v St Johnstone (h)

[spikeontheright]

All three subs were for players that we all wanted on from the start. 2 subs at half time tells us Tam knows he ****ed it up today. First round if games we lost first time out due mainly to a poor set up and second round of games has started same way. Let's hope Tam learns his lesson, if it ain't broke don't fix it. An encouraging second half but ultimately my feeling is one of real disappointment tonight.

Managers and players make this mistake all too often. They have a few good performances/results and start to think they're world beaters, whilst forgetting what got the performances/results in the first place, i.e. working hard and playing/managing within their abilities.

Tam came in and addressed the issues that everyone watching could see - players being played that weren't good enough, others being played out of position, lack of a game plan and no confidence.

He fixes these issues, things go very well so he now thinks he's the next Pep and decides to play players out of position and introduces 'squad rotation'.

Resting players because they played Saturday and Wednesday once in a month is a joke. Just fawk right off with that for a start. Anyone that's ever played football wants to play every game and players will accept not getting into the team if the guy with the jersey is playing well - don't ever fart about with this.

Another issue that worries me is the lack of urgency from the off. If we'd played the first half with the same intent as the second, we would have won the game. Too much fannying about and folk desperate not to make a mistake, rather than getting on the ball and doing something positive.

Tam has done well so far and he's helped show us what the team is capable of, but if they fall below their capabilities and he's contributed to this, he has to take the criticism, and more importantly, learn from his mistakes.

[JUSTaway]

I think Courts will learn from today, he was ruthless with Reynolds after opening match, and made the changes today that he was probably itching to make earlier but wasn't wanting to publicly dent confidence of players by subbing them mid half. Strangely I actually think he showed a bit of bravery in starting Appere and Chalmers, he gave them an opportunity/platform to prove themselves (all last season people were wanting Appere involved), unfortunately they were miles off it, and I suspect after today struggle to get many opportunities in the near future beyond fleeting cameos.

Freeman was disappointing midweek, so maybe was looking to freshen it up there.

We were sluggish early doors, summed up by the mistake by Fuchs at the goal, but I think our problems mostly stemmed from the lack of movement, physicality, ability of the front 3 to link up and make the ball stick. It really was quite alarming the drop off in quality, which is bit worrying if you are relying on your best eleven just being fit and on form every week.

[shedka]

We had better chances today than the games we won vs Ross County and Motherwell

[JUSTaway]

Deffo, to clarify I’m meaning drop off in performance first half with the changes to recent performances and 2nd half today.

[tijuanataxi]

We had better chances today than the games we won vs Ross County and Motherwell

YIP shankland would have put one of them chances away.If they had fallen to him,

[A. J]

Some comments a bit unfair on Tam imo, I wasn't on board with his appointment but he has earned more than enough credits to avoid being harshly judged on a snapshot of one game.

On any other day Clark, Harkes but especially, Pawlett and Edwards all score at least 1.
Very happy with chances we created but a combo of poor finishing and unbelievable goalkeeping stopped us being joint top .

[JamesMcClean]

This is the next test for TC and the squad. They passed the first one with the performance against Sevco after the Pittodrie shambles and now we need a response after two so-so results and performances back to back v Livi and the Fermers. TC has shown the signs of learning on the job as the season has progressed and clearly there are lessons to be learnt from this week before we play Hearts, particularly that of not making wholesale changes for no reason whatsoever. Chalmers and Appere - fine, ok give them a chance but the Smith at RB after Freeman’s performances was a strange one, especially after how Sheep played when he came on yesterday. Tam has hopefully learnt that ultimately he left himself hamstrung as I have no doubt he wanted to bring on big Max but he had run out of substitutes directly as a result of his initial changes to the starting XI.

Frustratingly, having seen the highlights in the end we definitely should have got something out of it and even more frustratingly that is two match days on the trot where results elsewhere have been such that wins on Wed and yesterday would have had us in an unbelievable position but the result Livi got against the Tims yesterday and the fact Sevco are dropping a relatively large number of points proves how tough this league is this season and that wholesale changes and disruption to the starting XI for no reason whatsoever are not really on and are likely to bite you in the @rse. Tam has hopefully learnt that now, so we regroup and go again at Tynecastle where we are perfectly capable of getting a result with the right starting line up. I’ll be there and can’t fecking wait.

C’MON UNITED!!!!

[Arabdownsouth]

Some comments a bit unfair on Tam imo, I wasn't on board with his appointment but he has earned more than enough credits to avoid being harshly judged on a snapshot of one game.

On any other day Clark, Harkes but especially, Pawlett and Edwards all score at least 1.
Very happy with chances we created but a combo of poor finishing and unbelievable goalkeeping stopped us being joint top .

I understand where you're coming from and I'm happy enough with Tam's performance to date, but unless there were genuine reasons for tampering so much with the team yesterday you have to admit it was a huge mistake. You only need to look at his early substitutions to know this, every one of his substitutions were to bring on players that we all wanted in the starting team. If he hadn't had to take corrective action we could have brought on big Max who may well have provided that little bit extra up front that could have got us something from the game. We might also have started the game a whole lot better than we did if we had these players on from the start. I guess we'll never know but it most definitely feels like a big opportunity lost and while I have been very happy to give Tam heaps of praise and wasn't on board with the early flak he got either, he has to also take the rap for ****ing things up yesterday.

[TerryTheTerror]

I think the lesson to be leaned from this is there is no opposition in our league you can take the opportunity to give too many fringe players a chance to prove themselves at the same time. Three was too many yesterday BUT it probably wouldn't have been if it weren't for a heroic performance from Clark. Small margins.

[Arabdownsouth]

I think the lesson to be leaned from this is there is no opposition in our league you can take the opportunity to give too many fringe players a chance to prove themselves at the same time. Three was too many yesterday BUT it probably wouldn't have been if it weren't for a heroic performance from Clark. Small margins.

Yeah good post TTT