bmck

it is a proven partnership, if only at killie level. certainly more proven than the thorougly ineffective mcculloch-as-lone-striker.

he was clearly trying, he was just not that good.

I've sat by and watched you lot critisize Smith's tactics for a while now, keeping my faith.

 

But that tonight shot it to hell.

i'm like you, i have been very ill-disposed to criticising smith, but i think his conservatism in setting out a side breeds poor confidence, even if it does stem from his over optimism in his last period.

i can understand why, largely, he does what he does, but tonight it seemed very clear to me that this side were there for the taking and were sufficiently poor not to need 4 midfielders who rarely got the ball.

gretna would have put up more of a fight, we where rank rotten

no they wouldn't, and no we weren't. it was definitely a subpar performance but losing would have been rank rotten.

hemdani was terrible for the first time ever.

it seems ridiculous that if you are going to play the long ball you play three or four central midfielders that you are going to completely bypass.

they can put us out of our missery next week

come on, man. i dont think this tie is anyway decided. they are pants.

^ i think he's trying hard, but i think the world in which he is a considerably better player than boyd is not this world.

^ you can understand him being cautious, but at what point is it caution and at what point is it lack of faith in their ability to win against this standard of opposition?

davis seems exactly like hughes. great ball for novo though. does it look to anyone else like if we really went at this mob they would fold? i think we are making them look slightly better than they are.

i'm nervous. i'm very nervous.

Then Novo to get the winner from a McCulloch knockdown :cheers:

down with this sort of pessimism, saying we're going to lose a goal

no burke is a suprise. has he missed any of the previous games? i'm so suprised about novo. not to say its a bad idea, i think he should be played more, he has been spl topscorer a good few times, but i'm just suprised walter smith has done it. no matter opinions about whether this is a good or bad lineup, its certainly an untried lineup. going to be v/interesting to see how they play.

McCulloch to score the first goal !!!!!!!

you can always bet on the universe conspiring against smart arses on forums who think they know better than professionals

not mcculloch lone striker please! you never know though, the same 11 could be put into a 442.

we absolutely cant play mcculloch in the lone striker role. it would be unfair to say he's terrible there as we have only seen a few games. being generous would be to say that he's unproven there, and if we are going for an unproven lone striker i would go for boyd.

i would really, really like to see us play a 442 today to sidestep the cousin problem altogether. i really think the strongest case for him being played is that he is best suited to 451.

i'm too scared to predict anything incase i jinx us.

I agree with that, but think that tribalism should avoid the same subjects that you would in polite conversation - race, religion, politics, sexual prefenences and finantial status etc.

im horribly poor at polite conversation then, taboos always seem petty to me

Not long until my father picks me up for the game

is he driving from the early 20th century? :fish:

i'll write a better reply, but i think one of the great joys of supporting a football team is the tribalism. as soon as you start to make football (and football supporting) too rational it quickly becomes just a few guys kicking a leather thing about a field, and a bunch of morons following them about.

i cant disagree there's a good argument for playing him, definitely cant. just against the idea that its the only decent one.

Rule Britannia! :uzi:

Only a fool would say that Cousin doesn't have ability.

aye, but you are not necesarily a fool for saying that ability is the not only thing we should be considering.

He is a professional football player who has already crossed borders into other leagues so why should his mental state be called into question ?

ok, here is an argument for why we should be calling his mental state into question. tell me if you think its fair. everyone is aware of what we might call "the friendly mentality", a portion of which's lack of edge is the fear of being pointlessly injured. i dont think it needs too much backing up to say that a) Cousin has a very serious interest in not getting injured, and b) that this mentality can have tangible effects on a player's performance, therefore c) Cousin's performance may be affected.

We saw no evidence of it on his move into Ibrox and I've seen nothing from any source apart from the garbage in The Sun which calls his mental state into question.

i didnt include the sun in my reasoning above, so you've now heard two version as to why his mental state might be called into question.

Ergo.............he's a very good footballer who should be able to do a job for us if picked tonight.

i dont disagree that he should be able to do a good job for us, but then boyd should be able to do a good job for us, as should novo, and naismith. but the alternatives have one advantage he doesnt, presumably, having no reason not to give their all in the game.

Plenty of Rangers fans get upset about that kind of thing. Now maybe they are upset because he is not doing it for religious reasons but on a wind up, but then how can they prove that?

 

Same goes for flags etc...

 

...

i do see what you are saying, the sectarianism lurking behind the innocence, but i think you would be suprised for how many people sectarianism is nothing more than winding up celtic fans. whilst your view seems to be to have people like boruc, and 'dodgy' flag carriers more censored, mine is to let everyone do what they like and stop being offended so easily. although i would be the first to say that i find bjk chanting repugnant in a way i could never find even support for terrorists.

^ 100% agreed. my maw said something similar but half an hour ago.