wellsince75

This is the key point - the one area Scotland are relatively strong is midfield. Had Miller been a promising defender/striker I suspect he'd have been given his chance irrespective of age/who he plays for. Overall fabulous for him to be called up to the first squad at 18.

Personal view is the 'Scottish International' bit skewed expectations. If' he'd come up through the ranks , never got to Scotland squad I suspect there would be more positivity towards him. This is a local lad who we signed from a fellow SPL club back in 2020 and for 5 years given his best. He's about to be 33 years old and no longer has the engine to get up and down the flanks. Being part of central defence doesn't seem the natural fit as he does switch off. I much prefer him moving forward. Given he's aging and been around the club for 5 years, lives locally etc I can see why he's been extended for another year. A very decent squad player. Robinson, Alexander, Hammel, Kettlewell and now Wimmer have all wanted him around, between them they've seen enough , shame not all fans feel the same way but I generally believe this is more about expectations than what he's delivered.

Was interesting to read the stats that BBC shared - we have 25% chance of making the top 6. Feels about right given the lack of consistency eg very different Motherwell on Saturday v's what we saw in the Dundee game.

wondered how old you were going of there Ally Max - thought worth posting a picture of the first Scottish strip from way back when v's the first one I had as a kid.

The fee will come down to demand - if there's enough big clubs with deep pockets want him there could be an incredible fee.

For longevity I'm hopeful he can 1) adapt to different formations when teams figure us out - this was a problem for AK, GA & SR 2) keep the enthusiasm for sustained period 3) recruit well.

hopefully Utd don't pursue him at end of season, we bring him home and get him back to his best. He'd be a big upgrade on likes of Davor and can't see Halliday playing every game for much longer.

add to that he's addressed the clear and obvious weakness in midfield by beefing it up. Looking forward to the rest of the season - which is refreshing,

Always going to enjoy winning. What Iv'e really liked about the last 3 games is the performance has been excellent- proves winning & entertainment can both be achieved. What a difference a few weeks can make.

First home game for Barry . Feel really sorry for Rangers. said no one on this forum 😊

Lovely -what a difference a week makes 4 goals , 2 wins wimmer wimmer - chicken dinner

That's about as good a team as we can put out and a decent bench which I think we'll need by about 60 mins. Think there will be lots of tired bodies after midweek effort.

Goal Difference speaks volumes. Those in the bottom half of the league range -8 to -22 with both Dundee and StJ having the worst. Conceding 60 and 53 goals respectively. Given they've been so poor defensively I can't really see them being anywhere other than the bottom 2. Selfishly as long we avoid 11th or 12th I don't really care who takes those spots.

Got to add that the FP faithful when Dundee scored created the energy that had been missing in the 2nd half. The crowds reaction to Dundee's goal really lifted the team. Well done to all who were there.

Thank god for that excellent first half , ran out of puff second . defensively thought we looked much better - kept Dundee to - shot on target lots of very decent performances in there - including SOD and Halliday as well as some of the new lads

lots to enjoy in that first half. good energy and effort and well deserved lead.

I heard tombola was close to securing the job and did quite well as shortlisted candidate.

we've moaned our backsides all season about lack of midfield - good to see that addressed. Really want to see us hitting the back of the net and give us something to cheer.

I much preferred your 5-0 win prediction on the Dundee thread :). Lots there that I agree with and when I look at the squad the majority of better players are those that were around before SK - with exception of Gordon. I do think the +30 players we've signed under his tenure reflects poorly on SK. Our signing policy for me is horrendous. and has been since GA era I.e since Dawes. Head of recruitment lives down South and recruits in the main a bunch of journeyman who care zero from the club. We've done from 70/30% Scotts players to 70/30 English players and I just don't see many players who really care or are any better standard that we can pick up here. For me we lack both talent and guts. Not a good mix , at best it's squeaky bum time until the end of the season.

I liked the gaffers pre match conference - an offensive team who care about possession. Yes please. Be interesting to see who makes the starting 11 in coming weeks. With likes of Kaleta, Koutroumbis, Thomson, Slattery, Andrews, AP, Masawanhise, Plange, Disckson all being attack minded players we could well see wholesale changes . Even likes of Paton, Watt may have something to offer with a different approach. One things for sure there's a reasonable amount of options to pick from.

I can't believe we gave Nicholson a 2 year contract. He hardly kicked a ball for us last season, to give him 2 years is wasteful. Think Stuparevic is also contacted until '26. Another player hasn't seen the light of day. Thankfully Barney is out of contract end of this season, that should be the end of his time. Got to say out of the dozen or so who are injured there's really only Ox, McGin, Stam that impact starting 11. So many poor signing choices , appreciate a couple of the injuries were hard to foresee but many of them are not surprising.

Anyone know when Stam will be back ? last I read he was due out for a couple of weeks back in Jan , is he close to returning ?

I don't disagree - was thinking more about the options it provides - moving away from a back 5 would really help fill up the midfield - be interesting to see what the gaffer goes for.

Personally I'd go 4-3-3, drop playing 3 centre halves for this game enabling an extra man in midfield . Would likely go with something like Balcome Sod/Koutro. Gordon Casey Thompson Paton Miller Haliday Plange Armstrong/Watt Maswanhise Push wingbacks forward and ask Haliday to hold - get more energy from Paton & Miller moving back/forth. Upfront we need pace and energy together with Armstrong/Watts ability to bring in others. I'd seriously consider 4-4-2 add Slattery or Sparrow to midfield . Dropping Plange to the bench.

Agree that there's problem areas - this is where having a set formation can cause issues as we put the best person available into the role. For me we don't have a good back 3 with McGinn injured. Nor do we have a decent LWB. As such I'd rather we change formation to suit what we have right now. This year we've conceded 13 goals and scored 4. (9 games). We need to create a team/formation that attacks teams without giving cheap goals, which may be easier said than done but with 8 forward thinking players fit it should be possible.