Mgc1910

Dear Lord that penalty.

Nothing much. The offside goal did look offside and the flag was up long before Forrest scored. He did miss a pretty blatant handball but I think he was mostly getting stick because Dallas was too far away to get properly heckled for that howling penalty decision. Not sure that Thistle have much to complain about. They got a free gift of a penalty and then lost the plot with two of the stickiest of stick on red cards you’ll see this season. Only real downside was Murdoch’s injury - can only hope it’s not too bad, but it did look a bit ominous.

He doesn’t want the job (hopefully).

I think we need to be a bit more realistic. Adams, Geggan and Moore are very injury prone. In any case, Moore was desperately poor last season and didn’t look up to championship level. Maybe he can emerge from Shankland’s shadow, and he definitely deserves one last chance. Ferguson remains unproven at this level - the fact that McCall keeps talking about a new right back when we have 2 on our books should probably tell us something. No idea what Ross has to offer, but McGuffie hasn’t progressed at all and don’t see him contributing much. Bell in midfield is a real non-starter as we saw last season when we tried it a couple of times - doesn’t have the pace anymore and I suspect the player knows that himself. Kerr has been a model professional for us but since last February time has looked absolutely done. Bottom line for me is that the squad is wafer thin and I think McCall recognises that better than anyone. A right back and a striker, as he says, would be most welcome.

Fans forums would be f***** if we agreed not to argue about stuff.

I’m glad someone gets it. This chances = goals argument is nonsense. The Alan Forrest shot is a perfect example. It was a decent effort but it was too close to the keeper and a good height - you’d expect the keeper to save it. But I could come on here and argue that if he’d hit it harder, maybe set it outside the far post with more dip and curl then it would have been a goal, so really we could have won the game 2-0. Not how it works. The shot he hit is the one you see in the highlights.

Sums up my own confusion really. I was at a poor game with few decent chances. I saw Queens have the best of the early possession but creating very little, with their 2 best chances down to slack play from Harvie (does that too often for me) and even slacker play from Bell (possibly down to him moving to the left side of the defence and trying not to play on his weaker foot). Aside from that, they had a good header in the 2nd half which brought a decent save from Doohan, though one I’d have expected him to make. i come on here to find tales of an extravagant, free-wheeling Queens side that dominated the game, peppered our goal and should have been 4-1 up at half time. Maybe I was suffering from sun stroke, but that’s not the snore fest I watched.

What are you on about? You’re counting wild shots that ended up halfway down Somerset Road as chances? We can all do the “what if” approach. I’ve argued there was a chronic lack of quality in the game and you offer me a show-reel of inept finishing, hoofs over the bar and half chances that never troubled the keeper as evidence I’m wrong.

That the highlights package includes 2 shots from Queens that cleared the Somerset Road end not to mention El Bak’s attempt at a drop goal in the last minute ought to tell you something about the quality of the “gilt edged” chances being created by a “dominant” Queens side who “did a job on us” and could easily have been “4-1” up at half time.

Wow, it’s up to 4 goals by half time now? Any advances on 4? This is getting silly now. You see to be counting every time Queens crossed the half way line as a possible goal if only 3 or 4 things hadn’t happened afterwards.

Us being poor doesn’t make the opposition good. The highlights package confirms my own recollection of the game. Hardly any quality in the game from either side.

Couldn’t agree more. Queens had some good possession in the first 20 minutes but created next to nothing with it. The idea they were dominating the game is laughable. The moment of quality from Kelly is the only evidence I can offer that 0-0 wouldn’t have been a fair result on the day.

Never said Ayr played well, but I don’t recall Queens having many clear cut chances. They had the better of the first 20 minutes for sure, but we were hardly on the ropes. But other than the one on one, it was pretty much half chances that never troubled the target or forced a save from Doohan. Even the header in the 2nd half had no pace on it - I’d fully expect Doohan to have saved that. As for the 2nd half, Queens never looked like scoring.

You were at a different game to me if you thought Queens should have been 3 up inside 25 minutes! Good in possession, but did next to nothing with it. Only real chance came from Bell’s mistake.

Can’t fault the work rate from Ayr but our use of the ball was pretty brutal at times. Not sure if it was the heat but we just looked leggy all afternoon and couldn’t seem to string 2 passes together. Solid 3 points though.

Morton and Partick both look absolutely rank, but their hoofball approach could cause us bother over the season. Big Adams needs to stay fit!

Lots of positives for Ayr, but still have major concerns about the defence. For a big lump, Roscoe didn’t look that great in the air and the general lack of pace will hurt us against a team with a forward line. Not going to get carried away, as Morton were absolutely dreadful. You have to assume they’ll improve over the season. Maybe. Probably.

We won’t be playing Morton every week.

Is it not enough that it helps the club out? It literally takes about 60 seconds to buy a ticket online. Honestly couldn’t tell you the last time I bought a cinema ticket at the cinema with cash. It is also a clear improvement on the systems at other clubs where you have to queue to buy a ticket at the ground then queue again to enter the ground or, if the option exists, buy and physically collect a ticket in advance.

I don’t think anyone has advocated playing that midfield. But based on the games so far, Docherty and Murdoch should be first choice in the middle of the park. There’s actually a strong argument at the moment with the players we have for a 5 man midfield so Kerr might yet have a role to play - he is clearly not mobile enough anymore to play as a midfield 2. Kelly might kick on, but is way too raw and inexperienced at the moment to be relied on in the centre of midfield, though he might work as part of a central 3. I’ve no idea what Ross has to offer, but it better be a lot given what I’ve seen so far. When reality dawns that we are in a relegation scrap, the dream of attacking football where we give away cheap goals might have to be parked.

Based on what I’ve seen against Livingston, Falkirk and Stranraer, Ross Docherty should be one of the first names on the team sheet. As disappointing as Saturday was, I thought we played fairly well in the first half and were good value for our half time lead. Shooting towards the Somerset Road end, I was confident we’d see things out. What changed the game was the crazy decision to shift Doc to right midfield in favour of Kelly. The midfield went to pieces after that - 15 minutes into the 2nd half and it was obvious we needed to change things back, but unfortunately McCall decided to demonstrate the stubborn streak that I find so tiresome at times. Bringing on McGuffie at a time when the midfield needed to be beefed up was mindless.

The nucleus of last season’s team is gone. It’s not just the players that have left. Kerr is a year older and has been ineffective for months. Geggan clearly has a debilitating problem with his calf that prevents him playing 2 games in a row. Bell balanced Rose’s inexperience and Rose balanced Bell’s lack of pace - now that partnership has broken up, we appear to have a real problem as all of our options at centre back look slow. Roscoe might develop, but we should remember it took Rose 2 solid years and 40+ games of erratic inconsistency to become the player that went to Coventry. That people are pinning hopes on Adams who was dogmeat at championship level last time round as well as being injury prone speaks volumes. i have to say im slightly puzzled about some of the comments on Kelly. His free kick was exceptional, but otherwise, he was hardly in the game and was particularly poor when moved more central.

Iceberg you say? No! I see only clear blue waters. Full steam ahead!!

Denial. Good strategy. But if McCall’s post match interview didn’t convince you how deep in the shit we are, nothing will. I think he knows that a team of boys and injury prone geriatrics is not a recipe for success. Our only hope is that 2 out of Alloa, Arbroath and Queen of the South are worse than us.

Anyone who thought we missed Kerr clearly wasn’t at the Falkirk game. Or pretty much any game he’s played since about last November. I’ve nothing against the guy - model professional who gave us a good 12 months or so. Wouldn’t be opposed to him joining the coaching team, but as a player, his legs have gone.