Kilmarnock are sinking fast
Both on and off the pitch, Kilmarnock are a mess. The team are struggling badly, and any setback they suffer is an opportunity for the home support to display their grievances at chairman Michael Johnston, which in turn hardly produces an atmosphere to inspire the players into a fightback. The situation is so toxic that there is no way back for Johnston; the worry for Killie fans is that it's not clear that he has realised it yet. As for his namesake, manager Allan, the ongoing off-field problems are not quite masking how poor his side are playing, and how rubbish most of his signings have been. If the duo do not leave Rugby Park soon, Kilmarnock will finish eleventh at best, and I wouldn't fancy this bunch in a playoff with the likes of Dundee or Falkirk.
These are the results that will do for Hearts
Overcoming that points deduction was always going to be a tall order, but they simply have to beat the teams immediately above them in the table if they are going to get out of this hole. They outplayed Ross County on Saturday, yet needed a last minute equalizer against 10 men to steal a point (it could have been all three if Callum Paterson had scored instead of hitting the bar in added time). In the five matches they've played against the teams who are eighth to eleventh in the league, Hearts have only two points. The bottom line is that, even though the players are doing their best in the circumstances and the support is tremendous, Hearts would only be tenth in the table even without the points deduction. They just aren't good enough.#
Derek McInnes is the man Aberdeen have been looking for
Yes, Aberdeen have lost 17 straight league games at Celtic Park (and who can tell me the name of the scorer of the winning goal the last time Celtic lost at home to the Dons?*) but they had no right to do so this time, given that both Willo Flood and Barry Robson were absent and Jonny Hayes was lost to a hamstring problem midway through the first half. Yet remarkably the Dons went toe-to-toe with the hosts and Niall McGinn was within inches of a late winner. Celtic created enough of their own to feel that they just about deserved the three points, but it's clear to see that Derek McInnes is taking this team in the right direction, and I'll eat my shoes (I don't own a hat) if they miss out on the top six for a fifth consecutive campaign.
Danny Lennon can sleep at night now
It's only a couple of months since the St. Mirren boss appeared to be on the brink of the sack. Yet the Buddies have taken 14 points out of the last 7 games and should have beaten Hibs on Saturday lunchtime. Unlike in Dingwall and Kilmarnock, the early season problems in Paisley appear to have been fixed, and the manager appears to know what his best eleven is. Is it a coincidence that Gary Harkins hasn't started any of the last 7 games, and that St. Mirren picked up only 1 point from the first 6 matches, all of which the former Dundee midfielder started?
Who are Celtic's best strikers?
Against Aberdeen, Neil Lennon went with Teemu Pukki and Georgios Samaras up top, with Amido Balde appearing from the bench. Samaras has 4 league goals this season, 2 more than Pukki and Balde, neither of whom so far have justified Celtic's total outlay of £4.3 million on them. Anthony Stokes has scored 5 league goals, but missed the game for 'personal reasons'; he's out of form however, having managed only 1 goal in his last 12 club games. Thank goodness for Kris Commons, whose brace against the Dons makes him the team's top scorer both in the league (6) and in all competitions (7). But given his forwards are not hitting the target at domestic level, it's hard to see them scoring against far superior Champions League opposition.
Dundee United - phwoar again!
That's now five times in the league this season that Dundee United have scored four goals. Better yet, no team has conceded fewer than they have. It's really all come together for them right now. Ryan Gauld set up all four goals. If he was to suffer a serious injury in the near future, I would actually cry - he really is that special.
Stevie May is the real deal
May actually had a quiet afternoon by his standards in Inverness, but the home fans and defenders were nervous every time he touched the ball. The service to the St. Johnstone striker was sporadic at best, but his workrate remained outstanding and he won his fair share of headers against the normally dominant Caley Thistle centre backs. On one occasion just before half-time, a long diagonal was launched towards May on the left touchline; instead of chesting it down, he audaciously used the outside of his right foot to volley it past Graeme Shinnie and then left the full-back for dead, only for an alert Dean Brill to clear the danger. It was a piece of skill worth salivating over, and it's no surprise that St Johnstone have put a price tag of £800,000 on their star asset. Why the hell was Fat Kris Boyd called up for Scotland instead of him?
Terry Butcher was hoping for a bigger new manager bounce
The new Hibs boss rang the changes for his first match in charge of the club, bringing in Paul Cairney from the cold, giving a rare start to youngster Danny Handling, and leaving out the likes of James Collins and Kevin Thomson. But whilst optimists will point out that a clean sheet and an away point are not to be sneezed at, debut wins for new managers are so common that they are almost expected, and the 90 minutes at St. Mirren Park will have reassured Butcher not at all that this team are a top six side-in-waiting. This Hibernian team will not be quickly fixed.
Is Graeme Shinnie better at right-back than left-back?
Left-footed wingers playing on the right - and vice versa - are pretty commonplace these days, but a left-footed full back playing on the right? When Inverness got thumped in Perth earlier in the season, they missed right-back David Raven and deployed central defender Danny Devine as a replacement, with catastrophic results. For the following game, Shinnie moved across to the opposite flank with Carl Tremarco coming in to the left-back role. The words "duck" and "water" come to mind; Shinnie scored against Kilmarnock, won a penalty and had an assist against Hibs, and was strong again on Saturday as ICT beat St. Johnstone for the first time since, well, a long time. Naturally inclined to attack, his habit of coming in off the flank seems to confuse opponents, who are far more used to seeing full backs overlap on the right. Maybe he will be less effective when the novelty has worn off, but right now Shinnie is in the form of his life.
Refereewatch
It was quite a reasonable weekend, by usual Scottish officiating standards. Frankly, it was a surprise to see Willie Collum correctly award a penalty for handball against Dundee United's John Souttar, and he was also spot on with both bookings for Partick's Conrad Balatoni, while it was hard to argue with the straight red for Stuart Bannigan late on. Meanwhile, even Derek Adams could have no arguments with either of Richard Brittain's yellow cards against Hearts.
*And the answer to my question earlier - a certain gangly forward called John Stewart scored the winner, with Darren Mackie and Fernando Pasquinelli on target as well in a 3-2 victory.
L.
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