Yes, I know it's Tuesday, but I'm afraid Real Life got in the way. Better late than never, right?
Ryan Gauld could become a hell of a player
It's probably sensible of Jackie McNamara to use young Gauld sparingly given his tender years, and so hopefully reduce the risk of burnout, but the 17 year old was so good in Dingwall that it will surely be impossible to resist the temptation to play him every week. Let's hope that, for the good of Scottish football, he goes on to fulfil his extraordinary potential.
The inclusion of Gauld wasn't the only big selection decision made by McNamara - he surprisingly dropped David Goodwillie and chose Nadir Ciftci at centre-forward. Given that Ciftci found the net, and gave the Ross County defence problems all day, there's no doubt it paid off. Frankly, Dundee United could, and should, have scored more than the four goals they actually managed.
Lousy managerial excuses, part one
Danny Lennon - "We did everything except score a goal and keep a clean sheet". Given that you can't even draw a football match without doing at least one of these things, that comment doesn't bode well for the St. Mirren manager. It seems likely that the Buddies board will give him till at least the next international break in October, but the writing remains very much on the wall, in big, bold letters, for Lennon. The three games before that break? Hibs away, Aberdeen at home, and Hearts away. If he doesn't win at least one of those, he is as doomed as a dodo that's been thrown out of an aircraft at 20,000 feet.
Motherwell keep finding ways to win
Stuart McCall's side are nowhere near as delightful as they were last season, but they're still getting points on the board. Saturday saw them grind out another 1-0 win, this time in Paisley. Given the limitations in his squad, he deserves plaudits for the substance, if not the style. And frankly, the man deserves a medal for managing to rehabilitate John Sutton, who grabbed his third goal of the season.
Superb Stokes
The departure of Gary Hooper seems to have galvanised Anthony Stokes, who has been absolutely terrific so far this season. His all-round game has improved no end, while he scored a lovely goal against Hearts and produced a fabulous piece of skill to set up Teemu Pukki for a debut goal. The Irishman is in the form of his life, and has got to be an early (very early!) frontrunner for Player Of The Year honours. But will Stokes get the nod against Milan, or will Neil Lennon leave him on the bench as so often before, and go with his new signing from Schalke?
Fenlon is raging against the light
The final nails got hammered into Pat Fenlon's coffin a few weeks ago...but he appears determined on punching his way out, a la Uma Thurman in Kill Bill Vol 2. Have Hibs turned the corner? The Irishman must know that his two predecessors were both dismissed just before the October AGM; if he can survive past that, then his job looks much more secure.
Lousy managerial excuses, part two
Allan Johnston -"We aren't getting the breaks". Except Kilmarnock got a huge break for their equalizer at home to Inverness, when Graeme Shinnie's clearance hit Barry Nicholson's shin and flew into the net. And they still lost the game. Johnston was missing Darren Barr at the back, but his decision to field three full-backs and midfielder Jackson Irvine as his defence was always asking for trouble. How he can't find a place for veteran Manuel Pascali in the lineup, either in the back line or in midfield, is a mystery. Six league games (and one league cup game) in, and the man known as 'Magic' has still to conjure up a victory as a Premiership boss.
Piccolo hopelessly out of tune
Given Partick's outstanding defensive record last season, it will have been an almighty shock to their support to see the Jags ship goals to the likes of Calvin Zola and Josh Magennis in a crushing home defeat to an Aberdeen side that were missing Barry Robson, Willo Flood and Niall McGinn. None of these absences were as critical as that of Partick central defender Conrad Balatoni, however. The performance of his replacement, Mexican Gabriel Piccolo, can't be described using only words allowed before the watershed. He seemed to pull out of a challenge with Zola in the lead-up to Aberdeen's second goal (if you see the highlights, goalkeeper Scott Fox gives him a look best described as thunderous), and was both outmuscled and outpaced by Magennis for the third, despite having a head start of several yards. It may be a while before Piccolo next graces a Premiership match.
If one more person makes a 'flares are back in fashion' quip...
What's this sudden fashion with letting off fireworks at games? Celtic fans seem to have led the way, but I saw pictures of flares being set off by Hearts and Motherwell fans as well. There were some reports that an away fan at Tynecastle was injured as a result of one on Saturday.
And for all those folk who claim they aren't dangerous, a smoke bomb injured nine supporters, including children, at a Slovakian league game last month. For god's sake, grow up. No-one over the age of five thinks colourful smoke is exciting.
Open All Mics is rubbish!
I had the 'joy' of listening to Radio Scotland on Saturday afternoon while driving down the A9. The Open All Mics format just doesn't work, as the likes of Chic Young shout loudly about nothing for minutes on end (you'd have thought the Motherwell fans had started a riot at St. Mirren Park from the way he was talking) whilst Murdo MacLeod, in contrast, said bugger all about Kilmarnock v Inverness, presulably as he was sulking about not getting to do the Celtic game. As for Willie Miller, he's about as good on the radio as he is at running a chip shop. Could they not just use their own journalists, who are presumably able to articulate complete sentences?
In contrast, I listened to Sportsound Extra afterwards and it was tremendous, presumably because it had Graeme Spiers and Tom English - actual journalists - involved.
Refereewatch
Hands up how many of you think Willie Collum would have given Hearts a penalty had a Celtic defender handballed in an identical manner to Jamie Hamill. Exactly. I'd love to see someone to actually try to deliberately handle the ball in that situation. There are some great mysteries in the universe, and one of them is how Collum was deemed competent to officiate a Champions League quarter final last season. I wouldn't even let him run with scissors.
The other big decision of the weekend was in Dingwall, where Derek Adams was left seething after seeing Sean Dillon's apparent professional foul on Kevin Luckassen go unpunished...but replays showed that Luckassen fouled Dillon first.
L.
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