lady-isobel-barnett

I'm sure he'd be fine coming off the bench but Jackie has to think in terms of a forward getting injured early on. No use having a sub who's not entirely fit and not able to give his best over a longer period. Not saying that's relevant to SF more a general comment.

The lad's just turned 18

Well, I'm getting fed up with folk moaning about other people moaning about moaning.

I agree the forum should never be taken as a mirror image of Jags fans but I always feel the nature of the beast means it'll always tend towards the negative. It's unlikely someone will start a thread either praising the catering (even if was acceptable) or saying the pitch is in good nick. That's just common nature. What riles me somewhat is the OTT reactions particularly to individual players. We never seem to have any average players, everyone is either brilliant (less common) or about the worst player the poster has ever seen. I agree with Tom S about the "doom and gloom merchants" tho' I'd exclude discussions about propco and those who post related info and opinions from that. The propco thingy is something too serious to ignore and is never going to be exactly a cheery subject. That's an exception tho' and on all the other threads a lot of people need to lighten up a good bit.

Regardless of where you stand re the "our strikers are not good enough" argument whoever has seen our competitive games this season will know that insufficient chances have come their way. Stewart imo looked OK yesterday and Doolan always has a first touch to justify his selection. Regardless of how shaky Robertson was in the first half yesterday I don't think the midfield defensive side is in any way a worry. No one can surely say our strikers are missing chance after chance so it's fair to say our major weakness is in attacking midfield. Ironically we're not short in numbers in that area so are we really going to add to those numbers? According to McNamara he's looking at a couple of additional signings plus McCann. I'll be interested to hear about the quality of those two prospective signings. By my logic signing whoever they are will either be adding to an area of the squad where we're reasonably proficient or adding to an area of the squad where we're not short in numbers.

That's more or less what I was getting at. No way was I defending a guy who can only turn in a decent performance once every dozen or so games.

Every Jags forum (no doubt just about every football forum for all I know) is or was full of posters who say one thing one week then something near the opposite the next. I'll be as guilty of that sort of hypocrisy as others. The other side of the coin is posts by folk on a kinda agenda (not so guilty of that, I don't think ) but again just the sort of thing you surely expect on any forum. In some aspects the forum represents the pre and post game pub patter. It would be a dull and rather strange pub that had a clientele who never varied their opinions and only spoke when they were stone cold sober so as not to offend by uttering something contrary to whatever they were saying the last time they were in. Stretching the pub analogy a bit further every bar will have punters who take themselves a bit too seriously, low level hypocrites, snobs and even the village idiot (who I notice hasn't yet posted on this thread, yet) .

I do agree but just as I was reading your post I was watching Suarez of Liverpool stick his penalty about 6 foot over the bar.

Read my post again. I only mentioned those two games to highlight the fact the guy can play. The only player you mention that I can identify in context is Chaplain, who if we didn't have a youth policy might still be with us as a fringe player. Grehan may well be 2nd or 3rd division quality but this season he's a first division player. You might as well get used to it.

I suppose Falkirk have to play youngsters, we don't. In that respect Jackie is just like most managers who prefer to introduce teenagers gradually and preferably when the team isn't under pressure. I'm not saying that's correct in our case and imo we're over protective. Guys like Fraser & Campbell are physically strong while Bannigan has played against SPL opposition yet not one in today's squad. Can see why Lindsay was on the bench but for the life of me I can't understand why we needed another centreback (Balatoni) especially with Robertson able to go back there if called on. I don't think there was enough energy or directness in the midfield particularly the longer the game went on. I'd never have subbed Rowson, Erskine could probably been taken off earlier but either Robertson and Cairney could have been replaced if we had Bannigan or Campbell on the bench.

I thought as the game went on Robertson was passable but even at that got to agree with above. Again as the game went on Stewart looked more the player most of us thought he could be. A draw might have been a fair result today but we could so easily have been three down in eight minutes.

Last season anyone who was at Palmerston (2-2) game and at Falkirk (3-2) game will know Grehan can be of use. I don't know what it is with the guy but I can understand why McCall & others saw potential. Out and out duds simply aren't capable of turning it on at all. The real question is why can the lad be arguably man of the match on a couple of occasions yet struggle to get pass marks in so many other games? Anyway hardly surprised he wasn't in the squad today tho' I'd have thought Fraser would have been ahead of Burns on the bench.

BTW heard there was roadworks on the M876 going north/east. Down to one lane. Shouldn't be too much a concern but if a severe tail back better to come off early and go thru Bonnybridge.

Not only can we not afford a "Just In" thread I see we've had to cut back on a "Match Preview" as well. Times are hard indeed.

Even I know what Rockford Files is rhyming slang for.

Especially if he repeats what he did in the Cup game there . One of the best debuts I can recall. Seriously tho' coming off the bench Fraser seems to make more of an impact than Grehan.

Is that rhyming slang for Barbara Dickson?

Could someone tell me what it says I can't open the link. I really can't. My pc is too pc.

My memories from last season's three games at Falkirk were you had to line up attack minded to avoid stalemate. I feel whether we go 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 is of little consequence if Cairney and Erskine are involved. Cairney rarely works down the flanks and Erskine is, well, Erskine. I'd imagine the starting eleven will be as posted above.

My point tho' is that the linesman evidently if consulted could have influenced the ref to change his mind. I don't mean it to sound all sour grapes but if this is ref policy post Tannadice then we're in for a season of dying swans. Bad enough just about every team has their designated diver, the refs usually know who they are but now it'll be anyone in the team.

Agree but on both occasions the official with the clearest view was the linesman. Evidently the Hamilton one said it wasn't a penalty. As someone else pointed out it looks like that since all that nonsense up at Tannadice last season the linesman's duties have been marginalised. Whether it was naivety or not, and I tend to agree it looks that way certainly with Robertson, both Riley & Imrie probably dived or to use the vernacular went down easy. I'm less seething about us appearing to have been conned more that referees won't ask for or accept a second opinion. It's all very well folk saying that if it was at the other end we'd be shouting for a penalty or it'll all even out throughout the season. That may well be true but it just makes the game we watch that more ridiculous.

Arguably Boyd's best game for us was at Tynecastle shortly after he arrived. The fact he never developed with us much thereafter backs up your point. But be gracious and admit that the Bunnet at least knew he was a decent prospect by signing him three times.