codfish

Ooh, imagine the Old Firm seethe if Killie gave us another stand… (I don’t expect we’ll fill the full stand, and wouldn’t expect an additional allocation even if we did. But then I don’t have the sense of entitlement that fans of some clubs do).

@Div Might be worth moving this thread to the Championship forum. Save you a job on GTF day.

Famously, VAR delays only impact one team. Poor wee lambs.

Delighted for Toyosi, raw as hell but his attitude is brilliant and he’s now looking like a real game-changer for us. Aberdeen are in big trouble though. Echos of Hibs under Fenlon but without the cushion to 11th they had. The manner of today’s defeat will have County and Livi interested.

Two things - I’m not sure someone scoring 19 goals for the side in 8th in the Championship is ‘not ready’ to step up, and there’s little chance he’ll be on the radar when he has two years left on his deal at QP.

Taken in isolation, I’d be fine with the non-award of a penalty as I don’t believe VAR should be used to slow down footage to overrule the on-field call. In real time, it wasn’t ’clear and obvious’. That’s the problem though, there’s a precedent to review things frame-by-frame. So for handball not to be checked there is inexplicable. Ultimately we were so poor tonight that we didn’t deserve a VAR bail-out, but that shouldn’t mask another failure of the thing that all clubs pay six figures for and is detrimental to every single paying customer in the stadium.

Yeah, used to pride myself on having an awareness of lower league officials (sad I know) but I’ve found myself saying ‘who’ a lot recently.

So no Bolton and no Kwon means two enforced changes - assume Dunne or Taylor come in and Fraser moves back to RCB, and Baccus is a straight swap for Kwon (in a bizarre way, I imagine Celtic would’ve loved to see how he fared against the likes of McGregor and O’Reilly had it been a league game - and allowed in the rules). Wouldn’t make any other changes though - the side looks balanced right now, particularly with Mandron being on form. Would mean leaving O’Hara on the bench if he’s recovered, but CBM can’t be dropped and Baccus is a better fit alongside him. Quietly confident of a result…. So 4-0 Celtic with the game being done by the half-hour mark is a NAP. Going with Tanser for the obligatory soft red card.

It’s a strange one - last time was basically caused by Neil Lennon and I think folk had a degree of sympathy, but they now have the VAR fail safe at the top level and it feels like they get even more wrong. Wouldn’t surprise me if the clubs are the ones to instigate it this time. The people I really feel for are the players and fans at League 1 and below - the need for six VAR officials (well, four active refs and the two FT VARs) has meant some utter shite has made it to the SPFL. Only a matter of time before some get fast-tracked to Premiership games that don’t involve a certain two teams.

There was a breakdown on the A737 at Linwood, traffic was apparently queued back to Hillington at one stage, although was clear by the time I got to Paisley (7.10pm). Rumours that Carson insisted they swing past Ibrox are unfounded.

Enjoyable evening, all told - Dundee zip the ball about well and clearly have something about them, but for all the hype about the likes of Mellon they were pretty toothless. Can’t remember Hemming having a save to make. Thought we were decent in the first half without threatening enough, but the second half performance was excellent. Big Mika was superb leading the line and deserved his goal. Credit to Bwumono too for keeping Beck quiet.

Only the ones through Queen Street low level. Mainline running fine.

To be fair, nothing would surprise me. The cheeks probably get an exemption from it, but the likes of Killie, Motherwell and the Edinburgh/Dundee clubs would be expected to comply.

No chance the percentage would be that high (even if it actually impacted us) when it would force them to give 12k to Rangers. I’d cite safety concerns and give them 200, personally.

No way he’ll travel, surely - the mere sight of the Rock would trigger some awful memories.

Found this quote from when he signed for Celtic: ’’I will become the best player in Celtic and go to higher places such as the German Bundesliga or the English Premier League." I know nothing about the guy, but I love his ambition!

Yep. Show it in real time and you’d see Olusanya was inches away from the ball (and scoring). Best not try to do that sort of thing, though.

Best bit today was the Arbroath keeper scoring. Except no-one thought to mention whose sub keeper had scored for a good 5 minutes. Kinda important context for ‘Open All Mics’.

Two goals in twelve appearances, missed nine games before returning last Saturday. Bullet dodged.

Thought we were the better team - without really threatening - up until the goal. Alarming how quickly we fell away in the aftermath though, second to everything for about 20 minutes. All it needed was the officials deciding Taylor denied a goal scoring opportunity to really top that period of the game off. Second half we huffed and puffed, but never really looked like scoring. To only force one save from Dennis is borderline criminal. Would be inclined to really shuffle the pack on Saturday - Nahmani deserves a start, would like to see Ayunga playing wide right rather than as an out and out striker, and I’d chuck Boyd-Munce back in so we have someone that can take a set-piece.

From my seat in the Family Stand, it looked closer to the back of the net than the goal line. Astonished the officials needed to rely on VAR to give it.

Yeah, that was bizarre - not like it was a game devoid of highlights either!

Thought the officials must’ve won the gig today in a raffle - never had control of what was a pretty easy game to referee. Much more like ourselves today though, with the changes to the starting line-up making a difference - Stav was a constant nuisance, and other than looking too one-footed at times, Small put in a great shift at RWB. Subs then kept momentum going, with Olusanya in particular looking a little more like a footballer than I’ve seen since he signed. Next up Motherwell - imagine they’ll be too concerned about Biereth getting injured again to put in a performance of note.

Unless anyone leaves, I’d be looking at positions where the current first choice is unlikely to be here next season. Essentially, right wing-back, defensive midfield and probably goalkeeper - would likely make the transition over the summer easier, although could leave us with a slightly bloated squad until June. Would also take a 20-goal striker…

Boyd-Munce looks like someone who’d work well in a midfield three, with the ability to spray passes about. With the amount we ask of the central midfield two though, I’m not sure he fits that role - certainly not as well as Baccus does.