OrlandoDon

Even with Naismith gone, to find a new guy right now and get their shit together will be tough. We play them in 3 weeks right after they’ve traveled to Minsk, it’s a tough ask just like we experienced last year. We appear to have aced it with JT but that took a couple of years in the making. Don’t see or hear of anyone legit that would impress me.

Think we put today in perspective. While a strong performance, they’re a league 2 side. I did like our press though, we never let them settle, it was relentless. think we have a player in palaversa. Curious to who are our best two in center mid. Clarkson is class and gueye isn’t a winger. Nice problem to have but we’ll have depth off the bench and maybe 6-7 are guaranteed to start. Competition for places keeps standards high and effort strong. Thought JT managed the game well with good subs. Interesting to see that we never saw Ambrose. Wonder if we see him again.

Hmm. Thought this may happen, but not a fan. Little bit of a square peg round hole, don’t see gueye as a wide player, more of a free roaming type.

Loving hearts season to date!

Don’t mind if we never see duk play again for us. At the same time, he’s come back , apologized, and pretty much silence since which suggests he’s keeping a low profile and working. The fact that he came back in arguably the best shape we’ve seen him in is a plus, even though I’m sure he was training in order to impress elsewhere. id certainly prefer to see duk off the bench than Ambrose who has done nothing to suggest he can contribute at our level. Give duk a few regular minutes so that we can get some pounds for him later in the season.

Said this before, leven would be smart to stay for at least a season and learn under JT. Going to more than double down on that statement now. JT appears to be something special but we have still to get drama, adversity, a bad loss, injuries etc, and how does JT handle that. Leven will learn a ton over the course of a season. If he’s smart, leven stays at least a season then gets a championship job, raith, Morton or the likes. To jump into a premiership relegation battle as your first head position would be very difficult.

Kind of, but what is our strongest 11? Does a fit clarkson start ahead of an on form gueye? Is palaversa as good or better than shinnie or sivert? We don’t know yet. We have to remember that while we are not guaranteed a win , they are 4th in league two! I would not be surprised to see clarkson and palaversa start, although I hope we play gueye and clarkson off the bench, and I hope he doesn’t play clarkson for McGrath and move gueye wide. Wouldn’t be surprised if Vinny started over keskinen given he was away on international duty and had travel and two more games. its a big advantage that we haven’t chopped and changed weekly but we still have to prioritize long term. Our starting 11 is pretty much oozing confidence, I think we can tweak it a little to get others up to game speed without sacrificing quality. sivert doesn’t need another full game, he’s an experienced pro who can do without another 90 minutes and another booking! I use the term resting as that’s the word used these days, but much like we rotated Simmy Cooper and Dougie Bell, we can do likewise to have all three in the middle contributing strongly.

You cant go with your ‘best’ 11 every week. Impossible to keep a squad happy, particularly as you sign better players. You have to manage personalities and egos, and players need minutes. I’m proposing one change against Spartans at home in the cup to develop and further integrate a former 7M player, I didn’t suggest we play our bench next time we go to ibrox. agree we can go with less rotation since we dont have Europe, but we still need a first team squad who are match sharp and playing regularly.

I use the rest term loosely, it’s more get palaversa match sharp(er) as he’ll be needed and we have tougher games coming up. Not underestimating Spartans but let’s see more of him and I don’t think he was signed to be a benchwarmer. We’re seeing JT use all his 5 subs each game for the most part and squad harmony is a challenge. I think this is a good opportunity to start palaversa and bring sivert off the bench if needed. Agreed, don’t want shinnie taking 3 weeks off but no clue what’s going on there. Yes it’s one game a week but it’s two 33 yr olds we’re heavily relying on that why not keep the OAPs as fresh as possible.

Don’t want to underestimate Spartans but I’d be inclined to rest sivert and start shinnie with palaversa, give them the opportunity to gel a little, assuming shinnie is fully recovered from whatever the issue was last week. If shinnie hasn’t fully recovered then it’s same as last week. I also think palaversa will be clearly needed thru the course of the season that let’s get him match sharp for October and tougher games. I also think with two 33 yr olds, if palaversa is a player, we want him happy and extended to the 3 years (are years 2 and 3 purely our call??) clarkson needs to get match sharp too but impossible to bench gueye. I think gueye will fade but let’s milk it while we can (although I’d love to be proved wrong!) Our team pics itself with sivert on the bench with McDonald, clarkson, sokler, Vinny, morris, mcgarry, and Ambrose. 4-0 us. Nisbet, gueye, McGrath, and Keskinen.

Mitov looks legit. Very good signing, back up is fine. devlin backed up by Milne, Mackenzie backed up by mcgarry, ruby and Molloy have Macdonald to cover, with Milne an option in the middle too. not a great back 4, I wouldn’t call any really strong, but decent. Ruby, molloy, and Mackenzie are all young so should improve. Priority moving forward is a new contract for Mackenzie. Pleasing to say, on first impressions, shinnie, sivert, and palaversa have our midfield 2 covered. With the ages of the first two, hoping we can keep palaversa happy with plenty of playing time as he can be long term, although someone will pay if he’s good. Clarkson and gueye can compete for the 10, with polvara to come in once fit, not sure where he’s best. McGrath can play any role in there if we’re stuck too. Again, priority here is McGrath new contract. Keskinen and McGrath left and right, backed up by Morris and Vinny who have both contributed this season already. up top certainly hope Nesbit comes good. I’d say sokler has been one of our few disappointments season to date, and Ambrose has shown nothing to say he deserves minutes. once clarkson is fully fit I’m assuming gueye could play 9 if needed. A new 9 must be a priority if nisbet is not long term.

Considering it’s early season work in progress, over the moon. Still feel we’re finding our feet, integrating players, and will become more ruthless. From today palaversa, nisbet, and clarkson aren’t match sharp. I understand fresh legs too but against the toughest teams I doubt we’ll sub so much, all lessons for JT to learn as he navigates teams in Scotland. good to hear palaversa seems solid, nice to be able to still enforce in midfield without shinnie. Think we’ll be solid in there all season provided two play, and McGrath and clarkson are given the freedom to be creative…..maybe adding gueye here too. while our start is impressive, equally impressed with hearts. And their next league game isn’t easy, love it. Hoping Huns and utd draw tomorrow.

First impressions of palaversa?

Yeah, we’ve tried to start him, he’s had chances, but confidence has certainly improved. coming off the bench when opponents are tired may be helping him.

Loving this new signing pape gueye!!!

Haven’t seen much but good ball movement at times, little sloppy too though. Lovely goal, palaversa looks decent, more sivert than shinnie by the looks of things. Topi reminds me a little of mcginn, confident on the ball and wants it, but certainly more pace.

Devlin captain. Any info on shinnie??

Be back in Britain later this month to visit my soon to be 88 year old dad. I believe I cannot watch our games on red tv international while I’m home? Want to watch the Dundee game on the 28th from sunny Manchester, what’s the best way to see the game live on tv/streaming??

The thing with palaversa is that he plays at the expense of sivert or shinnie, and those two have been so good it’s hard to take them off during meaningful minutes. At the same time, think we were all pretty surprised to see Topi yanked with 25 mins to go versus Ross county, and Morris came on and did a job. Keen to see what he can do, perhaps extended minutes if there’s an injury this weekend, or against Spartans? would like to see Vinny wide and McGrath at 10, not quite time for clarkson to start yet.. 2-0 this weekend, Nesbit and molloy.

Remember that kid bojan who used to play for us, scored on international duty tonight. give topi a couple of months and it will be bojan who?

Not unlike Aberdeen against the old firm, particularly Celtic, and a factor in mcinnes being canned. Nobody wants to watch that, we got nothing from the game and got what we deserved. Scotland had moved away from these types of performances but they are definitely back, and our results over the last couple of years prove their effectiveness. when did mcginn last have an influential game for Scotland? It’s been a while. Not sure of the position he plays for villa but he’s ineffective for us. Glad we’ve moved away from a back three to accommodate Robertson and tierney, time to rethink midfield as mcginn offers little at present.

Who would he replace? Most likely mcginn or Christie? Hard to argue dropping mcginn, and Christie is a EPL regular.

Not really sure what else to do away at Portugal. In an ideal world we have a fit hickey at right back, tierney in the middle (although will he really ever be fit?) and Ferguson for McLean. Hopefully doak comes good and becomes a starter, but we’re crying out for a decent central defender and forward. Maybe nisbet finds form?

Correct. I always questioned his attitude and ‘teamness.’ JT appears to have us on the right path and we have momentum, duk doesn’t seem to be aligned to his approach.

Sorry, don’t really give a shit about his career. like all players, I do wish him well, but had he been professional there’s a good chance we sold him over the summer for maybe 500k plus. Now most likely he walks for free next summer or maybe a small fee in January. He fucked us.