grumpy

I came out to Basel yesterday with my wife, slight delay at Edinburgh airport, and have spent a pleasant day today sightseeing. Off to Freiburg in the morning for a drink or six then going to spend Friday there before heading back to the shire on Saturday. This retirement larks a hoot. ‘mon the ‘Well.

Except the Hearts and Rangers results were irrelevant, win or lose they were still playing some sort of European football last Thursday and next, Yes Hibs and or Motherwell could have been knocked out by now but they could still have covered their bases by arranging Aberdeen to play in Dundee and a reasonable East / West split of the other fixtures. The big question for me is why Celtic, a full 4 games into their season, felt that a postponement was required (and allowed).

Up until the red card it was between Paulsen, Moorman and Lowry. I went with Lowry, getting better with every game.

Thanks for that, I had nearly blotted him out of my memory! 💩

I thought he was much improved last night, probably a combination of not being played through the middle as he was in Helsinki and on Sunday, and also, as Ya Bezzer says, his fitness level is improving. He had one effort cutting in from the left (which the keeper turned away for a goal kick) and he got on the end of a through ball from Lowry which the keeper did well to block. A goal or two to give him some confidence and I'm hoping we will see someone close to last season's form.

I think it is an average of anyone who votes on the BBC website. I suspect his granny gave him a 10 and no-one else voted, average vote then is 10. My advice would be treat it as you should all BBC reporting, eg ignore it. Given that the second word in the match report from the first leg was "Celtic" then they don't deserve our attention.

That was absolutely magnificent tonight. They started quite well in terms of possession, and we looked a bit nervous for 15 minutes, but gradually we took control and a very enjoyable evening ensued. We have replaced our outgoing players very sensibly so far, although another signing or two wouldn't go amiss and although there were a few slack passes and some dubious decisions from the ref, at no time did I feel worried that they would put us under any real pressure, This time last year all the short passes in the 18 yard box scared me Sh*tless but now it is just amusing to watch the opposition run sideways like headless chickens. Add in that AJ is an absolute pleasure to listen to, and I think this year could be even better than last year. What a great time to be a 'Well fan.

You weren't alone, I thought he was pretty poor for a while first half. To be fair though, he didn't hide and certainly grew into the game late first half and into the second.

On any other day there would be a few options, Moorman, Girdwood-Reich, Fadinger and Priestman were all outstanding, Paulsen, J-K, Longello and a great 30 odd minutes from Olly Whyte. But Said, aka Captain chaos, just wow, end the vote now.

I got mine on my card as usual, mainly because I continually forget to charge my phone. When I got the email from the club I went into the office to confirm that adding it to my digital wallet wouldn't disable the physical card which they confirmed. I now have both versions of a season ticket.

I hope so, we have booked flights from Manchester and a hotel in Helsinki Just match tickets to sort now.

I'm not sure why Ewan Wilson is being picked on tonight, I wasn't too impressed with him under Kettlewell, and I presume JBA didn't fancy him either, but he got forward well tonight and linked up with Williams on several occasions, and when he moved to centre half when Longello came on he looked comfortable playing the ball out. He will be third choice behind Longello and Williams on the left, and may fall further down the pecking order depending on signings, but he looked ok tonight.

An interesting, and impossible to answer, question. Coyne, Cooper, Russell, Graham, and a few others probably, all arrived at the end of their careers and contributed hugely. If you take into account signings from Junior / youth teams then Keith McRae, sold for £100k in the early seventies should be under consideration. .Joe Wark, signed from Blantyre Vic (I think) and an absolute club legend should be up there too. I could probably come up with several more given time. Money received shouldn't be the only consideration in this discussion.

All in all I was pretty happy with tonight, the defence looked a bit at sea occasionally but that was mainly due to being unfamiliar with each other. I could pick a few holes here and there but given that it was a scratch, and very young team, I was pretty happy with what I saw.

I went with Fadinger, mainly because I didn't spend the whole game wondering whether it was him or Watt that was on the ball. The choice was between him and Oscar but I was pretty impressed with Wilson, Reich, Moormann and Williams. No failures tonight at all, I'm looking forward to how this team develops.