Millers Tache

We'd be after some kind of cash so, unless big bucks come in for Naismith, i think that'd rule Kilmarnock out. On the one hand, i'm not upset he looks to be on his way out, but i'm not overly impressed that Souter's about to get a run. I've got even less faith in him than Langfield.

I was thinking that as well. Maybe they just couldn't afford to pay him full time wages as well as the rest of the squad. I reckon McAuley would do well for a Clyde/St Johnstone/Dunfermline type team, as he seemed to have a decent amount of talent, but just not enough to ever be a first team regular here.

Was it Mido that was Egyptian then? I definitely had one player in Champ Manager a few years ago that was Egyptian ... and I'm sure he was one of those "One Name" Players. Mido's definitely Egyptian. I don't think he's changed nationalities though.

I saw Arkwright being interviewed the day it was announced, and he said it's actually costing United almost nothing, as the amount of sponsorship involved has covered the costs.

I can't see any sense in it myself. It might be getting paid for, but it can't be healthy. In that kind of heat, you barely want to move, let alone run around playing football. I'd rather we played Ajax at Pittodrie, and looked into the chance of getting Barcelona here (well, if they're playing Hearts and United, it has to be worth asking if they wanted to play a team that qualified for Europe...). Also, i think Deco was Brazilian before he became Portugese.

I get back from Egypt on the 13th. Ah well. Mon the new season!

Indeed Mr Wong. In games where we asked Clark and Nicholson to run things in the centre (particularly at the start of the season), we were absolutely shocking and offered almost no resistance to the opposition. Seve didn't have a great season IMO, but we were less overrun when he was in midfield to help out.

I'm not even going to pretend i saw this by responding. Bugger, i just have. No no no no no no no no no no no no....

For the love of fuck! I don't care if he mugs old women of a Friday evening, as long as he does the business for AFC, and for most of this season he has certainly done that. Was a bit of an invisible man through September and October, but he wasn't helped by the horrific formations we were playing and changing to in most games, and the fact he was being asked to run a midfield with Clark - a man with a similar commitment to making a challenge of a hungover Kiriakov.

My initial scepticism about the wisdom of this signing's gone right out the window. Great move for us if he keeps himself fit.

Written by Iain King, official biographer of Barry Ferguson, and mouth/arsepiece for Kris "I care so little for my critics, i feel the need to give a 2 page interview about them every week" Boyd. I wouldn't take this with so much a pinch of salt as a fucking great shovel of the stuff. About as blatant a hun in the meeja as it's possible to be without being Jim White.

...And pish when he's started games. As long as he's only going to be an impact sub/old head to keep things calm when we're 3 up, him and the fans should get on just fine.

WE ALL KNOW LANGFIELD IS OUR FIRST TEAM KEEPER! THAT'S THE PROBLEM! We are saying that this should no longer be the case. Just because Soutar is back up doesnt mean we stick with Langfield. If Soutar isn't going to be given a chance, why did Calderwood sign him? Why do you believe he'll come out stronger? where's the evidence to suggest this will happen? He's been a poor goalkeeper for Thistle, Dundee and sat on the bench at Dunfermline. There is no precedent in his career that could possibly make you say that. As i also said, goalkeepers take the flak more for their mistakes than outfield players. That's life. Why is this the case? Because if you're a goalkeeper, your concentration has to be 100% spot on 100% of the time. If it's not, you're never going to be good enough. Goalkeeper is the most important position on the park, you cant possibly compare his mistakes to that of Severin. That may be harsh, it may be unfair, but that's football. Everyone would forgive the goalkeeper the odd mistake, of course these things happen, but not constant mistakes of the magnitude Langfield makes. This is where i think Langfield falls down considerably. Look at the major howlers. The ones that have cost us goals. How many of them have come when we've been getting battered by the opposition? How many have come when we've been relatively safe and under little pressure? Off the top of my head and with absolutely no regard given to searching for evidence to prove/disprove my case, i'd say the majority of the goal-costing mistakes have come either when we've been comfortable in a game and he hasn't been tested for a while, or from fairly innocuous situations that can normally be dealt with with the minimum fuss - the bread and butter if you will (see the Hart og vs Motherwell for example). I'd say that shows a concentration problem. In fact, i remember us playing Dundee and he let a fairly speculative 20 yarder in through his hands. As if he wasn't thinking about the shot coming towards him, but how he was going to deal with his resultant throw/kick out.

As far as i'm concerned it should be Miller and A.N. Other. My preference is for Lovell. Miller has the physical presence and strength to hold up the ball that Mackie and Lovell both lack.

Hignett...?

Genuinely have no idea about the dates of this year's foreign pre-season games. I've just been winding my girlfriend up that it might be when we're on holiday.

Excellent! I get back from 2 weeks in Egypt (hopefully about the same area as AFC) on the 13th, so it'll be a trip to the in laws up the road that weekend. Mrs Tache's already suspicious that i booked the holiday knowing about our pre-season plans. She'll be mad if she hears about this one. And to think i was annoyed we weren't going to get Ajax/any other home friendlies because it would cost us money.

I didn't really read hatethehuns post, it was the Langfeild bit I was agreeing with. The team did OK from what I have seen and heard, sounded like Celtic were just more clinical than us. That was pretty much it in a nutshell. We had plenty chances, and could have won the game (from watching on a dodgy Chinese internet stream...). Langfield was in no way at fault for their goals and had a good game today. I just don't like him generally and think we could do better if we looked around and speculated/scouted a bit. Regarding the OP's post, that's just stupid. Blame him for dropping it on the Caley boy's head, for letting that OG in vs Motherwell, for the goals v Hibs, for last week v Hearts. But he was in no way at fault for today's result.

Hope so. I'm going to try and get into the free bar again, like we managed last time, if they do.

Not sure i agree with you, mac, i really don't like Langfield at all. But i thought he had a good game today, and kept us in it with a few good saves. I don't think we played that badly overall either. Just one of those days where it would not go in no matter what we did. Boruc made a few good saves as well, and if he hadn't we'd have been dancing about and singing tonight.

He's far from being a bad player, and normally, i'd be more than happy about us being after him. I'd certainly take him over Lee Mair. I'm just baffled why Jimmy keeps going on about these two wingers/creative players being all we can afford in the close season, then going after a second defensive utility player.

Nope. You're not the only one. If we hadn't signed Mair, i might be more enthused by this. But when we're constantly being told how little money there is to spend, is yet another defender/defensively minded player really what we should be looking for?

Back to top for this thread after today... Alright, Smith played a poor pass that Nicholson should have gone towards more, but that was a horrendous attempt at a save by Langfield for their goal today.

I only get access at home, but i've noticed a major improvement in speed this past few days. Good work Reekie.

I think you're onto something there MBT. Bobby Connor himself said in an interview with the sun (boo hiss) earlier this season that he thought Scottish football started going down the tubes because of the dearth of moustaches in the modern game. How many teams in the SPL have moustachioed players these days? It's a disgrace. At our best we had Willie, Bobby Connor, Doug Bell............any others at that time? Stewart Kennedy, Andy Watson and not forgetting Ian Scanlon's mighty beard... Even Peter Van De Ven sported an impressive lip-warming arrangement.