SpoonTon

Steven Boyd slinking away in February maybe could maybe save him from being worst signing, but he would be good competition for French. Wilson, Mullen, Oakley, Strapp. Not totally sure of the order but those 4 coming into the team transformed us from being relegation favourites, and injuries among them stopped us from being final playoff spot favourites.

All in all our biggest problem is that we lack the quality in depth to cover for injuries and dips in form. That's pretty much impossible to solve with our budget, and shows how tough a jog Dougie has in getting every signing right. French not really working out and Boyd and Bearne failing to add real attacking options were probably our biggest failings last year. Mullen: Good goalkeeper. Happy he's signed up for another season. MacDonald: Decent backup. I'm not sure what the best approach to backup 'keeper will be next season. French: Dundee fans were hoping that a few months with us would get him up to speed for the Premiership. We haven't seen that player. We may as well spin the wheel and hope for better in the summer. Waters: Solid enough defensively, nowhere near as good as Strapp. Strapp: Quality player. Really hope we have a chance of re-signing him. Broadfoot: Ropey start and end to the season. You can see the quality but I wouldn't like to see him to try push it at this level into his 40s. O'Connor: Not his best season but there's a good defender in there. Broadfoot's better distribution of the ball has kept him out of the team. Baird: Decent for the most part. Looks tired at this point of the season. Wilson: Excellent middle part of the season, between injuries. He's like having an extra player in the middle when he's fit. Gillespie: He was excellent in the first half of last season, and looked almost back at his best in a handful of games a while ago, but looks like he's struggling to keep up at this level. Power: Class player at times, but just off the pace at other. He's handed away the first goal in 2 of our last 3 matches and that's been a theme at times this season. I don't think we can afford to take the risk on him for another season when he's only really given us a dozen or so good performances. He'd be a good squad player if we could afford a bigger squad. Blues: He supplements what other players do very well, but struggles to be a driving force himself. But we know what he offers and he's played over 80 games for us in the last two seasons. He's a bit of the opposite of Power in that respect, and I don't think we can afford to let him go. Crawford: Good player, form has tailed off. McGrattan: I just don't think it's working for him under Imrie. He'll be away no matter what, anyway. Bearne: There's a player in there, but maybe not a player for Imrie. Garrity: Talented player, capable of good stuff, but also lacking in match understanding at times (like when he played a ball back to the centre of our defence at head height last night or when he was too late to close down and let a player just ghost past him on Tuesday night). Not really sure what to think. Quitongo: We all know Jai's strengths. If he was fully fit I'd keep him. Muirhead: His form, like others, has tailed off recently, but we'd desperately struggle to replace what he brings to the squad. Oakley: We'll be very lucky to hold onto him. If we can do this for next season then I'd be delighted: _________Mullen New__Baird__O'Connor__Strapp ________Wilson__New Muirhead_Crawford_New ____________Oakley Bearne, Davies, Blues, Murdoch, King, (3 or 4 other options). I think the squad building will be a much bigger struggle than this, though.

On Jai. Dougie has made it clear that he's not fully fit, and struggling to get back to full fitness. I think it's fair to question whether his fitness issues have been too much of an issue this season, but despite being disappointing in parts last night he should have been given a penalty and he played a part in the goal. He also helped a bit on Tuesday night when he came on (which really could've been a similar result to last night given how easily we gave away chances).

Power's error at the first goal is such a basic one for a player of his experience. He tries to hand his player off to someone who already had someone to mark, and that second delay allowed Doherty to get away from him and score the goal. So frustrating to have experienced players making errors like that. Broadfoot at the 3rd and Baird at the 4th as well. Such avoidable goals from individual errors. We look spent, though. We have to remember that when fully fit we went on such a long unbeaten run. We've gone from Strapp at left back to French trying to cover at left back (and he's not even very good at right back), and some of our better players look out on their feet trying to carry the load recently. Poor ends to the season isn't down to some sort of curse, it's a reality of what can happen with small squads and a lack of quality depth.

The penalty one was a stonewaller. The dive he gets slight contact on the arm and goes down expecting more. Crawford did that earlier in the game, and his was probably even more of a dive but he realised that on the way down and got up very quickly. Jai was disappointing overall tonight. It's frustrating because there's more in there, but it feels like a missed opportunity for him tonight.

I think it's worth bearing in mind that Blues and Crawford have both played 43 games this season, Muirhead has played 41. And they've played 90 minutes in most of those matches. With key players out injured or not fully fit (especially Oakley, Wilson, and Strapp) it's not surprising that we haven't seen the best of them recently. I think Blues compliments what other players do really well. During our unbeaten run there was so many times he was exactly where we needed him for a block, pass, run, press, etc. He's not so great at stepping into the type of role Wilson or Power (when match fit) perform. He's also not managed any league goals this season, which is disappointing. Crawford hasn't scored for a long time either, we could do with them chipping in more goals from midfield.

Power's clearly our technically most talented midfield player. He came off the bench the other night and player a cross field pass that our other players just aren't capable of. Some of the situations he can get himself out of is impressive. But over the season he's been good for 60-70 minutes a week when fully fit or when coming off the bench - and it's not really enough for us. He gets caught in the ball and over does things, and has cost us several goals. He started about 9 games of our unbeaten run, and was outstanding in some of those matches. But generally, over the course of the season, I don't think he's done enough to warrant another year.

I thought, after a bright enough start and a good ball in for the goal, Garrity couldn't make an impact at all. I actually found it a bit frustrating watching him struggling to get a foothold in the game. I get the criticism that he's not physical enough. He's a talented player but we improved when Jai came on. I don't think he can complain about being subbed. Neither could have anyone else, and that's the problem at the moment.

French has been quite typical of the quality of right back we've had at this level. That's not a compliment.

Strapp's a big miss but good to see Wilson back on the pitch. Oakley was struggling with his shoulder all night. Those three were so important in our unbeaten run and we just haven't managed to get them all on the pitch and fit recently. We've got a number of players who have generally had good seasons who just haven't been at their best recently. I suspect the likes of Blues, Crawford, and Muirhead are just a bit leggy at this stage of the season, having played so many minutes without quality in depth to replace them. Not the worst result but Mullen and the crossbar got us the point tonight. The middle hour or so we just looked a bit off it.

Power has been good for us this season when he has been fit and has had his game time carefully managed. You can see the class he's had as a player over the years. He's outstanding when he's really on it. But what on earth was he doing on the pitch on Saturday when it's quite clear he couldn't even run properly. Giving the ball away for the first goal is poor and watching him try to run back after losing the challenge in the build up for the second goal is a painful watch. It was the same at the beginning of the season. Obviously it's an issue with such a small squad that sometimes you're going to be tempted to, or have to, play players who aren't at their fittest but surely Power wasn't at match fitness for Saturday. Maybe that's just the reality of the squad we have, but you'd have to assume that Gillespie can't be very fit either given he wasn't selected to start.

I fully intend to go on Tuesday night, but I had no intention of buying the ticket before Tuesday. I can understand the decision, but I do feel like it leaves me in a strange predicament of not wanting to buy a ticket for the stand but needing other people to do just that so that we sell enough to justify opening behind the goals.

Of course Muirhead has weaknesses in his game, that's why he's with Morton. Just like if Jai had a better end product he'd be playing at a higher level, if Robbie was a bit quicker/sharper he'd be playing at a higher level. There's no way Imrie would let Muirhead go without a fight, and rightly so. He's contributed well since Imrie came to the club and is an important player for us. He's not had the best run of form, but the idea that he's not been important overall this season or that he doesn't work hard is just wrong imo. On players being sensitive to fan criticism, there are guys in the Cowshed who seen to shout at the same players every week. I always remember one particular fan who seemed to hate Michael Tidser with such passion that you'd assume it had to be personal. I tend to think it's the better players annoy some fans because they think they're overrated and they can't stand it (I'm not at all suggesting I'm immune to that one). Chris Millar was another one who, bizarrely, was always heavily criticised by a small number of fans. Players like Muirhead should probably understand that they're actually generally well liked by the support, and they're unlikely to please everyone - and probably not to take it too personally when fans don't rate them.

Wilson had been our best midfielder over our good run. We've lost our main point of connection in attack (Oakley) and in midfield (Wilson). Probably our best two players this season. And losing those players has had a knock on effect on the roles of Muirhead, Crawford, and Blues - taking them away some of their strengths. We've also got players playing who are not fully fit. I'm not surprised that we've struggled to adapt, but I'm confident that it'll turn around soon.

It's a bit gutting that injuries come back to haunt us now. I think most of us would have had Oakley and Wilson as frontrunners for PotY at this point. They've been massive for us and so pivotal to the way we've been playing. It's a shame that our attacking signings this season haven't worked out, it's really left us struggling for a plan B without Oakley. I think it shows just how difficult a job Dougie has. The margin for error is so small.

Yeah, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Dougie is tempted to go with a line-up like that. So much of our great form, and the win over Motherwell, has had its foundations in not giving the opposition time or space to play. Without Oakley leading the line, that makes everyone's else's job much more difficult. Muirhead is a good player but isn't that guy, and Quitongo got nothing out of balls played up to him on Tuesday (although I'm not sure how match fit he was after his illness). There isn't really an obvious alternative to Oakley up there to underpin the intensity at which we want to play. It would be a risk to change to the back 5 but I can understand the temptation. In any case, if Oakley can play I think the only real question is whether Broadfoot comes in for O'Connor. Otherwise there are a few decisions for Dougie to make.

I like that the highlights put in the bit when Jai kicks the ball off Grimshaw to go behind for what should be a corner, only for the referee (who has a clear view) to give a goal kick. The standard of refereeing recently has been beyond awful. In the first half last night there was a lengthy stoppage for an injury, a long wait to restart after the goal, and plenty of other time wasting from Dundee Utd (with the referee pointing to his watch to indicate this 2 or 3 times). And then he only adds about a minute on at the end of the half. The Cowshed linesman was hopeless, it was as if he was refusing to watch the match - there was genuinely very, very little skill involved in what he did last night, any person with even the most rudimentary grasp of the rules could have done the job as well as he did.

Tuesday night was Power's first 90 minutes since November. He had played nine 90 minutes up to that point of the season. Whether by choice or necessity, we're using Power in a much better way now and really seeing the benefits. He came in without a proper run of pre/early season games and was playing full matches. By his own admission he wasn't fully fit, and especially by the latter stages of matches he was struggling (you can still see that now when he has tried to overplay things later on in hand and gets caught on the ball). He's been giving us excellent performances for 60-70 minutes every game recently and had become an important part of our outstanding form.

Putting aside what night we'd like the game as fans, from a football point of view it's good news for us.

I had brought this up previously. In a number of different situations you can have fans trying to move between different areas (if there is a penalty shootout, for example, or even half time and the change of match direction can do it). And even without any other circumstances, you might have more people wanting to be in the Cowshed than the Sinclair Street end. If you are filling areas to capacity then any level of movement would be problematic - but that's never actually been a problem in the past. I see no reason why at a decently organised event you would have a problematic rush on any particular area of the ground and I see no reason why rain would be particularly problematic either. I don't know where this idea has come from or where the evidence behind it comes from either - it would be good to have that explained. I don't even think you'd need to sell different tickets for the Cowshed and Sinclair Street end. You'd just have to manage the areas and flow of people. Unless I'm missing something (which, if I am, I wish they'd explain), there's a non-existent problem that's been invented here.

The smaller central gantry was a big improvement on what went there before, that was helpful last night. There's no ladies toilet or catering in the Sinclair Street end, that's probably the immediate issue there. But I don't see why you can't have stewards restricting the access between the Cowshed and Sinclair Street end (it has been done before). As much as fans might want to be dry on a terrible day, we've never had an issue with fans choosing to cram in too tight over getting wet. The fact of the matter is that getting a bit wet in the rain is actually far more pleasant than being too tightly squeezed under the Cowshed. I think the overall question surrounds finding the comfortable capacity to allow for a good balance. I mean, what happens on a beautifully sunny day when we're shooting towards the Sinclair Street end? Or if there happens to be a penalty shootout at that end. You could make plenty of cases for fans wanting to be in different parts of the ground at different times. We have to have plans in place to manage those situations. There also needs to be some trust in the fact that spectators know to choose the area which isn't full. If you go to a concert you know that you can't all rush towards the stage - there are plenty of events where you have to manage where people go and have some trust that they won't all go to the same place. As long as you don't actively funnel them all there, you'll be fine.

Cammy Blues' knack of being exactly where we need him to be is outstanding. Imrie obviously knows he can trust him to do that. And the way he played that bouncing, spinning ball right into Oakley's path for the second goal shouldn't be underestimated either.

So if we get through and get a home draw in the quarter final, we only get a big crowd if there's no rain in the forecast? Or if we're in a playoff final, our capacity could be severely restricted by a rainy day? Only a couple of years ago we had restricted movement between the Cowshed and Sinclair Street end. We could have a larger capacity with that type of restricted movement in place. There's really no trust in football fans, is there.

That's wild. I wonder how many cameras do they have in those areas. And I assume they must be using the far end of the cowshed for the presenters again. The Sinclair Street must hold about 1500 usually. Doesn't seem like there's going to be much space in the cowshed at all. Can't imagine the BBC is going to get a very good reception tonight if they've denied us that much space. We had over 12,000* at Cappielow for a televised game 25 years ago. *or 14000 or 13500 or 15000. I can't find a reliable attendance figure for that game.

What hasn't made sense to me for a while is why the the barriers in the Cowshed haven't been moved back to where they were before they put up the banner to separate fans when they had the away fans in the far end of the Cowshed for a while. There must be a capacity of over 1000 in the unused area of the Cowshed. Which, being covered, would be very handy to use. If that's the case then it seems likely that the total capacity of the Cowshed/Sinclair St. areas has been reduced by at least 2000 for tonight. That should, as you say, still leave around a 5000 capacity in total for the home support. So it seems strange that it would be limited at this point. And I do feel for anyone who was planning to buy a physical ticket tonight - not a great point to be putting out that message.