Kmcalpin

A tough call for the manager but thats what he's paid for. He has to go with the best option for the team.

Yes happy that we have brought in a new keeper if only for the first part of the season. He certainly seems the part and given his size shouldn't be pushed about too easily.

Quite - he is far less effective when our midfield sit very deep and there is a huge gap between it and the main striker.

Last season our central midfield was posted missing on many occasions, a bit less so it has to be said after Pearo arrived and settled in. When we play with 2 wingers you are right in that the opposition usually outnumbered us in the middle. Cadden and Leitch might well have a role to play and it would be great to see them grab their chances successfully. However its a lot to ask of young midfield players to come in and immediately stamp their authority on the opposition, which is what we need right now.

I don't see Joe Chalmers displacing Stevie Hammell straight away, although I might be totally wrong in that assumption. I would expect he'll fill in at LB from time to time to see if he'll make the grade and take over in time. He might make it and he might not. The impression I have is that he won't be our first choice LB.

I assume that Joe Chalmers has been signed to provide cover/take over from Stevie Hammell. He can play left back (his favoured option), centre back and apparently left midfield.

Don't agree with all you wrote but certainly you have a point here. For some years now our goals against tally has been unacceptably high and I'm not sure we have done much to address that. I'm still concerned about our defence and central midfield, especially the latter's ability to compete against younger, faster and more physical/aggressive opponents. We'll find out soon enough though. Central defence seems not too bad on paper but I'm concerned about our keeper and full backs. Hopefully the much discussed new goalie and central midfielder arrive soon.

Aye not much taller than Dan...only 6-3. They've already signed Scott Fox from Partick.

Obviously Ross County were prepared to pay Celtic a development fee and the player himself a substantial wage. We move on.

If I'm correct he's still a Celtic player and so any haggling will be over how much of a contribution we're able and prepared to pay Celtic. He's a player I'd like to see in my starting line up for the new season but not any cost. Discussions seem to have dragged on for some time now and if we can't land him then we need to move onto other targets pronto - probably already doing so.

Hopefully we'll be able to bring in a new signing in the next few days.

As far as Keith Lasley is concerned, its unreasonable to expect him to play box to box - thats Pearo's job. This season I'd judge him on his ability to protect the centre backs and goalie. Put in blocks and close attacking players down. In short a critical off the ball role. The question of a new central midfielder is an interesting one - time will tell.

Going into this game, what concerns me, from a defensive perspective, is that so far, we haven't really improved our midfield or defence personnel wise (one or two players may have improved on an individual basis). For the past few years we've lost far too many avoidable goals and last night was typical of the kind of goals we've been shipping. Its the management team's responsibility to analyse these losses and I just wonder what conclusions they've drawn and what they will do/have done to rectify them. Offensively I'm quite happy with the personnel we have although it may take time for our new strikers to gel - this game may come too early for them. I'm with the African on this - if we can defend well for 90+ minutes we'll take something from the game. That may be a big ask though.

It depends very much on the type of player Ian Baraclough eventually lands. Thought you'd know my answer by now ;-)

Don't throw the baby out with the bath water - the Traveller is entitled to his/her opinion. Yes, he is very accomplished on the ball and has a great first touch. However for me, its when he's off the ball that his defensive frailties show - too often he gets caught out of position allowing an opponent those vital few seconds and yards to whip over a cross, putting our central defence and goalie under pressure. All that said if he was a better player he wouldn't be with us.

Hard to predict at this point. If we go into the game with the current squad ie no new central midfielder & goalie then I can foresee a narrow loss say 1-0 or 2-0. This early we still seem to have the same defensive weaknesses as we did last season. Ainsworth is also banned and it looks like Joe Chalmers will be allocated the left wing berth - not sure he's suited to that on the albeit limited evidence so far. Our new strikers will not have had time to gel properly at the other end.

A bit harsh but yes he did not close his man down for the cross at the first goal. Thats always been a weak part of his game - he's better on the ball than off it. Second goal, our central midfield allowed the scorer far too much room. We played some decent football although we must be more clinical. Not sure about Chalmers playing wide left - doesn't have the pace for that but I guess he'll slot in there for our first 2 league games. A good workout though which highlighted our weaknesses in defence and central midfield. Hopefully Ian Baraclough will put that knowledge to good use.

Thats it. I assume that we also asked the SPFL to schedule our league game away from home. Some drainage work has been done and the pitch reseeded I think.

To do that our 2 full backs, whoever they've been, need to stick to their wings and cut out avoidable crosses and they simply haven't been doing that. Whether thats down to poor positional sense or playing to instructions, Idon't know. Also our central midfield need to play further up the field again to minimise cross balls.

Hows the total coming along Iain? I'd hope with the size of the website's membership we can entice a few more posters to contribute even a fiver.

College car park to the south west of the stadium and a 5 minute walk down the hill and over the burn?

If we signed someone like Jackson Irvine who is to say they wouldn't get a regular start? You can't assume that they would not. I sincerely hope that the days of a player being an automatic pick irrespective are well and truly over. We need competition for all positions.

A very good question. I doubt if Ian Baraclough will even know yet. For starters I'd say Moult and MacDonald - but that could easily change. Maybe we'll adopt a horses for courses approach? I can certainly envisage Craig Moore dropping down the pecking order.

Very pleased with that news. Welcome back Skippy.

Thats my impression too. Of course he could sign for us but will he? There are also many other keepers out there who could also sign for us.