! This year I'm gutted to be living away from the area and missng so many games, but I make a concerted effort to attend home or away whenever I can - if anything making more effort than ever before because our play has been so entertaining.

For me, its Shinniesta - his level of vision, touch and general play is ahead of anyone else in the team and has developed significantly over his time at ICT. He hasn't scored as many as Billy, but he is involved in everything positive going forwards our team does and never neglects his duty to track back - clearly a team player and gives his all for the cause. Other notable mentions are Foran, McKay and Jones.

Hopefully its worth watching form our perspective, think its rerun again about 10.30pm - perfect viewing when getting in from the pub!!!

Really? Have to disagree there, we have certain players who are better than Killie have such as Shinnies, Doran for creativity but around the other areas the players are similarly matched at best and thats with Killie having several players out such as Bell & Sheridan. But we don't play on paper thankfully..............what we have is workload and effort combined with developing talents.

Sounds from the above posts it was a dominant Caley performance, but ultimately that counts for little unless you score goals - Ref Celtic beating Barca but only 11% of the ball. Sadly its about converting chances and for Billy perhaps the winter break came at the wrong time as he looks lacking in confidence infront of goal (based on the games I've seen recently - not last night). We were perhaps fortunate that we had 3 players all hitting form and scoring together (Foran, Shinniesta, McKay) but with injuries to Foran and Shinnie not 100%, it shows the lack of depth we have - we need someone to start scoring again soon as we just don't have the quality to draft in a replacement although with Shanes physical presence I'd like to see him get a chance playing more forward to win and hold up the ball. Still sitting 2nd which is way beyond expectations for this far into the season, not all doom & gloom but some tough games coming up - Motherwell, Hearts, D Utd, County but all are winnable, just need to start by putting our Motherwell hoodoo this season to bed!!!

Cammy Bell is injured for tonight, so Plan A has to be to pepper their goal with shots as he commonly has been the difference in games.

While comments regarding the personality of the player may or may not be factual, as a paying customer(s) we the fans have a right to make comment on a players performance if its deemed to be below that which is accaptable. This includes when a player looks dis-interested, lacks motivation, looks to put in a lack of effort compared to his team-mates - those are facts and I'm sure many of those who have raised these comments also post positive comments when players perform well - as do the fans at the game giving players standing ovations etc, such as after the cup semi loss, nobody left early and EVERY player go appriciated. At no point do I recall anyone on thsi thread suggesting 'boo'ing' a player is acceptable and most posters will condem this behaviour.

I know, Hooper only wishes he was as good as Billy, top scorer in his domestic league and even has an international cap........

Any idea what the situation will be with BBC Alba since they had rights to broadcast the game live when originall scheduled, is that deal still vaild or will the best be an evening re-run?

I was surprised by the BBC highlights, seemed somewhat biased to Celtic, perhaps thats an indication that although we had a lot of 2nd half play we never actually threatened the goal. The ommision of the penalty incident at 2-1 seemed odd,they discussed trival non-penalty incidents in other games, but not in ours where McKay/Doran (cant rcall which now) was pulled down infront of goal - Personally I would have thought it was worthy of a 2nd look. The highlights make the game look highly one sided, however on balance of play I dont think Celtic were as dominat as portrayed.

I disagree that Celtic team yesterday was guff and we all know it - Stokes, Miku, Rogic, Gershon they are all poor compared to Hooper, Wanyama, Brown, Forrest etc - as I posted elsewhere I'm glad NL never started with Watt. As for the boo's, I never noticed tham but suspect the player that they were directed at. Now I disagree with the boo'ing of a player but the lack of effort IMO when on the pitch was worthy of it, if he was boo'd entering the picth based on the cup history then thats unacceptable. When you see a team of players bursting to get back in a game, the last thing you expect is a player to be casually strolling around the park expecting the ball to be played to him compared to other forward players who on several occaions were defending open play back at the 18 yard line.