Kmcalpin

Some interesting results last night. As with the group stage, more "big" clubs have been knocked out. Now a cup competition can always contain the odd surpise or two but not to this extent. So whats going on? Are the bigger clubs' early season fitness levels lower than the smaller clubs - quite possible but thats always been the case. However its also quite possible that the bigger clubs are not treating the competition seriously.

Hibs have placed a £5m price tag on Cummings' head - only to scare off timewasters of course in the short term. As with Dundee United, any half decent Hibs youngster is looked upon as being world class. Hibs like United are successful at marketing their youngsters.

Someone at Brighton doesn't seem to be able to read or listen.

Very much so. In fact I'm surprised the club did not mount a legal challenge to the original report and recommendations.

Presumably the £300k offer (or thereabouts) would have included add ons?

He said a few things but this is the relevant quote "It (the penalty claim)wasn't the only strange decision of the afternoon, was it? I've seen the footage a couple of times over and there was an opportunity for a penalty. What it certainly wasn't was a foul by Souly. That was a double whammy. That was another strange one to add to the list."

I have exactly the same question and was a bit surprised that he didn't go under the knife sooner. There's no doubt the short term challenge of the League Cup has affected the medium, maybe even longer, term training regime as Mark McGhee has said.

Absolutely. I reckon we need one new holding midfielder and one new attacking midfielder. If Johnson moves on that cuts our attacking options still further.

From TV footage thats exactly what happened and the ref was 100% right. Coulibaly quite clearly kicked Heneghan first and thats why the foul was awarded against him. Lee Clark should be embarrassed by his post match comment.

Agree with most of that but again much of that weakness comes down to central midfield continuously backpedalling and retreating. Hammell is caught trying to cover 2 men and then the scorer is left unmarked in the box after receiving a beautiful cross from a player who is also unmarked and has all the time in the world to pick his spot. Perhaps Killie had just a just a little more stamina than us yesterday. That said I think they got lucky in that they could have been on the wrong end of a real bleaching if we'd taken our chances.

There was a fair bit of discussion about the league cup /pre season friendlies on here some months ago, with many saying that the latter would be scrapped. That was never going to happen. As you say all thats happened is that the season has started earlier, with a shorter close season. Attendances in the main have been poor but that was to be expected. Its not summer football proper - if it were the whole season would be rejigged to start perhaps in March and run to November or whatever. I too hate the seeding as yes its tantamount to rigging, which detracts from the unpredictability and excitement of the tournament. As far as the geographic group split is concerned I can understand the cost minimisation reason behind it but it does mean that teams are going to face a smaller pool of potential opponents as time goes on; leading to staleness.

Its interesting that the SFA's independent report concludes that the Police, SFA itself and the stadium company were not to blame for the shameful cup final scenes. Neither club was to blame for the behaviour of the fans. Contrast this with the kangaroo court and subsequent report which hammered us after last year's play off final. If this new report is to be made public why wasn't our report made public? I suspect that the contents and recommendations would not have stood up to scrutiny.

A pet hate of mine too. It looked absurd on TV. I can understand why a club may want to restrict away fans to a particular tier of a stand in the name of crowd control but some, like Killie, take it to ridiculous extremes. A common sense approach would be to open up a few more rows a or a limited part of a stand. I've been in some grounds when latecomers have to search for a vacant seat when there are large swathes of seats taped off. As an aside I agree with Lobey Dosser that we really do need to bolster the central midfield. From posters' comments, I'm not sure Clay is the answer.

Killle were criticised by the BBC for their robust play yet they only had one player yellow carded as opposed to our 3???

A good opening day win, although I couldn't make it. It sounds as though we almost paid the price for wastefulness in front of goal. Good to see Ainsworth and Marvin scoring. How did Clay play? Any word about McHugh's injury?

Yes, I think old Muirton was the largest pitch in Scotland.

We need to approach this tricky game in a very professional manner and carry that attitude forward onto the pitch. I'm sure Mark McGhee will drum into the players that that Killie will be difficult, fired up opponents and we'll need to bite, scratch and claw to a point. The first day games of a new season are rarely a barometer for the rest of the campaign but it would be nice to start off with at least a point. We've no reason to fear Killie but we have to handle them with complete respect. We're capable of scoring a few goals but also capable of losing a few as well. Given the mass influx of players, Killie will take time to gel - some will make it and some won't. That said we won't have a clue what to expect. I suspect both managers will have a few surprises up their sleeves for this one. For us the strikeforce , such as it is, and central midfield will be crucial. An interesting game on a smaller pitch in prospect.

Thanks again for doing this Iain. Good to see the site doing something for the club. £15.00 sent to you electronically.

Of course they do, Greg. I'll start by saying that I have no knowledge of any player's wages at Fir Park, nor of any leaks. In general though information on players' wages can easily be leaked or gleaned in various ways. Leaks can occur from an organisation's wages section; staff seeing papers they shouldn't or overhearing conversations; court cases; family/friends leaks; leaks from banks/building societies; leaks from shops/businesses offering loans/hire purchase etc. Over the years, I myself have seen or heard details of others earnings that I should have had no knowledge of. In my student days a fellow employee, who should have had no knowledge of my wage, complained to our boss about what I was earning. Leaks, intended or otherwise do happen.

At their first goal he was badly positioned giving the attacker far too much room and time on the wing. He then back pedalled almost into his 6 yard box (how much further could he retreat?). That said the midfield retreated far too easily as well at the actual shot. Overall, I'd say he was 60-70% culpable. Not to blame for their second. We've lost this type of goal far too often in the past few seasons.

Really? If so, then where do players, who perhaps aren't "top notch", go for money? Firhill, Rugby Park, Inverness, McDiarmid Park?

Absolutely. No reason to be pessimistic but we shouldn't overdo the optimism. Irrespective of how bad Killie might or might not be, we are short in the middle and up front.

The TV money for the game will be £15k. We should make a minimum of £80K from the game I'd think, hopefully more.

Come on folks cut out the trolling and personal abuse. The site doesn't need it.

I don't agree with most of what you've written but you have a valid point here. I've seen Tait twice this season; against Cowdenbeath and against Rangers. At Central Park I thought he played reasonably well but had no cover in midfield. Against Rangers I'd say he had a reasonable game but with definite weaknesses. As I wrote elsewhere we were taken apart down both wings but in fairness he again had no cover in front of him. As you say Rangers were astute enough to cotton on to our achilles heels. I wasn't at Annan but from TV highlights it was a poor goal although he was left badly exposed. All that said, others have reported that he's shown up well in early games. I'm no Stevie Hammell fan but in fairness to him and Tait we play very narrowly with little or no protection afforded to them from midfield. That leaves both backs badly exposed, which in turn places central defence under more and totally unnecessary pressure. Its very early doors and I'll wait a month or two before I draw conclusions on the new lads. That said, I think he will be an improvement on Josh Law.