crazylegsjoe_mfc

I saw Georgie Gent's Instagram profile earlier. It turns out his dad died at the start of October, that could go a long way to explaining his lack of action so far.

Pyro does nothing for me personally. Even back in my younger, energetic days when were actually half decent, I never went to a game and thought it added something to the game for me. I think there's an element of the forbidden fruit with it. I think people like doing it because it's edgy and not allowed. Whilst if it became permitted I reckon it would take off initially, I think it would eventually die down. I can absolutely get that using it in adverts is an awful look for the club and paints them out as hypocrites, but I also get that they must know they'll be under pressure from the authorities to release that statement. They probably should've thought of this before using it on their adverts right enough, but that was very much in keeping with the Russell / Brannan brand.

Is Casey perhaps struggling from a case of the Chrissy "I'd literally have signed anywhere else offering me more money so I missed pre season" Long? Only the master of the art, Scott McDonald, has done that successfully.

Surely that one is 50/50? Paton has done well on the whole. I'd take Ross Stewart if Southampton wanted to loan him out.

I was about to post something similar. Bair definitely gives us something. I know that Saints fans mentioned that how much they willed him to do well, but I really find it hard to stay mad at him. He never hides in games and whilst I'm sure we'd all agree he lacks quality at times, he's always putting himself about. Wilkinson found himself very unlucky not to have a goal last night. I'm not sure where he puts he can put his hand, but I understand those are given in this day and age. Despite this, and the assist for the first, I thought it was yet another night he struggled to impose himself on the game. Shaw, the less said the better. I can think of three games from the top of my head where he has fluffed his lines with the game hanging in the balance. I saw Kettlewell speaking to him on the pitch (I assume about that) last night and he then mentioned it again in his post match interview. He can't have been happy. Unfortunately, it does seem that our strikers (including Biereth) appear to have had their best appearances as subsitutes lately. I can't decide whether we should persist with Wilkinson to see if he gets better with games, or just go with Bair and Mika up top. On merit, despite his obvious shortcomings, it's Bair for me at the moment.

Restricting St. Johnstone's attack to two corners in the first half would've been a positive had we not conceded from both. Gent may very well not be able to defend but that cross alone is more than we've had down that flank in weeks. Not a slight on Spencer, being played out of position, but him having to continually turn inside was breaking things down. I'm baffled as to why Kettlewell has to persist with a back three to the point be puts Spittal as a left wing back. Every man and their dug could see Slattery had pressed the self destruct button tonight. Surely that change could've happened at half time too?

https://www.thecelticwiki.com/2000-04-29-motherwell-1-1-celtic-premier-league/#google_vignette To lighten the mood, I was discussing this game not long ago and found this hilariously bitter match report from it.

I was part of @Busta Nut's debate this morning and it was mainly centred around first choice goalkeepers. Whilst Chapman is probably the worst, he was signed on an emergency basis at a different time and was never intended to feature. Based on the overall damage done, Samson is the worst for me. It's already been mentioned about his parrying back into danger zones. I remember Stevie Woods keeping Goram on the bench for a spell as @ropymentions, but I also remember it coming to a crashing end when he rattled a free kick off Scott Leitch's heel when he was facing the other way, gifting Kilmarnock a winner. Woods was probably at the club long enough for people to remember extremes one way or another. I tend to remember him as a keeper who could be solid all game then do something very daft. Although it was between the ages of 7 - 13 I saw him, so I'm perhaps not the best judge. It does seem surreal that a keeper could lose the number one slot five different times at a club.

I agree that we need to get out of the cycle of sacking managers. Say we do lose the next 2 or 3 and Kettlewell gets his jotters, we'll be on our 4th manager in 15 months. There's every possibility that we'll get someone in, he'll tweak one or two things and get us comfortable, but we'll be back here in another 9 months. Is it just me, or does it always seem to be all sugar or all shite with us? I wonder if fans of other teams think this too, but it seems to me that we are either firing on all cylinders or that we can't buy a win. Our season always seems to go on a big peak then a big trough or vice versa.

There's no denying this is a massive week for us and Kettlewell. If we lose on Tuesday, St. Johnstone go a point behind us with a game in hand. Whilst that is a bit frightening - it's only taken St. Johnstone one win to get from rock bottom to this position. If we have a good week and beat St. Johnstone and even nick a point at home to Hearts, the outlook changes massively. Another thing that's come to my mind is that if Gent or Davor can't get a start when we've had 1 point in 7 games, what was the point in signing them? We'd have been as well just keeping Maguire and McGinley and saving the admin staff the hassle.

This might sound daft, but I think we'd have gained more in the long run from getting pumped against St. Mirren, Rangers and Celtic. I think sometimes it's almost worse to be demoralised from not getting anything from a game and getting all the pats on the back than feeling you need to get your arse in gear after a doing. It's just meant we've played the same way and teams have had more ways to suss us out. Against St. Mirren in particular, we were playing lots of nice combinations and then then the other night we were just hooking high balls forward. The system has massive flaws, but the confidence is shot to pieces too. The only way the confidence can be fixed is by winning games. I'm hoping Butcher being back can change the leadership issue, but there doesn't seem to be anyone dragging us through. For someone who made his international debut recently, our captain seems like the least confident man on the planet at the moment, which isn't great given he's a goalkeeper.

We're relying on both Kidderminster and Partick wanting to extend their loans, or we could be lumbered with them for the second half of the season - as both have already played for us this year so we can't sell to anyone else.

It's undoubtedly a big week for him. We really can't go into the international break with no wins in nine, with the prospect of Celtic away when we return. Kelly has been absolutely honking in the past few games. The third goal on Wednesday was awful, he looked like he was waiting on a 17 year old boy to make his decision for him, it was like slow motion. Today was a totally routine and basic shot to gather. He went full 2017 Craig Samson. Recruitment has obvious question marks for everyone. However, despite going in hard on the injury prone players we've signed the other day, when you look at pool of fit players, it's clear to see why we gamble on a crocked has been now and again. My main issue - like others - is that all are to fit a plan A. I'd even take a Robinson "anywhere across the front three" at this point. It seems a recurring theme to me that we try and cut our cloth, start the season on a modest budget before chucking the kitchen sink at it in January to try and stay up. I don't know if that's what we'll do, if we have the funds for it or what, but if we do, surely some happy medium can be struck. No one can tell me that was a change of shape today, it was basically Spittal in Miller's position, with Bair and Wilkinson where Spittal and Slattery usually play. The shape worked last season with pacy full backs, Van Veen firing with a big striker beside him and as much as it pains me to say it - Goss stepping up. It was incredibly naive to think it would continue to work without all of these things.

Yeah, I'd be concerned if Scotland had to rely on Kelly for any length of time. As well as not many South of the border, I don't think Scotland are flush with options either. I think only ourselves, Hearts, Hibs and Ross County have a first-choice 'keeper who is Scottish in the Premiership. When he signed with us on-loan, it coincided with a massive upsurge in form (which was in great part down to him) and it seems to me that since then, he does well when the team are doing well, but not when we are not doing well, if that makes any sense. If the team are buoyant and in good form, he will look assured and make some great saves. But when a team is low in confidence, he's more likely to chuck one in than pull a save out the bag when you need it.

I did think to myself last night that it might be worth taking Miller out of the firing line for a few games and giving Davor a wee run. No harm to Miller, he's literally just turned 17 and playing him through this run of form might do no one any good.

Last season under Hammell he persisted with his 4-2-3-1 despite the fact he wasn't getting much from his wingers, we had three right backs, one of whom had played a lot on the right of a back three. On the side, Penney looked better going forward than he did defensively. Van Veen was scoring a decent amount despite sometimes looking wasted as a lone striker. Several people called it on this forum that 3-5-2 would be perfect for the squad that we had so it certainly wasn't a surprise when Kettlewell played that way - at least there was a theory of a way out. With this season's squad, it seems that we are playing people in their best positions, but they're just not good enough. I don't see how we could change the shape of this team. We don't any wingers so 4-3-3, 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 are out. We've got enough midfielders to play a diamond, but there would be question marks about the defenders getting up and down. With a back four, who do we put where? Probably from our current system, Butcher and McGinn are first on the team sheet, but would you play a back four with those two in the middle who are, by trade, a holding midfielder and a full-back?

It was the case for much of last season and is probably the case now that as much as we are struggling, there are fortunately several other poor sides in the league. We've now gone one full round of fixtures (notwithstanding games in hand) and only four points separate Europe from the play-offs. You could almost say that it's so tight that the first round of fixtures have been "free" in a way that if from 4th down to 11th, no one is doing that well, no one is doing that badly compared to anyone else. That said, Hearts, Hibs and Aberdeen points totals probably reflect their European endeavours. You could probably expect at least Hibs and Hearts to have marched up the table after the second round of fixtures. I'm not sure if fans of other teams are in their threads talking about how their recruitment was bad and how they have no plan B, or if they all done that at the start where we picked up 10 points in 4 games. Momentum is obviously massive in football and it's alright talking about where St. Johnstone are, but over the past five we are the league's worst side. Kettlewell obviously has done more than enough to deserve the chance to correct our form, but a win to halt this run really does need to come soon. I think back to last season and think of us winning three of the first four games (like this season) and having a home game where we created lots of chances but got beat in the middle of September (Hearts last season, St. Mirren this season) which sparked a barren spell. I just hope it's not happening again.

The ref loved the sound of his own whistle and was very irritable, but he had no beating on how badly we played or on the result. I didn't see how blatant Butcher's handball was from where I was, but I guess he could have been sent off for his challenge later on. I don't think I've ever seen us have four players booked in eight minutes before. I think his booking of Roos for "timewasting" showed an acknowledgment that he'd been dishing out cards too freely and it was some attempt to start evening things out.

Kettlewell going head first into those comments about Robson was certainly unwise, can't blame Aberdeen fans (or St. Mirren as per usual it seems) for taking the piss.

Awful performances all in tonight. The two hooked at half time, plus Wilkinson, Kelly and Casey worth mentions. I think Casey has been shaky for a few games now, to the point I wonder if Blaney has earned a chance. As much as Bair lacks quality, he's never posted missing the way we are seeing from Shaw and Wilkinson. He deserves up the pecking order for that alone. I thought the second half was the perfect time to give Gent a full 45 and see what he was about. I'm getting quite concerned that the personnel in our squad is so stuck to this system that other than change personnel, there's not much we can do to freshen up. I'm not sure I fancy a 4-3-3 with ineffectual strikers used as wingers.

He is, but at the moment we are starting with eleven right-footed players. When McGinn missed a game through suspension earlier in the season, Casey moved from LCB to RCB and Blaney came in.

I think that Kettlewell sees the middle of the back three and each side to be different positions and Blaney has been unlucky as a result of that. I certainly think if Casey or McGinn were out and Blaney and Mugabi were on the bench, Blaney would get the nod. I wonder if we were planning to sign another centre back until Casey extended his deal at the 11th hour. Maybe the plan was for him to play. 10 months down the line, I still don't think he's played enough for us to know how good he is.

We were a bit all over the place, because we were obviously chasing goals and as much as the personnel suggested 4-3-3, when lined up in a formation at kick off, it simply looked like a back three with Spittal as a wing-back.

You don't have to go too far back to add Juhani Ojala or Eddie Nolan to that list as well. Extending Obika's deal was mind boggling - especially as we saw his injury problems in action. But Souare, I just can't understand how someone looked at him and thought he was going to be a worthwhile signing. Obviously, he was an EPL regular before his car crash in 2016 and it looks like that's pretty much killed his career, which is sad for him. I looked at his transfermarkt page and he's only started 29 league games (only 18 of which he completed) in the seven years between then and him signing for us. I don't know who looked at that and thought he could be a regular in a physical team.

Biereth is on 2 goals and 2 assists in 50 minutes of league football, which is an unbelievable rate of involvement. Has to be Butcher back in defence for me. We need his leadership and his positional sense, as much as Mugabi has exceeded expectations when he has been out. I'd also bring Miller and Wilkinson in from the start. Our best performances this season have been with the 3-4-2-1 and neither Shaw nor Bair have done enough to justify sticking with two up top. There was absolutely nothing in Robson's comments. It's a bit embarassing how Kettlewell has taken the bait when there wasn't really any. I'd always rather our managers refrained from any mind games in the press.