Kmcalpin

Getting bored with the international break, so lets look forward to the upcoming St Johnstone game. Its just been announced that the rescheduled St Johnstone V St Mirren game will now take place on Wednesday 27th March, so that will give the Perth club less time to prepare for our encounter. An important game in the race for 7th place; not earthshattering in itself but worth a bit of cash to the club.

I agree that it should be a neutral venue. This seems to go against sporting fairness. No explanation so far. 7pm is also early for those travelling from Lanarkshire.

At the moment not amongst the front runners. The jury is still out due to his injury and lack of game time.

Oddly enough I see our defensive formation depending to a large extent on mattters further up the field specifically the wings. if Hastie and Aryibi and maybe even Frear move on then we may revert to a back 5 although I hope not. Presumably Tom Aldred will move on. Assuming that it will be a back 4 I'd see Gallagher (if he signs) partnering Charles Dunne with Barry Maguire as first back up in the middle. I don't know where this leaves Peter Hartely though. At full back Richard Tait will be guaranteed a start either on the left or on the right. If pushed I'd say on the left with Liam Grimshaw on the opposite side. This is hypothetical of course and the manager's ideas may change after the first few league games ie Barry Maguire may not make the necessary step up or equally he could be outstanding and force his way into the starting line up. Gallagher might be the real thing or he may struggle.

Good thought provoking post Denny. I would make 2 comments. Firstly to put your comments on Hibs into perspective we'd need to compare it with MFC's assessment process and at present we can't do that through lack of information. Secondly, The wages that Hibs will be offering their youngsters above their Reserve team basic wage, will be higher than quite a few of our first team squad are on. In our terms, they will be throwing cash at their good prospects. This will make retention far easier.

So where would Liam Grimshaw fit into your plans?

Hopefully Jake Hastie has come to realise, over the past few games, that he still has a lot to learn even at Scottish Premiership level. Recently teams have been doubling up on him and he's found it harder to make an impression.

Whilst Danny Johnson is no world beater he is simply not suited to our style of play ie playing as a lone striker. He's basically a penalty box poacher. Thats the bottom line. When we completely changed our style and set up after the festive season break he was left high and dry. We'll need a left back for cover and certainly do need to revamp our striking options. Winger(s) will also be required amd maybe another midfielder depending on any unwanted departures.

Pretty much this. Hibs at Easter Road was always going to be a very big ask and it seems the team knew that beforehand. Sounds as though we couldn't match Hib's fight and determination never mind football. Our lack of a decent striker is very evident. On the plus side, youngsters like Hastie and Turnbull will have hopefully learnt that they need to produce an awful lot more when marked tightly. No red cards no bad injuries so thats a plus although Gorrin's yellow card means a suspension is that little bit closer. Before today, I always thought that our real battle was with St Johnstone and Livingston and so it will prove. We have virtually secured 9th place and good chances of finishing 8th or perhaps even 7th. Finishing above Livingston and St Johnstone is not beyond us. A bonus too that Aberdeen held Livingston to a draw.

I'd be surprised if he did. Apart from his spells with us as a player and manager he's never really shown much of an interest in us despite being born and brought up locally. I read his book and it came across to me, at least, that he didn't have much time for us as he was mistreated as a player.

Seems a bit unfair to me. Still, its the SFA which is organising the game so.....

Aldred and Turnbull for me.

Pleased with this news. Would have preferred 2 years but that's also up to the player. Still, it gives us a measure of stability going forward.

Thats right. IF a player went to a club like Sevco, they would offer a ridiculously low figure, to which we would not agree. Some considerable time afterwards the issue would be remitted to some kind of official panel, who would then adjudicate. In the case of Lewis Ferguson the figure arrived at, supposedly £237,000, was between Aberdeen and Accies figures. Accies felt hard done by. IF however, a player goes to an English club then other calculations are used.

Like most others on here I haven't a clue as to Hastie's situation. However rather than deny true rumours (if that is the case) it would be better surely to have a consistent line of "No comment". By saying that no untruths are told and enquiring parties are none the wiser either way. If Hastie were to leave for another Scots club, the two sides discuss compensation based on an initial offer, no doubt around £50K. Then, if they don't agree it goes to a tribunal.

Someone from the club (Alan Burrows or Stephen Robinson) said publicly, a day or two ago, that no discussions had taken place at that time.

A good question. Its becoming increasingly clear to me, somewhat sadly, that someone somewhere isn't being honest and telling the truth to the fans.

From where we were in the POD Stand, I heard no booing of Jake Hastie, quite the opposite in fact. He received a lot of applause and support from those around me, but didn't acknowledge it when he left the field. I can understand some unrest and frustration from sections of our support over him dragging his heels signing a new deal but barracking isn't on. Given his earlier comments though he'll need to be careful not to be hoisted by his own petard. He had a reasonable game yesterday but teams are beginning to suss him out and he was a bit quieter than normal.

A remarkably easy win which I wasn't expecting. That coupled with St Johnstone's loss helped our league position. Overall a great team effort and we won the game in the first half hour or so. Thanks are also due to Accies for making the game a little bit more interesting by electing to make us play to the Knowetop end at KO. Try as I might, I can't recall the last time that we had to do that. It seems strange to say it but we didn't carry much good luck today and didn't get the break of the ball. That and poor finishing kept the score line down and had we won 6 or 7 nil Accies could not have complained. Alex Gorrin gets my MOTM award just ahead of David Turnbull. He competed well, looked comfortable on the ball and can set up attacks in other words a very good all round midfelder, something we've lacked for years. Noticed he was wearing a large ice pack on his knee at full time. Turnbull again looked very composed on the ball and his distribution was excellent. The second half was a disappointing non event but thats can happen when a team is comfortably ahead at half time. Accies changed things a bit after the break, upped their game and we took our foot off the gas and looked somewhat half hearted. Robbo was visibly disappointed at our second half display and with good reason. We did create chances on the counter attack but failed to convert any of them. Frear looked lively when he came on but his final ball was more than often poor. Apart from anything else, we will clearly need to upgrade our striking department in the summer. As an aside does anyone know about an altercation betwee an Accies player and fans outside the POD Stand after the game?

Today proved to me that Hastie has still got a lot to learn. In terms of team building I'd love to secure Gorrin, Grimshaw and Aldred on longer term deals.

A strange substitution I thought. Johnson is not cut out for the lone striker role. I assume, ostensibly like you, that he was introduced for his benefit and not the team's. Presumably to give him game time.

How is Bigi faring at Easter Road?

This.

Well, Stephen Robinson has been quoted by the BBC. I'm currently happy to take his word.

According to the BBC website Stephen Robinson is quoted as saying that no decision has been made on Jake Hastie's future. The club is giving him time to mull things over (25 minutes ago). Credit to the club for clarifying that, providing that they themselves are in the know.