They are in pish form and played midweek so despite no Hayes you have to fancy a win here especially given some of their defensive injuries.    There's some big question marks about how we will line up and its big match for a few players in particular. 

 

Will Taylor start or will DM keep faith with him?  Hard one to call this actually but he must surely have been thinking about it.  Options are Considine and McKenna but we know he doesn't like the CB's  having the same dominant foot but does he have enough confidence in McKenna to bench taylor for him?  He has been ruthless before in dropping players but I reckon he might Taylor another chance.  Personally I would be tempted to chuck McKenna in though on the grounds that he is unlikely to be worse than Taylor against ICT or an out of position Considine. 

 

The noises have been that at least one or both of Flood and Jack  (BTW did anyone ask jack about his injury the other night Tyrant?)  will be back for this game so will they come back in and alongside whom?  I really don't think Storie should be dropped as has looked like the midfielder we have been lacking quite a few times already.  I have to admit the prospect of Jack and Storie in the centre piques the curiosity a little though. 

 

In

golf club

Main

Bus to Schneck

 

I really want to see a reaction after the last game and we may just get it.  It would be nice to give them a bit of a doing after their last visit but it will probably be 2 - 0 Maclean (he's due a goal) and Rooney.

 

 

Cunting fuck

 

Couldn't have put it better myself

Goodwillie to be recalled?

 

Either than or time for Church to get his finger out and back up his status as a welsh international.

 

Do you want to have Gareth Bale playing behind you in France or dont ya?

Not being paying much attention but is this another case of 'ah we got our goal, that's the game won' ie the Hamilton Away match in November?

Yet another chance blown

The story of the season I'm afraid

Can't say I fancy us on Wednesday at Tannadice

McInnes saying that he can't be certain on the penalty decision but is going on about managing out the game yet again.

Getting pretty sick of this "managing out" games

Surely the only way to manage out games is to score goals and put yourselves out of sight of the opposition.

 

Had said 10 minutes before the goal that trying to see the game out at 1-0 was going to bite us in the arse especially with Taylor in the team. One Taylor fuck up later and Jack is diving in to give away the penalty. Cannot understand why we do not try to close out games by scoring 2 or 3 rather than sitting in.

How did church play? Why the fuck you would sit back on. A 1-0 is madness. Mind you, playing Taylor is madness to. I'd say that was that then.

How did church play? Why the fuck you would sit back on. A 1-0 is madness. Mind you, playing Taylor is madness to. I'd say that was that then.

 

Ah but Taylor is Plan B

When we're toiling throw him up front

Watched a rare game on RedTV so here's my take. Church did pretty well, held the ball up, won it, good shot off a half chance from a cross. McLean wasn't involved, Pawlett more involved but lost the ball a lot, and McGinn didn't do a great deal, couple of threatening runs but that's it. We created little and that simply isn't good enough if we want to win the league - Church got two chances, one goal from a rebound and good half chance the keeper saved well. We definitely looked weak in defense and in the first half in particular St J had chances. We do not look confident at the back at all and we did a lot of panicy clearances rather than build out the back. Scrappy stuff. Second half we looked more secure defensively and St J did little, then got the penalty. Whether it was one or not, I don't think Jack should be diving in. Overall we weren't good enough and should push have on to get 2 or 3. Our own fault.

 

Our squad will now be stretched with Hayes and Rooney out. Time for Church, Pawlett, and Cammy Smith to really step up. May see Wright get his chance too.

 

Thought Brown in goal looked solid but his two central defenders have to stress him out.

How did church play? Why the fuck you would sit back on. A 1-0 is madness. Mind you, playing Taylor is madness to. I'd say that was that then.

 

Church did okay. Scored but could have hardly missed. Worked hard but only really had one other chance which he maybe should have scored but will need to see again to be certain as was at opposite end. Cannot see him replacing Rooney's goals. Just does not look a natural goal scorer.

Church impressed me, good touch, good link up play and really worked for the team. Fee was a little unlucky not to connect properly with a header in the first half too. Completely disagree about la's assessment of MacLean, I thought he had a really good game yesterday

Also thought McLean did a good job yesterday.  Thought Pawlett was ok and thought Flood did well mostly, just doing his usual job, but really there was no-one who was outstanding. It was a pretty brutal game overall. 

 

Taylor - fed up saying it but more fed up seeing the clown shoes prick starting another match, he's a liability. His fresh air kick in the first half was embarrassing but thankfully didn't lead to a goal, unfortunately his ridiculous mis-cue was punished. But will probably start on Wednesday. There appears to be no consequence management.

 

 

We should have got the 3 points - this playing out the game when we are winning 1 nil with 25 mins to go is madness

 

Taylor is absolute gash - I'm seriously struggling to find the motivation to pay money to watch him represent the dons

 

Our lack of ambition in the transfer window in January was always gonna cost us - even more so now that Rooney is out for a few weeks - I never thought I would say this but I would rather have had Goodwillie able to play than Church

 

It all comes down to McInnes now tho - we still have a decent team (Taylor aside) so it is up to him to prove he has the management skills to change our formation and tactics to get the best out the team - enough of shutting up shop when we go ahead - our defence is really not good enough - the 2nd half reminded me of Calderwood's time!!!!!

 

I would do with McGinn what BB has suggested - defo drop Taylor when Logan returns and play Reynolds & Considine at the back - maybe push McLean further forward too tho that means Jack & Flood in midfield and I thought Jack had a decent game at the back  (apart from penalty but I'm blaming Taylor for that one)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I totally disagree with you there Hebrew, I thought we absolutely dominated the second half and were the only team that looked like scoring. We were pressing and had all the possession, and it didn't like Saints were going to get a goal if we played for another 2 hours - certainly a vast improvement on the first half. I thought was lazy analysis from Willie Miller after the game, resorting to the cliche "you've got to score a second" pish. That we didn't score a second wasn't through lack of effort or attempts. We took the game to St Johnstone, played the game in their half and were in their box on numerous occasions when either the wrong pass was made or Saints had 6 players in the box and made the block. We won several corners and had a couple of decent opportunities too. At no point did we sit back and let Saints come at us (bar a five minute spell halfway through 2nd). At no point were we seeing the game out, we controlled it. I've seen us play numerous games this season where we've let teams come at us when only 1-0 up, this certainly wasn't one of them. Had Jack not put in that challenge, Craig was going nowhere (I didn't think it was a pen) with cover available and little support - consistent with the rest of Saint's performance in the game. In summary, our inability to score had nothing to do with the way we approached the second half, it was to do with good defending, lack of creativity and a bit of bad luck.

 

Also, thought Church led the line really well for us. I didn't think he was great in previous games, but he certainly didn't let himself down on Saturday. Pawlett seems to be permanently one touch away from doing something brilliant. If he could just have lifted the ball past a player or two when running at pace he'd have been away. It seems like he just tries to hit it through players rather than round them. Must be difficult when you're running full pelt, but I think he just needs to bring a little bit more trickery to his game and we'd have a very good player.

Maybe you were just in a different part of the stadium to me for the 2nd half as I certainly didn't leave the game with any sense of the dominance that you have referred to. It wasn't a premiership winning performance in my opinion and St Johnstone were there for the taking.

We had 11 corners to their 0 and 57% possession (from the dons website). Given we were probably lucky to be 1-0 up at half time (i.e. they had as much, if not more, of the game) I suspect that possession stat was heavily influenced by our second half performance. We completely dominated possession in the second half, and territorially too; they barely made it into our half but for a few punts out of defence. I've seen us play out a lot of games this season with a one goal lead where we sat back and let teams come at us. Saturday's game was the complete opposite. At 1-0, you can expect a team to go kamikaze style all out for a second goal. You have to show discipline, keep possession and play the game in the opponents half. That's exactly what we did, as the stats show. It was like the Motherwell game a couple of season back (same ref, coincidentally). Only one team was attempting to score, and had any ideas on the pitch. There was no plan B from St Johnstone, they just exceptionally lucky. 99 times out of 100 that game would have finished 1-0.

I did actually realise we had more possession I don't need the stats quoted. Bottom line is we didn't win the game and I didn't think it was a particularly inspiring performance.  We were at home against a team not playing that well and we had a chance to narrow the gap between us and the league leaders. You obviously enjoyed the game more than I did and took more positives from it.

There were absolutely no positives to be taken from that abortion of a performance.

 

Results are all that matters anyway. Which is so obvious it shouldn't need to be said.