Our defence has looked suspect all season, this of course has not been helped by injuries forcing some changes and other signings. However there has never seemed to be a plan for our defence, Hogg left (partly down to his wife not liking it up here I believe) but couldn't get another club elsewhere so was happily welcomed back near the end of the transfer window if memory serves (but sometimes it doesn't lol), indicating that he wasn't in TB's plan for the defence anyway. Just as a defender who actually wanted to stay was told cheerio. Rumour of course - but I've also heard from more than one person that Hogg's wife is Butcher's god-daughter, and if true I'm sure that had nothing to do with it .
I would def agree that part of the problem this season was decisions made at the tail end of last season / close season which have now come back to haunt us. Essentially - fairly sweeping clearances without a clear vision or identification of the players who will replace them will be, as that 'trialist' game was evidence of. I agree that older players have to move on and new players come in but regardless if the outgoing player is Grant Munro or Danni Sanchez then surely the incoming player needs to be at least as good if not better, if they ain't then why bother trying to get new players for the sake of it and then having to wait for them to gel in the hope that they will improve?
I hope things do improve very soon as we are fairly lucky that a few other teams are playing rubbish and defeat has a way of becoming a difficult habit to break.