Edinburghdon

I struggle with the love shown to Smith too, its all well and good saying he's not had a chance but has he done anything do earn that chance? He's shown flashes of being a useful player but I don't think he's shown that very often and I suspect if he showed it on a daily basis in training etc then McInnes would be playing him more. Its all well and good keeping the players fresh and i totally agree it is required if we are to challenge but if the replacements arent showing enough to merit a regular game then why should they play ahead of players doing it week in week out?

That's probably fair enough, he's probably the pick of the bunch over the last few weeks but he still hasn't performed as well as we need him to if we are to progress. We should have defended corners much better today, I think we were lucky Dundee didn't capitalise on that. Brown just isn't comfortable coming for crosses unfortunately. Bain impressed me today and one thing that really stood out was how well he came for crosses and corners. I'm starting to believe he could be a solid keeper at this level and certainly looked equal to anything ward produced for us this season, admittedly it was only 90 mins though. Goodwillie was very poor, although I got the impression it was more to do with a total lack of confidence than a shocking lack of effort. Nothing seemed to work for him and the frustration seemed to get to him. Sadly it's obvious he won't get the run in the team he would need to regain confidence so it's probably best he's moved on. He's a fantastic player and captain, no doubt about it! Maclean is a rolls Royce of a player, he coasted through today and can comfortably play CM. I do think he's better further forward but he was very very good tonight and he has shown he can play well and contribute in central midfield. I also think Storie compliments him very well, I'd start those two against Celtic. You're right too. The pitch has looked better and Celtic certainly won't relish playing on it. Sadly I suspect with our defence lately we may struggle to take advantage of that.

Agree with most of that but I wasn't too impressed with considine, not sure if it was being beside an accident waiting to happen but I thought our centre halves looked shakey tonight. I thought storie looked decent again, second assured performance in a row.

I'm sure he said at the start of the week that nobody will be coming in before the game today so it's hardly surprising. Fingers crossed he makes a couple of key signings next week though.

I do think there was contact but not too sure if it was enough to warrant a penalty though. Must admit that Reynolds should have been smarter than to get himself in that situation though, he's an experienced defender and shouldnt have given the ref any decision to make at all.

Went to see creed this afternoon, quite enjoyable and lots of little nods to the previous rocky films if a tad predictable.

Alan Rickman, died aged 69.

Oh he has looked shaky at times but I'm pretty convinced if he's allowed to form a settled partnership with the likes of Reynolds then we would see the best of him.

Would be a really poor move, genuinely think Quinn should be in the team every week ahead of the accident waiting to happen that is Taylor. Also linked with a loan move for Don Cowie, not particularly excited about that prospect either.

Exactly, can't see any issue with recalling Rodgers and giving him a shot until the end of the month, if we can find a suitable replacement then he can rejoin Falkirk. As good as Ward has been it's always irritated me that he consistently parries the ball straight into the path of the opposition strikers, it's cost us numerous goals this season already including in two crucial games at least.

Wouldn't bet against this happening just so Klopp can have a closer look at him and I'd bet if that is the case he'd be back with us by the end of the window. Saying that if he's back off to Liverpool for good it'd be a blow but hardly the end of the world, he's decent but nothing more than that. Plenty time to find a replacement.

It's not always that simple though is it? You need to be able to react to the other team. We didn't today and didn't have a back up plan. Which is standard for us under McInnes

Plan A doesn't always work, a plan B is a must.

That was quite frankly awful. Slow start yet again which needs to be stamped out. Numerous awful performances, considine was poor (although apparently unfit), Reynolds was as poor as I'd ever seen him, Taylor was very lucky but I can't help but feel he is a disaster waiting to happen. The centre half pairing needs to be Reynolds and Quinn from now on and stick with it from now on. Logan played poorly too. McGinn and Hayes were on the wrong side at the start and once it was rectified Hayes was very very poor. I don't think flood and shinnie work together at all and when flood went off smith should have came on. Rooney was isolated the whole game and goodwillie was ineffective when he came on. Pawlett looked ok when he came on but Jesus he falls over pretty much any time someone goes near him and it's embarrassing. Over all we didn't deserve anything from the game, which is exactly what we got. McInnes needs to figure out how to set the team out so we can play against teams that sit in against us. Until we can manage that then we won't progress.

McInnes needs to take a long hard look at himself tonight. His lack of a plan B has cost us too often now and it needs to be rectified.

From the BBC Scottish gossip column. Seems to be getting decent reviews but must admit I've not really seen him play apart from in the Falkirk v Rangers game in December where he looked decent enough and scored the winner.

Yeah that seems to be the guy, good goal but I guess that doesn't mean much in isolation.

Rumour is they approached him and were knocked back. Not hugely surprising really.

That's a fairly impressive list of strikers there though, all of those have been brought through in the last 10 years or so... During which time we've produced mackie, maguire and not much else. If others can do it there's no reason we can't.

That's true, was Esson a youth product as well? I can't remember but we can probably group him in with Watt & Stillie.

I'm guessing it probably would have been, which is pretty depressing really. We seem to be reasonably good at producing defenders and the odd promising midfielder but our record at developing strikers through our youth system is embarrassing.

That thought hadn't even entered my head

Seems to have missed the last couple of games through injury according to the AFC website. Doesn't say how long he's expected to be out for though.

He doesn't have a hugely impressive record but I guess based on the clips of him floating around he would seem to offer something different. Based on how hush hush McInnes' signings have been so far though I'd be a little surprised if there's anything in this. You've got to think that it either spells the end for one of the strikers at the club though (Goodwillie?) or pushes our own youngsters further down the pecking order.

Well thats an unexpected reaction to an apology. Suit youself rocket... harassment though? Really?