hislopsoffsideagain

I think it's a sign of how well we've been doing that we feel disappointed by only getting a point at home to Hearts. A fair result in the end, but the penalty decision was a shocker. Jones is going to clear the ball and the Hearts player runs into his leg. The big disappointment today was how disjointed our attacking players looked - in previous weeks they've appeared to have a telepathic understanding but today they looked like they'd never met before. We certainly don't look threatening when Doran and Andy Shinnie aren't playing well. In contrast our back four deserve plenty of plaudits - I thought they were all phenomenal today. David Raven looks twice the player he seemed in August. Warren and Meekings were majestic and Graeme Shinnie did well too., Foran also gave everything today. A bit of an off day really, but it's another point gained, I suppose.

Over the course of the 90 minutes I think a draw is fair - until we got the penalty (which would have ended up in the Firth but for the roof of the North Stand) St Johnstone looked to be shading it. But we had plenty of chances to double our lead, and the late equalizer was a soft goal which was all the more sickening - our back four had played extremely well up to that point. Warren was MOTM for me, with Raven and Graeme Shinnie also very decent. Reguero's parents were sitting next to my mum and dad and must have been proud of their son's performance - a couple of terrific stops which justified his inclusion ahead of Esson. McKay put in an excellent shift up front and took his goal really well; he was denied a terrific second by Mannus' fingertips. Andy Shinnie's hideous penalty and his subsequent miss from about 4 yards overshadowed what I thought was an otherwise good performance from him. St Johnstone looked like a very decent team to me and a draw is not a shabby result at all. And at least Tade didn't score...

That was about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on. To be honest, I thought that Utd were the better team in the first half an hour, but after we took the lead they absolutely collapsed and we played them off the park. There were some quality goals there too. Foran's first was a glorious finish, curled first-time into the top corner. His second was a smashing header as well, set up by a quality cross from Roberts. There was an element of Keystone Cops about the third, from Andy Shinnie, but for me the fourth was the best of the lot. All Roberts' strike needed was Alan Partridge screaming "He must have a foot like a traction engine!" It nearly took the net off. An excellent performance from back to front. Foran led the line brilliantly and Doran, Roberts and Shinnie were all excellent. Roberts, like David Davis last year, has a technique and skill level far ahead of anyone else; once he gets fully fit (he looked knackered even at half time) then we might see some fireworks! Draper was superb again. Morrison has an element of Russell Duncan about him - he doesn't seem to do much but we look more solid with him in front of the defence. The back four dealt with Daly and Russell well. I'm not sure Meekings put a foot wrong all day. Given the criticism that has come his way this season, Raven's good performance deserves mention too. I assume Esson was injured in the warmup? Reguero is a bit unorthodox but he made some decent saves and his distribution was great. Aside from another useless referee, no complaints from me at all. It's a long time since I've enjoyed a ICT game this much. Bring on the County!

Should we just start every game with ten men? It seems like we play better after we have a man sent off... I'd have taken a draw at half-time, and bitten your hand off if you'd offered it to me after Jones was sent off. Amazingly, I ended up feeling disappointed that we hadn't won. The first half might have been the most banal 45 minutes ever. The fans might as well have been sunbathing. Nothing actually happened on the pitch. The second half more than made up for it. My first instinct was that Jones should have seen yellow rather than red - but he leapt in, his leg was off the deck and it was reckless. The ref was well positioned to make the call. I felt sorry for Ryan Fraser, who was the victim of two rather bad tackles from Raven and Foran as well, and looked like he could barely walk by the time he was substituted. The other sending off, on the other hand, was a no brainer. Sutherland got through, and showed real presence of mind to cut across Anderson, meaning that the defender couldn't win the ball without bringing him down...and Anderson fell for it. If only we hadn't @rsed up that four-on-one break - how on earth did Doran squander that? - we would have taken all three points. Unfortunately, a pretty good defensive performance was ruined by a collective loss of concentration when Aberdeen took a quick free kick, and Cammy Smith was unmarked to head home from six yards out. Still, at least we're off the bottom. Some very good performances today. I thought Ross Draper was immense in midfield. Blackman slotted in well at left back, and until the goal I thought Warren and Meekings were solid. Foran had a rank first half but, after dropping into midfield when we went down to ten men, he was a changed man and must have covered every blade of grass in the second half. Sutherland had his best performance for aeons after he came on - it was gutting to see him stretchered off at the death. It wasn't really a day for either Doran or Andy Shinnie, who couldn't get on the ball enough to make an impact. I'll cut Ryan Esson some slack because of the wind, but he flapped at a lot of crosses. And I'm sorry, but David Raven was terrible yet again. As soon as Hogg, King, Cooper and Brislen-Hall are fully fit, I don't think he'll be anywhere near the team. And as for the manager - he is lucky the fourth official was in sympathetic mood, considering some of the abuse Butcher was giving the ref - turning around to the crowd and screaming "He's the worst referee I've ever seen" is usually enough to get you sent to the stands. It's the first case I've ever seen of a middle-aged man developing an acute case of Tourette's. At least this is a bit more positive than my last few after-match posts! Still think it's going to be a struggle against the drop, but I wonder whether the Dons might be one of the teams we're fighting with...

As regards Paul Sheerin - both Craig Levein and Mixu Paatelainen made the jump from second division to SPL as coaches. Paul Hartley is another young coach doing well in the lower leagues.

For all those people saying "Who can we get who is better?" - I point you at St Johnstone's successful appointments of rookies Owen Coyle and Derek McInnes, or Derek Adams over the bridge, as examples. They took a chance on young coaches and have been rewarded. I feel Butcher still belongs to the stone age of football managers, where they think that all you need to do on matchday is tell the players to "go out and get it right up 'em". I can't think of any occasion when a tactical change by him has changed a game in our favour, but plenty where the opposition have changed their system and we've not been able to respond. He no longer seems capable of making this team even the equal of the sum of their parts (let alone greater than), nor does he seem to be able to coach up players - Ross, Graeme Shinnie and Sutherland, for example, have not become particularly better players over the last two years. This feels like 4 years ago, where Brewster was clearly a lame duck and the team were a mess.

Since we beat Hearts in January, we have won three out of nineteen league matches (one of which was against a second string Hibs side). In that period we have conceded 43 goals. On four occasions we have conceded four goals; twice we have conceded three. You have to admit, plenty of clubs have sacked managers following runs of form as bad as this, have they not? I'm sorry, but this now feels like September 2008, when Brewster's ICT side couldn't buy a win. And we all know what happened then...

Is it time to panic yet? Because I'm feeling pretty panicky...

Those two late goals, when Celtic had stopped playing, should not be allowed to detract from the fact that, for the first eighty minutes, we were an absolute embarrassment. First up, the team selection was dreadful. We know Raven has struggled at right back. We know Sutherland has contributed nothing on the wing. Yet both started, while Nick Ross was stuck in a deep midfield role instead of on the wing. What does Morrison have to do to get a start? I've no idea what the tactics were today. We appeared to be playing a shambles-0-1 formation from what I could see. Anyone who has watched Celtic the last 2 years knows Hooper drops deep into the space between midfield and attack - so most teams sit someone in front of the defence to counteract that. We didn't. So when he came deep, either our centre-half let him go, meaning he got the ball into feet and had time to turn and run at us, or the centre-half went with him, leaving Watt one on one with his partner (as for the second goal). The contrast to Ross County's performance against Celtic last week was striking. Derek Adams clearly had a tactical plan on how to make things difficult for their opponents. Terry Butcher just thought he'd put 11 players on the pitch and see what happened. The third goal summed it up. Presumably the players got a bollocking at half-time, but none of them were switched on enough to interfere with what was a pretty simple set-piece trick. Frankly, I think it's because most of them didn't really care about whether we won or lost today. Aside from Aaron Doran, none of our players looked like they wanted the ball...and Doran didn't use it that well when he got it. McKay was isolated as usual, but he failed to hold the ball up even when he got it into the channels or in to feet. The one time he got in behind, he wasn't quick enough to hold off the defenders. He's too small, he's too lightweight, he's not quick enough and he can't score...but apart from that, he's a top player. Ross and Doran tried hard, at least; the former was clearly out of position. Andy Shinnie barely touched the ball, and had one of those days where it seemed like every decision he made was the wrong one. Is Sutherland blackmailing the manager with dodgy photos or something? I can't think of another reason why he is in the team. Draper might have got two goals, but for a big unit he was outmuscled and outfought a lot. He wasn't the only one who couldn't manage to complete 5 yard passes to unmarked teammates - there were a lot of others (what the hell do they do in training?) - but he was the most culpable. He also has the turning circle of a bus, and Celtic just passed the ball around him. Our backline was so bad that they might have given me Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Raven was a catastrophe. He kept giving the ball away easily, kept being caught out of position, and kept being skinned. The centre-backs were also calamitous, particularly King, who was nutmegged within a minute by Hooper, and then was totally culpable for the second Celtic goal. Graeme Shinnie was the best of a bad bunch. Esson looked shaky at times, but I don't think he was culpable for any of the goals. The only positive I can think of was the perfomance of Pepper as a sub, who was lively and keen to get involved...and whose through ball for Draper's second was the only piece of quality football we produced all day. Lastly, Butcher should be censured for turning round and having a rant at the fans when we went 2-0 down. At that point we hadn't even managed to put three passes together, and there had been absolutely nothing to cheer - what does he expect? He should just be grateful that some of us (fewer and fewer by the week) are dumb enough to still pay through the nose to watch this utter dross. Can you tell I'm angry?

Good game for the neutral, that. What the hell was OTJ thinking? It was a cynical foul but he should know a damn sight better than to raise his hands and then try to headbutt the guy. The ref had no choice but to send him off and I hope he's feeling pretty ashamed at the moment. It was all the more disappointing as I thought he'd had a great game today up to that point. We'd started well but after Doran missed the one-on-one at 1-0 we lost momentum and Killie bossed the latter stages of the first half. Racchi's penalty was rubbish but Esson's save from the rebound was stunning. Everyone around me thought he was at fault for their equalizer though - couldn't tell from my angle. The second half was about even stevens until the red card - though even then we passed up the best chance of the latter stages when Bell somehow kept out a close-range header from Nick Ross. Surely Nick must start next week - he did well again as a sub, and is a much better option than the mediocre Sutherland. I'm quite impressed by our two new centre-backs - both looked pretty comfortable. I'm still not sure about Butcher's tactics - Killie were having a field-day in wide areas, mainly because Sutherland and Doran wouldn't track back. We were absolutely swamped by their five man midfield and Killie dominated possession for long periods. And pushing Doran up front initially after McKay's substitution was bizarre. All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with a point today, as I think we can play better. And we will need to. But it's still eight years since we won our first home league game of the season (and that was at Pittodrie!).

Absolutely spot on. Why, thank you sir.

I understand Kenny's frustration at the fact that the reconstruction plans have not gone through. However you only have to look at the statements coming out of clubs like Clyde, Annan, Raith and Ayr to see that reconstruction was only going to happen IF they stuck Rangers in div one...and the proposal was simply for some sort of working committee to discuss it and come up with a plan by November. Unsurprisingly the SFL clubs didn't trust Regan, Doncaster et al one inch, especially when they were effectively told 'if you don't agree, we'll form SPL2 and let you lot wither and die". These clubs should be applauded for not responding to threats and bullying, not criticized for refusing to kowtow. Of course, the SFL clubs would still be quite up for reconstruction...but how come it isn't an option unless the Newco get preferential treatment? I'd quite like Kenny and the other SPL chairmen to explain that.

http://www.afc.co.uk/articles/20120713/afc-statement-_2212158_2848877 See the above statement from Aberdeen? That's what Cameron should have said. We know there is a big financial risk. We know budgets may have to be cut. We know hard times lie ahead. So why on earth make a statement slagging off the SFL clubs?

I've lost a bit of respect for Kenny after reading his statement. SFL clubs perceived it as 'a big stick to beat them' because that's what it was - nothing more than a shameful and pitiful attempt at bullying. It seems that the rumours that the SPL clubs were fully behind Doncaster and Regan's ridiculous plan to parachute Rangers into division one are true.

The transfer window is still open for two months, so I'm trying not to panic. But calling that squad thread-bare is an understatement.

Well done, Mr Cameron. This is the right decision in the long run. In the short term there is no doubt that costs will have to be cut but it is the same for everyone.

I agree with RiG as well, especially as I know his reasoning behind not renewing his season ticket. For what it's worth, I renewed my season ticket 3 weeks ago. That doesn't make me a superfan - in fact, if we bow down and let Rangers in, it makes me a bit of a spanner.

Last summer, Butcher punted quite a few players who probably wanted to stay. This summer, he's managing to lose quite a few players that he wanted to keep. Irony?

Whilst I wasn't sure he was up to one more season in the top flight, he showed enough at the end of last season that I thought he warranted a new deal. I know a lot of people who haven't renewed their season tickets yet and if one or two decent signings aren't made soon I don't think they'll feel encouraged to do so. Is it time to panic yet?

On the one hand, I felt a bit let down by his performances this season - when he arrived he had a reputation as a goalscoring midfield player who delivered a mean set piece; maybe my expectations were too high but he certainly didn't live up to them. When pushed into a more advanced position, with two midfielders behind him, he looked a lot more dangerous to me, so I suspect our system didn't help him. What worries me is that our offer to him was inferior to that of a League One team - whether that's simply in financial terms or there are other issues I don't know. But it's a marker of how much we will struggle to attract decent players to the club.

An understandable decision by the management team, given that he's very much a fringe player (only 19 starts in the last two seasons) and the budget's been cut. He's just turned 28 and there's unlikely to be any further improvement in his ability - Butcher presumably thinks that he can unearth a youngster (a la Meekings) with the potential to be better than Proctor. That said, I feel more than a twinge of sadness at his departure. He's spent eight of the last nine seasons at the club and made more than 150 appearances. Whilst he's had more than his fair share of bombscare moments, there's no question that he always gave 100% for the shirt. I think he played every position for us except up front and in goal, and, like many utility players, his versatility might have been a hindrance that prevented him making one position his own. No fewer than four different ICT managers - Robbo, Brew (twice), Christie and Butcher - rated him enough to keep giving him contracts, even though he was rarely a first choice; this suggests that he was a player they felt they could rely on. I remember he joined us at the same time as Darran Thomson did - no doubt Proc has turned out to be the shrewder acquisition! His pinnacle in a Caley shirt was surely that 3-2 win over Celtic - not just a goal, but also 'taking one for the team' by getting sent off taking down Scott McDonald when he was through on goal! I wouldn't be surprised if County take a shot on him - a relatively inexpensive but experienced player who provides cover in a number of positions. Good luck to him, wherever he goes.