wee toon red

Gyamfi and Alfie in at the back, shinnie and sivert in midfield, karlsson and nisbet starting. mitov jensen Alfie knoester gyamfi sivert shinnie keskinen aouchiche karlsson nisbet No excuses today Dons, three points a must.

If I change my original use of "creativity" to "comfortable on the ball" then I don't think we're in any disagreement.

You might not need creativity in the sense of beating a man or slipping in a through ball but you need to be able to manipulate space and pick a pass, as well as dictate the tempo. You can’t just have two players in there to be a brick wall, that would just lead to the midfield getting bypassed and spending 90 minutes watching the ball fly over their heads. There’s got to be balance between the pair.

I think it has to be Shinne/Sivert and Clarkson/Palaversa. The other combos are either not creative enough or don't cover enough ground. Shinnie and Clarkson would be my first pick, subject to finding out more about Kjartanson's capabilities.

The vocal element of our fan base doesn’t have the patience to allow a youngster to develop. Jack Milne is a case in point, and it was Mackenzie before him. They’re not as young as Boyd but it’s the same principle.

The winter window has been shite so far, you'd think we'd have signed someone by now. Burrows and Gunn out.

Stuart Armstrong?

Scott burns says loan deal confirmed. My word, that’s some signing!

Maybe, maybe not. Looks like we’re in with a shout of karlsson anyway, which is very surprising.

Some random site has him on €20k per week. We’re not going anywhere near that. We can dream tho…

Wages surely make this Swedish boy unlikely? Turnbull I could see.

There are about a hundred things involved in a transfer, the narrative that we could’ve spent X more to get him earlier is far too simplistic.

“Amorim style” or jimmy’s cup final version? Not sure we’ve anything like good enough midfielders for the former and I hope we’re more ambitious than the latter, as plan A anyway.

That’s a great deal if it’s true.

Nisbet: good signing. Proven goalscorer, knows the system so should slot straight back in, good age. Dykes: would be more of a risk but I actually think he’d do well.

It’s a big two weeks for Jimmy, he’s got to use the break to get the new signings bedded in and hit the ground running straight after it or we’re in bother.

Any decent websites to visit while the game is on?

Hope the midfield three runs riot as, on paper, it looks like the right balance for a game we should be looking to win.

Big Willem's coming out of retirement for that one.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cj6yjkl7ngko Paying a club record fee for a Portuguese second division level player is a bit tinpot.

That's a tough draw. It's better than FCSB's in the Europa League but going to be very tough to qualify.

The Huns wouldn't waste their or Girona's time negotiating a fee if the player didn't want to go I'm afraid.

Hibs started in the Europa League and dropped to the Conference qualifiers. It's the way of the world and doesn't make European football any less shite than it's already been for years.

Aye they are. Two of them in particular from four games ago

Big Ash Taylor does not approve.