RicoS321

We weren't soft today, in general, and didn't lack character. There's a strong chance that Gartenmann just isn't great at pens, or maybe was struggling. McKenzie looked knackered too, so I suppose it's fair enough. Morris aside, I think we showed good bottle. Duncan showed a lot of bottle too, his was just unlucky really. I think they'd done their homework on Roos too, he always seems to move and for all their pens they just waited. Oh aye, without doubt. I wasn't convinced by the Scales one. The second was apparently a penalty, but the ref gave a foul for the challenge before Hoilett's apparently. I haven't seen it back since that was explained, and wasn't looking for it in real time, but I suspect it was a terrible decision.

Aye, and we still had Morris to take too. Thought Gartenmann and McKenzie would have been ahead of Phillips. Phillips isn't really the ball kicking type.

Phillips was never going to be the guy for pens. Nevermind.

Dicks

Jesus, some game. Deserve this one.

Shame, we look fucked. Honking marking from Hoilett though. I'd take pens now, probably won't win it in the remaining 15.

Get in. What a cross.

Our midfield being bypassed this half. Polvara reached his useful limit I think, but nothing on the bench.

Good game so far, we're setup well and working hard. Been good in possession and reasonably solid in defence. Good discipline in the shape. Duk had a few moments of not holding position and dribbling out of defence, but his overall contribution has been positive. Polvara has done okay without doing much positive, just safe passing, which is fine. More of the same (apart from you, MacDonald).

That's the issue with MacDonald on his wrong foot.

I made it in, approximately 6 seconds before kick off. Some goal. There are few players in the SPFL making that pass that Clarkson did. He's such a top class player.

No need to rub it in. Absolutely hating that I'm missing this one now. My daughter will be being driven home soaking wet from swimming in order to make the kick off on the telly. I'll probably get held up and it'll be 3-0 by the time I get in. I hate watching on the telly too, always showing close ups of players and replays when the ball is in play. I'd be far more relaxed at Hampden.

What I'm reading from this is that you're very happy with Jayden Richardson, and would maybe even like us to build our team around him.

It's fucking easy to blame them for it, it's a fucking rancid attitude that proliferates our game (and politics). We're asking for a free and fair opportunity to sell 50% of a neutral venue in pursuit of fairness and neutrality. That should be the absolute guiding principle of our governing body. Instead, the guiding principle of our governing body is to cater to the needs of the strongest two clubs in the country to the detriment of all others. We're living through the worst period in Scottish football history because of the continued unfairness. The court of arbitration should be designed to deliver fairness, because that's the purpose of sport, and so it's not a bad idea to take it to them. In reality, we'd need a concerted effort from forty clubs to withdraw their services from games at Hampden unless fifty fifty is the default offering.

We did finish third the previous season though. In reality, there's only a few players between us and third place in any season. Just as there is us and 11th (more often than not, there's one team that stinks every season). Obviously, I'd add both Shinnie and Clarkson to your list (and Rubezic might come good), but I agree that we're otherwise missing a lot from our squad. We basically don't have a squad. That comes from our constant rebuilding every season, and another missed window in January will be a huge issue for Thelin. None of the bench offer real competition for places, or anything different at all, and could be replaced with lampposts with little noticeability. Leven is basically playing our best available team in their preferred positions, with only Rubezic missing, and every team in the bottom six has been able to counteract that with ease (not necessarily beating us), and we've had zero off the bench. Phillips has been missing laterally of course, but for me he's the guy you want against better opponents where he can mix things up. I don't see any of the other squad players vastly improving under Thelin either, they're simply not good enough (maybe Duncan and Milne could advance with game time in a confident team, perhaps Sokler). I'd like to see a big clear out beyond the players you mention though, but that's going to mean at least two windows until we can start to see improvement.