Kmcalpin

Not according to the MOTM vote for last Saturday. Louis Laing beat him by 3 votes. I know Keith is very popular and not without good reason but I'm not sure that the reality matches many fans' perception.

It will be interesting to see if Hearts target our right wing tonight.

Going by 2 matchday votes its not that clear cut. Louis Laing and Conor Ripley might also be in with a fair shout.

Merit per se is the critical quality of course. However as they say in boxing and in the English premiership a good big un is better than a good little un. No idea what height Taylor is.

Jake Taylor sounds like a decent signing perhaps in the Pearson mould and he should give us cover until Pearo returns at the very least. We need a bit of pace and energy in the engine room. It also sounds as though he could also deputise on the left wing if required. Hopefully we're also targetting a defensive midfielder who can deputise for, or replace, Keith Lasley. If we do then the squad will be complete near as dammit.

Hearts are not playing as well as their results or fans would suggest. They will be a threat up front but are weak at the back. Yes, we should play a counterattacking game but simply cannot afford to defend too deeply.

Don't be too hard on these guys. They received little in the way of support and decent ammunition on Saturday. If they receive that then they'll flourish.

Pearo is more of an energetic box to box player. An all rounder if you will. Lasley is not an out and out ball winner but there's more to his game than that and he's a decent tackler. However he'll be 35 next month and isn't the biggest or quickest of lads. Also tends to disappear when we're under the cosh - so not an old fashioned ball winner. Leitch - not looking as if he's going to make it - lacks pace and not the best tackler. Cadden - not sure as I haven't seen much of him but from what little I have witnessed he's not really a ball winner - maybe someone else can confirm. In any event its a lot to ask of Leitch & Cadden to come in immediately and help us to dominate midfield. What we need right now is a real battler like Ally Mauchlen, Stewart MacLaren or Colin O'Neill. These guys would tackle an MBT. They would shield the central defence and might not always win a tackle but they'd make damned sure that no-one got in a cross or had a clean shot at goal. If we were defending with 10/11 players in our own box these were the guys who would rush out from the defensive wall and run 30 yards or so on their own to close down an opponent. The nearest we've had in recent times is perhaps Steve Jennings or Simo Valakari.

Thats correct but they're more than happy for the clubs to take the flak.

What a comeback by the Ladies to win 4-3! All 4 in the final 15 minutes. Well done. I'll take more of that at Tynecastle this week.

We played well in spells, but still showed same weaknesses as last season, albeit less so. On the plus side, it seems as though we have a decent keeper and the centre backs look to be a decent pairing. Louis Laing has certainly come onto a game. We were also more creative than we were in the early part of last season and that bodes well. OK we didn't take the chances but that will come. New blood up front should pay dividends when they gel. Wes Fletcher looks a handful for defenders if we play him correctly and play the ball on the deck. Joe Chalmers looks a decent addition but not in left midfield. On the minus side we still need a right back but hopefully Luke Watt will stake his claim, as he looked impressive pre season. in general though our 2 full backs seem to be giving the opposition too much space and time. Our central midfield especially without Stephen Pearson doesn't look fit for purpose and was posted missing a few times on Saturday when United found space and time around the edge of our box. Attacking wise things look promising but defensively we need to up our game.

Absolutely - these three creative players are totally irrelevant if there is no-one to win the ball and feed it to them. You have to win the ball first. I'm with you on this - we need a combative Colin O'Neill or Stewart MacLaren type to charge around, get wired in and do the dirty work in the middle of the park. Someone who can compete physically, get in opposition faces and harrass anyone thinking of attacking our goal. Every team needs one of these guys.

We need an energetic creative player in the middle who can motor up and down the park. We also need a mobile old fashioned hard man with a bit of physical presence who can compete with the likes of Jackson Irvine types - someone, who, when we're under the cosh, is going to dash out from the defensive shield to close opponents down and get wired in.

I reckon we'll finish somewhere between 8th and 10th Iain, but being a pessimist by nature I'll plump for the latter. I don't see us being involved in the relegation dogfight. This prediction thread is perhaps a bit of fun and its early doors. If we can bring in 2 energetic midfielders then I'll be more optimistic. A lot might change between now and the end of the month. United look more solid than us but don't possess our flair or talent perhaps. Also they had quite a players out injured. Time will tell.

Overall I wasn't convinced of Conor Grant. Yes he is talented and cultured but tended to disappear when the going got tough and scrappy. Not quite the forceful box to box player I was expecting. The question on many fans' lips is what kind of midfielder are we looking to bring in? A short term replacement for Pearo, if he is ruled out for some time or as back up/replacement for Keith Lasley? Personally I think we need the two.

Yes, 2 very tough games coming up and if we can escape with a couple of narrow losses I'll be happy, if not exactly delirious. Definitely better than last season but I'm far from convinced our defensive and central midfield frailties have been fully addressed and I expect our goals against tally to be high again this season. We did not deserve to lose by 2 goals yesterday but thats how we were losing last season. On the plus side I think Ripley will be a good signing, if only on loan and Laing looks to have upped his game. I hope we can turn yesterday's loss into a useful lesson which will help us in the few weeks ahead and longer term in the campaign ahead.

1 Celtic 2 Aberdeen 3 Hearts 4 Dundee 5 Dundee United 6 Ross County 7 Inverness 8 St Johnstone 9 Partick 10 Motherwell 11 Kilmarnock 12 Hamilton

Problem was that they received very poor quality service. Again that must have been a concern pre match. In Fletcher's case he was given a tad too many high balls which he was never going to win. Johnson did not receive the kind of passes he likes and it must have been frustrating to receive the ball a yard behind him, when his game is to run onto it. On the plus side, the team can and will play better.

Problem is that Law played like that at the end of last season too with Ainsworth in front of him. All too often he was caught out of position. Yes, we missed Pearo's presence and energy in the middle and he was a huge loss today. He is awaiting his scan results but was walking about ok today. We simply have no one else capable of playing that role in the middle and Skippy would be better off playing further upfield.

Don't blame MacDonald for this. He's simply not suited to playing in that role. This was my big fear pre match that he'd be asked to play deeper to compensate, in part, for the loss of Pearson.

A close run thing but United probably just deserved to shade it. We had our chances but failed to take them. What they lacked in flair and skill they more than compensated for in terms of physical presence, solidity and competitiveness. They were also very streetwise as you would expect from a United side. They'll comfortably finish above us but we're a better team than we were last season and will finish above 11th place and thats all we can ask. Impressed by Ripley but even he was dwarfed by the United keeper. When United took the field it was immediately obvious that high balls would be a waste of time. For me and others nearby Law looked out of his depth, and it seems like a mistake to have awarded him a 2 year deal. He looked uncomfortable all game and United soon cottoned on to his weakness. Luke Watt must surely now stake his claim. As you say Pearson and Ainsworth were always going to be massive losses and Skippy looked completely out of place playing so deep leaving Fletcher so isolated. The game largely passed Leitch by and whilst Lasley wasn't bad on the ball he was posted missing all too often off it. United were granted much too much space on the edge of our box. Our problem was always going to be competing in central midfield and feeding Johnson, Fletcher and MacDonald decent ammunition and so it proved. Thomas tried just too hard and justified Ian Baraclough's decision to keep him on the bench as opposed to awarding him a starting slot. I was concerned a week or two ago that we hadn't improved our central midfield or defence and early indications are that that is the case. Right back is an achilles heel for us unless Luke Watt can step up and we desperately require 2 central midfielders. Joe Chalmers looks useful and hopefully will take over from Stevie Hammell in the not too distant future but he is no left midfielder. As others have said the referee was very poor but you must hand it to United as they played him well.

Ripley followed by Laing for me. Nobody else in the frame.

Ian Baracough said on Tv that we'll know the extent of his injury in the next few days. It doesn't appear to be as bad as we feared at first but he will not feature tomorrow.

Presumably also Police Scotland would have advised on the amount and nature of police presence and acted accordingly? In short what more the club have done?

Presumably Killie have compensated him? I know your management were hawking him around other clubs.