wellsince75

not for me. Goss was decent moving forward but we need someone who can tackle. One of the issues in our midfield last year was the mix of Spittal/Goss/Slattery. All decent moving forward but lacked defensive qualities.

Great point. Think thats us down to 5 in total. I'm hoping Zdrakovski is a good holding midfielder but yes suspect we need someone else. Having someone who can coordinate/hold the ball in the middle of the park will be great. A bit like Butcher has done at the back.

Good luck to him. It's like the opposite side of the Max Johnston coin. Barry was at the club for over a decade, came through the ranks and re-signed at 22 when perhaps he should have been cut free. Quite similar to Cornelius who I believe we offered a contract (in terms of age and not proven to be good enough) . Learning - players who are better than our level know it and likely to leave rather than re-sign. By 22 we should know if good enough. The chances are The really good players will leave before 22 ,we will get some cash for them, either development fee or Turnbull style. Those not good enough will want to stay and we need to be a bit more ruthless. We need to find more of the Hammels, Lasley's who are good enough but not too good. Not easy , we could do with a gaffer who''s good enough and not too good to be lured away. Here's hoping SK is that guy.

FWIW I think Wilkinson was always a better options and more likely to be the first choice with Mika for the season. His goal return is far superior and doesn't have a decade of injury worries. Obika was always a risk. People were quick to rip into SH for brining back Moult. This isn't that different. Appreciate hindsight goggles etc but this isn't surprising.

There’s plenty of reasons to be optimistic . Form since SK came in puts us well ahead . Personal we should be backing ourselves . Ties against spl clubs will be tough but i do expect us to win , potentially convincingly .

Butcher, Paton, Obika, McGinley, Efford and to a degree Lamie & Mugabi all have had injury issues. Ideally suspect SK would move on McGinley, Efford, Lamie and Maguire to bring in fresh talent. Having some quality in holding midfield seems an obvious gap. The challenge is who would want the afore mentioned players. Possibly the Scottish Championship level but there doesn't seem to be anyone rushing in to snap them up. I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up doing swap deals with StMirren - who also need to move out to move in.

From what I’ve seen from Wilkinson he looks to be an intelligent player , one who’s likely to score a few . The downside is he hasn’t been involved in much of any of the games . This could be down to poor service , Jim not being fit or just needing time to settle . suspect it will be Mika and him who lead the line most games .

Offensively we can certainly improve and did improve as from 30 min onwards. What I really do like about how SK sets his team up is we do the defensive work well, work hard and win a huge amount of 2nd balls. In an ideal world we'd move the ball better and find our men, pass & move with a bit more purpose. We need a bit more quality in the team for that to happen. Overall though a very well drilled team, who are proving very difficult to beat.

Really good result and by far the better team. Defensively all had good games. S'OD and Soare I thought both we excellent. Midfilelders were decent. Nice to see Zravkovski come on. Hoping he's the decent holding midfielder that we need. Upfront Wilkinson offers some decent touches now and again. No doubt Mika made the difference in adding energy to our play. The question is ether Wilkinson or Obika partner with him. Suspect it will be a bit of both. Good start to the season. Well done lads.

Got some sympathy for the pen as Casey’s hand and arm came up as he jumped for the ball in old money never a pen in new stupid rule world it was a pen

Great pace, strength and awareness

I think Wilkinson looks a better player than Bair. Better awareness and touch. However neither got much service or had much involvement

Completely agree @GazzyB. Very scrappy . We need more from midfield .

Not too surprising. I thought Zdravkovski may start in midfield. A holding/defensive midfielder is required, seems a very obvious gap. Hoping we can get our noses in front today .

I don't see wee Al getting much time in the team. Now if we could scoop him as a loanee that would be the dogs bawz.

Very similar rhetoric to his time with Ross County. To be fair though he has had to cut his cloth and move on a lot of players. Now deciding not to have a reserve team. Personal view is we've brought in far too many journeymen over the last decade or so. Lost our way and blown lots of cash from sales. Pruning back and starting over makes a reasonable amount of sense, of course this is dependant on brining in better players that we're moving out. Hopeful that a couple of the summer signings prove to be an improvement. Ideally like to see Zdravkovski & Biereth get game time. Midfield needs some steel and forward line needs an injection of pace.

love this - getting out in our community. Great to see both lads out there. PS - that young lad really put the ball away with some aplomb .

I don’t disagree. I suspect the young loanee will be the best striker by a distance . the jury is out for the other 3 we’ve signed but he has signed 4 strikers. I don’t see us signing more in this position

agree - can't see a future for either Efford or Lamie. I could see other clubs happily stepping in for them. McGinley may need to stick around to prove fitness before other clubs take a punt on him

I think we've already replaced him with the others we've brought in,. Other areas may need further strengthening

This was a great watch. We did have a great team/squad back then. Wee Tommy was given time and great to see how we improved the standards and didn't accept nonsense. Suspect SK could be pretty similar to that. I do wonder if Kirky got fined for not following wee Tams instructions in the Aberdeen game . Wouldn't surprise me if he did. Also loved the passage of respect for those who are no longer with us. Coop, uncle Phil, Dolan, McGrillan all taken far too young and appreciate all they gave to the club.

Ive never been completely sold on Efford and no issues if he moves on. in all fairness though I thought he offered more than either of the other strikers did in the 2nd half. He looked busy/lively.

hopefully the boy we signed from Arsenal does the business. Got high hopes for him this season.

Wilkinson , Bair and others need time to adjust and get up to speed. Difficult to say what they offer and whether they're likely to be the starting front 2 if/when all strikers are fit. Similar with Soare, needs time to adjust and see what he has to offer. He doesn't appear to be a wingback, but he may be a decent enough defender. I only saw the 2nd half today and thought S'OD was one of our better players. If that had been young Max creating chances and getting up the flanks I suspect many would have been delighted. In the same way people are being asked to back Bair I'd love to see the same backing for S'OD and the others who regularly get bashed. We don't need any pantomime villains , just honest guys working for the team.

Thought the ref was pretty decent. Got all the bookings right. Other than the deflection from Miller where we should have got a corner I thought he was pretty spot on with most decisions. If the penalty claim is for S'OD at the back post I reckon he got that right as well. S'OD was already off balanced and the ball cleared before he rolled over the back of their player.