der Berliner

Any striker - which is the norm at every other club - could have taken any of Tav's penalties. In any case, no matter the credit he has, every game requires that he shows up and if he doesn't, critique will come his way. What did he do today bar converting a penalty that didn't mean anything?

It's games like these where you utilize the squad and probably try something different. It was going to be a fight, so Wright, Sterling, McCausland could have been a choice. Likewise, 4-2-3-1 again didn't really work, and we even subbed Silva again for naught, who was given no service whatsoever. He could easily have kept his place. There was no creativity chap in the middle who played e.g. the Davis role, whatever Dowell tried, it didn't work. And our defenders keep playing triangles at the back with Lundstram will give me nightmares for years to come ... even when time was ticking out. the main point of bother is that we have seen this time and time again .... please Philllipe, wield the axe.

To think we gave Goldson another long contract last summer ...

The odd assist aand penalty papered over many a mediocre performance like today. Simple fact.

Tavernier's letter of indulgence for another sub-standard performance ...

I simply assume that he assumed that his veterans keep their levels and the new additions will gain vital game time against low-key opposition ... ... and now he's a good picture of what needs to happen in the summer.

How these guys manage to play triangles at the centre-circle will forever be a mystery to me.

As soon as I wrote that, I had that gut feeling that we will manage to blow this. Can we simply replace our complete defence bar Souttar? If they can't handle the likes of Ross time and again, they are just past it.

A wise Gersnetter once wrote: Work beats quality if quality does not work.

One more game where we managed to adapt to the playing style of the opposition better than playing what we are capable of. As soon as Goldson and Souttar are start "running" the game, you know something is wrong. I would expect Lundstram and Dowell are there for the creativity from the deep areas, but all they do is giving the ball back to the CHs. Borna is anonymous, as is Tav. Silva has hardly seen the ball, Sima, Cantwell and Dessers trying. Clement needs to kick some butts, this drop in performance levels simply can't happen time and again.

Has the game started yet? I'm asking for a friend ...

Right, I'm ready for an uneventful hammering of the Stags with no fuss whatsoever. Who's with me?

You have to give it to this vile climate change. Sneaks into Dens Park and wrecks the surface, but leaves the dump 300 yards away untouched ...

This season, Saarbrücken (3rd tier) had a superb run in the German Cup (they eliminated Bayern, Eintracht Frankfurt (holders), and Mönchengladbach), only that their ground is essentially a Dens Park copy. They had to postpone games a few times, including the semi finals vs Kaiserslautern, while others became a swamp battle. Had the last game, which was also on the brink, been called off, they'd have lost their home tie and the game had gone to Kaiserslautern, i.e. being moved there. The game went ahead and despite being another rain battle, Kaiserslautern eased past them. That's German cup rules though ... Hope you can watch this video of their game against Borussia Mönchengladbach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjUIxxbRqY4

Anyone actually saw any foul on Silva a few mins before he got the penalty at roughly the same spot? I'm pretty sure it looked like he was bundled over (Iberian style) and waited for a replay that never came.

As I said yesterday, we need our forward-thinking aggressive players back and playing consistently, i.e. Cantwell, Sima, Ridvan, alongside Dessers and Silva. I'd put Sterling alongside Diomande too, as both like a pressing game and can play the ball too.

SPFL Highlights of the game. Never saw the first goal before that and wonder how the ball ended up where it did. Tav hammered the ball at Maeda and it made a bee-line in the corner. Never seen somesuch ever before. If you watch the following sequences, our captain was all over the place. Not that most of our other defenders were much better. In such circumstances, with 2 DMs (who were equally all over the place) you wonder why we did not switch to 3 at the back. We never saw a slow motion of the first foul on Silva, just ahead of him winning the penalty. Not during the game, not in the highlights. That foul by Lawrence before our VARed goal, Beaton was 3 meters away and deemed it a typical Scottish challenge. Remember when Maeda wrecked Cantwell, and it was neither a penalty, nor a foul, nor VARed. One decision was correct (Lawrence did foul him), the other blatantly not (Maeda clearly wrecked Cantwell). Scottish refereeing consistency at work ...

Today all was fine. The last OFs were abysmal ...

Get these people who played most of the second half fit, and we're looking good. Matondo's right foot is a treasure.

The point is that he shouldn't have been thrown into this in the first place. Play Sterling there, put Balogun on left-back, so we can go 3 at the back if Tavernier moves forward.

IMHO, Diomande and Lawrence shouldn't have started this. Both are not up for this, dunno whether Lawrence even touched the ball, Diomande far too erratic. Our DMs are all over the place, the Scum has little trouble covering our front players. Goldson shouldn't be on the pitch if Balogun is on the bench these days. He might be good enough for Killie or Hibs games, but if faced with quality ... There's but one pass mark first half, Butland. Dessers hasn't seen the ball often enough for a verdict. The Scum did well to hack all enthusiasm out of Wright, but he as well hasn't seen the ball.

They could well be 4-0 up with no complaints. We simply haven't started playing, the defence is back to bad old habits and the front line gets no balls and service.

Goldson's header was as bad as his "handball" now. No wonder "miss-a-clear-Celtic-handball" Collum makes the call.

Our back 6 (incl. the goalie) play terrible stuff. Aside from that, this is just mayhem ... pure and simple.

Who was the VAR ref that never called a review against the blatant handball in the last game, Sima being involved? EDIT: Oopsi .... Referee - Nick Walsh Assistants - Graeme Stewart and Calum Spence Fourth Official - Kevin Clancy Video Assistant Referee - William Collum Assistant Video Assistant Referee - Daniel McFarlane