CountryBumpkin

See there were a few incidents with flares again. Thrown on the pitch before and after the game. More concerning though, during the first half, a few lads were down in the toilets having to clean blue colouring from their faces after a flare was thrown at them, one lad was being checked by a steward to make sure he hadn't been burned.

You can do both, unless the beer has dulled the capability to multitask

Good game overall and what a goal to win it. To be fair, I expected United to exploit the massive gaps in our midfield when we were caught on the break or by a switch of play and they did until they got to the edge of the box and suddenly had all the composure of Michael J Fox playing darts. All to play for.

Prediction for the night, United will control the game for the most part, dominating the midfield, Rovers relying on quick counters and feeding off punts up the park from a panicked Dick and new boy Brown. Rovers creating their chances down the United right with Hamilton, Easton and Vaughan all drifting to that space and attacking a pretty weak link that is Grimshaw. Think it'll end in a draw though.

I remember my first matches in the late 80s/early 90s were in that stand. Was fantastic.

I think had the Railway Stand section closest to the home end been the part used, it would have been much more successful than the other end. I think this is partly why Barrowman has talked a lot about getting the stand sorted and safe standing etc.

Its almost as sad as conceding 8 goals in your last two home games without reply ...almost.

For peats sake, you guys just keep barrelling on eh?

Ahh. I see. Though I would have hated to try and keep two players expecting a lot of game time happy there. Its ideally not a position you want to keep changing up overall.

But pointless during every other period with our mad 4-1-5 approach. We're already far too open at the back, Tumilty's inability to track back and cover space would have made us worse overall. Millen has faults, but his more pragmatic approach to pushing forward helps when we're playing chaos ball.

Surely he'd also have fallen out with the other 10 players on the park for that too?

This. A voice of reason from the dark side.

No, I forgot it was an 8pm deadline. Looked to be some good bids for them, fair play. Still waiting on my first run purchased bottle to be delivered though.

What makes you believe that Dick is in any way being asked to be an attacking left back?

Can't say i'd enjoy playing on a team that has others downing tools if they're not currently getting a new deal next year. Much rather play with those willing to force their way into a new deal.

We're doing something wrong if the recommendation for a full back includes a 34 year old who has retired from the game.

Who used to be in that position? Didn't know anyone had stepped down.

As did the midfield and forward line. Lost possession too easily, not enough coverage and piss poor awareness when tracking back. That said, poor defending happens at all levels. Look at the Super Sunday game in England yesterday, those highly paid idiots made schoolboy defending look competent.

Thats being incredibly harsh on both fishermen and posties.

I don't recall seeing anyone marching back to the changing rooms, but by the time Byrne came on, I think i'd just sort of glazed over after watching that display for 75 minutes.

I don't think individually they're the big problem really, its the collective team being unable to defend coherently. I mean, neither are of the standard needed to be at the top of the league challenging for the premiership, thats understandable. What i'd give for a proper attacking fullback on one side and a capable central defender/fullback on the other that could make a back 3 when the attacking lad went forward. Look at their goal last night, Watson steps out of defence and is caught out by a ball over the top, Euan Murray then panic races after him and gets a bit of a block in. As a result Dick pushes into the middle to cover the hole left by both centre halfs being out of position, Millen moves into the centre as well. Our wide forwards (Easton and whoever was on the right?) fail to get back in and cover. Collectively the team panic and fail to clear any number of opportunities before the ball goes wide to Todorov who has just walked into the space left by our whole team being incapable of defending what started as a fairly easy ball over the top. Its an overall shambles of a setup, also not helped by our lack of an intelligent midfield or any consistency in lineups.

Which is impressive given Liam Grimshaw is part of that defence.

Too many ball watching, too many poor, weak challenges. Just get rid of the ball, if it means clearing out a team mate, do it.

Personally, I don't believe a 4-4-2 with Brown and Byrne together won't work, mostly because both of them lack the dynamism needed to break forward and get back into shape efficiently but also because our fullbacks don't push forward to compensate and add that extra body necessary when attacking. When attacking, you need 5 players in the attack, a couple supporting and the remainder set to block a counter attack or recycle possession. Having Brown and Byrne in midfield along with Millen and Dick at fullback leaves us with 4 on the attack that will be significantly out numbered by opposition defenders. Last night, our shape was horrendous. It was so poor to watch and it needs to change. Its conceivable that we finish this month with 0 points gained.

This nonsense formation of a back 4, one midfielder and then 5 players doing whatever needs binned. Need to get back to a solid 4 with 3 in front of them and another 3 up top. We give away so much space in the middle and teams are exploiting that too frequently for people not to notice. Euan Murray was atrocious tonight, challenged his man every time and didn't care about the ball at all, beaten too easily and too often. Expected the experienced head of Watson to grip him and get him sorted but evidently not. Pass marks to Hamilton who won almost everything in the air but that's about it. Airdrie have our number, good luck to them in the final.