Kmcalpin

We'll struggle in midfield. Until we see what Belic can deliver and McHugh is fully fit we won't have a settled and 100% strongest side on the pitch. The chances are that Accies will best us in midfield although we have a better strikeforce. Ideally you'd want Cadden or Ainsworth on the right (few will prefer Ainsworth over Cadden I'd warrant), Lasley (if fit) and Clay in the middle and Belic on the left. I still think we're weak defensively and creatively in the midfield and that'll be our achilles heel. Accies will be up for a fight and I hope we can match them. All that said we can beat them, but if we don't I won't be overly concerned until we have our best 11 on the pitch, which could be a week or two away. Like Welldaft I'd be very surprised if Accies have a larger budget than us.

Ditto. International breaks simply disrupt the season as far as I'm concerned. Its start, stop, start, stop and clubs can't build up much momentum. Looking forward to giving the Acciecomicals a drubbing.

Maybe apathy towards the site or messageboards in general? Its hard to say.

Mark McGhee is no worse than most other managers in that respect and better than many.

Thats it in a nutshell. His wonder goal at Easter Road raised fan expectations to an unrealistic level and it was simply not typical of his style of play. The same was also true of Shaun Fagan. Fitzy was an unassuming player who did a lot of unnoticed spade work and wasn't in any way a flair player. Was he unfairly released? Well what has he done since leaving us? That tells its own story. The same could also be said of Jack Leitch. I believe he's now playing at Airdrie and good luck to him. Seemingly not good enough for a Championship team, although he does have most of his career ahead of him.

Pat was no world beater but a steady no frills type of player. I recall him playing at centre half and centre forward. Yes he came from Cleland and his father was Jimmy Delaney.

Maybe Pat Delaney, George Lindsay, Pat Quinn and Bobby Roberts would have fitted into that side. Thats probably my first ever Well team too. Tragically Alan Wylie was killed in a car crash near Strathmiglo not long afterwards.

Its been going on continuously since Stuart McCall was in charge. This is the difference between ourselves and say a team like St Johnstone. Not blaming Ainsworth in totality of course but just using him as an example. If Tom Wright had been in charge of us there would have been 2 players in Davies' face snarling and hassling him. I don't know if this is coached into the team - maybe its more a reflection of players' characters or fitness?

Depending on player availability and injuries, midfield could again be a major headache for us. A lack of outball/pace/creativity and possibly defensive qualities are a concern. Hopefully Belic will be fit enough to make his debut on the left hand side. Wide right is not a problem where Cadden has cemented his place but the middle is still our achilles heel.

I'm getting a bit concerned that we are weak in the full back positions. I'm not convinced of Tait and by all accounts he didn't play well yesterday. Stevie Hammell is well past his best and again seemed to have been below his best yesterday. The only slight glimmer of hope is that Chalmers seems to be improving of late but again he's not the fastest in the world.

Very hard to tell about the penalty from the camera angle, but County players didn't seem to protest overly much. The goal we lost was very disappointing and was down to poor defensive play by several players. Firstly, Ainsworth doesn't work nearly hard enough to close down the County No 5 who pings the ball into the danger area; Schalke (I think) is given too much time and space to collect the ball, wheel and pass to the completely unmarked Boyce (what was Heneghan doing?) who has the easiest of chances to score. Again, from admittedly limited clips, we are simply not working hard enough when we don't have the ball, to close players down and hassle them.

Agree. Samson has been guilty of this in a few games this season leading to the loss of several avoidable corners. The defender does the right thing by clearing his lines when he doesn't know who is around him but a simple shout by Samson would avoid any problems.

Barring any more serious injuries our season will start proper at the end of the month. By that time McHugh will hopefully be back to stiffen the midfield, Moult will be fully fit and Belic will be fit enough to start on the left side of midfield. An ok point today which I would have taken before kick off but disappointing not to beat 10 men. A bit disappointing too that although we set ourselves up defensively we still managed to lose a goal, almost more. It'll be interesting to get the views of those who were there - safe journey home. At the risk if upsetting some folks it sounds as though County were their usual physical self - even Mark McGhee anticipated that.

A pretty defensive looking line up. If County can keep Cadden quiet that might just cut off any ammunition to the front pair, unless we adopt long ball tactics. Apart from Cadden no pace whatsoever in midfield. Still its all to play for.

MacMillan played at both full back and sweeper. In my view he was best playing in central defence as his big downfall was lack of pace.

I know. While you may have exaggerated the details the principle was correct though. A club will rarely make big time cash simply by bringing on good youth players. It has to put them on long deals, not 6 years of course.

So do I but we'd have to pay a pretty high salary to do that. A fair whack of United's youth budget went on salaries.

Interesting that Mark McGhee says that we were trying to sell Johnson since last Christmas, but only on our terms, which were eventually met. Marvin apparently "stamped his feet at the wrong time".

Its a big blow that McHugh isn't fit. I agree with your defence and perhaps midfield, but maybe drop Ainsworth for Belic if he's fit. Maybe Cadden and Chalmers will not play 90 minutes given their midweek outing. Ainsworth can't play on the left and if he's on the right he may well duplicate Cadden's role to some extent. We don't know how fit Belic is but we badly need to up our work rate off the ball and that seems to be one of Belic's strongpoints. I doubt if Moult will play anywhere near 90 minutes. Bowman of course is also an option up front.

A sign of the times I'm afraid with the globalisation of football and kids and their parents wanting to run before they can walk. Very few youngsters like this ever make at the top level - the statistics are frightening.

Good idea Andy.

Yes I was but I would draw a distinction Andy between those still playing and those who have retired or passed away. I think there's a heck of a difference between Lee Erwin and say Pat Delaney.

I'm with you Allan. They've moved on and are history so far as MFC is concerned. My only interest is if there is some clause relating to add on payments to the benefit of our club.

I don't know about that. George was my boyhood hero - not the greatest in the world but a real trier who could run.

I think thats correct. Is it not also true that a significant part of a young player's valuation is dependent on his salary? I think this is where Dundee United and Hibs really benefit as they put their brightest prospects on pretty high wages.