4ize

Simply not true: wing backs tend to have a defensive midfielder to back-fill for them when the attack gets turned over and the opposition hit on the break. With the purely attacking-holding midfield we play just now you're bound to get caught out now and then. Do you really believe Ross would be doing what he's doing and still getting a start if the manager had told him not to? If you see gaps in defence, you need to target your criticism a bit higher up the food chain, and take a pop at Brew for being too attack-minded... On ye go :016:

Does the phrase 'wing back' mean anything to you? :023: I think his link-up with Cowie has been excellent recently, regardless of his form elsewhere on the park.

Bayne and Niculae aren't really the answer together; Denzil will probably always get a start ahead of Dean but if Dennis picks up another injury McDonald must be in with a shout. Brew's said that Dean's more of a 6-yard-box poacher, which doesn't fit in with the up-field punt, but the long ball to a target man certainly isn't our only option, as Markus proved when he came on this afternoon and started skinning them down the left wing (CB, remember that pace you reckoned we're missing?). Turning points aren't often noticed at the time but if Dean really is staying, you never know...

Thoroughly agree - a big improvement from Ross today :clapping03:

Hmm... Don't know about Gretna's supposed ascendancy in the first 30 - I thought we looked the more likely to score, even if they had a bit of possession. You know those games where you're on the edge of your seat because it could go either way? This wasn't one of them. Even if Gretna had scored, you felt we'd score a couple more than they did. Pass marks for all; no real doubt about Niculae's Man of the Match award from the sponsor and the Beeb, although Rankin might have been in with a shout had it not been for some circus-ring aren't-I-class buggering about which probably cost us goal number 1000; special mention for Duncan and Blackie in midfield; Proc played well at centre back; honourable mention for Ross who had a vastly improved game (albeit against a different class of opposition) - that long, cross-field pass was gorgeous, for one. Markus - fantastic to see you back and in cracking form, but what the **** is that pudding-basin haircut about? :016: :021: :021: :021:

:015:

I thought his English was pretty good - didn't he speak for himself at the appeal hearing to get his work permit? Besides, even if there were a problem, a limited vocabulary including 'leave it', 'here', 'mine' and 'yours' should surely have sunk in by now...

With both commentators sitting there for the last 25 mins saying that Wyness should be on for Niculae - and saying for most of the game that Rossco's looking out of his depth - it sounds like we're back to Brewster Brewster Hasn't-Got-A-Cluester. Why is it that what's screamingly obvious to everyone from Scott Davie to the tea lady (anyone remember Bayne's sending off?) completely eludes the management? Deeply frustrating :007: Back to thanking other sides for helping us maintain league position...

That's not what I meant, and not what I said - given the season Motherwell are having I suspect their fallen captain would have wanted them to carry right on and chalk up another victory. How the people at Motherwell FC feel is another matter. A good new year to you :003:

A rare occasion, Don - I couldn't agree more :004: I wonder whether Phil O'Donnell would have wanted any Motherwell games postponed, let alone those involving other sides. If, by 'this country', you mean Britain, you're spot on - the only thing Boris Johnson got wrong was in singling out Merseyside. Folk in these islands are turning into a proper bunch of navel-gazing ambulance-chasers. People die, and it's proper that those left behind mourn, but a sense of proportion seems to have gone out of the window.

Go on :015: :021: :015:

The common usage is 'the exception instead of/rather than the rule'; if there were more than one exception then 'an exception' would be fine. Perhaps the man sees more than one exception? Just a wild guess. If you're going to start grammar wars, I'll take black. Still, I'd rather talk about football.

A96, Scotty, you need to take the suggestion of luck in the context of the post. I'm not suggesting that our recent run is entirely down to luck, but that our league position certainly owes something to it. The team has battled and showed some superb skill and spirit; for the first time in three seasons we're actually seeing some entertaining football at home, consistently. However, over the five wins, good fortune has played a *big* part, and it's good fortune that we've rarely seen. Does the manager bring luck? We should probably ask the club faith healer, or IHE next time he's dowsing for that aquifer. Does the manager bring success? We should address that after more than a five game run.

Nice to see you back on the boards, Craig :001:

No. Five games do not a season make, nor does one season make a manager. Underperformance by teams around us - please look at the names - and some real luck (God knows the rub of the green has gone against us often enough, so no complaints there) have had a real bearing on our current league position. Success breeds confidence, and confidence leads to success <insert clich? here>, so no, the jury's still out on Brew's ability. We've played a system based on the absence of an injured striker together with a couple of inspired substitutions (for that, read 'disastrous' if we'd lost) and it's worked, just; the side are getting back to the fitness levels which made them better players under Brew's last tenure; and one or two players who weren't really at the races before are showing some good form now. Nick Leeson had a good run of form, too, mind. Ask again at the end of the season, or two seasons after that. It's much too soon to say. Still not sure that Ferguson guy's right for Man Utd...

Only, every professional I've ever known (ok, ok, both! :016:) will tell you it's a **** of lot more energy-sapping chasing the ball than having possession... Cowie's comments about the squad's fitness weren't just pish and wind, and that's at least something Brew's brought back.

Well, as I said, Ross is a good old fashioned wing back - midfielders like Duncan are always going to need to back-fill for him - but it depends on what you're after and what you're playing against. With a strong right winger (Cowie, for all his MoM, didn't produce his best performance today) do you need the wing back? Do the opposition have a strong left wing which needs both to counter on the break? Or do you need someone in a purely defensive role? I reckon Proc was the correct choice today, all things considered, but we also saw what Ross brings to the table.

Interesting contrast between the two this afternoon: Ross getting forward swerving past defenders and putting the ball into the box, but looking a little rusty back defending; Proc rarely getting upfield during open play but looking sound in defence: it's a right-back against a right wing-back, apples and oranges. Nice to have both. Which do you play? Glad I'm not the manager.

Steer clear of Tommy for a week or two, eh? :004:

Richard Gordon asked the same question on Sportsound and apparently it was February 2000 - fate :001:

Sorry, calm down everyone, the result was actually down to our rutted and rock-hard pitch... ... according to the 'official' Celtic match report :rotflmao:

Definitely a contender, regularly beat two or three of the Celtic players crowding round him as he brought the high ball down and laying it off. Class.

Sitting here with tears in my eyes (dropped the laptop on me foot); that was my best day at TCS since we 'came home' after that first, long winter at Pittodrie. To rate any of our players would be an insult to everyone who pulled on an ICT jersey today and showed the overpaid Tic what the game's all about. Strachan was hilarious in his post-match interview, especially as I'd summed his comments up to my dad five minutes before he made them :015: For me that just shades it on the 3-1 at Parkhead; we came back from the dead against a Celtic side in the last sixteen of the Champions League and did something the likes of AC Milan couldn't do: put three past them. This is definitely one for the larder of memories. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

Very good post Don.

Bollocks