[Fife Saint]

This is all very snug isn't it. The great unwashed of both coasts coming together in a repulsive wave of unprovoked attacks on the fine, upstanding, tax-paying citizens of the Fair City.

Excuse me while i get the Imperial Leather.

This post has been edited by Fife Saint: 03 January 2008 - 00:47

[Deeboy]

Fast_Action, on Jan 3 2008, 00:44, said:

....have these farmers yet come to terms with electricity in the West End of the Coagie Triangle?

I never saw any christmas lights, thats all i'm saying

[The Master]

Fife Saint, on Jan 3 2008, 00:47, said:

This is all very snug isn't it. The great unwashed of both coasts coming together in a repulsive wave of unprovoked attacks on the fine, upstanding, tax-paying citizens of the Fair City.

Excuse me while i get the Imperial Leather.

This just isn't on.

Perth isn't a city.

[Steve McQueen]

Derry_boy, on Jan 2 2008, 17:44, said:

im annoyed about a decision mid-way through the 1st half, Mchale swung in the corner and palenik challenged with Main who caught the ball and walked atleast a yard into his own goal

Good job Alan Mains arms are at least a yard long then. If your feet are a yard over the line & your holding the ball out in front of you then it's obviously a goal isn't it.



I thought it was a poor game TBH, both goals were well finished but apart from that they're wasn't much action in the final third. Dullest Saints-Dundee game in a long while.

[SaintSam]

Billy Budd, on Jan 2 2008, 20:18, said:

Craig had been limping for a good while before he was subbed. I think the substitution shows the lack of depth in Saints midfield (ie we don't have anyone!!) more than any "barking mad-ness".

Fair enough, I didn't see any injury to Craig, but happy to take your word for it.

Derry_boy, on Jan 2 2008, 20:18, said:

you been drinking ?

Unfortunately, he is right. We have no midfielders.

[Captain_Sensible]

Matty_True_Dee, on Jan 2 2008, 23:06, said:

But then again, our best player was probably our left back so thanks but no thanks Mr Stanic.

Your best player is St. Mirren's 4th choice left back?

Sums up how the might Dundee have fallen!

Cheating diddy club.

[Radford]

Marc, on Jan 2 2008, 18:13, said:

St Johnstone bust my coupon

Anyone who had Dundee to win yesterday was throwing their money away. They could have won but you don't back a team travelling to a ground where no one has won since March and only one team has won in the league since August 2005!

Captain_Sensible, on Jan 2 2008, 20:14, said:

Its a shame that Derek McInnes has had to start his life as a manager with the mess that Owen Coyle left behind - particularly when you remember the amount of money that Coyle spent - and wasted.

I see that Burnley were humped again yesterday - their 6th successive game without a win. Owen Coyle has been found out to be the dreadful manager that I always said he was.

So, McInnes has inherited Coyle's shite (when Coyle wasn't sacked) but Coyle hasn't inherited Cotterill's shite (when he was sacked)?

As for yesterday, I think everyone has opened their post by saying the result was a fair one and it's impossible to argue with that. Rare that you can't make a case for one side or the other deserving all the points but it really was well balanced yesterday, if not the best game in the world.

[Captain_Sensible]

Radford, on Jan 3 2008, 10:21, said:

So, McInnes has inherited Coyle's shite (when Coyle wasn't sacked) but Coyle hasn't inherited Cotterill's shite (when he was sacked)?

Difference is that Burnley's reults have got worse under Coyle.

He's been found out!

[The Real Saints]

Pretty shambolic stuff yesterday, although we picked ourselves up a bit in the second half.
The first 45 minutes were abysmal - Saints couldn't seem to string more than 3 passes together at a time. Sticking with 4-3-3 was a stupid idea. We lacked width and were exposed on the wings because of this, particularly by Gavin Sw**kie.
There was a 10 minute spell in the first half where we looked a bit more sharp, but it came to nothing in the end.
I was surprised that Dundee were unable to take advantage of our sloppy passing, particularly in defence.
Our players looked disinterested and there was no link-up between defence + midfield, and midfield + attack. Just hopeless punts up the park.
We were just as poor at the beginning of the second half, and Dundee fully deserved their goal, which I have to admit was very impressive.
We pulled ourselves back into the game a bit more after that, and scored the equaliser soon after, when Milne squeezed in an effort past the unreliable Samson.
We pushed on a bit, and Derek McInnes made a couple of subsitutions which I would have made if I was in his position : Rutkiewicz off for Moon, and new loan signing McBreen on for Jackson. Kevin Moon and Danny McBreen freshened things up, and both looked impressive.
Dyron Daal couldn't make much of an impression with the time he was on the pitch.

All in all, Dundee looked the more dangerous team, and we were very poor. The plus points are that Danny McBreen looks like he could be a great signing, and Kevin Moon's performance when he came on. He has lot of potential, and actually kept the ball on the deck.

Our performances must be improved if we're hoping not to drop any more silly points by drawing.

It's now up to McInnes to decide on a settled formation and line-up and generally stick by it. It's not going to help when he's chopping and changing the personnel each week.

[Jacobite_Dundee]

Aye, a fair result, I'd grant. I liked our passing in the first twenty minutes, and I liked our determination to try to get a win in the last ten. On the other side, I give the Saints my admiration for coming at us when we sat back a bit after the goal. I'm sure there was more ball-to-feet passing in that game than just about any other I've seen this season.

Could any St Johnstone fan sitting in the East Stand say what happened for the McDonald booking? It didn't look like much from 100 yards away... but I'll listen to someone who was closer.

Main was nowhere near to carrying the ball over his line, of course. As to the issue of whether various fouls should or should not have been given, the surface was clearly a bit slippery, and I didn't envy the ref calling some of the challenges.

I'm not a great fan of McKenzie, though he's improving. But I wasn't feeling full of hope when we ended up with one centre half. Dundee need two big men to keep cover in the defence, and to challenge at set pieces up the other end of the park (in the absence of out-and-out strikers). Stanic was impressive, there's no doubt.

[H_B]

Captain_Sensible, on Jan 3 2008, 10:25, said:

Difference is that Burnley's reults have got worse under Coyle.

He's been found out!

Was a certainty

What a pish manager he is. Mind you, Burnley only have themselves to blame having poached a failing manager from a mid table Division One club.

[DeeJay35]

Im interested to know what both sets of supporters thought of Gavin Sw**kies performance yesterday. I got speaking to a couple of Saintees walking to the game and they both said they hoped Gavin wasnt playing because they thought he would cause problems.

A few fellow Dundee "supporters" that I was sitting near yesterday were giving him pelters. While I didnt think he had a particularly good game, I would never shout abuse like I heard yesterday at a player wearing dark blue. If fact, I wouldn't shout it at any player no matter what team he played for! There is nothing wrong with constructive critisism and encouragment!

I thought his passing and delivery into the box was poor. He seemed disinterested at times and didnt chase the ball when he should have. He is never going to be renouned for being a tough tackler, but he could at least put a foot in at times!

When Gavin is on his game he is superb (against Celtic he was), but he doesnt deliver enough and is inconsistant. Maybe he needs the kick up the bum that Dixon is getting at the moment.....a while on the bench!

[_d_]

Dundee started both halves well, knocked it about OK, and looked dangerous up until the final third. However, we are really struggling up front just now where we are lacking a bit of pace and power. Otherwise it was all pretty ordinary and as above the draw was fair enough.

Must say I was disappointed with Saints. They have been one of the best teams to watch over the last few seasons and even earlier in the year at Dens when Dundee won they played some good stuff in the first half. I thought they were poor yesterday and I was disappointed to see that they have abandoned their good football in favour of the long ball. I suppose I can understand firing it in on top of the Dundee full backs, who are maybe not great in the air, and it did bring some success. Morton tried the same thing recently and maybe teams don't really want to take on the Dundee midfield just now which is pretty strong when it gets going. Normally you'd take a point at Saints but the way they played I think it has to go down as a missed opportunity.

.

This post has been edited by _d_: 03 January 2008 - 11:41

[Radford]

I don't think there was a really a standout player in the match. McDonald had another good game is probably irreplaceable to Dundee but everyone else struggled to make a real impact. Swankie was no worse or better than anyone else.

I'm still amazed that Alex Rae doesn't think he needs to strengthen his front line. McDonald has played up front for Scotland U19s and would probably do a better job than the guys up there.

[Jacobite_Dundee]

Peter Henry Davidson, on Jan 3 2008, 11:39, said:

It was right in front of me, Anderson played the ball forward as McDonald came in to challenge, McDonald left a foot in nothing major IMO.

The ref spotted it and pointed at McDonald and allowed the advantage a good minute or two passed until he noticed the flag up he'd already had the chance to have a word or even book him but never, so I was suprised he did on the linesman's word must have been a good 50 yards further away.

Thanks for that. Who knows what the linesman saw, but it was clear that he wasn't going to look like a wally by putting his flag down after having it raised for so long. It was going to get interesting if there had been an offside while play continued!

In the spirit of fairness, I don't think Sheerin deserved his card either. I was a bit worried that he was about to get card-happy at that point.

[hazel1884]

Carter, on Jan 3 2008, 12:40, said:

I agree. He seems to have completely left out Weatherston since being appointed. Before he got injured I thought Weatherston was impressive but since then he hasn't had a look in.

Also, surely Jamie McCluskey is on his way back? Both could be useful players for us and the players we need but don't seem to be getting anywhere.

I know Weatherston was suffering at the physical demands of turning full-time, and by now i would imagine he has adjusted himself. He's looked impressive in the reserve games, but then it's not difficult to shine in these games. I would hope, with our promotion hopes over that McInnes can settle on the formation and get a team settled in for next season - it's our biggest downfall that we can't accept the need for change, and players can't seem to accept responsibility for their own mistakes.

Best thing is it's clear that McInnes isn't scared to drop the players that aren't performing (as proved at Clyde!) but irrespective of how they've performed (Moon was fantastic, yet Dyron was, well Dyron....) they still been dropped the following week, and other players have been reinstated without the need to really fight for their place. Whether it be because it was the Tayside derby game he left a young head like Moon out, i think it shows that he underestimated him as Moon came on and calmed the team down. Maybe he's not afraid to make the changes, but to scared to maintain them for a fear of unhappy, more senior, players?

Will be interesting to see how he lines up next week - Anderson isn't a right back, and was a big mistake dislodging our right back who's been performing (Irvine) to put Ando out there who is a far better centre half (minus his silly mistakes!) than the two that were playing yesterday...

[CC 33]

Captain_Sensible, on Jan 3 2008, 09:37, said:

Your best player is St. Mirren's 4th choice left back?

Sums up how the might Dundee have fallen!

Cheating diddy club.

How many goals have you seen St.Mirren score at home this season? Worth spending £300 was it?

I'd rather play in the 1st division and at least be entertained every week than watch the dross you have to endure.

Billy Mehmet and Andy Millen

[Unlikely]

DeeJay35, on Jan 3 2008, 11:12, said:

Im interested to know what both sets of supporters thought of Gavin Sw**kies performance yesterday. I got speaking to a couple of Saintees walking to the game and they both said they hoped Gavin wasnt playing because they thought he would cause problems.

A few fellow Dundee "supporters" that I was sitting near yesterday were giving him pelters. While I didnt think he had a particularly good game, I would never shout abuse like I heard yesterday at a player wearing dark blue. If fact, I wouldn't shout it at any player no matter what team he played for! There is nothing wrong with constructive critisism and encouragment!

I thought his passing and delivery into the box was poor. He seemed disinterested at times and didnt chase the ball when he should have. He is never going to be renouned for being a tough tackler, but he could at least put a foot in at times!

When Gavin is on his game he is superb (against Celtic he was), but he doesnt deliver enough and is inconsistant. Maybe he needs the kick up the bum that Dixon is getting at the moment.....a while on the bench!

Sw**kie gets pelters from scertain fans when's the ball's mishit on the other side of the ground!