one m in motherwell

Sadly I don't think anyone else will be coming in...McCall confirmed as much on Sportsound earlier. Just have to hope Hollis recovers soon!

It's all a bit daft this. We've been spoilt over the past few seasons with Ruddy and Randolph, so it's perhaps inevitable that the keeper position is always going to be liable to more scrutiny when the replacements aren't of the same calibre. I must admit, I was pretty sceptical about Hollis, but felt he did well enough in his first run of games to suggest that he'd be a capable replacement, if nothing spectacular. Nielsen on the other hand has been pretty poor - seems quite error prone, and as people have said, doesn't seem to inspire any confidence in the back line. And now to Twardzik. He came in and did us a turn when we needed him, and whilst he performed really well, it wasn't as though he won us any of those games single handedly. That said, he showed enough in those games to suggest that he's a bit more solid (daft suggestions about his size aside) than Nielsen, and at least as good as Hollis. I wouldn't be surprised to see Hollis leaving at the end of the season, and Twardzik would be an adequate replacement if it came to it. I would rather see Kello than either of them, but to be honest all we're doing is comparing our current crop with the rest of the SPL. We'll no doubt pull some random out the bag like we always do.

Meldrum was never that bad. I don't think he had a particularly consistent run of games - I remember him stepping in for Buzz on a few occasions but not much more than that. Always struck me as someone who was a reasonably capable pair of hands, certainly not in the same league as Stevie Woods, for example.

I'd keep Vigurs in, he's been in good form the past few weeks and could conceivably make a difference if he's in the mood. I'd agree with Anier in for Sutton, a bit more movement up front would at least give their defence a little bit to think about. We don't have anything to lose whatsoever, it's probably the only trip to Parkhead in ages where we can just go for it without worrying about the rest of the league.

A lot of players mentioned here that weren't necessarily shit, more completely forgettable. Take The Flask for example. Did we not sign him in March or something as backup? Didn't set the heather on fire (clearly), but I don't remember him being utterly abysmal. Don't really remember him at all, TBH. Not sure if the likes of Michels and Matthaei deserve their harsh treatment either. I always remember Matthaei and Doesburg being fairly solid but pretty unspectacular. We seemed to have a habit back in the pre-transfer window days of playing folk once or twice - I'm thinking Eric Garcin, Stefan Lindqvist, Jonsson etc…Jonsson by far the worst of those however. From personal memory, I'd agree with the John Davies, Andy Roddie and John Hendry nominations. Neil Tarrant, whilst only a loan signing, was also spectularly pish, as were the Malpas Three and Karl Ready. However, Kevin McBride and Brian Kerr are perhaps my two worst players over the past wee while. McBride because he had such a transition from half-decent to abysmal seemingly overnight (perhaps the permanent contract had something to do with it…), whilst Kerr came with a reasonable amount of hype and proceeded to do fuck all to justify it.

Well, up to a point…

We had McBride and C***m E****t, so it is possible.

It'll do him a world of good at Dundee, I think. Playing at an even lower division has obviously helped the likes of Craig Moore, so the experience is liable to be even better at a slightly higher level. Over the past few years we've been quite fortunate in terms of how well we've been able to develop defensive players (I'm thinking Hutch, Reynolds, latterly I suppose even Quinn), and I don't see any reason why any of the three young defenders we've got just now couldn't develop in a similar way. I'd say Kerr was probably the pick of the bunch, but Cummins' loan spell should give us the opportunity to see how he fares with a decent run of games under his belt. I'd still like us to bring in an out-and-out left sided player - Ainsworth clearly does a job on the right, but I'm not convinced about Angol as a winger. He offers something, but still a bit raw to be truly effective (a bit like Humph when he first arrived). With Ainsworth and (hopefully) Anier signing though, I doubt we'll see any movement in this window.

That's a good move for him. I've like Cummins, but he's awfully raw and could do with some sustained first team experience. I wonder if this is either part of the deal for Twardzik from before, or perhaps part of something for the summer? McHugh could do worse to get a similar deal as well.

Can't see it myself. By all accounts he's keen to go down to England, with the proposed Derry City move a short term thing until the end of the season. Wouldn't really have an issue with him coming back, but I'd probably be more happy with the likes of Kerr or Murray getting a chance to develop alongside McManus.

I've quite liked Ainsworth when I've seen him, although he strikes me as the type of player who thrives on an overall good team performance - he's not the type who's going to grab the game by the scruff of the neck when required. He is a fairly straight requirement for Humphrey (and has a bit of a better touch IMO), but we'll need him to get the finger out on a more regular basis if we're going to challenge for the higher places in the league. We don't have much creativity through the centre (although we should given the players we have through there), so there's even more of a need to rely on our wide players. If ZFA and Ainsworth can both find a bit of form then it will really help us. The biggest concern is if both of them leave - where does that leave us? The problems with Vigurs and Faddy are well documented, and unless we can uncover an Ojamaa-type curveball who can lift the entire side, I think we could be in for a bit of a slog for the rest of the season. In saying that, if either Vigurs or Faddy come on to a game (or if McCall actually works out a formation to suit this season's team) then we should still be good for 3rd/4th. All that said, whilst we've generally been brutal to watch this season, we're somehow managing to grind out results. Keep that up, and who knows...as one of the earlier posters suggested, second really can't be ruled out yet.

Thing is, who would think we would unearth someone who would go on to have as much of an impact as Ojamaa had? The majority of our January signings have been forgettable, but who knows. I'd keep Anier but not fussed about losing Ainsworth. The only thing that may go against Anier is the emergence of Moore (i.e in terms of appearances) in recent weeks/months but we'd still need cover. Just not convinced whatsoever about McHugh - can see him leaving next summer to be honest.

Dangerous talk that - you'll get yourself hauled off to a Gulag if you keep up with that kind of wild speculation and rampant mis-truth.

Who he?

The Dutch version of Steelboy will be apoplectic after that.

This, hugely. It's as if we got pumped 6-0 by East Stirlingshire or something.

It's all a cunning plan. Sources tell me Faddy was spotted boarding a flight bound for the East wearing an official Alan Burrows mask, whilst Vigurs is wearing a swimming cap and trying to pass himself off as Gordon Marshall. TBH I couldn't care less what team is put out tomorrow. Put it this way, there's no pressure whatsoever to get a result, so in all probability the team will be able to go out with far fewer nerves than the home game, without all the baggage that McCall's pre-match comments may have generated. And if we lose? Who cares. We'll have lost without three key players who will then be match fit for the weekend, and funnily enough two out of those three players are probably those most likely to be able to change the game with a single spark of brilliance than anyone else. Storm in a teacup folks.

As shite as they would appear, games against Hibs are either dour as fuck or absolute goalfests. If we can exploit their awful defence then we should win by a couple providing we can get enough support to Sutton. Based on his performance on Thurs, Vigurs could be key but I have a feeling they will flood the midfield and try to smother us. If play 3 at the back with ZFA/Hammy and Kerr as wingbacks. We'll see...

Why not? Nothing against Keith, but its not such an outlandish suggestion! Think we'll be seeing this debate develop more and more as the season goes on. God, Sutton really needs that support though.

It was a bit catch 22 tonight - the flick ons weren't going anywhere anybody in a C&A jersey all night, but at the same time there was rarely someone within 10 - 15 yards of him.

Outside of Celtic, we won't play a team as good as that all season - looking around the rest of the league I see no reason to suggest we won't be pushing for a Euro spot again this year. In many ways it would be better finishing third purely to give us the change of an extra game.

I have no worries about the league campaign at all, a game like tonight's doesn't ever give a true reflection of how we're going to shape up. For a start, friendlies against Doncaster and Morecambe aren't exactly the best preparation for a competitive game against a disciplined, skilful, tactically aware European side (first time in the competition or not, they were a class act). I think there's probably something in the fact that the team is still finding its feet - I may be wrong, but I don't think we've put out the same team twice in the friendlies. For a team like us with such a high turnover of players every summer, we really need to look at playing a few more games first - as a few others have said, the Euro games come too early! So, onto the match itself. Hollis for me just doesn't look like a keeper - he has little physical presence, and doesn't look like he inspires any confidence in the back four at all. i almost wondered whether he was given a chance tonight out of loyalty, but for me he really didn't look good enough at all. Nielsen at least has a bit of physicality, so I'd hope to see him get the nod going forward. Vigurs looks like a real capture - the link up between him and Faddy should hopefully work well once they gel a bit. Faddy looked off the pace, a few things didn't work for him in the first half and the head seemed to go down. Pass marks elsewhere for Hutch, Lawson and ZFA. Sutton was abysmal, and once again McCall waited far too long before he made a change - proved that sticking him up by himself without a foil making runs in behind just doesn't work. Too often tonight the midfield would work the play up the park only for Sutton to either flick it onto no-one, or fall on his arse - we needed someone to almost play the Ojamaa role to link between the two - perhaps Anier? Still, I think it was obvious tonight that match fitness is still lacking, and the cohesion in the team just wasn't quite there yet. I have no doubts that it will come, but the game was just too early for us in the season.

I really can't see Anier starting tomorrow, although it depends what kind of fitness Sutton has at the moment. I can see us lining up along the lines of: GK: Neilsen DL: Hammy DC: Hutch DC: McManus (no nicknames yet) DR: Ramsden ML: ZFA MC: Lasley MC: Lawson MR: Vigurs AMC: McFadden ST: Sutton I've no idea if Iain VIgurs even has a right foot, but couldn't think of anyone else to play there. The alternative I suppose would be to go for a sort of 5-3-1-1, with Kerr and either Hammy or ZFA as wing backs - in this formation I could see Carswell starting instead of Lawson. Hard to say at the moment, but either way it shows up how devoid of options we are on the right hand side. If Mark Wilson does end up signing that would be a good bit of business, but in my mind we still need an out-and-out right sided midfielder/winger. That said, I'm really looking forward to it - it'll be the first time for me seeing any of the new folk in action, always hard to tell this early how things will pan out, but just glad the football is back again!

Were we not linked with one of the subs that came on at the Newcastle game...he was a winger, was he not? Loan deal obviously, but that's about as much as I'm expecting given our dealings this summer. There's a certain charm about sitting with the live deadline day update sitting at the bottom of your work PC screen though...even if it takes until then I can see us getting someone else in.

Hmm, a pacey ex-Shrewsbury winger you say? All we need is to persuade Mark Yardley to come out of retirement and that's two of the departees replaced.