RicoS321

Fuck sake @BigAl

Fairly certain we have a 100 year contract to play St Johnstone every preseason.

Ah, I must've missed that, I assumed Gueye was injured?

We won't get a choice on whether or not to give him more time, we spent a decent wedge on him and I doubt we'll get anyone willing to take him off our hands. As you mention, the loan option would have been best. You say he was signed as a project player, but I don't remember that being mentioned. He was 22, and I expected him to be in the first team, given that we were very skeptical of both Gueye and Sokler. In fact, I remember saying that we needed to immediately sign another striker after seeing Ambrose play, and not long after we were forced to get Nisbet in on loan. Similarly, if Yengi turns out not to be great, we'll have to get another in the door before the end of the window. Which is the biggest issue with retaining Ambrose, for me. It's okay if he was just last summer's error in the transfer market, just as Yengi might be this season's (too early to tell etc etc). What we can't afford to do, though, is have players piling up, rather than offload when we believe we've made mistakes. Gueye, Ambrose, Yengi and Sokler creates a fair backlog in the one position (or two). I don't think I could make a good case for giving Ambrose a chance ahead of Sokler or Yengi. The loan would certainly solve the problem.

Impact sub that had a very large hand in winning us the cup. The problem that we have is that without him coming off the bench, we have very few other options that can change a game. His pace buys him the chance to get several cutbacks in per game, which were vital last season. Milanovic and Keskinen, inverted, don't offer that, and neither do Boyd, Duncan etc. The ability to change tactic is basically lost without him. If he goes, we need to replace him. Not necessarily with another winger, but another player who offers us a chance to switch things up. We're well stocked with guys who can play plan A.

He looks very slow. Agreed, Polvara in if nobody arrives

Aye, that was gash, glad I didn't go. Only watched from 38 minutes, so large pinch of salt required with my opinions (which is the case anyway). I didn't really warm to any of the new signings. Thought Aouchiche wanted far too much time on the ball, Yengi looked very slow, and positionally not that great (Ambrose looked better when he came on...) - a big drop off in that role from Nisbet. Milanovic looked okay, but seemed to be way out of position defensively for the most part. Thought Polvara and Boyd were a big upgrade when they came on, and great to see Polvara tick Left Winger off his list of positions played for us. We were very weak in midfield, as expected. I think if you're playing Aouchiche in number ten, you need something stronger in behind. I suspect we'll see Dorrington back in for Milne against Hearts. Molloy at left back didn't quite work for me, he looked too conservative, but if the new lad isn't available then it's an option I guess. I was going to suggest in the transfers thread that I didn't think that we'd strengthened our first eleven from last season, and until we get a number 9, I think that is the case. However, players like Polvara, Boyd, hopefully Keskinen having another year of improvements under their belts will certainly progress us. It's just a pre-season. Will make a full initial assessment over the next couple of weeks. Hopefully the defence will be a little less leaky against the Jambo scum.

Just as I was about to start watching too. Anyone got any streams available now that fawa appears to have departed?

More worrying is that Ambrose is on the bench. Despite having the option of a free ticket, I couldn't be arsed with the preseason friendly. Might watch on a stream.

I believe it's spelled: fastcunt.

I think you should keep quiet during the final

I think Thelin might be fairly flexible in that, depending on who is number ten. He seems fairly happy to put Gueye (or Yengi) in there, leaving space for a number nine just to roam the box. Probably not as a starting tactic, but certainly during games.

I don't think he's as good as Nisbet, and I think we should be aiming for someone as good as, or better than, him. Hale would be a great addition if we didn't have Sokler and Ambrose, but I'd like to see us shift them on first. I'd have him as our second choice, basically, with the view that he can do a very good job if the guy we that we sign as our actual number nine turns out to be pish.

Agreed, it's a funny one, he seems a likeable guy, but it wasn't that long ago that we were lamenting his attitude and constant diving. I had my doubts about him fairly early into his time with us. He never looked like the level we needed, and didn't have a lot of space to grow into as a player. A nice neat technical player, and a good finisher, but was never quick enough to get the space to make things happen. Reminded me of someone like De Visscher, just a level below us, and without the physical attributes to make something of himself in this league. He essentially replaced likes of Matty Kennedy, but he wasn't as good as him. I think that would be his ceiling as a player with a few years of experience behind him, which isn't to be sniffed at either. Overall, I can see the thinking behind his signing, and it's such a difficult position to get right, as things like just being slightly less pacey can have a huge impact on the return. Good luck to him.

In fairness to Robson, he wasn't given much time to do a complete overhaul, and outside the first eleven we were very weak. It was his inability to change tactics that fucked him, as much as not using the squad.

Pressley off to a flyer.

I expect you're right. He's a player who likes to take the ball out from defence and he takes an extra touch on his wrong side, so he'd have to learn to simplify his game a lot and work on his angles on the left side. You've really got to play like you're a left footer on that side, and he didn't do that. Nilsen really struggled with it too, in the games he played, whereas Polvara didn't. I think he'd need a lot of work, although he'll be helped by having got used to the game and grown as you say. I guess I don't actually care too much who plays on the left if the need arises, I do care if we're signing an additional senior player (I'm classing Dorrington as senior as he's already established as a first team player) on that basis (in an area we're already covered). Aye, it's definitely a thing, but I'd say that centre half is different. A partnership is key, and it's not the type of position that requires a lot of miles (comparatively). Centre halves should easily be managing forty games, and I think that will happen. Thelin didn't really chop and change his back two, with Molloy and Rubi playing almost exclusively until Rubi imploded and then it was Tobers briefly, before settling on Knoester and Dorrington. Milne was second and then third choice centre half last season and barely played any minutes there. The central point is that one of those guys is now going to be starting perhaps 10-15 games at most, and probably less than a handful before the January window (which we could have waited until, and assessed then), and I don't think that is a good thing. Out of interest, would you be happy with one of them getting that little time, and if so, which one of the three and why (putting you on the spot here!)?

Ha ha! Oops. Now I see what you're getting at. I meant to write "definitely isn't a centre midfielder", in response to the suggestion he could play there.

I'm not writing Tobers off, I'm saying that if he's going to be sitting on our bench then he should be moved on. That's my entire point, all three of those players would rightfully expect to be playing 30 games this season, and we likely won't be able to provide that for one of them now. Dorrington was poor at left centre back, and was immediately better when he moved right during a game. It's the shape of his body, the extra touch etc, it was like watching David Bates. It was nothing to do with confidence, form, or anything else. Just like it was clear that Devlin would be better at left back than Jensen, which he showed in the cup final. I think we'd likely play Milne left ahead of Dorrington, and certainly Polvara has played better than Dorrington on that side before. Again, that was the other half of the point, that we've got utility players that can provide cover in the event of losing two players in one position, and I think that's the best approach. One of those individuals is going to have a stall on their career next season, and I don't think either of the three deserve that.

But it's nonsense though, he was terrible on his wrong side. Just as Jensen isn't a left back and Tobers definitely isn't a centre half. More importantly though, it suggests that we've brought him in as a versatile cover. I'm stating it as fact, but it's - of course - my opinion. I think it would be incredibly strange business to bring a young lad who was first choice at the end of last season to then sit on our bench. It would be a terrible move for him too, as he's good enough to be playing every week, and I think we'd be doing him a huge disservice bringing him back. If he's not first choice then it makes it worse.

Whilst that sounds reasonable, the issue isn't necessarily numbers, rather it is seniority of those numbers. I think we need to separate left and right centre back. Left is not an issue, with two players covering one role, and Molloy's lack of experience made up for by the fact he'll play less games. Right centre back, you've got the youngest player Dorrington, being the one who will be first choice, so his age is irrelevant. Behind that you've got a senior player, and another who would now expect to be treated as such (Milne). The Milne of last season should have been the backup to the other backups, but not this season too. We should also factor in the January window. This is the type of signing that could have waited until then if it became apparent we were having to shoehorn in likes of Devlin or Polvara because of injuries etc. As I said previously, it would be interesting to see/hear the type of pushback we get within the club, or if the manager is just allowed to sign whatever position he likes.

He's not a midfielder in a million years. Unless it is a very deep lying one. About the same depth as the other central defender.

Which one would that be? It's definitely not Dorrington. I think Milne could maybe be trusted to keep it simple perhaps. To me, a fifth should be a utility player, or the next young player. Not a guy that we should be giving plenty of game time at this stage in his career, nor a guy who is already a Latvian international.

I like Dorrington, I think he's going to be a fantastic player, but I can't help but think we're making this signing for fear of missing out. We have absolutely zero requirement for a right sided centre half. He's a loanee, with zero option to buy as far as I can tell. He's ahead of Tobers and Milne in the pecking order, who are our players. We could change to a back three, of course, but I think that takes away from what was tried last season. There are probably a handful of games where a back three would be beneficial from a defensive perspective. I'd be unconvinced of it when trying to break teams down at home (or away). It just reeks of poor squad building to be honest. Again, I'd go back to that employee in the building who puts pressure on the manager to make sense of these calls (the technical director we were expecting five years ago). In terms of squad harmony, player development (Milne), it doesn't make sense. It's not an area of the pitch that traditionally needs a huge number of players. Knoester will likely play 40+ games, and so will Dorrington now I'd expect. We have Polvara and Devlin who can both cover for the half dozen games that we struggle with suspensions etc, I don't think we need Tobers and Milne to provide cover for that one position. In fact, as a general rule, we should be looking at two players for every position, with utility players for third cover (other than striker, perhaps, where different types of striker can adapt to different strategies). In light of this signing, I'd look to move on Rubezic (regardless of the signing) and Tobers.

It's an absolute abomination of a competition. Actually, it's not a competition at all anymore, I think it's lost the right to be called that. I hope the Dons B get fucking tanked for agreeing to this pish, or the lower league sides and their fans do the decent thing and boycott it.