RicoS321

Good interview though. I hadn't realised that Clancy (I think it was Clancy) won't be reffing this weekend. I came away from the game thinking that the ref did well, got most decisions correct and kept up with play etc. Stubbs gets everything spot on in that interview, especially where he asks for some clarification. The lack of transparency is shocking. As a famous man once said: "who are these people?"

I thought MacLaren looked pap against us, and Kamberi was decent. Aussie caps are not widely relevant in my books. I call it the Zdrilic effect. We have £1M of DNA scam money to spend. We're about even in that regard. Although you're right about midfielders being more widely available. I think we'll struggle to get a striker better than Kamberi for £500K.

Okay, so Kamberi for Devlin then. Both equally as important and equally as likely to have an impact. Ferguson cancels out Mallan and Ball cancels out MacLaren (both average returning players). So we're left with: Bogdan, Hyndman an Agyepong versus Hoban, Gleeson, Forrester and Cerny. I've no idea who's best from that bunch (although Bogdan clearly strengthens them whereas Cerny was only ever a backup). I'd say it's about even and I expect neither team is finished. They desperately need a centre mid and we desperately need a striker. It'll certainly be an interesting match up when we face them. I also see your point to an extent because they've signed a striker and a decent forward player whereas we've not managed to land a striker. We should at least give McInnes until the end of the window before being too harsh though. A hell of a lot riding on our striker signing I'd say, and I expect McInnes is well aware of that.

Who have they actually signed that wasn't already there? Mallan*? Has Mallan had more of an impact than Ferguson? Devlin**? Arguable. What about the rest of their signings? We've had two successful signings, one who looks an upgrade on O'Connor (Hoban) and two questionable in Gleeson and Forrester. Above 50% is decent for us I'd say. *I think Mallan is a good player who I'd be surprised if we weren't in for. That said, he probably wasn't in a priority area for us and not an area where we'd have wanted to spend a large part of our budget which we seem to be saving for the elusive striker. **I'm including Devlin as one of this seasons signings as it was clear he was going to be out for last season.

The risks are that we lose the game, or the youngster isn't ready and it effects his confidence for a while if he has a poor game. We need to go with our best available team as we really need to win to get off to the best start this season. We can't afford to lose a single game against a bottom 6 team if we are to finish second. Being "early in the season" makes no difference when losing three points. The problem is that we're not nearly at full strength. I like youngsters getting an opportunity, but that opportuntity - for me - should happen when we're playing confidently with our best team to give the youngster the best possible support and the best possible chance of success. Wright coming on for McGinn or GMS in far more games would be an obvious one. I think that our half arsed midfield from Sunday - worse so if Shinnie is at left back - would offer zero support for Anderson and I'm not sure that'd be beneficial to him in anyway. There were so many players (in midfield) in that team on Sunday who were still finding their own feet, it'd be harsh to bring a youngster into that. That said, I think that if we get a decent left back in before the weekend there would be good reason to play them both. Playing Harrington would allow Ball into midfield and thus Shinnie and Ferguson a lot more freedom to get up and down the park and support the striker(s). If we have Ball at right back and Gleeson in midfield then I think we should forget Anderson too. Gleeson is very much still finding his feet and he clearly doesn't have the coverage to allow others in midfield to support the striker without leaving gaping holes (very evident on Sunday and against Burnley). In that regard, we'd probably be better with Cosgrove to allow the game to be played higher up the park. If we don't get a left back in and Shinnie has to play there, then we might as well not bother with a midfield and play Cosgrove, May and Anderson.

He's 31. Played for Man City, Sunderland and QPR and is the current co-uk-record-holder for triple jump at under 15 level. He's out of contract, so is probably akin to Swansea stalwart Alan Tate.

Hemmin, nae cunt in the world kens fa the fuck Nedum Onouah is, and nor should they. Nor would they know whether or not his wage demands would be out of our bracket because naebody has heard of him. But don't worry, I'll look up the internet and let everyone ken that he plays for QPR, who are in the Championship. He's a centre half, that can play left or right back. Fuckin basic forum ettiquette. Cunts.

Why would it be grainy?

Surely it's about grassroots and kids and such like? In which case, plugging it to 40 year olds on Facebook is probably nae the best route.

Motherwell semi final, we injected Ball into right back, Nwakali into midfield and the speedy Adam Rooney onto the wing. That threw them.

My apologies, I thought it was McKenna that played him on when I saw it, but he was on Morelos. Aye, that was fucking awful, I stand corrected. I thought we were shite, but I didn't see anything from them that made me think they would horse us. Mainly down to them not being that great up front.

Precendents are generally set on a per-season basis though, so it remains to be seen if consistency is applied. Logan's incident is entirely incomparable, it's a totally different set of circumstances (a fuckin nonsense as well, of course). I'd hope Gerrard wouldn't be either, he said nothing of note. It was all about pandering to the filth whilst showing complete lack of individual thought. The only thing I would say is: "what would VAR have done?". I fucking hate VAR, I think it's shite, but it's an interesting thought. If that incident had occurred in the world cup and Clancy missed it or just wanted to check it, what would he have done? I am 100% certain that if Clancy had missed it, then the VAR staff would have asked him to review it. I am 100% certain that if he'd seen it, or was asked to review it, then he would have watched the incident back and the red card would have been given. Especially if they had (ridiculously) shown the slow motion incident (which made the incident look much worse than it actually was).

Interesting use of language. I agree with the "soft" comment, but Ball's error wasn't a major fuck up, it was a very ordinary mistake in losing his man after a deflection; one that Considine, McKenna and Devlin could all have made in the circumstances. The was no evidence that Morelos would be the difference between us drawing and getting horsed. You downplay one incident, yet deploy hyperbole in describing another. That's inconsistent at best.

I'm actually very surprised. Astonished to be honest. Obviously, I'm only going on the clips below as I didn't see it at the game but it seems very clear cut to me as per the existing interpretation of the law. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45112507 That said, I don't actually think that type of offence should be a red card (it is, currently, going by any law of the game that exists). It's petulant and unnecessary, but not particularly aggessive or dangerous. McKenna barged him and he responded and I think that it should be a yellow card. That's how I'd like to see these types of things refereed in future, and hopefully now this will be the case (yeh, right). I want to make very clear for those of you unable to digest a point, that I am not saying that Morelos shouldn't have been given a red. The interpretation has been very clear for a number of years now (see Beckham vs Simeone all those years ago) that this type of incident has always been a red card. If this forms part of a new leniency on that type of incident then I'm all for it, but I think that needs to be explained if so (it clearly isn't the case as we all know).

Considine played well alongside Devlin when McKenna went off. If we get a left back then we're sorted. The problem will be right back for the weekend again, and Harrington has to be the preferred choice if fit.

Hemmin, if you're going to name some no-mark English player at least gie us some background! He's a left back from Manchester Utd for those of you who were equally appalled by the lack of information supplied by Slim. Hopefully he can play right back.

She wasn't deliberately patronising. It was complementary.

Yep, wasn't the right turn of phrase.

That wasn't the worst Dom Ball at right back performance to be fair. At least he showed some fight and some effort despite being relatively gash. He was unlucky for the goal too, he misjudged the deflection, and was out of position and brought the player down (although there was barely a touch on the fanny, who was clearly frightened to go on and have a shot). Also, after the Motherwell game it was good of him to even agree to play there again. He wasn't even close to being the worst player on the pitch on Sunday either. The huns possibly wasn't the right game to test Harrington, so get him in for Dundee and see how he gets on. Keep a traffic cone on the bench to bring on if he's playing shite.

Sit doon.

On the conspiratorial comments by Gerrard, Michael Stewart asked if Adam thought that Rangers were unique in feeling like they've been on the end of bad decisions. Adam replied, "yes, all of the teams are unique in that regard". Thick as shite like.

That's what happens when statements go unquestioned. It's really dangerous (probably not in this case of course, but in general). When the guy who's just turned up this season makes comments about years of perceived injustice, then it's an interviewer's responsibility to ask for more information. He wouldn't have been able to explain himself, as there is no evidence of whatever his issue is, or he would have lied and shown his desparation further. As you point out with the Traynor comment, it's clearly club policy/dictat. It's sinister. Shows that Gerrard has no mind of his own, and that bodes well for the rest of us.

^^^ Good post sir. It's very relevant. Although I haven't actually seen any knee jerk reactions, but I know what you mean. I think it's good to give our thoughts on the coming season without getting too carried away though. Much like in recent seasons, I think our first 11 will be decent eventually, but our strength in depth will be non-existent. That said, I wouldn't advocate going out and getting another defender based on our current injury list. I don't think we can retain that many defenders in a squad based on the rarity of having four (maybe five if Devlin is struggling) players in defence missing. The striker signing we just need to be patient on. We're clearly putting in offers with a limited budget in a difficult market. We need the right striker, not the easiest to get. If that means we don't get maximum points in our opening few fixtures then we'll just have to cope. We can muddle through with what we've got until the end of the month. If we don't have a striker by the end of August then I think we go mental and panic.

I can confirm it was in Burnley. Fantastic ground, with a great atmosphere. Nae funcy bogs, or new facilities. Just a stadium in a good location. Reminded me a little of Easter Road. Showed exactly what a stadium doesn't need, with nae bells and whistles, just a bunch of mis-matched stands with pubs available nearby. Felt like you were in a town rather than a shopping centre. T'was good.

I like to call things early as it's a fitba forum, with the obvious caveat that I'd be delighted to be proved wrong. His coverage yesterday was poor, and he let the game pass him by in large spells. He had a couple of nice passes. He was weak though, and did pull out of a few challenges, most notably one near the tunnel where he had a good half a second advantage on their player yet was second to the ball. We needed a dominant midfielder, and he looks like a Rob Milsom. Put another way: he's nae as good as Dom Ball. Our best midfield at the moment is Ball, Shinnie and Ferguson. I don't think Ball's passing ability is good enough for him to start every week, so I think we need someone that's better. Early days etc, but Gleeson looks like a player that doesn't have the attributes we need. Forrester will also need to up his game as he's very much a poor version of Christie.