MJC

He was an experienced International player who had captained his country. He was worth the gamble even though it didn’t work out in my opinion. Absolutely agree that any signings we make now need to be for the other end of the park. There is literally no point bringing in another defender, defensive midfielder or ‘winger’. Our sole/main goal threat is KvV(pen ) and we simply cannot rely on him alone to get us goals.

Ojala away, mutual consent according to club Twitter.

Very early days obviously but there has definitely been an upturn in the general mood around the club and support since Hammell took over. The team is not great but unlike under Alexander and Robinson before him, the players actually look like they are enjoying it more. I often criticise our social media publications but you can see it in the videos coming out of the ‘story’ of the game that the mood in the dressing room is good. I can’t speak for everyone but I certainly have enjoyed going to the last few games more so than I did for the majority of last season and there is a sense that there is more of a ‘vision’ if you pardon the cliché. Seeing young, homegrown players making their debut is something to get you looking forward to going to games and you hope that they will develop into players who can make their mark on the first team before they inevitably move on. I don’t expect big things from us this season but I think there are grounds for cautious optimism that we are getting onto the right track.

The current Celtic side is the strongest they’ve had in years, probably even more so than Brendan Rodgers sides. They rested several players last night yet were able to bring in the likes of Turnbull, Forrest, Siegrist, Starfelt, Mooy. That is incredible squad depth. The way they play is very difficult for the rest of the league to live with, they are fast paced and press high up the park for almost the entire 90 minutes. That being said though, there has definitely been a mentality issue from us when facing them and the other Glasgow lot over the past decade. Even when Celtic were at their worst in years in 20/21 and with no support in to give them a vocal advantage we still couldn’t lay a glove on them and lost 3-0, 4-1 and 2-1. Too often we are beaten before a ball is kicked.

League Cup Group Stages in 2019. We sailed through that group and looked every bit the top flight side against Morton and the rest of the lower league opponents. Sherwin Seedorf and Jermaine Hylton actually looked like players in those games and had loads of our fans excited about their potential. Then the league season started and they were well and truly found out.

It’s going to be a tough time for everyone over the next few months, especially heading into winter. I don’t know if this suggestion is practical in a footballing sense especially given the control that TV companies have over kick off times but whatever happens we as a club are going to feel the effects of soaring energy prices. You’ve got to imagine that crowd numbers will be affected regardless of when the game is played because people just won’t have the money to travel or buy tickets etc. That will naturally hamper the club’s finances. The country is fucked tbh.

Our last midweek game against them was a 4-0 defeat in February 2020. The 1-1 draw in December 2018 was the last time we didn’t lose to them. I have actually lost count how many straight losses we’ve had to them since then. edit: it’s twelve straight losses. 0-3, 1-4, 2-5, 0-2, 0-4, 0-3, 1-4, 1-2, 0-2, 0-1, 0-4, 0-6.

Is it? The only way this would be great would be if by some miracle - and it would be a miracle - we actually won this tie. Their fans are bad enough at the best of times but from experience they tend to be worse behaved when they come through here for evening kick offs, more likely because of the amount of alcohol they can drink in the hours leading up to it. I just wish we’d been drawn against anyone other than this lot. They are poison and the baggage that comes with them, which has definitely got worse in the last decade, makes the inevitable defeat all the harder to stomach.

1-2 defeat I reckon.

We are yes. When you add in the horrible experience of having to play Celtic, encounter their supporters and have them swarming all over Fir Park and the surrounding area then it makes this draw an even less enticing prospect.

Great result tonight. Awful draw for the next round unfortunately.

Might need to start calling him van Veen pen. Doesn’t matter how he scores though as long as he does.

3-0 KvV again from the spot!

Penney, Efford and Tierney start tonight. McKinstry and Aarons on the bench.

I would have thought so too. Likewise I see Nicky Clark has joined St.Johnstone from Dundee Utd.

Inverness have traditionally made it difficult for us at Fir Park in Cup ties. Barry Wilson lobbing Gordon Marshall from about 40 yards inside the first ten minutes and them sitting in with us huffing and puffing but never really looking like get back into it still gives me nightmares. In fact I’m sure the two times we have beaten them in Cup ties at home have been on penalties after a 2-2 draw in ‘97 and 3-2 AET under Jim Gannon. (and yes, I am fully aware that that won’t have a bearing on what happens tonight)

In fairness to him he didn’t really get much of a chance to properly impress the last time as he signed on the January deadline day in 2020 and the season was cut short six or seven weeks later. The closest he came to impressing me was being thwarted by an incredible one handed save by Fraser Forster in a 0-4 defeat against Celtic.

I try and forget that that game even happened tbh.

I’m just giving my opinion on this signing. I’m not a cheerleader and nor am I the/one of the individuals in charge of our social media publications making wee reels about our signings or filtering party hats onto players heads. I just wasn’t impressed by Aarons when I saw him here before and in the two and a half years since then he has barely played. I don’t see what he will bring to the team.

Not too enthused by this signing. I wasn’t that impressed with him pre-covid and he has barely kicked a ball since. Pointless signing imo.

Absolutely! And after our latest European ‘adventure’ if I never see us play another European match then it won’t be a day too soon. Obviously the Scottish Cup is the more prestigious one but I would take a league cup win any day. Plus a league cup win would give us the added bonus of not having to play in Europe. #The passports in the drawer! The passports in the drawer! And that is where it’s staying And that is where it’s staying And that is where it’s staaaaayyyyyinnnggg!!!! The passports in the drawer! #

We absolutely MUST play our strongest available side on Wednesday night. It’s not acceptable for us to simply treat this as a lesser game just because it’s the league cup and we don’t have a strong enough squad to be able to rotate it.

Aye, came in just before lockdown in early 2020 and made just a handful of appearances.

I think we’ll get beat.

Ya_bezzer would be delighted.