Fearchar

That's not my memory of the game (although, of course, not everything can be included in the highlights): there seemed to be many occasions when the team carved the Livingston defence open but then didn't put the ball into the net, for whatever reason. It was disappointing how many fouls the Livingston players committed, since they used to be very clean. However, they haven't quite got the knack of doing so out of vision of the referee.

IIRC that's what Jackie said at the Jags Trust night.

Yes, you're right - but it should have been a card (and would have been if the refereeing had been consistent). Armand2's points are well made: so I won't copy that long post. (You can read it above.) My mind was on what might happen if the team had played the way they did in the first half against a competent side: we'd have gone in at least 1 goal down at the break, and possibly 2. I'm not thinking of world-beaters, either - just run-of-the-mill SPL sides. This team is gelling, but still lacks consistency, and many of the players are their own worst enemies. It is likely that this team will face another with a good few internationalists in it soon, and, like many of us here, I want to see our team crush that opposition and heap ignominy on their heads. The first-half display in Sunday's match was so poor that, if repeated, our team would be unlikely to win against such opposition. How many of us want to be plucky losers again? I don't know about anyone else, but I've had my fill of that at Dens Park - and look where Dundee are now, despite being a financial basket-case and cynically playing up to the fantasies of victimisation. What was said in the dressing room at halftime won't be revealed, but I am pretty sure that some ears were burnt there. The management team did very well to get the team back into the right frame of mind, but inconsistency on the park, like during that first half, would impede or even halt progress.

It does, but don't the aforementioned numpties already struggle with English? That hasn't kept them back. (I try not to listen to them.)

No, not yet. If they had, today's game would not have stayed at 3-0 (even although, admittedly, a clear penalty claim was turned down) nor would Raith Rovers have been allowed to get close to a scoring position close to full-time, nor would O'Donnell have reacted to being struck in the face. A side with a real killer instinct prefers to take its revenge cold.

Just watched the game again on the TV. Erskine lost the ball on innumerable occasions, and was forced into covering defensively - one of his weaknesses. He also scored twice and set up the other goal. So yes, he was very poor - and also very effective. (By the way, he scored both with his right, i.e. his weaker foot. Respect for the training he's getting.) Welsh got a bad knock on the head early on in the game, which seemed to knock him off his stride, and may well have contributed to the poor team performance in the first half. (The match at Hampden showed that if he's missing, the team doesn't function effectively in midfield.) O' Donnell reminded of Twaddle on the days when he got into a bad mood. After O'Donnell got a knock on the face, instead of shrugging it off as he would normally do, he handbagged a Raith Rovers player and got a yellow card for his trouble. Petulant and unnecessary. So yes, all three showed severe weaknesses in their play. Maybe the management needs to think about how to help players like Welsh and O'Donnell to be more robust or better at avoiding the, er, "physical" approach. (Erskine was also scythed down early on, but that's nothing new: he seems to be made of sterner stuff.) If less scrupulous managers spot that the way to rattle this team is to give it that treatment, then it will happen more often. Despite Craig's canny, bland statement on camera after the game (from which Erskine sensibly took the lead) about the halftime talk, I suspect that Jackie and Simon told them to get out there and play football instead of letting RR show them how to punt the ball around for head tennis. This was one of those (cliche alert!) "games of two halves", and that's the best explanation consistent with the facts that I can come up with - even if it doesn't conform to some hero-worship on here. If you want to claim that there weren't any weaknesses in the first half, then you'll have to explain what happened to the team's goal difference in the first half (Reminder: there wasn't one.), and also why the second half wasn't such a turnaround after all. The timing of the goals tells a different story about these players' performances. Where's your evidence, gentlemen?

Possibly the team's worst performance for quite some while, since O'Donnell, Erskine and Welsh all had a bad day, but the only assessment that counts is the scoreline.

It has been said before, but it's worth repeating: the row numbers need to be repainted. It might make more sense to put them where they don't get tramped on and worn away.

That just HAS to go into the new kids' songbook. Can we get it played when the teams come out this afternoon?

The "pishy" Gaelic commentary you're complaining about is streets ahead of the witless outpourings from semi-literates we have to suffer in Scotland in "English". It really is exceptionally bad. Just compare it with the clear, composed commentary deep in the lower leagues of German regional football (and weep): To be fair, BBC ALBA is just the transmission channel; the production company is responsible for that. It seems to be a common problem among British directors at football matches, that they think the actual play is less interesting than spotting celebrities in the crowd, watching a player's reactions when he's nowhere near play, etc. Another good reason for attending the game. And you can always record it from BBC ALBA at home, too, to play later.

The budget for Gaelic television won't allow for live subtitles, which usually need stenographers, who are extremely highly paid. Add the requirement for a simultaneous translation of a fast (well, probably) unscripted commentary, and it's easily seen why it doesn't happen much in live programmes in Scotland, even when no translations are provided. At least, for those too far away to attend, the Gaelic-language commentary will, as always, be of a much higher standard than is ever heard in English. Maybe there will be English-language radio commentary on BBC Radio Scotland Medium Wave for the linguistically challenged: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01ml2mq

I agree with Santana. A great signing, who has shown himself more than capable of setting up attacks from the back, usually through his accurate passing.

It will take time for the base home support to rise (while the visiting support can't really be relied upon to provide numbers), as the media have bigger, more important changes to report on, such as events in Division 3.

Yes, they were very "physical" (i.e. dirty) on Tuesday evening: that's why the preview of today's game said Muirhead might not play - because he had been brought down twice by being clouted round the shoulders. Scott Fox was also brought down in his own box while surrounded by players - the mark of an opposing side that is being coached into how to foul without being detected, since no goalkeeper willingly falls down when defending on his own line. Thankfully, they are no Leeds United!

This.

I can't help feeling that the statements here supporting Chris Erskine and those criticising his mistakes - both types - are well founded. The question then is one for the coaching staff: how can Chris be helped to overcome his weaknesses, so that his excellent skills come to the fore without being tarnished by mistakes? In a way, we're not talking about Chris' talent here, but about the ability of the coaching staff to encourage and develop it while smoothing out the rough patches. There are some signs that this is happening, such as seeing him scoring with his right foot. Now that he has a set position in the team lineup, that seems to be benefiting him too, as we can see from his scoring record. Progress is really up to Jackie McNamara and Simon Donnelly.

Why didn't you call them Bavaria München, sigesige, to balance out the English way of spelling words?

To be fair, although Doolan has tended to be too mobile like that in the past, more recently he has stayed closer to the threatening positions where he's of most use to the team. I think his lower workrate is reflected in his higher rate of scoring - which is what we really need from him.

A bit unfortunate, but Welsh's shots bent away on the outside of the upright, and Erskine dwelt on the ball too much in the box. If these errors had been put right, Accies wouldn't have been able to come back into the game at all - their shots were rarely on target. Good display from their goalkeeper, but not enough pressure from our side. (Admittedly, a few fouls in the box would have resulted in penalties for us on another day, but the ref had convinced himself that the Accies were a young team needing to be protected from these seasoned professionals on the other side: doubtless he gets his football news from the BBC.) By the time the second half came, Accies had figured out that playing football against our team wasn't doing them any favours: from that point on, it was a long ball game, with plenty of fouls on Muirhead in particular, not to mention on Fox when the ref couldn't see through the crowd in the box. I suspect that they wouldn't have tried it on if Murray had been on the park, or they would have got too much back to make it worthwhile. However, it was disappointing to see the team responding to the long-ball game by following suit, instead of imposing their own pattern of play. That's really why they lost to an inferior team. Let's hope that Jackie McNamara has figured all that out by Saturday.

Mr Scruff mentioned something that is markedly different - the price. (However, that applies to other forms of entertainment in Germany too, such as orchestral music.) Both Bundesliga and (much) lower leagues do have a sense of fun and occasion at matches. Maybe the weather has something to do with it, or having working life more restricted, both in the sense that greater commitment is demanded and that it is not allowed to interfere with family/free time to the same extent as here.

However, some German politicians are pointing at the all-seated stadiums in the UK and saying that's the way to go. There are no problems with policing, and beer is on sale in the grounds - again, with no problems. However, German politicians are keen on telling the Greeks how to be good Europeans, too.

Oh, good! I've found the winning ticket. It will go to the costs of following the team to Pyongyang in the next preseason tour.

What! Both ways?