RicoS321

Yes, once. A back three though. He's got the attributes defensively, albeit a little small. He'd be no worse than McRorie and would allow McRorie into midfield.

I don't think he deserves game time, but certainly to be given time in training to get up to speed. Duncan should be ahead of him at the moment, but I'm with you on the number ten. I guess they're just difficult to come by. I think it's between Clarkson and Duk for that role depending on who we're playing (or particular stage in the game). Roberts might not be as shite as first impressions suggested when he returns too. I think Goodwin has done the right thing in taking a gamble on no more faces. There are already a few of the new signings that don't look that good, and we've still got Watkins and Ramirez to keep happy until January. The last thing we need is another unhappy squad member with so many new faces in the door. Despite a decent start, it was always going to take a few windows to overcome the Glass debacle (in recruitment). We're probably ahead of schedule if anything. Edit: also, McKenzie should be covering Scales against the Tims.

In response to another tweet, or just a random thought out loud? If the latter, hopefully the club are giving him any support he needs and looking after him.

Etiquette would be to post a link or tell us what he said. I find Twitter really shit to navigate. I'm not a user of it. I did just check his page and saw a congratulations to David Bates, which seems the opposite of cryptic, so I'm guessing that there was something further that I'm not seeing.

Just Ramirez and Watkins left then! Impressive turnover for a windae. Good move for McLennan too, he'll maybe work out how not to fall over the ball for them. He's fast and has a decent strike on him if he could only work out which leg is which.

I'm voting to keep your account.

Or the former defence secretary who brings his mates to meetings with him.

Yep, he's certainly first sub in my eyes. I think Goodwin would be more likely to play Besuijen and Hayes with Clarkson, which is fine. Duncan has to stay at pittodrie* and get minutes ahead of Morris and Kennedy. An extended contract too, it's rare you get a powerful fast winger, it's important to keep hold of him. Some of the signings are going to be pish, so it's great to have young players coming through to add to the squad and make up for the duds. It really takes the pressure off the manager. *I mean not go out on loan.

Who'd have thought that taking off yer shite players would have such an impact. We're much better. Well done Vinny. Should have had a pen a few minutes earlier.

Cheers Jim.

That's a fairly rank performance so far. Tight pitch and they're sitting in, but the lack of invention is very last season. It's showing the lack of quality in depth in the squad and obviously the difficulty in such a huge turnover of players. That right hand side of Shayden and Jayden is fairly rank. Morris isn't better than McLennan, which is a little shit. With Clarkson and Hayes missing we lack energy and creativity. McRorie been pish too. I'd take on Hayes and Duk. Kennedy been okay, but he doesn't penetrate, he'll do the easy ball in that nearly gets through to the striker.

Wouldn't it be better if he could play against us?

I think it's one of the areas of the pitch where competition isn't actually a necessity, rather "cover" is a more appropriate term. Scales and Stewart will rarely be dropped and central defence is about building a partnership and continuity. It's not really an area you want to see chopping and changing to induce competition. It's really difficult to find a player that is good, but will happily spend long periods of the season on the bench waiting for an injury or suspension. Thus we need a utility player perhaps that can cover right back and midfield to ensure that they get plenty of game time. Dominic Ball would barely have played a minute for us if he could just cover centre back for instance. Whilst he wasn't amazing, he covered a lot of roles adequately. If we get Ronan in, then him, Clarkson and Ramadani should be good enough to hold the midfield on the rare occasion that McRorie has to cover for Stewart (Stewart doesn't seem to suffer from indiscipline and central defenders outwith Mikey Devlin seem to be injured much less than others - usually they suffer a bad one if getting injured!). If Bates is still here later this week then it's effectively problem solved either way.

Lewis Ferguson plays his first six minutes for Bologna against some no marks fae Milan. AC? Named after a fucking voltage or some pish. Never heard of them.

It's frustrating. I hate signing players for cover, but you're probably right. A Dom Ball type (like McRorie but worse!) that can cover defensive midfield and the right side of defence would be ideal (assuming bates is away). McKenzie can be cover for the left side of defence positions. I think we should go lean unless a good signing pops up and deal with it in January. We've had a huge turnover and I'd like to see us bed them in first so we can work out who the duds are.

Been quite quiet from the club on signings. With Ramirez, Bates and McLennan not on the bench today, it's vital that we move these three on. The longer you have senior professionals (and McLennan) on the bench, the more disruptive it will be. I'd probably shift Watkins too if we can get someone to pay out his contract. We're light in midfield (assuming Polvara is deemed not good enough), we can't rely on Clarkson every week. I'd like to see us offload before getting anyone else though. That should be the priority and I'd probably cope if we had no more in before January.

It was, much like the St Mirren game, we were absolutely ruthless after it. In both, the sending off resulted in a scored penalty, which takes the pressure off and the opponent has to change tactic from sitting in, which gives us the space to be as good as we can be. Not sure it tells us much about playing against 11 unfortunately! The sending off was a result of the keeper passing short to his defender from the goal kick. Besuijen read it and was on him in a second. He tackled him and the guy (Fitzpatrick) just turned and brought him down without thinking. He was through on goal, in the box with the keeper on his line. A certain red, but a little lucky at the same time. Great play from Besuijen.

Aye, slow start turned out really good. They were the better team up until that fantastic bit of persistence from Vinny. The correct call from the ref, who was very good today (although our second pen didn't look like a pen from where I was). After the pen we were really good with some great attacking moves. Hayes was really good again, especially that pass for the fourth. Besuijen ran them ragged at times and Miovski leads the line tremendously, he's going to be a great signing with his movement and finishing. Scales very good too with the rest of the defence getting pass marks. Clarkson wasn't great and showed the difficulty in relying on a youngster in that role. Ramadani started poorly again, being very weak in the challenge, but finished well and covered the fullbacks and midfield well. That allowed McRorie the freedom to tank about, disrupting and even scoring (looked like a miss-hit, but perhaps harsh!). Great to see Duncan getting minutes (he should be first in line ahead of Kennedy and Morris) and his first goal, which was a great cross even if it hadn't gone in. Between Besuijen and Hayes for man of the match for me.

Who the fuck are syngenta anyway? Sounds like a thrush cream.

He didn't remove your link, he put it in the thread with the rest of the pertinent posts. I thought it was quite helpful. Can you not delete your own account? I haven't tried, but I'm assuming it's possible.

Not convinced. He was fine against us. Guys of his length of service in the SPFL know the refs well enough to walk the tight rope. After he pulled down our player on the break he ran right over and started shouting at the ref for a previous infringement and the ref bottled the yellow card, it was good experienced play. I think he'll do fine for them this season. He'd have already started half our games this season and likely have done better than McRorie, or at worst ensured McRorie stayed in midfield. It's not looking likely we're getting another left sided defender in, so Considine would have been perfect and would probably have played half a dozen games or so by Christmas. If Scales isn't available to sign for next season then we're back to square one with looking for a left sided defender (and a left back), with no real cover (mainly because McKenzie seems to be injured all the time). With Coulson back, it's of little concern just now though. If there are more injuries in that area of the park, we'll see if the risk was worth taking. If McKenzie can stay fit, then he has to be the guy that covers both left sided positions (not at once).

He was good up until Considine hoofed him at the weekend, then he went out of it. He generally had the better of the St Johnstone right back for most of the game though. He's decent, but he's just not quite quick enough for a lot of what is expected on the wing and probably doesn't have the physical strength required either. That could come and we'll have a very good player. He's good on the ball, has a good strike and can put in a good cross (although inconsistent). I'm on the fence with him, but he's good enough to start at the moment and if we just have a player that can raise the standard of the overall squad for a few years without setting the heather alight, that's fine. He's not a failure so far either.

You really need to tell us what it is if you're expecting folk to click on a link. Just so we know it's not someone hijacking your account.

I don't think the Dons are immune to having neds in our support, we're not some sort of superior race. I wouldn't be surprised if we see (and are already seeing perhaps) a marked increase in violence over the next few years or so. Maybe not a return to the eighties, but certainly some modern version of that. I heard a rumour that our fans attacked a St Mirren bus the other week (they definitely had an unmarked police escort out of the city, which I think is very unusual for that type of fixture). There was trouble with some Motherwell neds last season. There just appears to be a volatility that wasn't there previously. I suspect that these things go hand in hand with societal issues, with football being the avenue for people's frustration. As always, it'll likely be easy enough to avoid for the most part.

Yep, have to say I thought he had a lot more about him. Thought he spoke really well in his early days with Alloa and St Mirren, and seemed to be able to communicate that to the players too. Would have been happy to see him here at that point and even post Sunderland (because I didn't know any better). Since that, a decent spell at Hibs is all he has to show for himself, followed by terrible stuff. Impressively bad record so far this season. Looks to be a semblance of a decent team there too. Assume he'll get punted shortly.