CountryBumpkin

These links to Rudden are just more proof that the intention is to outscore opponents instead of calmly win games using a tight defence. All for it, though not convinced Rudden is the man to do that. He'll run around and be a pain in the ass to defenders, but then thats what Gullan does. A wide man with pace is what we need and some stability in defence, we saw last week the difference between Callum Smith, arguably our quickest player and Jamie Brandon, a run of the mill right back sitting at the bottom of the league that outstripped him for speed time and time again down the line. Having someone that can do that would allow us to stretch the game.

Thats a shame, its a really fantastic event. Hopefully someone will pick up the mantle and run with it.

We'd likely be in line for 5% of 5% for the 5 months he was with us. I'd say about £1500, which will help out but it won't be anything to write home about. Every little helps though.

Emphasis on wee.

Its the Scottish Cup weekend. SPL and Championship don't have scheduled games for that weekend. It would usually be used for rescheduled games if possible

I've been thinking about this too. With the way the team are set up, Murray naturally wants 5 in the forward positions which leaves 1 holding midfield player and realistically, Byrne can't be dropped.

The main point is that we shouldn't be reliant on just scoring 1 a game and hoping for a clean sheet. 1-0 is not a comfortable scoreline at all.

Alright George Graham. Expecting to win regularly by only scoring 1 goal and a clean sheet is even less sustainable in this league.

This is the crux, we had huge opportunities today. Vaughan through, tries a cross to Connolly instead of hitting it, Connolly who received a cross from Vaughan, didn't do anything with it. Connolly second half free in the box, tries to pass because he's on his weak foot rather than shoot. Smith missing a free header. The freekick that was absolutely wasted by Vaughan. Make better decisions in any of those and its a different game. Their winner initially came from Easton fannying about with the ball in a tight space in his own half and losing it, granted he then made a great block but Millen was then left with two at the back post and no assistance to attempt to block the cross (if he had, the boy would have just passed it to his team mate for a free cross anyway). Creators of our own downfall right now, a reset and some fit players to switch things up a bit definitely needed. On a positive note, Hamilton's best and most influential game by far today, even up against that shitebag Devlin.

Poor from us today but I think we still concede from crosses with a centre half on the pitch, whether it was Murray or Corr. Our main issue again was creating enough good chances and taking those that came to us. Again poor choices in the box got the better of us.

He's a good lad, but I think Boness is the level he's at right now. He had a bit of pace, nothing spectacular but suffered from that very Scottish trained trait of having an awful first touch in most situations. If he can work on that and his composure infront of goal, I can see him pushing up a league or two in time. At EF he's been pushed around a lot of positions by the looks of it, not always scoring ones, but he did get minutes.

The lack of a development side is probably going to cost us in the short term. Masson, Hannah, Corr and McGill have had so few minutes when fit that they're probably not developing their games sufficiently and with us being at the top of the league, we're in no position to put them into games. Its a shame as these guys are just starting their careers, training on its own is not enough to push them on. Masson is probably too short to be a commanding centre back, but then again, Lisandro Martinez is 5ft 8" or something and outperforms the likes of Varane when he plays for Man United (not comparing Masson to Martinez) so anything is possible. I think he's got some promise, probably as a more modern variation of a fullback, either sitting in narrow or moving into midfield. I suspect he'll play out a lot of his career in the lower leagues though sadly. Similarly with Mitchell and Arnott, who two years ago under McGlynn, could have been argued as similar to Dylan Tait and have made us some money.

Stop selling on young ladies please.

I'd hope back in midfield, rotation with Byrne, Stanton and Turner. As futile as it is trying to guess what happens in the next installment of Murrayball, i'd like to see the following on Saturday. McNeil, Millen, Watson, Corr, Dick, Brown, Byrne, Turner, Gullan, Smith, Hamilton. Play pretty narrow for Gullan and Smith to play off and around Hamilton and Turner to pull some strings.

I'd hope he actually quick and not "Ethan Ross" quick. I just don't see us being able to justify another attacking player without letting one go first.

Haven't seen anything of Hylton that would suggest he'd do much for us. A bit of a fight in him at least I suppose.

Completed. While personally i'm not a huge fan of singing football songs, I even struggle to muster the energy to stand up to show I hate the pars (its an age thing) but having a proper designated section is something i'd be behind. The railway stand was too far away from the core support to feasibly work out, so trying something else is a great idea.

Fair play for posting something and not once mentioning playing 3 at the back though.

Didn't see a lot of complaints about it when we were scoring late winners with 6 attackers on. Can't win them all, today was not about the number of attacker's it was about the quality of our play, or lack of it. Slow build up, slow transition when we lost the ball and poor in front of goal. Aside from the brilliance of Ferries and the woodwork, our shots on target were pretty poor overall. That and conceding poor goals were what cost us.

Behave yourself

Very true. For a lot of this season I don't think the constant changes at the back have helped, including things like this, but we've always struggled to defend set pieces, and it's a frustration

Easy seeing your lot have picked up a bit of form eh?

I overall agree here but I do think a first choice back line gives more options at corners than just Hamilton. Having Watson and Murray and Dick attacking the box would cause issues.

I think trying to guess who goes into what formations here is futile, it's akin to saying we need to play our strongest 11. There is no idea what that could be, because it doesn't exist. We need stability, both in terms of a settled line up at the back and the spine of the side and from a tactical point of view. The attacking players you fit to the game. Easton works when there is space to exploit on the flanks. Connolly works when we need balls into the box or can pick up against a weak fullback. Two up front rarely works because it means we're short in more important areas of the park and we don't have the pace to play off Hamilton flick ons most of the time.

I disagree with that, but I think we're in a position in the league that the risk of playing youngsters who are largely untested like Masson and Hannah is too great. If we were milling around in mid table, I'd expect to see them a bit more than we have, or likely the diddy cups. As Murray has always said, he tries to get as many of his good players on the pitch at once, which is why Brown is at centre half.