houston_bud

I've always wondered if this was down to getting older or top level football becoming less appealing. It's probably a bit of both for me. I couldn't tell you the last time I watched an entire Champions League match and I have no interest in it at all. I watch the occasional English Premier League game and might, from time to time, watch a bit of Match of the Day. But I used to be glued to this stuff. Other than St Mirren, the most football I watch is BBC Scotland's coverage of the Championship. VAR is only a part of this but it's making watching football worse.

We were always going to hit a sticky spell. So, as disappointing as we've been recently I'm not going to get too worked up. We've got a lot of guys playing a lot of games, 6 or 7 internationalists that have been flying all over the world as well. They're bound to pick up knocks and the truth is we don't have a squad strong enough to rest some of these guys without noticing it. Also, the other teams in the league have good players too. We can't expect to not be in a game in places like Dundee or Dingwall, or indeed anywhere.

Flagging that up on VAR would just highlight the incompetence of the officials for not seeing it. It's not something I can get particularly excited about, ultimately we've still got to deal with the cross and we didn't, but it does show that sometimes VAR is so picky about things, with long delays and other times they don't seem to bother their shirt.

Think VAR took the evening off. The foul on McMenamin looked a pretty clear penalty.

Can't have many complaints about that result. We lacked any real guile of imagination, too many long balls or aimless crosses that were dealt with very comfortably by County's defence. I'm not confident for this long run of games we've got coming up. We've not put in a good performance in weeks.

It'll just make games more and more unwatchable. I'd argue the reason that football is the most popular sport in the world is because of it's simplicity. It doesn't (or at least didn't) have loads of rules that are difficult to understand, anyone anywhere with a ball can play a game that resembles how the professionals play - more than probably any other sport. Adding layers and layers of complexity is not improving the game. Quite the opposite.

That's pretty much what St Mirren tv is and it's perfectly fine.

Carson was really good for us last season (and by all accounts has been really good for Dundee) so it was understandable that people would be concerned that he was being moved on. There were a few knicker wetters right enough after the signing of Hemming. I think it shows that we should wait until we've actually seen someone play in a few games before rushing to judgement.

The defender is stupid, but if we're saying that's enough for a penalty then it's a very, very low bar. Watching it back, just about every player that is marking an opponent is holding. If I was a manager I'd be telling 1 or 2 of my players to throw themselves to the ground at every single corner. Replays will likely show a defender was holding.

Is there not something in the rules about holding/pulling that states the player has to he prevented from getting the ball for it to be a foul? The ball is nowhere to be seen when Goldson throws himself to the ground.

'Chopped off'

Think we've probably shaded it, but it's not been a great game. Couldn't have complained if it had been 0-0. Nouble has been the only player that's caused us any real problems, but he's spent the majority if the game so deep. Another goal will kill the game, so hopefully we can get one early in the second half.

I really like the wee bits AVFTT does on different clubs, particularly their lower league focus. I've never found the bits when they sit around chatting very good though, it seems quite forced and i dont think any of them seem naturally funny people. Cowan - for all his faults - is very natural at what he does and he can be very funny. I suppose he's been doing this for going on 3 decades whereas AVFTT is still relatively recent. Edit: read that back and it comes across quite mean to the guys on AVFTT. It's been a good addition to Scottish football shows, but there's still a place for OTB.

There was a period of time (around when Baccus looked on his way out) that some fans were deluding themselves into thinking that he didn't make it into our starting 11. Whenever he goes it's important we get a similar player to replace him. The chances of bringing in someone as good are slim but if anyone can find an adequate replacement it's Robinson. Baccus has done his bit to raise the profile of the club. We are now a far more attractive proposition for a lot of players than we were 3 or 4 years back.

I agree. You could probably pick the ones who have courage and who just has a brass neck quite easily too. Jack Ross said before that he doesn't have much interest in getting back into it, he's got a cushy number with Newcastle youths gets to do all the coaching - which I'm led to believe is what he's good at - but without all the hassle and pressure. I guess a lot of them just get a bit of a bug for it. Must be some buzz when you're doing well, and once you give something like that up, you'll never get a feeling like that again.

I wouldn't bet against that. Our defenders seem to have a knack allowing the ball to hit an arm, or have too much of a grip of someone's jersey. Infuriating.

On paper this is a good game for us if we want to get back to winning ways, but Livingston is usually a tough game. I think a clean sheet is important after shipping a load to Dundee but not sure about Bolton starting, I think he's still a bit of an unknown quantity. Hopefully the globe trotting superstars in our squad aren't too tired after the internationals.

Think it would be unfair to say that cash would be the sole driver. The lure of managing your country must be strong, as well as the chance to go up against some top sides in qualifiers. And he'd be confident in his ability to improve them I'm sure. It's all moot currently anyway. Hopefully O'Neil stays at Northen Ireland and we get at least another couple of strong seasons under Robinson

Robinson would take the NI job if it was offered to him. He'd be increasing his salary significantly, still be able to live in Scotland where his family are, and if he does well then he'd be a shoe in for a reasonable job down south - like O'Neil did. If it goes belly up, he'd waltz back into another gig in the Scottish Premiership or a bigger Championship side without too much trouble. As far as Hearts and Aberdeen go, his name would be mentioned by they'd probably rather plump for someone outside the Scottish game who is seen as a more exciting appointment, Daniel Stendel springs to mind. I think he needs another step before getting a decent gig down south given he's been down there a couple of times before. I think Northern Ireland is the most likely step up he's getting from us.

I agree. I'm not saying you should appoint Brown. I think he probably needs to cut his teeth a bit more either down the leagues or be someone's number two for a while. Are there any realistic, experienced managers that would be an exciting appointment?

I'm sure he trained with us before, or am I thinking of someone else? Either way, I trust Robinson's judgement. We've already got two left backs but maybe Small will leave in January as he's not had much of a sniff due to Tanser's form.

There's pretty slim pickings out there in terms of appointments that would bring a bit of excitement. I reckon Brown might do ok, he strikes me as the type who could come in an galvanise a team. Could be another Robson/Naismith, who does well for half a season or so gets you to safety but then doesn't kick on and your back to the same lowly position next season.

Mike Ashley's new start up?

Toni Guigliano

Glib? How so? Obama was interviewed last week and I thought his comment was an important one. I'm paraphrasing, he said that for this problem to be solved there needs to be an admission of it's complexity. I don't think that Starmer has an 'Israel right or wrong view'. I think he sees it, that he will soon be PM and his government will have to try and speak with the leaders of Israel as well as Fatah/PLO, so is being cautious. They're also not shrugging their shoulders, to me is seems there's a lot of semantics around 'ceasefire/humanitarian pauses' etc but presumably this stuff matters in terms of diplomacy. Maybe Starmer's approach is the wrong one, but again I go back to my point that the opinion that he's indifferent to the suffering, is not an opinion worth taking seriously.