The game finished 1-1! An OG by Lustig on 78mins and then saved by a Sinclair penalty, won by McGregor, in the 88th minute. The penalty was more of a penalty than the one Sinclair got given at the weekend but it was still a little on the soft side and penalties like that have not been given on a number of occasions.
We seem to be struggling at the moment and not just against Motherwell. Part of the problem could be a bit of fatigue, getting towards the halfway stage of the season but some players have played almost a full season already. Craig Gordon and Keiran Tierney have both made 28 appearances out of a possible 29......not including pre-season friendlies! When you consider that with another 9 games to come in December, they could have potentially made 37 appearances before the winter break and the league over the year is 38 games in total! :emoticon:10
Sat, 2nd Dec Motherwell - Ladbrokes Premiership 15:00 H
Tue, 5th Dec Anderlecht - UEFA Champions League 19:45 H
Sun, 10th Dec Hibernian - Ladbrokes Premiership 12:30 A
Wed, 13th Dec Hamilton - Ladbrokes Premiership 19:45 H
Sun, 17th Dec Heart of Midlothian - Ladbrokes Premiership 12:30 A
Wed, 20th Dec Partick Thistle - Ladbrokes Premiership 19:45 H
Sat, 23rd Dec Aberdeen - Ladbrokes Premiership 15:00 H
Tue, 26th Dec Dundee - Ladbrokes Premiership 12:30 A
Sat, 30th Dec Rangers - Ladbrokes Premiership 12:00 H
I think because we have 9 games this December and we're hopefully going to be in the Europa League in 2018, BR will start implementing a bit more rotation in the squad. He'll be hoping Ralston is back fit soon and can get him playing again to give Lustig a rest while the likes of Liam Henderson and Calvin Miller have both featured for the Development side recently to get them some game time. Both players were on the scoresheet in their respective games and seemingly played very well.
I would play Miller at LB instead of Tierney in 2 or 3 of the games this December, home against Hamilton on Wednesday 13th, home against Partick Thistle on Wednesday 20th and possibly away to Dundee on Tuesday 26th.
With Dembele looking likely to miss at least the next 2 games, Edouard should get more opportunities. Perhaps not play Griffiths for as long and bring Edouard on and give more chance to do something.
We should surely see a bit more of Kouassi over the next month as well. Scott Brown is getting past it, his consistency isn't there all the time now and it's becoming more apparent in European games. Kouassi looks as though he's going to be our replacement in the engine room of the midfield but he really needs some game time.
Roberts' injury last night, to the same hamstring he had just come back from injuring, probably means he'll miss all of December at least. Forrest is playing well so that doesn't concern me too much, but Sinclair has been off form and I can only hope he finds it again now! Equally, Robert's injury should mean more chances for Johnny Hayes and Mickey Johnston. Like Miller, I'd expect to see Johnston starting in 2 or 3 games this December.
Central defence we don't have the same problem as with so many injuries to them all this season, none of them have played too many games yet. Simunovic 15 and Boyata 14 appearances. However, there must surely be a game or two to give a run out to Ajer and hopefully get Sviatchenko back up to fitness as well? Both players have been on the bench recently but don't get on because we're usually still chasing the game.
Kundai Benyu is the only other player to have been involved in the first team and not be seen much. I'm not sure if he's likely to get much game time next month though. We may see him on the subs bench and making a few appearances that way before he departs on loan in January.
