Rousseau

People are rightly furious at the standard of Refereeing, but I don't think we're -- or hope not -- suggesting that it's the reason we lost. We played well, but didn't take our chances.

Koeman's now available... I don't think you can compare last season and this. Last season's spell was not his squad, and we were playing with youngsters for the majority of it. There's definite progress; but it's clearly not enough for those that expect us to be beating everyone under the sun. We do need to start showing consistency in our results, for longer spells.

I get frustrated at the result influencing the perceived performance of the players. Just because we win doesn't mean they all played well, and vice versa, just because we lose doesn't mean they were all trash, and deserving to be "removed from the club" forthwith. Windass was poor, in taking chances -- he hit the 'keeper twice from what I recall, when putting it to the corner is a guaranteed goal; he needs to work on instinct and shooting -- and perhaps his 'fight', -- which only appears on these threads when we lose -- but he got into these chance-scoring positions. I was disappointed with Pena, but he should've actually scored too; he was also quite poor against St Johnstone, but scored twice. I don't see how the Manager is responsible for a player's, or players', inability to hit the back of the net from 6 yards? The Manager's only responsible for getting them up to that point. BUT, PC will have to take responsibility for this, as is his job, and he will lose it if these results continue. The Referee was atrocious -- two bad head knocks that drew blood, and he played on?! -- and although it played it's part -- it's always going to be easier with a man advantage... sometimes -- it was not the reason we lost. We lost because we couldn't take our chances. They did.

I thought we were the better side; created by far the best chances but couldn't take them - Windass, Morelos, Pena, Candeias all had glorious opportunities. Alnwick couldn't take the first goal, which was probably a mistake; the rest was blind chance, bouncing around the goal-line. The second goal was quality finishing, but I don't like us losing the aerial battle leading up to it. I prefer 'keeper's to be on the look out for sweeping opportunities, so I don't have a problem with his positioning. The Referee was a joke: even Moult was bleeding from a head knock and he plays on?! And not booking Alves was bizarre: he was looking straight at it! There should have been several red cards. I like the Manager's passion; he was rightly incensed at the challenges. I don't think either manager deserved to be sent to the stands. Ultimately he has to take the blame, but it's not his fault. Tactically, I thought, we were spot on.; they barely had a sniff, and we created several chances. I thought Nemane was the right move, tactically: trying to bring on a natural winger to stretch their back three, but it didn't work; perhaps too young for the occasion too. We had kind of chucked it towards the end, and then bringing on Herrera -- a last ditch move -- meant we could not control the midfield, being outnumbered as we were in midfield. It would have to be 'get it wide to the full-backs and whip it into the box' type of game, but that would've played into Motherwell's hands. We didn't deserve to lose, but that's football. Unfortunately, we can't keep losing games like this; Pedro will be the one ultimately responsible. It's most certainly NOT a sackable result.

Pepe is one of those players you love to hate when playing against you, but you'd love him in your team!

I can see a high scoring game; I just hope we are able to score more than them.

Windass is one of our most creative players, surprisingly; it would be silly to leave him out. Moreover, he arguably had his best game for us against Motherwell.

PC mentioned as much, saying they've been working on wide deliveries.

My inspiration for other articles seems to have dried up, so I'll start picking up some previews. I'll do the Hearts game.

He was talking about washing the older players' boots the other day on Twitter, and stated he'd gladly wash Captain Lee Wallace's boots too. Not sure that's someone that thinks themselves a "superstar".

If we succumbed to the whims of the fans we'd replace the entire XI every couple of weeks. Windass has been disappointing at times, but I think there's a player there. He's certainly showing progress; his defensive game has improved a wee bit, and his attacking game is more focused. He's got a way to go before he's influencing games consistently; he's not going to get there if he's left on the bench.

Yes, I've done that with your good self...

66 views; What's that, mid-table? Relegation candidate?

I'm not sure Scotland fans, or the people in positions of power, have the patience or awareness to implement a project like the Portuguese did with 20 years or so until it bares any fruit. It's going to take something like that to change our fortunes. That Pianist analogy is spot on; you don't get anywhere by making our players more physical.

I'd like to see McCrorie get a few games with Alves. I think we've missed Alves' leadership, and his forward passes. Just because we go with two forwards -- Herrera and Morelos, as has been suggested -- doesn't mean we're more likely to score goals. IMO, we have a better balance when we play a 4-2-3-1, with Pena pushing forward. Marking a static forward in Herrera is easier than the continually-in-motion Pena. We'll certainly need the defensive stability too. Jack is a huge loss. Holt can do a job, but I do fear Saints' physicality. I'd like to see Barjonas get some game-time too -- can he come in for Jack, or is he more offensive? It perhaps doesn't solve the physical deficiency, though.

2-1.

It's sad but I just can't bring myself to support that team; It's somewhat irrational, but I always end up smirking when they concede.

Aww... 1-1.

Thumb, though...

I love Serie A -- always have done since the classic Football Italia on Channel 4! Napoli have been breathtaking in their attacking football; a real delight to watch. Milan have stuttered after so much promise on the back of significant investment. Juventus look vulnerable to me: they've consciously moved away from the strong defensive base to attempt to play more attacking and to score more goals; they score a fair few, but they also concede now -- what do you expect when you sell Bonucci?! It's a tactically fascinating league -- even unfancied Atalanta, who've been terrific over the last couple of years. I expected them to do well against Everton -- even when the English pundits did not, although that's not unusual -- but 3-0 was pretty impressive; they totally dominated in their 3-4-1-2.

I was impressed with Holt's contribution against Hamilton late on: energy to burn and good movement. However, he's bullied physically too often to be a regular for us. Always confident that he'll do a job, though.

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