RiG

Me reading through ICT chat on Twitter and P & B over the weekend:

As I say that's my understanding but I could be mistaken so maybe a wee pinch of salt but if it is the case I completely agree with you.

We've only won 4 league games since we beat you earlier in the season at TCS. A shambolic record.

I think there are some fair points in here but one thing I would pick up on is the signings comment. Some of the guys that have come in, I understand, are picks by Robbo and not necessarily guys that Dodds wants. Oakley is a good example of this. By all accounts Dodds did not rate him and never really wanted him there but Robbo forced the move through. Some guys haven't worked out (Ram for example) whilst others started well but faded (Delaney). Overall I'd say our recruitment has been poor in the last couple of seasons but how much of that is down to Dodds I'm not too sure. He does have a say in signings but I am sure if he has the final say all of the time.

That was one sided a contest as I've seen for a while. Queens Park were streets ahead of us for large parts of that match. Decent opening to the game with Eze missing two glorious chances when he had free headers from corners but he would eventually get his goal later. It was surprising that we didn't really seem to know how to counter him and were content to keep letting him win header after header almost scoring each time. Danny MacKay had a great chance to open the scoring after a nice phase of passing play saw him scamper in behind the Queens back line but he lost his footing and shot right at Ferrie. But he was to open the scoring when a long ball forward bounced off the back of Mckay and Mackay raced onto it to place a wonderful low shot beyond Ferrie at full stretch to give us the lead. Queens seemed to lose their way after this for the rest of the first half but regained their composure in the second and utterly dominated the rest of the match. The equaliser arrived when a cross from the ICT right found Savoury in acres of space with no ICT defender near him and he placed his wider beyond Ridgers to bring QP level. Despite this being the umpteenth warning to us to try and defend crosses into the box we decided to, erm, not do this and instead let Eze have another header from a cross almost unchallenged and he found the net this time to put the home side ahead. Mckay and Devine had decent chances for us to head in equalisers and Samuels fired a late effort right at Ferrie but Queens were easily deserving of the win especially as we ran out of ideas and blootered long balls to Mckay to try and win against tow defenders with an average height of about 8 ft. Bizarre decision to sub Allardice when he was probably our best midfielder and Samuels continues to be quite unimpressive in his outings. MacGregor got a few minutes before appearing to catch his studs in the pitch and had to be taken off inured so that's swell. We just didn't seem able to cope with the intensity and pace of Queens Park who moved the ball so quickly whilst we were relatively slow and ponderous when we had it. The gulf between the sides was there for all to see. Even if Queens don't win the league I'd imagine they will fancy their chances to go all the way in the playoffs and it's hard to argue they don't deserve it.

Against Killie we were excellent and responded well to going a goal down. I wasn't at Livi and didn't see anything of the game save for the short highlights but we looked like we were in decent control of the game and a threat on the counter. Whilst these two performances were excellent in between them there were some toothless showings against Hamilton, a disjointed effort at Dundee and a good second half performance against Ayr. Seems, even with most players back, we are a real Jekyll and Hyde team.

Sadly life got in the way for us again recently but we've finally gotten round to getting a new pod out and it's a mahoosive one to compensate. Interviews with Billy Dodds, Jay Henderson, Scottish Cup chat (recorded before the KO time and prices were revealed), game review, Section 94, Guess Who and some other goodies to keep you going.

I'll be in the "cheap" £28 seats because I'm a tightwad.

49ers pick up former first rounder Clelin Ferrell from the Raiders. I like this move a lot. As I said earlier in the thread SF have made a habitat of picking up DLs who maybe haven't hit the heights they should have and turning them around (e.g. the aforementioned Key and Ominehu). Obviously playing alongside absolutele beasts like Bosa and Armstead helps no doubt but I am sure Ferrell can elevate his performances and get a good move in a year. Interestingly, he was drafted two places behind Bosa in the 2019 draft. Isaiah Oliver also moves to Santa Clara from the Falcons on a 2 year deal. Finally, Stephen A thinks the Niners should go all in on Lamar Jackson offering lance, players and picks to get him. I doubt that's going to happen somehow but I guess in amongst all this wheeling and dealing we do get some silly stuff to enjoy as well

I'm delighted the game is at Ochilview. By my count I've got 7 grounds left to visit in the SPFL and Ochilview is one of them. Good to get another one ticked off the list.

Ah I stand corrected then. I could have sworn I saw us wear the pink shirt this season.

Red and black. We have a pink 3rd strip so we may end up playing in that.

Yes that one game Nyland played for Ingolstadt B was definitely critical for his development path.

Number of B team games played for each: Ederson - 4 Rodri - 39 Akanji - 21 Gündoğan - 3 Haaland - 18 I suspect that the number of B team games played were not a significant influence on them going on to be top players but better coaching, natural ability and, possibly most importantly, their clubs actually played them instead of leaving them wasting away in youth teams.