Calm down dear it's only December

[Feel The Force 0]

Why all the doom and gloom on here? Did anyone really look at our last 6 fixtures against Everton, Man City, Chelsea, Swansea Arsenal and Watford and expect to get more than 5 points? Ok we were poor against Watford but we''ve been very competitive in every other of those games.

This is a very poor league and we should go into the next two games in a positive mood. I think we''ll win one and draw one.

A new striker and centre half in January and we''ll be just fine. Russell Martin needs to play at right back. Scotland are out of the Euros so no excuses about where strachan wants him to play. If he wants to be our captain he needs to start putting club first!

[Ray 111]

General M,

I think to allude to the fact you think RM puts himself before the club is, imo, so wrong it couldn''t be wronger than a wrong thing that is wrong (see what I did there?).

Seriously though, RM always puts club first, he is happy to play wherever and whenever selected. Yes he may have a preference, I''d be amazed if he didn''t but a better team man I''ve yet to see.

[nutty nigel 7,509]

Ray, you have to understand that Alex Neil is still "in credit" with most fans. But someone has to carry the can for decisions they don''t like. It''s difficult to remain creditable and blame Ricky Martin or the cook and her cohorts for Martin playing CB so Russ himself is the only place left to go....

[Hairy Kenneth 0]

Russ always puts club first and plays where he is told to play.

He doesn''t dictate when and where he plays, he doesn''t pick the team.

[smooth 114]

I don''t think it is calm down. I think it is that we look at the positive and negatives so far

Positives

We have few injuries

We have incorporated a large number of players

We have scored with scorers from all over the first 11

In many games we have held our own

We have enough games to keep us in this division

New players have settled in

We have the January window

Negatives

We have lost games when in winnable positions and not looked to score in the last 10 mins to win a game

Our players who went down under hughton are showing why they went down

We have not got enough points when we played well

We need the window and a number of signings to be brought in

We have a few squad players we hope to move on but there are no guarantees

We have not demonstrated that we can put a 90 minute performance that is worthy of this league for a while

All in all we are still in it. I expected we would be in the bottom positions and I hope it is 17th or above. We needed signings and January is going to be highly important for us. So it is a worry that we need January to be successful and that would be 17th or above.

We can play better but now AN needs to get this group to prove they deserve to stay in this league. So nothing wrong in December and looking at the situation.

[Feel The Force 0]

RM has made it clear he wants to play CB and that his chances of playing for the Scott''s is increased if he plays there for his club. Strachan is not a good judge of a player and RM is a far better right back. Of course he doesn''t pick the team and he''s a fantastic dedicated pro who has served us well. But he has to forget about centre back and concentrate on what he does well. And his does it far better than wisdom or the utter shambles that is Whitaker as he demonstrated second half against Everton.

[Ray 111]

General M,

I suugest he doesn''t have to forget about anything and I would also suggest he doesn''t. who''s going to play CB when Seb picks up his nest yellow and gets a ban, especially if this occurs before (and if) a new CB is brought in in the window?

That said, he performed very well at RB last Saturday and I suspect thta is where he will make most of his appearances from now on. Thinking about it we''re lucky to have a player who can, if needed, make the swap.

[Feel The Force 0]

I don''t think he can or should have made the swap. He''s been average at best at centre half. He doesn''t have the physique to play there in the premier league. I don''t necessarily blame him I blame strachan and managers for playing him there. If he''d purely been thought of as a right back perhaps we''d have properly pushed the boat out for a proper centre half in the summer. Being a utility defender at this level rarely works. Simon charlton anyone! Or perhaps Darren Kenton. Doesn''t work I''m afraid. The best defenders we''ve had play one position and played it well.