steelboy

I make it 8 wins? Rangers x 2, ICT x 2, Killie x2, St Mirren and Accies.

The positives yesterday that were despite Law's efforts and Taylor's no show we held our shape well and made a much better job of matching Aberdeen physically than we have over the past few seasons. McManus and Laing were both good and Hammell had a good first hour then his head went down after the free kick debacle. Ainsworth didn't get much service and it was pointless moving him to the right but he kept going for 90 so hopefully he's going to have his head screwed on this season. Dom Thomas also did well and despite being about 6 inches shorter than Johnson won more headers in five minutes than MJ did all game. McDonald came onto a game late on as well. I'd stick McDonald right up top and play Thomas, Johnson and Ainsworth in behind at Perth.

That's great. If they switch goals for points for effort we'll have a brilliant season.

I thought Moult was terrible. What's he good at? He looked miles out his depth, Keegan/Casagolda style. Taylor was miles off the pace but had a few decent touches and will hopefully improve with fitness. Josh Law on the other hand needs dropped asap, a complete liability. The bed spread mob will say it was close but United and Aberdeen both knew they only had to match us first half and second half the three points are gift wrapped.

A debate that was only ever a debate due to Dundee United's pro bono PR department at BBC Sport Scotland.

I'll be surprisde if we play anything other than 4-5-1. McDonald up top and tell him he either bucks up his ideas or forgets about his midweek flights to London.

The problem is we don't have one.

It's possible that Chalmers is a better right back than Law, it's not a huge challenge. Slating Hammell is laughable but also not surprising coming from the man who thinks there's a way to prevent opponents crossing the ball. Anything other than a defeat is a huge bonus tomorrow.

The United game was a poor performance on the pitch for me and a worse one from the manager. Barraclough has been here a while now and his Premiership record isn't looking great. The next 6 league games are sink or swim for Barraclough, he needs goals or wins or he'll be in an uncomfortable position by the end of September.

You're being a bit of drama queen here. It's 2015, not 1981. The guys in the Rangers end would have had work on the monday the same as the vast majority in our end, apart from the odd lunatic people aren't going to run on a football park to fight any more with cctv, the media coverage and sentencing even if they really wanted to.

The question has always been "could the club have done any more to prevent this happening?" and if the answer is no there is no punishment. Considering the crap that Celtic and Rangers have gotten away with over the years we should not be getting punished for this. There was a wall of stewards but if kids want to get on they will get on.

They'll just come to the same conclusion they always do, the club couldn't have done any more to prevent it.

I think we're blackballed for crowd trouble anyway.

Sorry to hear that mate. Hopefully the club send the blonde physio round to see you with some new trainers.

If Pearson is out for a month or more we can't go with just three centre mids at the club and especially not a 35 y.o, a 20 y.o just back from a serious injury and a completely unproven 18 year old. One centre mid is a must regardless, two is possibly required depending on this injury. Even if we bring in two it's still a thin squad and everyone should get their chance this season.

If we do sign Samson he'll be the best back up keeper we've had in a long time. He's miles better than Twardzik, Nielsen, Hollis, Meldrum or Corr. Signing him either means we have enough left in the budget to bolster midfield or we're worried about Ripley leaving in January and being left up shit Creek.

Just stuck us in a treble with Partick to win at Accies and Killie to win at home to Dundee. 30/1

It's possible that the fee or part of it will end up coming out of Irvine's pocket due to a reduced signing on fee. I haven't heard of this scenario before but it doesn't surprise me Celtic are the club involved.

If no one was willing to pay a fee they would probably have tried to loan him again to cover part of his wages. Celtic have treated him as an asset to make money out of rather than as young footballer trying to forge a career. When clubs decide they don't want to develop players any further or use them in the first team they should let them go no strings attached.

Celtic have basically held him to ransom. They are saying you have honoured your contract and we don't want you to play here but you can't sign for anyone else unless we get a fee. A very poor way to treat a guy they brought over from Australia and the fee they will get is a relative pittance. It's the equivalent of us blocking a new club for Carswell or McHugh for the sake of five grand.

I don't think we would at all. As Irvine implies Celtic shafted him. By offering him a contract it meant if he refused it any club who signed him would be on the hook for potentially 300k compo to Celtic basically making him unemployable. Celtic wanted to force him to sign the contract then find a team willing to pay them a smaller fee to sign him. Offering a contract whilst also saying he has no future with them isn't how the system is meant to work. It's scummy behaviour and a poor way to treat a footballer they are trying to develop.

No because if Erwin signed the deal he would have been an integral part of our squad. If Irvine signed the deal with Celtic they would have let him rot for two years.

Just imagine Stevie Woods running out his box like a haddy and a Finnish boy chipping the ball over him into an empty net a couple of times.

How long are the team going to Ireland for?

Most players get subbed in friendlies.