Spider1975

Well, if our fan base continues to grow at the rate it has done over the past 2-3 years then we should be fine. And if we continue down the route of youth development and continue to find and sell on players like Callun McKenna we should be even finer. Thanks for your concern though.

It's a marathon, (the 'journey'), not a sprint; we have been honking for the vast majority of this season, but for all the jokes about our defence etc, you've shipped almost 80 goals. I'm not, generally speaking, a betting man, but if we go down via the play-offs, as 'interesting' as it would be for you, I'm fairly certain who'd I'd wager will be coming back up soonest.

Beuker had credit in the bank given the promotion to the Championship from L2 and in some of the signings that he was at least part of, (Savoury, Boateng, Thomas, Paton etc), so it was a reasonable assumption that he had done the homework and that we granted a degree of trust in Veldman's ability. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but it does seem mad that we took a youth coach from the continent, gave him an eclectic bunch of kids and asked him to make an assault on the Championship.. You live and learn.

Don't know if anyone noticed but a certain 17yr old, ex QP 'keeper was sat on the bench for Bournemouth at the weekend!

Impossible to say as given ‘the project’, Welsh, Wilson and Sheridan would all have been around 10+ years too old to have even been considered.

I very much doubt Haughey has spent however much he has spent to watch us play Stirling Albion four times a year and would assume that Davidson will be under some pressure to ensure that if we do go down this season, we come straight back up again next year. He should probably be given the opportunity to squad build in the summer so at the very least he lives/dies by his team and not Veldman/Beukers’. What worries me slightly is that obstensibly he’s improved our attacking options with the addition of Sheridan, whilst getting a like for like, if not better screen in front of the defence in Welsh for Spong, but in doing so he’s almost halved the amount of goals scored, (even taking into account the six against Arbroath). We might be hard(er) to beat but if you can’t score you’re always likely to be looking over your shoulder and certainly won’t be troubling the top half of any league table; not ideal if you’re trying to maintain a presence in a very competitive Championship. I worry, given recent performances and throughout his time in Perth, he just might not be able to turn that around…..though will look forward to be proven wrong.

Extremely happy for him, given the season he’s had.

Jury out for me. For the defence, the QP team that got so close last year lost its spine (literally). Murray going allowed defences to get on top of the other two standout front men in Thomas and Savoury who’s was instrumental and who we’ve been unable to replace. Behind them I thought initially we had a decent replacement for Boateng in midfield in Spong but for whatever reason he left shortly after Davidson arrived. I don’t think we realised at the time what we lost when we let Kilday go either. We were (with hindsight) always going to struggle with those players missing. He has signed a decent replacement for Spong/Boateng in Welsh and pulled another rabbit out of the hat with Sheridan to at least give Paton some restbite, who, IMHO, we’ve done a disservice to with the lack of service he’s been provided. That said, we’ve never found a full time right back, and instead of signing one in January, to allow us to play with a RWB, we brought in another left back which has ousted Robson either to CB or the bench. We signed a proven CB but then rather than using him to assist the younger less experienced CB’s to allow the addition of another player either in midfield or attack, we’ve used him in a back three, usually alongside a midfielder. He also seems unwilling to ditch ‘his’ system which has seen a reduction in goals scored and none scored in the last 6 hours of play. That in itself has not been helped by a belligerence not to play Turner in his best position and a reliance on a very over confident and under performing McKinstry, (though I appreaciate he showed improvement today) Hes been dealt a shitty hand that much is true but I do worry he might start running out of excuses.

How was the undroppable McKinstry today?

We need a win therefore (duh) we need goals. We've ostensibly signed an experienced CB in Danny Wilson, who's played at a high level therefore I see no reason why he needs two other CB's beside him especially when one (Thomson) is a midfielder and the other (Robson) is a far better attacking LB. Statistically, since Davidson has been in place he's shored up the defence, but also stunted somewhat our attacking threat, (DU and Arbroath games somewhat anomalous). Would love to see him being a bit more aggressive and go four at the back, which would allow Thomson to return to midfield, put Turner further forward, put Thomas in his best position (in front of Robson) and take some of the pressure off of Longridge at RB. Sure he'll stick with the three though.

Huge favour granted last night, (payback for the 6 points we've gifted Rovers from winnable positions this year?). Time to see if we really do have Championship level players, playing under a Championship level manager, regardless of DT playing or not.

Think the QPSA missed a trick there; swapping out 'Goal of the Season', for 'Save of the Season'.

Callum Ferrie makes the PFA Championship Team of the Year.....Morton fans will be ragin'!

There's some truth in that. Our scoring rate is very similar under Davidson as it was under Veldman, (1.28 goals per game vs 1.2), however the pessimism comes from the fact that since Dom Thomas' injury, we've not managed to score at all.

Ok, I'll correct myself, he was playing on the right of Tizzard, not the left, which is where Wilson was. Was referring to the 'dutch' model of a back four with a sweeper, (or latterly three at the back), had the central defender of the 5 (3) in a roaming role, with licence to get forward, create play and become an 'extra' in midfield, or even attack, which I assumed was the point in putting a ball carrying, progressive midfielder (Thomson) in central defence in CD's 3, (rather than RV's lack of trust when he played a back four). Point I was getting at was it still seems a waste to play a [central] midfielder in defence unless you're playing them in that role. If you just want a CB that can progress the ball forwards, (in the knowledge you've got some cover behind), then Charlie Fox, I'd argue, is your man. Alternatively, (most likely), I've read far too much 'Inverting the Pyramid'. Just for clarity, I'm not advocating that he's anything other than genuinely injured and am more than aware he's put a hell of a shift in over the course of the season. He's our best player by far, (especially given the continued absence of Grant Savoury). I do hope that the club don't repeat the mistakes of last summer, (by replacing experience with more youth) and try to cash in on him now and/or that CD can convince him to stay; given how this year has gone, I'm sure that someone of his talent and profile doesn't fancy another relegation battle at the bottom of the Championship next year. I'm sure he wouldn't be short of offers. Either way I shall get back in my box forthwith.

Felt for the guy tbh - he wasn't given much of an opportunity to make any kind of an impact.

These are, potentially, the most depressing three words in the English language

I'd have hoped that as Club Captain this wouldn't be the case as the things we are desperately needing at the moment; leadership, creativity and attacking threat, tend to come from him. All that said, the silence from the club as to what the injury is and how long he'll be out for has been deafening. With a year left on his contract it'll be interesting to see if he's still around in August

He's more experienced than Tizzard and if we're determined to play with at least one ball carrying CB in a three that can progress things forward, (and add some aerial threat), then it would make sense to make it him rather than Thomson who, in turn, could maybe go back to midfield?

Don't disagree, but Davidson has made some strange decisions regarding how he deploys his personnel. I get playing Thomson in defence if you're playing him in that Libero role, but he isn't, he's playing on the left of Tizzard, who in turn is being shored up on the right by Wilson. Longridge, a midfielder and actually, despite my criticism, was way better 2nd half against Utd when he moved back centrally into that role. Despite this he's proven to be decent as a RB earlier in the season, but does CD play him there, no, instead we put him in as a RWB which he doesn't really have the pace for. Similarly, as he moves Thomson back and Longridge wide, Turner ends up deeper and we've all seen how much better he was when playing further up the pitch, which then means we have to rely on McKinstry to be our creative threat when Thomas is unavailable, or as we saw today, see both Sheridan and Paton come deep. I'm not saying CD hasn't inherited significant structural issues and by God it's been a season of significant upheaval, but I'd hope as a manager, CD would have the flexibility and know-how to be able to change tactics and formations to suit the playing staff he has.

Given QP's performances in the last few games you might just get your wish, if not this season, then most probably next without some serious surgery, but thank you for thinking of us anyhoo. Again, like most others, sorry to see Arbroath head down. All the very best for next season and wishing you guys a speedy return.

We have so little in the way of effective squad depth that the vast majority of the first eleven are almost undroppable. As others have said, if we couldn't get fired up for this game today, we have little to look forward to should it come to a play-off against Hamilton, Alloa or Montrose. Even if we do survive to fight another year in the Championship with Falkirk heading up and looking way better than Arbroath, some serious surgery is going to be needed to avoid a similar fate next year as Arbroath have suffered this year.

When playing three at the back, we shouldn't be seeing balls being played through that back three - it happened several times today. Tizzard was far from great, but I'd level similar criticism at Danny Wilson who was guilty of giving the ball away far too many times. Whilst CD seems to insist on playing three at the back, he does so with the same lack of faith in those CB's that Veldman had & thus we see Thomson there, week in week out, when we badly need his dynamism in midfield. CD continues to insist on playing five in midfield, with which we really shouldn't constantly be seeing Paton and Sheridan on the half-way line trying to get possession - but we are. Whilst this is going on and due to the lack of Thomson in midfield, we instead get Turner, who gets worse the ever deeper he plays and therefore ever more a bomb-scare - to the point that he's beginning to make McKinstry look competent. United twigged it last week - that despite having five in midfield, the two wide players were isolated and exposed - especially Longridge, who whilst able and competent at right back, hasn't got the pace for a wing-back role. Robson and Scott gave us the pretence of threat on the left, but other than that it was just another 90 mins and £20 wasted. All in all we have a manager insistent on playing three at the back & five in midfield but without a squad assembled to do so - and that squad seem very much like strangers when they cross that white line at 3pm. Football should be relatively simple - round pegs in round holes - this system is not fulfilling this.