joewarkfanclub

A striker and another ball playing midfielder would be most welcome.

Isnt that "shelving"? Americans have some strange ideas! 😆😆😆

Apologies! I figured everyone would know that puddings were intended to be eaten. Having been to America recently, they dont appear to be strangers to the concept! 😆😆😆

Really impressed with the managers thought process re squad building. He is his own man and will tweak things eventually. But right now while the squad is in flux, keeping things the same until the squad is settled and on the same page makes perfect sense. Once the squad is complete and up to speed, we can develop things in his image then. Having the continuity of the same coaching staff obviously helps that. If that was a strategic choice made by the club, then just another decision they have got right.

The proof will be in the pudding as they say. If we are sitting in 5 years time still in the top flight with a brand new POD built still challenging for top 6 and European football then all will be well in the world. Id like a cup win as well, but happy to wait a little longer for that if we are transforming the club in the process.

A couple of signings before we head out for Helsinki wont help our progress, but they would put a spring in the step of our supporters. Its all about vibes at the start of the season. We need to keep the feelgood factor going as long as possible!

If we sell Longelo on top of those that have already gone and the liklihood JT is out the door, then Kyrk is gonna have some questions to answer re his comments on " squad management". It would be like a fire sale, just with loads more money involved!

Id be quite impressed if thats what he was doing, but it isnt/wasnt. Of course the options in front of him have to be good as well, and I dont think our rotations are where they were last season (yet) but Paulsens body shape / positioning whilst receiving the ball isnt doing it for me right now. Like I said though, early days.

Is he that good with his feet though? I know thats why we went out and got him, but there were points last week and again last night where he looked less than comfortable and launched it long. On one occasion he booted it out the park under no pressure at all. I will reserve judgment on him as we are only 2 games in and he has a brand new defence in front of him, but Im yet to be convinced by him. More than happy to be proved wrong though!

Apologies, just noticed that there has already been a thread started way down the page. Feel free to merge or whatever needs to be done. No offence intended.

So the league season starts with a difficult away game in the capital. Having watched some of Hibs game last night, its hard to know exactly where we are compared to them in the squad building / preparation stakes. They seem to have signed a load of players and looked decent going forward, but they did seem a bit ropey at the back against a team that, with all respect, didnt look that great. Martin Boyle still looks fit enough to cause us problems, Josh Mulligan is a good player and the big fella Lowe up front looks a handful, but overall, they still seem like less than the sum of their parts. Happily take a good performance and a draw and move onto Helsinki.

Williams was good, Mikey Booth impressed me again, Fadinger did Fadinger things, and despite his lack of finishing, Said doesnt half get us up the pitch at times. MOTM is easy though. Oscar again by a mile. The boy is class. Different player from Watt but class nonetheless.

Im on the 9am SAS flight on Wednesday from Edinburgh to Helsinki via Stockholm. If anyone is about I will see you in the bar!

HB came out the blocks flying as you would expect with their home record, but we settled quickly and after the first 10 minutes dominated the ball and the game. You can see that the team is still new and finding its feet with a few stray passes giving HB more encouragement than they needed. Paulsen and the 2 centre backs still dont feel 100% comfortable, but that will come. Overall it was a very impressive performance and I think we are miles ahead of where we were this time last season. Loads of room for improvement but with Longelo and Cookie now looking ready, Maswanhise getting minutes off the bench and Lowry now available for selection, things are looking promising. Will be a step up in class next week, but with a wee trip to Easter Road on Sunday, I would expect us to be ready. Just no more injuries please!

JT wont start, but Cookie might. That would be an improvement. If Longelo plays as well from the start, I think we should have too much for them. Need to play our usual game. Keep the ball, starve them of chances. Take ours when they come.