RicoS321

He wouldn't deserve a place ahead of Adams or Dykes, and Conway at 22 edges it because of age. He might be preferred to Shankland I guess, based on form, but probably not. He's not been fit enough to complete 90 minutes, so unless there are injuries in the squad, I don't see it. He's basically in the running for fourth striker spot at the moment, which is really just a player that you think will be available for the qualifiers, with the hope that he might play himself into contention for the tournaments. You don't really have to worry about age so much, so he won't get the nod over Shankland (29) just for being a couple of years younger (Conway is in the up-and-coming bracket, and so is likely one you'd want to keep in the squad for a few years if possible so there is a transition path when Adams and Dykes (28) get past it. If he keeps banging them in, and Shankland doesn't, then the spot will become available.

Just to let you all know that important Reds with over 250 points can purchase tickets for this from 17:00 tomorrow. Don't forget.

Strange routine.

Holiday? Bloody licence fee etc.

Good ending with an equaliser for atletico and a sending off too. Not sure I'll make a habit of watching non-Dons games on the telly, but it wasn't terrible.

Nah, Ambrose will come good, that lad was a hoofer. Anyway, they stopped the game because of fans throwing stuff at the Real goalie, which is by far the most exciting thing that has happened.

Thon hoofer up front for atletico has been going to Ambrose classes.

You should be forced to look at it every time you come on the site so that it never happens again, in my opinion.

Has anyone been on iPlayer recently? They've got reruns of old Rab C Nisbet shows. Worth a watch.

In fairness to Barry, he was talking about Naismith being sacked, at which point Naismith will not have had a huge amount of time on the training pitch. I think he probably has a point. The main/only reason for hearts' poor run of form is that the guy who scores every single one of their goals wasn't scoring goals. It wouldn't surprise me if a new manager came in, and by coincidence (rather than good management) Shankland started scoring again. That'll instantly make them a better team, gaining points. That could easily have happened under Naismith. Without the time on the training pitch, it will be difficult to implement anything other than "give it to the guy who scores goals" and get it working, as Naismith found out. Of course, he could be just using that excuse to back up his own failure to change tactics in the first half of last season. Totally agree about Devlin's pass, it was actually well played. There was no movement from midfield for once, and Keskinen offered the run (take note, Morris). He hit it as long as he could so that the defender had to stretch for it, which made him fuck it up (of course, he should have comfortably done better). It was a good direct ball, not done under pressure, after decent passing and movement from defence and keeper to give him time to make the pass. As you say, something we didn't see under Robson.

Sokler is very good at winning headers. The commentary suggested Ambrose was on to run at them. I'm fairly certain that we're all wrong, and Ambrose is on because someone at the club has some serious gambling debts.

He's coached in Belarus and Russia hasn't he?

He actually nearly set up a goal at the end, but I'm not convinced that he was deliberately closing down the player, he seemed to be playing an entirely different game. Did anyone spot if he was actually wearing a VR headset?

Fuck sake tubby Shanks. No point in beating them now.

Never in doubt. Great win in the end, a battling second half. The defence pulled it out for us, winning everything in our box. Devlin was excellent today. Keskinen good too, and Shinnie and Nielsen are basically one player now. Ambrose. That's quite a competition he's won.

We were good for 43 minutes or so. Just an error. Would like to see it again, but I thought Rubi should have been dealing with it.

Great Finnish from Keskinen What the fuck was the Dundee player doing diving there?

What a finish. Great goal, after a pretty shoddy error from their defender. We've started very well.

Clarkson in behind, Keskinen and McGrath on the wings. Hopefully it'll be McGrath left, Keskinen right, as the partnerships with the fullbacks have been absolutely key.

Think Gueye might be injured, which would solve any selection dilemmas.

Hands off our caretaker flags at the game tomorrow?

Yep, Clarkson was good. Palaversa goes to the bench. Gueye probably starts out wide, but probably shouldn't. Despite his goals, Pape is probably second to Clarkson in behind, second to Keskinen out wide and second to Nisbet as number nine. You could argue for him getting the nod in any of those three positions though. The number ten does seem to bring the best out of him however.

Hat trick for the Scotland u17s. Captain too. Against tough opposition too, in Indonesia.

I reckon that's the market they're going for. Looks good with jeans, or something. Good ploy, and I think it'll sell well.

Grey. Decent effort.