RicoS321

I like MacDonald too, but he's very prone to error also, and especially when played on his wrong foot. I'd be open to him playing, but switching Rubi across to the left. The biggest issue with MacDonald is that he slows the game down quite a bit, and that worsens on his wrong foot. Rubi doesn't really concern himself with feet whilst putting in another face-block on a shot. Molloy's errors are a worry, his hearts performance was poor, but in the other two games he didn't put a foot wrong outside the mistakes. Either way, I don't think Thelin will drop him because he allows us to play out of defence in a quicker fashion than MacDonald, which is vital to our entire setup.

I certainly wouldn't have been, but you could be right, and it's exactly the type of nonsense attitude that has resulted in VAR being introduced. Although now that it has been introduced, then it's correct to claim for it. I genuinely don't think anyone would have been claiming handball a few years ago until VAR changed the rules. The game is just completely different now. Every time the ball enters the box people are screaming for handball. It's tedious. The accidental handball rule was absolutely fine. Sportsmanship dictated, now replaced with black or white dictat, in order to make it more machine like. Just like offside. It's tragic.

Yep, he was okay. I've seen a few folk saying that he booked our players for nothing and let theirs off for similar, but I didn't see it that way. Sometimes refs make mistakes, and I think the Clarkson booking was just that. He obviously thought it was more petulant than it was, it was a nothing challenge attempting to get the ball. I think he probably recognised his error, and that's why he was quite lenient with Nilsen. He could have gone the other way and started throwing out cards all over the shop, but he didn't. I don't buy into the idea that you should book another player just because you booked one previously, especially if the ref has an inclination that he might have been too quick to judge the prior incident. Duk's booking wasn't even a foul, but if you think he caught the player then a booking would probably the right call from the ref's angle. Otherwise, Walsh was okay. Stayed up with play, got the freekick on the edge of our box spot on, and was quick to call the foul on Mitov. The ten minutes should have been eight really. That's probably where the influence of the home crowd comes in, especially when we were shitefesting at that point.

Aye, it's world class. They'd be wanking over it down South. It sits up perfectly for him to get the spin on it, and it's inch perfect. You can see it spinning to a virtual stop just as Sokler reaches it. Sokler is so good at those runs too. Part of the reason why Clarkson struggled so much in the first half was Nisbet's complete lack of movement in that regard. He offered nothing.

Exactly this. There is nothing sporting about that goal being disallowed, so it isn't an improvement to the game for it to be so. It's frustrating that the ex-pros on sportscene aren't all over this. VAR has not improved the game, but it needs decisions like that in order to justify its existence, hence why they changed the handball rules. The pundits keep going on about it being the "correct" call, rather than whether it is the sporting call. The passback rule came in to increase sportsmanship, similarly the six second rule. I'm sure there are others. The introduction of VAR, and the myriad of rules that change with it (or supposed millimetre accuracy in the case of offside) has actually reduced sportsmanship overall. That should be the key metric, and those that represent our game (especially on the impartial BBC) should be screaming it from the rooftops.

This aged well

That was unreal. What a fucking block from Duk. He can take 4 months holidays every summer. What a performance.

Stream down. Fuck sake.

VAR can get in the fucking sea. What a disgusting anti-sport piece of shite. Hope those absolute fucking wankers that took it to this country are happy. Fucking total cunts.

Obviously, it's not fucking handball. But it's a VAR handball

Handball?

Shady Mo on to run fast in one direction. Good sub.

What a half.

Not really..... What a pass and goal.

Ah well. Got the stream working unfortunately. Chucked it. Poor from Nilsen and Molloy.

Stream down after zero minutes. I knew there was a reason I subscribed to RedTV international. Anyone got a reliable one?

Aye, no changes is surprising. Although Clarkson is very useful when trying to score.

Shinnie is the power and legs in the middle, have you not watched any of our games this season? There's absolutely no chance we'll dropping our captain for the biggest game of the season thankfully. Duk at 10 is an interesting one. He's never played that say for us before (he's played in a front two, but never deliberately behind the striker), but I could imagine him just getting the ball and driving directly at them rather than any of that passing nonsense. It would be entertaining, as long as we didn't require any additional defending. As most others have said, Shinnie forward in place of Clarkson would make most sense against the Tims. Shinnie to get right in the face of McGregor would be interesting, see if he can get him booked early doors (Duk to come on and get him sent off!). Closing off that link between defence and midfield will be vital. A toss up between keeping everything else the same and having Duk on from the start. Personally, I'd keep Duk on the bench, because of the discipline we'll need to have in shape. Duk was immense when he comes on, playing out wide, but there's no way we could have Duk out wide against the Tims for ninety minutes and not give up several chances. If he was starting, then, you'd probably put him at number nine, and then you're sacrificing the ability to take him on later to terrorise the fullback. I think I'd be inclined to leave him on the bench, and him and Clarkson can come on when we're one up and looking to stretch the lead.

This isn't the right thread! Finished 1-3. Accies providing a masterclass in spreading around the bookings. Not sure how they finished with eleven.

Accies being humped by McGlynn's bairns. 0-3 half time, and very lucky to still have eleven on the park.

Yep, I was just joking, he hit a bird. Best avoided.

Shaun Rooney available. Worth a look?

You forgot to add a bit about how Rubi has unfinished business with Kyogo's face.

I don't believe that was stipulated, no.

McRorie ahead of McLean? Hector ahead of Pollock? It's quite a wild selection, generally. Although nicely presented.