DoofersDad

Think the thread went OTT with the first post. Second poster got it bang on IMHO

Top six will all take lots of points off each other so if we can get a good run together we can still at least equal last season's position and perhaps even go one better. But in order to do that we have got to score more goals. It's all very well trying to keep a clean sheet but at the moment we are shakey at the back and are giving away goals. If you are not scoring at the other end, there is more pressure on the defence and it makes them more nervous. In any case, it doesn't matter how good you are defensively, a bit of attacking brilliance can always undo you. All the other 5 teams in the top six have players who on their day are capable of seriously harming the opposition's goals difference. If we are going to get a string of good results it has to be on the back of a recognition that we are going to concede and therefore we simply have to be more adventurous up front. It sounds as though young Polworth has led the way today by having the courage to have a go when the opportunity arose. We have a number of players who have a good shot on them and we need to be looking to score. A bit more width gives the opportunity to get behind defences and opens up the middle for long range shooting. We are now at the stage of the season where winning is far more important than not losing and we need to set up to score goals. St Mirren desparately need to get something out of the match on Saturday and will be short on confidence. We really need to use them as target practice and get our goal scoring confidence back. Lets take up on Saturday where Polworth left off tonight and get them shooting boots on. A good attacking approach and a good win could get us back on track for a good end to the season. If we don't make it to the top 3 or even 4th, then let's at least play attractive attacking football in trying.

Looks like 4th is the best we can hope for but 6th seems more likely than 4th at the moment, Hopefully a more adventurous line up in future games might see some results - but on the other hand! Get in there!

But non-iron shorts please!

Super sub!

The allegiances of football fans in our city are such that a club from a city 150 miles away finds it economically viable to have a shop in our main retail outlet but our own home city team does not. Until that changes the only way we will fill our little ground is to have the home fans restricted to the main stand whilst Celtic have the North and South stands

I may be wrong but I think it was Peter Lorimer who said that he would see someone in the crowd behind the goal in row G or whatever, focus on them through the net and then try to hit the ball as hard as possible at them. Had Greg and Billy aimed to knock the head off one of the Aberdeen lads, things might have been very different. But back to the OP. Very good question to which nobody seems to have come up with a remotely plausible answer yet.

Celtic players I think. Allowed to sit there to give them a feel for what it's like to be on the pitch at a cup final.

Sounds as though Hibs were woeful today (again). I wonder if Butcher still has the team in the dressing room or whether there is actually any of the dressing room left. Chippies between Perth and Leith will not be having extra business tonight.

I was very worried at half time. I thought the team selection was far too defensive and I thought the team all looked very nervous. The only two who did well were Brill in goal and Williams who seemed to be the only player who really wanted the ball and wanted to do something other than simply give it to somebody else when he had it. I think this demonstrated how dependent we sometimes are on Doran. Without him we seem bereft of ideas as most of what the side normally does going forward involves him. Nobody else seemed to want to take responsibility and the ball just went sideways or back. I don't know what Yogi said at half time but it seemed to work. There was a much greater sense of purpose, much more movement off the ball and even a willingness to shoot. Tansey's contribution to the second half in particular was excellent. But when both Tansey and Mckay missed great opportunities I thought it just wasn't going to be our day. When the goal finally came the sense of relief on the pitch and around the ground was tangible. Williams played well and was unlucky to be subbed. Ross replaced him in a like for like role and did well. Christie replacing Foran added an extra spark and creativity and the balance of the side looked better. I'd like to see Ross and Christie have more game time together. With Doran rather than Watkins, the team we finished up with would be capable of some pretty entertaining attacking football IMHO. Whilst overall it wasn't the greatest of games, there was enough in the 2nd half to indicate that there is some good football to come for the remainder of the season. I doubt that we will be good enough for top 3 but there is no reason why we can't get 4th spot. Unfortunately the rest of the top 6 all won this weekend so we have not made up any ground. Actually quite unusual for the top six to be playing the bottom 6 in the same weekend and for all the top six to win.

Yes. I don't think that was in the game plan. I thought Richie was our poorest player in an overall disappointing performance. He picked up a justified booking for a rash challenge and just couldn't pick a pass at all. It says a lot about Yogi's strength of character that he took him off. Bush makes an excellent point in that we can't have Foran, Draper, Vincent and Tansey all playing at the same time. In my view, Foran is the one to make way. There are times when he is excellent (he was superb against County) but those times are becoming fewer and fewer. He seems to have lost a yard of pace and he's not winning balls on the back post in the way he used to. I doubt he'll be captain next season.

It is very disappointing that the crowd was still so small despite the incentives. Club can't do much more than it's doing. If people don't want to watch their local football team then you can't force them. The Board just has to tailor it's strategy to the low level of support the club gets. Of course, the better the product on the park, the more will pay to watch but as long as we don't pretend we can sell out the stands other than for very occasional matches.

What goal drought?

Probably your family trying to get out

I think Hughes will last a lot longer here than Butcher will at Hibs. Hibs have only won 1 of their last 11 and that includes being bundled out of the cup by Raith. If the Hibs Board are not considering getting rid of Butcher with that record then there is no way our Board will be getting rid of Hughes. If we are struggling after the first round of fixtures next season then it might be worth talking about. But before that, discussion should be about what the manager should do rather than whether he should be here at all.

Not going to happen and yes, I can sense a win :). It is getting into a busy part of Tennis season so watching a lot of that on Sky and BBC hence not posting on here plus CaleyD and ilPadrino want me gone, shameful posts by someone who is a former mod!! Trying not to sound to harsh as I don't want banned. Mahonio, the whole point of a forum is to exchange different views and it is reasonable to expect folk to respond quite robustly to views that they disagree strongly with. That's what helps give the richness of debate and makes it worth reading. Criticism of a poster's views isn't a criticism of them personally. It is also reasonable for folk to point out inconsistencies in the posts of others and this is often done in the form of a bit of gentle banter. You really shouldn't get annoyed by it and if you took it in the spirit intended, you might find you quite enjoyed it! If everybody who was on the receiving end of a bit of banter stopped posting there would be hardly anyone left to post anything - Dougal would have left 100 times over! Nobody wants you gone - far from it. Your contributions are a valuable part of the richness and variety of this forum, so please keep them coming. Be assured that if anyone was being genuinely offensive the mods would quickly crack down on it

That's a bit harsh. I'd like to think of him as a young Steven Gerrard.

Let's just say that Polworth has had a reasonable run in the side and now it is Christie's turn.

OK. I'll bite! I wonder what you mean by negative response? Do you mean folk not backing the manager or people not agreeing with you? Your original post is the single most negative thing on this thread. If you wanted to simply gauge opinion why did you not simply ask "what do folk think of John Hughes' perfomance as manager so far?" And please don't get huffy and take every comment disagreeing with you so personally. We all respect your right to express an opinion. But please, if you don't wan't an argument, don't make a provocative statement to start a thread! And for the benefit of C_H2, I don't think anyone on here is actually saying Hughes is doing a wonderful job, folk are simply saying it is far to early to judge him one way or another.

A terrible thought has just struck me. Have we given up scoring goals for Lent? It doesn't end till April 17th!

While watching the match last night, Alternative Maryhill turned to me and said we should be building a team around him. I agree completely. Why we have talented players like Christie and Ross on the bench each week and not in the starting XI is beyond me. I'm someone who has been a bit critical of Nick Ross in the past. He flatters to deceive. He often seems to play some neat enough football but there is rarely an end result. But to some extent this is not entirely his fault. Too often there isn't the movement in front of him which either invites the smart ball into space or which takes a defender and opens space for Nick to take the ball into. I think Nick is an intelligent football and has better control of a football than most in the side. But what strikes me from the little I have seen of Ryan Christie is that he is exactly the type of player that will work well with Nick. He strikes me as the sort of player who sees the gaps and can pull defenders out of position whilst Nick is the sort of player who will be alive to that and can exploit it. With Billy up front I can see the potential for some neat, on the deck exhanges cutting through the centre of opposition defences. It is certainly a combination I would like to see tried out. One of the problems for Yogi at the moment is that there are just so many talented midfielders in the squad. The difficulty will be finding the best combination(s). Ryan is certainly a great prospect but with the midfield strength in depth there is no reason to put undue pressure on the lad at this stage of his career, Let him know that he will get significant game time in the next several games and he will be able to be more relaxed about his contribution and can play his natural game without feeling that he is playing for his place every game..

Any relation to Charlie Christine? No, but Charline Christine is his mother,

Will a win demonstrate just how far we have come on since Yogi took over?

We got to the dizzy heights of 2nd place because we got off to a flyer with 16 points from our first 6 games. We got off to a flyer because we had a team which was basically what we left off with at the end of the previous season. Other teams then began to gel and play better and our way of playing began to get sussed out. Not counting the game at Hibs when Butcher, whilst still our manager watched from the stands, we lost 3 of the 5 games before he left. That included a home defeat to Partick and a 4 - 0 drubbing in Perth. A significant drop in form happened before Hughes arrived and that may well have more to do with what has happened at other clubs than what has happened here. If Butcher was still here, I'm not convinced we would be doing any better than we are now. All teams go through good and bad patches and I don't see any reason to hit the panic button yet. There is maybe a lack of confidence which is not helped by some of the rubbish posted on this forum. Without doubt we have a talented and settled squad and it is just a matter of time till the results turn our way again. With talent like Ryan Christine just beginning to blossom as well, I am very optimistic about the future.