RicoS321

I mean, it was the seventies.

I think so. He's good. They won't let him go for nothing. I could see him going for £1M in a year or more if they recall and play him like Christie.

Joining Davie in the sky.

Nah, not convinced. Could play as part of a three if we were playing a 4-5-1, but don't think you'd want either there against a team outwith the scum. Unless we're doing a McInnes game management of course. I don't see the two of them playing together without a shoehorn involved. It'd be a little bit like when we played Ferguson there. He wasn't poor, but you need someone better at that role. Agree about Ronan, I would have preferred him, but now Clarkson is here we don't need him.

I'd have had Ronan over Clarkson*, but not sure there's room for them both. He's a fairly dynamic midfielder who likes a shot. He'd probably fit into the number 10 role, but I can't help but think he'd be trying to get up and down the pitch and getting in folk's way, rather than stay close to Mivoski. Someone like Besuijen will happily stay up the pitch out the way and try the funcy shite. I can't help but think Goodwin would play him as a midfielder rather than a number 10. With the 850 players already in the forward areas, we'll be running out of numbers. Edit: *as the assumption would be that we're buying him

sounds like a euphemism rather than a sport.

Maddison was very inconsistent with us, which is why he didn't play every minute, but he also played in a more advanced position where players tend to get shifted about a little. That central midfield position, traditionally, is a 90 minute one unless you're playing shite or injured, which is what worries me. Clarkson looks like a Billy Gilmour type and we'll have an extremely slim chance of signing him (basically, if they find some indecent images on his PC and Liverpool want rid of him before the press get hold of it!). Unless they can do some sort of job share, where Barron plays one week and this guy the next, I just don't see Barron getting in ahead of him despite having earned his place in the starting eleven, and I don't see a way to fit them both in. I think it's fairly particular to this one player (and possibly Maddison as you point out) I suppose. You could say that Coulson is pushing out Mackenzie for example, but Mackenzie is well beyond development age, hasn't really earned his spot in the team in the way Barron has and Coulson is well within our means if he became available. Clarkson is a guy that is miles beyond what we can afford and heading well above our level (he'll be inconsistent of course). I agree on the other guys you mention, but Duncan needs to go on loan in this window (Cove must be in with a shout as they only have a few subs, but I'd like to see him play at a higher level) now that we've got the massive squad.

I was very surprised when McRorie got shifted back to defence on Saturday (not yesterday...!), but it worked. However, the sending off came so soon after the injury, it's difficult to tell how that midfield two would cope against a strong/physical pairing. Given McRorie was shifted defence on Saturday, and against the Tims, I don't see him choosing a different option against Motherwell. Mackenzie will play only when ready, but it sounds like that won't be on Saturday, so I think the Clarkson dilemma will wait for another week or so. It is a big dilemma though, as I don't see him dropping McRorie. The biggest problem for me though is that Clarkson is very similar in style and position to Barron and I think it's imperative that Barron gets opportunity over this guy. I don't buy into the whole playing your best team every week thing if it doesn't take into account long term thinking. Barron is more than good enough to start every week in the SPFL, and will likely give us a good return in the summer. Clarkson doesn't look so much better that we should risk that, and I don't see a way to fit both into the team. This type of thing happened a lot under McInnes, where we built bloated squads that kept young players' minutes to a minimum. I really like the look of Clarkson, obviously, but he's not ours and he leaves very little room for the cultivation of players. For me, we should have been looking to get a player that can cover two or three positions (like McRorie, but left sided) rather than someone like Clarkson who plays solely in one position at the expense of our own players. With Ryan Duncan sidelined for Kennedy, Roberts (I thought he looked fairly pish, to add) and others we're now in a position where we have no young players coming through from our academy this season, and Barron at risk of being usurped. I think we could have recruited a little bit more sparingly this window if I'm being critical, and allowed opportunities from injury to be taken by young players. Goodwin will have a real challenge keeping everyone happy.

I fucking hate Jim Goodwin.

Shite game, terrible performance. Nae gan back.

Looking forward to this one. Back to the grey clouds and wind. None of your sun-in-the-eyes league cup shite. Proper fitba weather.

Aye, good signing. He's no Hayden/Shayden/Jayden* Morris like. *Delete as appropriate

Have you done the match thread for the Peterhead game yet?

Leighton Clarkson, or Jim as he's known to his friends, apparently coming on loan from Calvin Ramsay FC. Hopefully we'll ship a few out soon. We seem to be building a big squad and there'll likely be a few duds included so best to keep things a bit lighter and let some of our own youth fill the gaps.

Think he was central. The reason I say he doesn't look like a winger, is because he appears to have quick feet, but doesn't look that fast. I also thought his tracking looked a little suspect. Sort of guy you could leave quite high up and maybe sacrifice in the games where possession is hard to come by. That is just a prediction from the cameo against the Tims though, but I like to go out on a limb early to give me the best chance of being proven wrong.

Don't think Roberts is a winger. Looks like a central player to me.

Work? On your birthday? Bloody Nazis.

Shayden Morris' Wikipedia page changed to read playing for Aberdeen, so it must be true (#mcgheesLaw).

St Mirren were by far the better team against Motherwell, but had nae striker (although big Curtis will likely do the business). We'll look a lot more aggressive with McRorie back in midfield, which should be enough to make the difference.

Pretty rank if so. We should ban the BBC from Pittodrie.

Also worth noting that Ramadani was way out of position, giving Jota the opportunity to run at Polvara, who just got done. But, yes, you would get away with those against Hibs or someone.

I mean, he is the new Jet, so it's quite fitting (unlike his strip). He shouldn't have been on the pitch yesterday, he's nowhere near fit enough. Ramirez is wanting away, but as an attacking threat he offers a lot and should have been the player coming on if we were trying to get back into that game. We effectively let the game go by taking on an overweight player, who couldn't keep up with play. Miovski doesn't look match sharp yet, but that's a different thing to Duk's "breathing oot his airse".

I think so. At no point has he looked any better than Dean Campbell. But unfortunately we'll need him here until January I expect.

To be fair to Goodwin, he had a hell of a lot of recruitment to do. Also, he loaned Scales before the fixtures were announced and before Barron got injured. It's not a ridiculous gamble to hope that we might play the Tims a few weeks down the road when we had signed another midfielder or defensive cover. It backfired as a result of us playing them in the opening game really. Polvara is a young lad who was signed by Glass (I seem to remember a suggestion that it was him that had seen him before, rather than our recruitment team, but not sure how true that is). Goodwin has done exceptionally well to get rid of all of Glass' signings in a single window bar Polvara (Ramirez and Bates are clearly gone, but not gone), and so the recruitment criticism is a little harsh. Of all the signings made so far, Duk is the only one I think looks gash, with the rest (Richardson was decent in the second half today) under scrutiny, but with no massive concerns yet. We should expect a few of them to be duds, and a few more just to keep the first team ticking over and hopefully one or two will turn out good. It shouldn't be forgotten just how big an exercise has been/is being undertaken this summer. I think it'd be fairly naive to expect anything great this season.

Fairly honking for the first 35 minutes with the midfield all over the shop. Polvara not up to it (yet) and Ramadani terrible until the last 10-15. I was already to come on and give him abuse but he finished the half well, like he'd suddenly realised he was playing fitba. Richardson poor defensively as expected, but Stewart not really helping him either, he's very fixed in his positioning today. Coulson been very good, he'll definitely be starting every week. McRorie been okay too. Hayes was doing well, but then that horrendous miss... All to play for though. The tactical change seemed to help, with Hayes offering the midfield much better protection and Vinny a lot more attacking. Kennedy started well but poor defensively and not quite incisive enough. Miovski worked hard, not had much opportunity.