Russ

Oh I wholeheartedly agree he has been played out of position and he did play well away to Ayr. However he started in the same position the next game at home to St. Mirren and was shite. Despite him playing wide he's still not offered anywhere near enough. Tom Taiwo is hardly a right winger but he goes and puts a shift in there despite him being a central midfielder. Even if playing as a number 10 is his preferred position we've got Sibbald who is better than him there and with the abundance of strikers we have we need to be playing with 2 up top.

Can't really remember even seeing him play but we needed a right sided midfielder and looks like we've got one so fair enough. If it means leans chance of Craigen and Shepherd getting game time then even better.

Yeah I'm still really unsure about the development team. Yeah it's great to see them doing well but it's hardly a great standard and it's really making no impact on our first team. Scott Shepherd by all accounts had done well and scored goals for the development team this season but he's clearly nowhere near good enough for the first team. I'd love to see the likes of Eadie, Blues and Peggie get there chance in the first team or if Houston doesn't think they're going to be ready get them loaned out so they can first team experience somewhere else they would benefit them a lot more than the development league imo. With Loy we absolutely don't need a striker we've already got 5 first team strikers plus a shepherd. However I still would've been tempted to bring him back just because I fucking love him. However he's looking like being one of the growing list of players over the last few years who's brilliant with us then does very little once they leave.

I can't see there being anything in the Liam Craig rumour. Even although it does seem like a perfect Houston signing, its an easy rumour with Liam still staying local and his wife working at the club. Seen him at a few games last season as well. I'd like to think Houston will be saving Rankins wage for a right midfielder. Surely.

He's done ok. He was actually part of our defence during our best run of the season but I really don't think he can defend. His positioning is absolutely terrible but he looks decent going forward I actually think he'd look good as a right wing back if we ever go to a back 3. Saying all that I would like him to get another run in the team at right back. I'm not sure how much more of Muirhead's long aimless punts out of play I can watch.

Good news that he's away, should never have been signed in the first place. Hopefully Watson, Craigen and Shepherd next so we can start strengthening.

Harsh as f**k on McCracken. Been solid this season. Easily our best centre back so far. Craigen should be punted at the first opportunity however. Up front we've got a problem we've got too many strikers. As much as I really do like Baird he would probably be the one I would be letting go, more than likely in the summer. I would be going with McHugh and Austin/O'Hara as our first choice with O'Hara/Austin and Miller as our replacements. I know Austin has had his fair share of injury problems this season so I would be looking to bring him gradually into the team this season with a view to him being a key player next season. Anybody know what's up with O'Hara's loan if he's due back or staying at East Fife? With regards the Robbie Thomson signing I don't see why we didn't save the wage and go with McMinn as our back up until the summer.

The board have already gave Houston a budget this season, which I'm assuming will be the 3rd biggest in the league, and he's chosen to spend it on this current squad that he's largely assembled. The top 2 positions are already gone and it would be absolute madness for us to overspend to try and finish top 4. Any team that finishes 3rd or 4th in this league won't get promoted it's just asking too much at the end of a long season. Again why should the board be paying players contracts up? And how exactly could it be their fault if we don't finish top 4. It will 100% be Houstons fault he's chosen to sign all these players and him that 6 months into the season still can't find a system that makes the most of the squad he's assembled. He needs to stop shoehorning players into a system and start playing a formation that fits the players he's signed. I would be giving Houston until the end of the season to turn it around however the board are absolutely correct that unless he can move on some of the absolute duds (I'm looking at you James Craigen) he signed in the summer then he needs to work with what he's got. If things don't improve I'd expect either him to walk or get punted in the summer.

The thing is we don't actually need any more numbers in the squad we've already got too many first team players imo. However it's Houstons signing policy and the severe lack of balance in the squad that's the problem. I've never got much good to say about the board but in this occasion they are right not to release more funds to bloat our squad further. We've got plenty deadwood in the squad and removing that really should be Houstons priority. In the summer he must've known when Vaulks left that he only had enough money to bring in one more player. For him to make that John Rankin at the time looked a horrendous decision and has been proved to be so. His signings are absolutely baffling at times.

Yes. Yes we are. There's also no guarantee that we'll make the play offs one of us, Raith or Morton will miss out and it could quite easily be us. You really to finish second to stand any chance of going up through the play offs.

I absolutely love Will Vaulks and I would completely agree we are badly missing his presence and energy in the middle of the park this season. However Mark Kerr was better than him over the course of last season.

With the abundance of centre backs we have and total lack of width (Hippo aside) 3-5-2 is really the only formation that makes any sense with the squad Houstons assembled. Even then it would only work with Kidd as right wing back. That summer can't come quick enough so we can hopefully clear out most of this squad. We should be going with quality not quantity with building our squad and looking to supplement the first team with our under 20s.

Swap deal? Who the f**k is going to want Craigen, Rankin, Shepherd etc...? The only one who I could see anyone being interested in would be Paul Watson but even then I'm not sure where he could go. St. Mirren maybe? And I can only imagine how bad their unwanted shite is. I'm assuming Craigen signed a 2 year deal in the summer? Absolute fucking imposter. With the size of squad we've got I don't think it's an absolute necessity that we get more players in, in January but we really need to find a formation to fit the players rather than the other way around. If we can get another option in the middle of the park and a proper option wide right then great but if not we've got more than enough players here to be able to make something work. Houston just needs to stop being so stubborn when it comes to certain players and formations.

I'd say away to Hibs as well. Offered nothing going forward but a brilliant defensive display. Possibly at home to Dunfermline as well. Would absolutely agree however that we have been rank for the majority of the season. The fact we're 3rd says a lot about the quality of the league this year.

Sorry Ruggy but I'm no having that. Big Peter is an absolute dreamboat, easily second behind Big Sexy. Peter Grant? Easily our best player last year before his injury.

I don't know why we're still persisting with this lop sided 4-4-2. With the players Houstons signed it just seems obvious that we should be playing a back 3.

Another centre midfielder? Not really what we need imo.

That's not what he said there though was it? He said Shepherd looked better the previous week in training and deserved a place in the team. Again there is nothing but wrong with that, if players are not performing in training/matches they should be getting dropped. I hope that would be consistent throughout the squad. However I think there might be something else as if Austin was on the bench on Saturday there's no doubt he would've been on the pitch at some point and despite us needing a goal didn't throw on Shepherd at any point.

I'd agree that I'd imagine he would be here till his contract is up next summer then more than likely head back down the road. He's turned out to be a great find despite playing all over the place for the first 2 years the last 3 when he's been moved to left-back he's been brilliant imo. He's not the best defensively (though nowhere even close to how bad some fans try to make out) but he is improving all the time and is great at getting up and down the left hand side. Some will disagree but I can't think of a better left back in the league.

http://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/sport/football/falkirk-fc/houston-challenges-striker-to-earn-his-place-back-1-4215561 Article by Houston in the Herald there saying Austin was dropped because Shepherd has trained better. Now if he is doing well in training then yeah he definitely is deserving of a chance however on the park where it actually matters Austin has outperformed Baird (and Miller so far I'd say despite his goal on Saturday) this season so surely he should've been in contention to be starting the game there not just settle for a place on the bench.

I didn't realise our away form was that bad until I seen that and checked. Turns out we've only 1 out of the 12 away games we've had since Peter Grant got injured.

Worth noting that according to SKY in their Rotheham season preview they've got the Vaulks fee as £440,000 which tbh is a very good deal for us. Still baffling that none of it can be made available for another couple of midfielders though.

Gasparotto has looked decent so far but wouldn't say much more than that. Our defence has a whole hasn't looked particularly great so far. Decent enough win today much improved second half performance and it could've been more, we really should've had a penalty near the end of the game. Only the 3rd game I've seen of him so still early but Kidd doesn't look like a right-back, his positioning is terrible.

And not forgetting of course Kenny Deuchar and Ross Perry. How the f**k did we manage to finish 3rd that season, the standard must've been horrendous. Brian McLean really was brutal. No idea how he managed to get a move down to Preston on the back of his 2 years with us.

Aye as far as I can remember it was 4 assists and he won the free-kick for the 5th goal which was a belter of a striker by Marc Twaddle. Our back 4 that day was Jason Marr, Brian McLean, Mehdi Kahlis and Twaddle . Grim as f**k.