Killie Roll Call

[PittodriePile]

First time I've had the opportunity to exercise my membership card, using it online was no bother holding hope it gets me through the turnstile without hassle.

In - In

Furryboots - South Y

Pre - Pints from lunchtime

Post - Pints 'til bedtime

Prediction - 3-0 May x 2 and Maynard

[Pacman1903]

In/Oot- Oot

Furryboots- Atlantic

Pre- Babysitting dimwits

Post- Reading

Prediction- 0-0

[February_1971]

In - In

Furryboots - Main Stand

Pre - Walking the Dog

Post - John Smith followed by Kraken

Prediction - 2-1 Christie, May.

[Mason89]

In/Oot- Oot

Furryboots- Brunton Park, Carlisle

Pre- Working

Post- Dunno, find a pub

Prediction- Carlisle 6 Barnet 7

The big game will be 1-0 Aberdeen

[Aldo1983]

Since I never predict we will win, I'll go for...

3-1 with them scoring first.

[sheepcrooky]

In
Sleeping
3-0 us
Drinking

[Pacman1903]

Furryboots- Brunton Park, Carlisle



Im going there in Oct for Wycombe Wanderers just for a laugh

[Mason89]

Im going there in Oct for Wycombe Wanderers just for a laugh

Might make that one myself if I'm working

[Pacman1903]

Its a midweeker

[Mason89]

Thats handier, should make it

[mondo_notion]

In/Oot - maybe. the parking, transport, distance and terrorist possibilities will all have to be considered.

Furryboots - SS SS

Pre - working

Post - home to get through my back log of laundry (such a f*ckin loser)

Prediction - 3-0 get your money on it now

[Pacman1903]

Thats handier, should make it

17th

[erchieplum]

In/Oot- in

Furryboots- main with my hooligan mates

Pre- Kingswells parking on a residential lawn and pi$hing in letterboxes

Post- Westhill chucking bottles of vp wine and abuse in general direction of a semi rural residential location and pi$hing in letterboxes

Prediction- 2-0 to the Aberdeen -Rooney first goal with a novel pi$hing in a letterbox goal celebration

NOTE : some of this is made up

[Landvetter83]

In
Mainer D
Driving + Walking while watching out for terrorist heid the ba's looking to mow me down.
Walking while .... + Driving
7-0. Considine Hat-Trick

Lewis
Logan-O'Connor-Ball-Considine
MacLean-Shinnie
Stewart-Christie-Rooney
May

Skitey pitch - been raining for the last 4 months ....

[krakowdon]

In/Oot- Oot

Furryboots- Brunton Park, Carlisle

Pre- Working

Post- Dunno, find a pub

Prediction- Carlisle 6 Barnet 7

The big game will be 1-0 Aberdeen

I do that trip occasionally, usually an international break.

Aiming to go on 7th October when Jayden Stockley's Exeter are the visitors.

Hmmm. Aberdeen v Killie thread and half the posts are about going to see Carlisle :D

[RedStarTorphins]

In
Mainer D
Driving + Walking while watching out for terrorist heid the ba's looking to mow me down.
Walking while .... + Driving
7-0. Considine Hat-Trick

Lewis
Logan-O'Connor-Ball-Considine
MacLean-Shinnie
Stewart-Christie-Rooney
May

Skitey pitch - been raining for the last 4 months ....


Starting X1

Lewis
Logan O'Connor Arnason Considine
Stewart Shinnie McLean Wright
May Maynard

[InversneckieDob]

This could be our strongest bench since the days o' Johnny Hewitt.
Reynolds, Ball, Christie, Steven, Rooney, Tansey.......I'd wager they're automatic first picks in maist Scottish teams.

[Jupiter]

Starting X1

Lewis
Logan O'Connor Arnason Considine
Stewart Shinnie McLean Wright
May Maynard

wtf is that team? I see McInnes has had the tombola out again.

[InversneckieDob]

A variety of formations feasible there.

[Mason89]

McLean has the donkey pics

[LED]

Minus Kari and that is the team which to my mind gave the best performance of the season against ross county. Maybe McInnes recognising that Maclean and Christie cant play in the same side?

[RedStarTorphins]

McLean has the donkey pics

Me undroppable.
WHEN he signs for SEVCO he better be.

[RED_JOHN]

1-0 Stevie May

[Pacman1903]

Yaaaas Stevie min (belatedly)

[InversneckieDob]

Sunday, Monday Stevie May........

[medw1311]

Feck 1-1, Mclean OG?

[irnbru1903]

Really really poor stuff. We will get hammered if we play someone decent.

[InversneckieDob]

Kinnell.
T'faaark?

[Pacman1903]

F@ck sake. Kilmarnock are honking too

[RedStarTorphins]

Really really poor stuff. We will get hammered if we play someone decent.

A kind fixture list has masked pish performances.
Not helped by Derek's Tombola.

[Pacman1903]

Feck 1-1, Mclean OG?

Jones it says on BBC

[medw1311]

Jones it says on BBC

AFC Twitter saying Jones shot deflected off McLean and over Lewis.

[Pacman1903]

A kind fixture list has masked pish performances.
Not helped by Derek's Tombola.

Nae really been masked though. We all know we have been poor

[Pacman1903]

AFC Twitter saying Jones shot deflected off McLean and over Lewis.

Dubious goal panel will have to step in

[irnbru1903]

We really do flatter to deceive up front. Very limited close shots on goal if any end product at all. With so many "exciting" players we should be getting better. Sadly we all know we are one error away from conceding at the back at all times.

[Jupiter]

That's 2 weeks in a row there has been a brain fart team selection.

[Jupiter]

Nobody beats Kilmarnock 14 times in a row

[macattack]

Crap result >:( did Rooney come on ?

[RedStarTorphins]

Absolute f*cking sh1te.

[EintrachtFrankfurt]

Meh, sums it up. :mad:

[bpdon]

We really do flatter to deceive up front. Very limited close shots on goal if any end product at all. With so many "exciting" players we should be getting better. Sadly we all know we are one error away from conceding at the back at all times.

This in spades. Other than blasters from 25 yards, we barely threatened the goal. Considering the players at our disposal, and todays opposition, that cant be anything other than disappointing.

Shyte result. Non-descript performance. Midfield still doesn't function.

[irnbru1903]

I have seen enough now to know we peaked last season. Other than May I am finding it hard to pick any positives from that game. Joe Lewis apart.

[InversneckieDob]

Kinell. T'faaaark?

[mondo_notion]

Played excellent up until we scored our goal. Not the first time that has happened either, damn frustrating.

[Jupiter]

It's all McInnes's fault for getting the tombola out again. Why can't he stick to our normal formation instead of mucking about with weird line ups?

[Pacman1903]

We laughed at sevco slipping up last night. That is a far far worse result than they got. Very poor sh@t

[RedStarTorphins]

I have seen enough now to know we peaked last season. Other than May I am finding it hard to pick any positives from that game. Joe Lewis apart.

Stewart/Wright/GMS are downgrades on Hayes & McGinn.
Midfield hasn't been improved & defence is of same standard as last season.

We have a real hard fixture list coming until end of October.

Play like we are & we won't win many.

We've been pish in the main so far this season.

[Jupiter]

Sh!t results like this and the tombola nonsense is why McInnes will never be a top manager.

[sheepcrooky]

WTF is the point in Stewart & Maynard, they were both worse than a man short today. Even when we were 1-0 up we were playing ****e. Only when they came off did we actually play facing their goal rather than tippy tappy crap and pass the ball back every time.

[sonofrgmsdad]

Home again and still frustrated.

The middle part of that game was controlled by Kilmarnock. I can only think of two reasons why that should be:

1) That Kilmarnock had better players than we did - No it wasn't that, or

2) That our players weren't fully focused on winning the game. It was this. They looked like they were playing a dead rubber at the end of the season in that middle part of the game. Ball wasn't controlled properly and passing was dreadful. Can't criticise some of the tackling to get the ball back from Shinnie, McLean and May but even they struggled to make even simple control and passing something they could master.

We have seen over the past few years that we have decent players but that they really need to be at the top of their game every time out. It is stupid results like this that give Smelly such a big cushion at the top of the league. Lessons on this are not being learned. Our decent players are only decent when their mind is fully focused on the job - see cup final for example.

[RedStarTorphins]

Sh!t results like this and the tombola nonsense is why McInnes will never be a top manager.

I get a horrible feeling the Tombola will be out again on Thursday.
He'll over think it & try & match up with Motherwell & play a 3-5-2 or a 3-5-1-1.
Wait & see.

[ByeByeScum2012]

For me the big lesson McInnes surely learned today was that Christie has to start every game. Different class to the rest of the team.

Stewart was abysmal and should have been hooked at half time. Think it will be a long time before he or Maynard start again.

For me the back four looked ok today, Arnie won every aerial challenge and was far better than his initial debacle.

Thought MacLean was excellent, really liked his attitude getting tore into every challenge (and I've never been a fan).

By phuck we miss Johnny Hayes though

[Jupiter]

I get a horrible feeling the Tombola will be out again on Thursday.
He'll over think it & try & match up with Motherwell & play a 3-5-2 or a 3-5-1-1.
Wait & see.


When was the last time we won a game without playing our normal 4231 formation? I can't remember when it was.

[donsdaft]

McLean is utter s'hite.

Looked like we were going to play a back four but we pissed around with it during the game.

We were miles ahead of that lot today, the reason we let it slip was that we are nowhere near as good as we think we are.

[RedStarTorphins]

When was the last time we won a game without playing our normal 4231 formation? I can't remember when it was.

Can't remember us winning with a 3-5-2
We've always looked sh1te at it.
Stick to 4-2-3-1 and a vote of 9/10 players.

Stewart doesn't look great to me.
So only other option would be Wright?
Christie gets played there to accommodate McLean at "10".

F**k knows what DM comes up with but expect a surprise or two.

If we play as we have been, we'll get put out.

[Hairdrier]

we are nowhere near as good as we think we are.

Have to agree with this, it's an attitude thing. Still second top and unbeaten though - can't see that lasting long.

[Pacman1903]

Have to agree with this, it's an attitude thing. Still second top though.

Playing sh@te and second is not bad but we have had an "easier start" to the season than usual. So in essence we have been lucky. Today is a terrible result. There is no dressing that up. We cant be dropping sh@tey points like that at home

[Jupiter]

The 6 games we have played so far have been against the bottom 6 teams in the league

[Millers_Tash]

It's all McInnes's fault for getting the tombola out again. Why can't he stick to our normal formation instead of mucking about with weird line ups?

But we did play our normal 4231 formation. Back 4 of Logan, O'Connor, Arnason, Considine; Shinnie & McLean in the middle; Stewart and Wright wide, with May playing off Maynard.

Until we swapped the 3 around, we had them on the ropes. May was getting involved in everything. Shifting him out wide, and putting Stewart through the middle killed momentum completely. Second half, we came out too lethargic, got punished for it, and didn't know how to react.

The Stewart that plays for us doesn't look capable of coping with the pressure. I suspect that being the main man at a mid/lower team like Dundee suits him more than being a part of the machine at a team like us.

[Feck_the_Huns]

The Stewart that plays for us doesn't look capable of coping with the pressure. I suspect that being the main man at a mid/lower team like Dundee suits him more than being a part of the machine at a team like us.

When a players was playing Junior or amateur footy till the age of 20, then at Cowdenbeath till he gets a move to Dundee at 24, you have to query how good he actually is, even when he does score a good few goals at the top level.

Shades of Andy Dow for me, one good season in his entire career.

I've seen nothing from Stewart that makes me thinks he is good enough for us.

At least he's only here for a season, as is Maynard

[Millers_Tash]

When a players was playing Junior or amateur footy till the age of 20, then at Cowdenbeath till he gets a move to Dundee at 24, you have to query how good he actually is, even when he does score a good few goals at the top level.

Shades of Andy Dow for me, one good season in his entire career.

I've seen nothing from Stewart that makes me thinks he is good enough for us.

At least he's only here for a season, as is Maynard

Would agree with that. I'd been prepared to give him a bit of time, as I thought he didn't look fit at the start of the season. It turns out he looks like that all the time. Boy's got no pace at all, he's ridiculously one footed and he just looks unsure of everything he does. McGinn was one footed, but he could quickly make the space to use that effectively, and was at least half competent on his weaker one. Stewart's right foot is for standing on - and nothing else.

[RedStarTorphins]

But we did play our normal 4231 formation. Back 4 of Logan, O'Connor, Arnason, Considine; Shinnie & McLean in the middle; Stewart and Wright wide, with May playing off Maynard.

Until we swapped the 3 around, we had them on the ropes. May was getting involved in everything. Shifting him out wide, and putting Stewart through the middle killed momentum completely. Second half, we came out too lethargic, got punished for it, and didn't know how to react.

The Stewart that plays for us doesn't look capable of coping with the pressure. I suspect that being the main man at a mid/lower team like Dundee suits him more than being a part of the machine at a team like us.

Your comment on Stewart is spot on.
Sometimes the "shirt is too big" for a player.
Similar to Hayes at Celtic maybe.
We have a big problem out wide IMO.
Last 4/5 seasons most of our attacks & goals have come from out wide.

The 4 that tend to get played wide for varying reasons are not the answer:

Christie - good player but plays better centrally & isn't a wide player
GMS - looks a shadow of the Dundee Utd version
Stewart - slow, lazy & not good enough
Wright - Young & probably can't rely on him every week.

The defence & midfield is much of a muchness from last season, so it's out wide where we're struggling IMO.

[RedStarTorphins]

When a players was playing Junior or amateur footy till the age of 20, then at Cowdenbeath till he gets a move to Dundee at 24, you have to query how good he actually is, even when he does score a good few goals at the top level.

Shades of Andy Dow for me, one good season in his entire career.

I've seen nothing from Stewart that makes me thinks he is good enough for us.

At least he's only here for a season, as is Maynard

Correct on both counts.
I reckon Maynard could play every game until May & he'd struggle to score 5 goals.
Play May as a "9" and play 3 behind him in a 4-2-3-1

[rico94]

Your comment on Stewart is spot on.
Sometimes the "shirt is too big" for a player.
Similar to Hayes at Celtic maybe.
We have a big problem out wide IMO.
Last 4/5 seasons most of our attacks & goals have come from out wide.

The 4 that tend to get played wide for varying reasons are not the answer:

Christie - good player but plays better centrally & isn't a wide player
GMS - looks a shadow of the Dundee Utd version
Stewart - slow, lazy & not good enough
Wright - Young & probably can't rely on him every week.

The defence & midfield is much of a muchness from last season, so it's out wide where we're struggling IMO.

Terrible performance and terrible result,we were awful in the first half so god knows what McInnes said at half time because we came out as bad in the 2nd half.He should have told them to get their fingers out but probably told them they done well knowing him.

Can't disagree much with your assessment of the players you mentioned.

Thought Wright was quiet today but it's understandable considering he is young and we can't rely on him every game.

I think Stewart has a good football brain on him but he is unbelievably slow and one footed,I'm glad he is only on loan.

I get the impression with GMS he is very similar to Hayes in you have to play him regularly to get the best out of him,putting him in and out of the team isn't going to do him or us any good.

Christie needs to play through the middle behind the striker,if we played with the same tempo for the entire game like we did for the last 10-15 minutes we would have won the game.

Why the feck is McInnes persisting with Maynard is beyond me,who said he would get 15-20 goals this season?No chance,it was an arrogant signing from McInnes thinking himself and the Doc could resurrect his career.They tried that with Goodwillie and it never worked either.

[ragnarok]

So to summarise:

We're 2nd but have been sh*te
Most of our summer signings are sh*te
Our defence is sh*te
Our manager can't stop tinkering with sh*te
McLean is a poof
Milne is a c*nt

Did I miss anything or is that a fair summary of perspectives?

[ByeByeScum2012]

McInness at a different game from me:


"I thought Ryan Christie was busy but I don't think we looked any more threatening when the substitutes came on. We were not any more potent."

[KIWIRED]

Still second, underfeated, not playing a fullsteam, I will take for now.
Expect an improvement in the next few weeks

Best squad in years, takes a little time to all blended, we are not going to play brillantly everyweek, but dissapointed to drops points to Kilmarnock at home, these sort of games we should take full points from to keep us at the top end of the league

[sancho_panza]

Your comment on Stewart is spot on.
Sometimes the "shirt is too big" for a player.
Similar to Hayes at Celtic maybe.
We have a big problem out wide IMO.
Last 4/5 seasons most of our attacks & goals have come from out wide.

The 4 that tend to get played wide for varying reasons are not the answer:

Christie - good player but plays better centrally & isn't a wide player
GMS - looks a shadow of the Dundee Utd version
Stewart - slow, lazy & not good enough
Wright - Young & probably can't rely on him every week.

The defence & midfield is much of a muchness from last season, so it's out wide where we're struggling IMO.

Can't really agree with this. Of all the areas in the squad, I'd say wide-mid is one of our best areas (after goalkeeper). It's the only real area (except perhaps striker) that we have several options who could play in any given week without a noticebale drop in quality. The problem at the moment is we still don't really know how to use these players.

For me, GMS played quite well when he came on yesterday. He constantly had their full-back off balance and his crossing was pretty good. Christie whether he's played out wide or central is a constant threat and Wright is brilliant for his age (just two games ago those two combined to score/create all four of our goals - Christie winning a penalty and putting the cross in for the winner). Stewart is the one I can't see much from, but that's still three good options for two positions that every other team in the league bar Celtic would love to have.

[stansmith]

Truly unbelievable that he dropped Christie instead of McLean.

The team has no spark without Christie. Nothing there except May shooting and thankfully he does because it would be unwatchable without him.

We may have good individual players but they don't complement each other at all like McGinn and Hayes giving it to Rooney for a tap in or Shinnie and Jack in front of the defence.

Pick 11 players that can work with each other and in their proper positions.

Lewis

Logan O'Connor Arnason Considine

Tansey/Ball Shinnie

Stewart Christie GMS

May

We're pretty stuffed without the defensive brain and work rate of Hayes and McGinn though. Logan and Considine are so exposed. If we had 2 actual DMs playing it would help prevent these massive gaps appearing.

Arnason also seems to make a big difference in the defence not looking like it's sh!tting itself.

[Mason89]

Theres too much tinkering going on with the line up & formation. He's only got one formation that works, so he should stick to it & play his best players in it.

[Mason89]

I do that trip occasionally, usually an international break.

Aiming to go on 7th October when Jayden Stockley's Exeter are the visitors.

Hmmm. Aberdeen v Killie thread and half the posts are about going to see Carlisle :D

I never finished work in time, so I couldn't make it. Apparently missed a cracking goal.

[sheepcrooky]

Still second, underfeated, not playing a fullsteam, I will take for now.
Expect an improvement in the next few weeks

Best squad in years, takes a little time to all blended, we are not going to play brillantly everyweek, but dissapointed to drops points to Kilmarnock at home, these sort of games we should take full points from to keep us at the top end of the league

Going by your username, I will presume you were not there yesterday KR. That performance yesterday from start to finish was as lethargic and dis-jointed a performance I have seen for the past 4/5 years from an Aberdeen team. Good players on paper and a very strong bench, however absolutely no spark.
Stewart & Maynard in particular bring nothing at all to the team and with two passengers like that we will always struggle.

[Landvetter83]

Pants! Just Pants!

First 15 minutes and it was rock and roll, 5-0 coming up here. Kenny MacLean was excellent and running the show. The rest of the first half was a slow-motion car crash. The Kilmarnock players were out for the second half a good 5 minutes before Aberdeen. It showed they were ready and we were god-awful and complacent.

Fully expected the situation to be rectified and we'd get a winner but too much damage had been done. By this stage Kenny MacLean's game had died a death.

McInnes rolled the tombola to see who he could trust in future matches. I think he got a few answers. For Nicky Maynard read Josh Parker. Maynard will be gone in January. I've liked the look of Greg Stewart in spells of matches this season but he was truly awful yesterday. Mackay-Steven got pass marks for his time on the pitch and it's worth giving him an extended run. With time I reckon he'll fill the Jonny Hayes role.

So disappointing dropping points against a team we usually own. Killie boy that scored was lively and deserved the goal - even though it took a wild deflection off Arnason's @rse.

[rico94]

Maybe now arry has got the sack at Birmingham the new manager will recall Stewart to have a look at him.

I very much doubt it but you never know.

[ragnarok]

So that's Stewart written off already? Fair enough. I'm halfway across the globe but I'll make sure I shout "Get that slow useless sh*te tae f*ck" at the laptop screen every time he touches the ball.

[rico94]

So that's Stewart written off already? Fair enough. I'm halfway across the globe but I'll make sure I shout "Get that slow useless sh*te tae f*ck" at the laptop screen every time he touches the ball.

Ach not really from me,he is unbelievably slow and one footed but he is a clever player and maybe a run in the team is all he needs.

At the moment I'm still glad he is on loan and not a permanent signing.

[rustlinsweetiepapers]

I thought GMS played well when he came on though he didn’t see enough of the ball. In previous seasons much of Considine’s attacking play was just to get the ball to Hayes asap. Probably a question of building an understanding but Considine seemed to spend a lot of time coming inside to then get the ball out to GMS who by then was closed down.

What I can’t understand is bringing GMS on with no one to meet his crosses on the edge of the 6 yard box. Rooney was brought on far too late. Before Rooney’s arrival, GMS played two perfect crosses from the left across the face of the goal. Had Rooney been there I think there would have been a different result.

[afc_1983]

Saturday was worrying for a number of reasons. It highlighted several failings with the team, most notably with the balance (or lack of) in the side.

For me, it's just not clear yet what the purpose is to our play - previously we were quite set on getting the ball wide and getting the crosses into the box - generally through McGinn and Hayes, although Logan and Considine did this too. A simple game plan, but an effective one which played into the strengths of the team and to Rooney in particular.

On Saturday, we scored a goal by working the ball well down the left side and getting the ball over to May to stick away. It's really not rocket science.

But to able to exploit this, you need to have a certain level of control of the ball and feed the wide players early enough so that they can turn and square up the full backs.

On Saturday, however, after the first 20-odd minutes, we were completely powderpuff in the middle of the park. Shinnie had his poorest game for a while, and McLean began to try to force the play too often. We did not pick up the 2nd balls often enough.

The Shinnie / McLean combination isn't working in my view. People criticise Jack, and he is a judas c-nt, but he was an effective screen for the defence by intercepting the play and retaining possession with simple passes. You absolutely need someone to do that in your side to get a base from which to play. Shinnie and McLean are not as good in that role. Tansey was not great at it either when I saw him v Siroki. I though Ball did OK at it last week, and with his additional height and physicality I thought he'd be a useful keep-it-simple type defensive midfielder for the side.

Even when we got decent possession we were pedestrian with it. The movement that existed in the first 20 minutes disappeared, and we ended up lumping the ball up to May and others who were unsurprisingly ineffective in competing with the centre backs for Killie as a result.

We were trying to play through the middle too much. The players did not show the required close control and precision of passing to make a success of this approach. All the while GMS and Wright, who had a poor game, were starved of the ball or given it when tightly marked.

There was a lack of urgency to go and kill the game at 1-0 when we were well on top.

Stewart isn't a winger. He can't cross the ball with his right foot, so he's easy to defend against.

Maynard is not as good as Rooney - he's a poor man's Goodwillie in terms of showing decent touches now and then and an ability to hold it in back to goal, but he's no target man and has zero pace to run in behind. At least with Rooney, as one dimensional as he can be, you know he'll sniff out a goal if given a regular run in the team.

A rethink is required to stiffen up the midfield to give us a better platform to play and to reorder the forwards to play to their strengths.

Personally, I'd go with Wright and GMS out wide, and May through the middle with Christie in behind. You rotate Rooney for May and Stewart or McLean for Christie. You don't shoe-horn those players into wide areas.

Behind that I'd try Shinnie and Ball for a while. I like McLean and reckon he's unfairly getting a hard time at the moment, but he's not in his best form, is increasingly trying to force the play and is not best suited as a deep lying midfield. He would be an able deputy for Shinnie though.

If we persist with things as they've been going, we'll come a cropper at Motherwell, let alone v Rangers, Celtic and Hibs in the games to come.

We do have a decent squad, and we are fortunate that we have good options, but the balance of the team simply is wrong just now. We can get away with it in the odd game because they are good players and are capable of each producing things, but our lack of structure and purpose to the play is worrying, as are our limitations when our opponents work our tactics out.

[Mason89]

I'm not a fan of McLean & dont believe that Ryan Christie should be playing for us but does anyone other than the manager, think that McLeans the better player out the two?

[neilthedon]

I'm not a fan of McLean & dont believe that Ryan Christie should be playing for us but does anyone other than the manager, think that McLeans the better player out the two?


No he`s nowhere near the player Christie is at the No 10 ( ? ) role. Christie makes things happen , and scores goals from all over the place . McLean is yet to be as decisive at scoring / heading / free kicks.

But he is our player , and can play against Celtic. So maybe we should alternate /

Moving him back and expecting him to become a ball winner doesn`t work either. There have been a couple of games where he looked like he could turn into a bit of a McMaster. Spraying the ball about and dictating play from deep. But you need the ball for that. And "his" ballwinners, like Shinnie have tended to push on and attack rther than just/only sit in, win the ball and then give it to him.

SO, maybe having a Jack replacement who doesn`t bottle it , and can go forwards a wee bit rather than sideways would help. Ball ? " Young " Craig Storie looked like he would be the one a few years ago, before his Disco moment.

So I dunno. We probably need to put Wright on the right, GMS on the left and let them play themselves in for a few games. While they build up an understanding of th movements of May. Maynard ? Hmm. We appear to be back to last year where Deek was chopping and changing every game expecting them to adapt , before he settled on his best eleven and we went off the long unbeaten run. Problem this yeaar is none ofo know our bestt eeleleven as yet. But it certainly isn`t with mcLean an Christie i the same team ?

[thebeachend]

Christie should play every week.

[afc_1983]

Christie should play every week.

Christie should play every week, but the earlier question posed by Mason is a bit of a moot one.

On Saturday it wasn't McLean keeping Christie out the team - no one can tell me even Del, with his tendencies for experimenting, would have selected Christie ahead of McLean in a deep lying midfield role.

Christie was kept out the team by May, who played in behind the main striker, and he in turn was kept from playing as the main striker by Maynard. Equally as mystifying was that our top scorer in recent times was 3rd choice of the 3 and only appeared with 10 minutes to play.

Then we had another option for 'number 10' - Greg Stewart - out wide, while a genuine winger in GMS was sat on the bench.

It was a complete muddle.

We can get away with it because if the players perform to their capabilities we can make up for this tactical nonsense, but if the players have an off day, which they did on Saturday, then we look a shambles.

Comparing our squad in SPFL terms with F1 for a minute, it's the equivalent of trying to drive a Ferrari with the hand brake on. Utterly infuriating.

[Mason89]

I wouldn't play either in a deep lying midfield role but what attributes do you think McLean has, that makes him better suited to it?

[afc_1983]

I wouldn't play either in a deep lying midfield role but what attributes do you think McLean has, that makes him better suited to it?

I probably wouldn't either, unless we played a proper ball winning, sitting midfielder alongside him. Shinnie, to my mind, is more a box-to-box player, which has its benefits but it does expose McLean and the defence when he gets caught ahead of the ball.

McLean isn't a great deep lying midfielder, don't get me wrong, but he is a better option there than Christie would be. It is all relative, but:

1. He is less likely to be pushed off the ball.
2. He has a better range of passing.
3. He is more tactically aware at the moment.
4. He is a better tackler.

I repeat, it's all relative. I don't think, other than perhaps on point 2, McLean has the attributes required to be a top player in that position.

But let's just be clear about this, he's not a bad player. None of them are. The debate is more about how you best utilise the assets we've got. I don't think we're maximising our chances at the moment because the balance of the team isn't quite right. And I think the centre of the park is where the majority of our issues ultimately can be traced back to. Shinnie isn't beyond criticism here by the way.