Lobey_Dosser

Dom Thomas.

We got 2nd playing far from attractive football in arguably the worst top tier of my lifetime. The increase in Season Ticket price was always going to lead to a drop in crowds. McCall has been very candid during his interviews this season as usual and he's a good listen. However, when asked about aspirations, he says all that matters is winning games. I disagree, for a club thats living on fine margins, we need a longer term view and a solid youth infrastructure should be central to our business model. Yet we seemingly don't have a left back at under 20 level. That's not McCalls fault but who is ensuring the future of the club?

Despite our success last season we had an unbalanced squad and we've done little to address it during the summer. Lasley and Carswell aren't good enough on the ball to play a 442. Ainsworth and Vigurs don't do any tracking back to support a 442. Our top scorer can only play in a 442. When did we last have a genuine left sided midfielder? Wasn't there today but baffled by the reports than am 18 year old got no protection or support playing put of position.

Sounds like I've dodged a bullet today. No surprise with the result given how Inverness' midfield dominated ours in the previous 2 meetings at fir park.

There was a tweet from Alan Burrows that may or may not suggest there could be some more wheeling and dealing. Obviously there would need to be an outgoing or two for anything to happen. Noticed Hibs have on if the Lindblom stable on trial...

If Vigurs was fit we may have slotted Law in at left back given he's played most of his recent career at fullback, albeit on the other side. However, we need him going forward. No idea how we'll line up today, imagine Leitch will make way for Ainsworth.

Ha, exactly the same thought process. We rode our luck somewhat in our last 2 games against Inverness when we were overrun in midfield. Looking forward to a tough game.

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Had a wee hunch about this. Happy as larry. Him, Ainsworth and Erwin running at defences has potential to cause havoc. Vigurs will also benefit from his movement.

Me too. Sure there performances may be inconsistent but the prospect of seeing a couple of quality youth products getting the opportunity to develop puts a spring in the step.

It would have been a helluva result to get a point tonight given how depleted we are. Onwards to Saturday,

So McCall found out about Cole on Friday night then. Whoever he was talking about today, it sounded like an ambitious move.

Morgyn Neill to get on the bench then. Leitch didn't have a great game up at Tannadice last time but I'd be inclined to play him in a midfield 3 tomorrow.

Does sound like a potentially exciting move if it comes off. One of the Man City boys or Ojamaa maybe...

Cole and Hiwula are two of the highest rated prospects on the English academy scene. From what I've read and the snippets I've seen, Hiwula is closer to matching McCalls criteria of a player that runs in behind. The pair of them have played together for a while. Amazed we are looking at City prospects.

Huge lessons to be learned from last season. Need a solid back 4 that doesn't have a suicidal high line and a midfield that can get to grips with Armstrong. St Johnstone showed how you take the sting out of United and hopefully we can adopt a similar game plan, pending some good news on the injury front.

Man City open to sending a few players up to Scotland then. Plummer certainly looked like a good acquisition for St Mirren yesterday.

Better together volunteer?

On the bbc. No mention of player identity.

So one of the loan deals fell through last night after the player opted to stay in England.

Twardzik gave us a chance of winning the game with a number of saves. Bounced back well from his European disappointment. Very good full debut for Erwin too.

Off the mark with as good a performance as we could have anticipated. St Mirren the dominant team but helluva wasteful. Delighted to see Erwin get off the mark, you can see he oozes a bit of quality. Twardzik far more assured than the options we had last season. Seeing Kerr play in his natural position was another positive and I wouldn't be against him getting a chance to prove himself at centre half. Sutton and Lasley look helluva rusty. Hopefully just need games. 3,600 Motherwell fans for the opener highlights a pigs ear of a summer.

Pleased to see Erwin starting.

Hmm, if he'd been ditched for not being very good, I doubt he'd have turned out in a friendly for us. Strange one!

So is McManus now injured? 4/1 available on St Mirren the other day seems very generous now.