Kmcalpin

No limit has yet been set on how many tickets season ticket holders can buy. This should be known tomorrow.

I've had one or two reports that Jake Taylor had a reasonable debut last night. An FPC report described him as being "A steady Eddie sort of player with good passing and awareness without too much flair." Sounds a bit like Conor Grant. If so, is he really the sort of player we need? Any initial views from someone who was there last night?

Just watched the BBC highlights of the game and wasn't impressed. Hearts seemed to have far too much energy, enthusiasm and pace for us in midfield. In general our defence looked to be very weak. We gave them far too much room around our box for the first which was a stupid penalty by MacDonald. The second was schoolboy stuff with our midfield, and Hammell & Johnson in particular posted missing. Ripley too didn't cover himself in glory. All in all it looked like a replay of a game from last season. We really need to get the midfield and defence sorted out and if that means putting one or two noses out of joint then so be it.

In answer to your question probably about twice what we have spent. Ok perhaps Inverness have gone back a bit but they're still a solid hard to beat side on their ground. Dundee United have spent a good bit more than us. That then leaves Hearts and Aberdeen. I know its not a popular thing to say but Hearts have spent big. The youthful side of 2 seasons ago has largely moved on because they weren't good enough and they've been replaced by expensive incomers. Aberdeen too have a very large budget compared to us. I agree with most of the remainder of your post. My abiding memory of last season won't be the play offs but a series of utterly abysmal performances and an unacceptably high goals against column. Given that, I was expecting drastic surgery to our defence and central midfield but that hasn't really happened. Hopefully Conor Ripley will prove to be an improvement on George Long and Louis Laing seems to be a better player but thats about it. That said, we may sign another central midfielder. On the basis of who we have signed so far, I'm not expecting us to improve very much defensively. Attack wise I think we're very much an unknown quantity. The likes of Moult and Fletcher may take time to settle in and we shouldn't draw too many conclusions too soon about them. Overall I'm sensing a modest improvement. On that basis I expect us to finish somewhere between 8th and 10th, probably the latter. Tonight I think we played the wrong team and used the wrong tactics. That said I don't know if we had the critical players in the key positions. Pearo's absence was certainly a body blow and Taylor will take time to settle. Our central midfield 2 (should it have been 3 like Weeyin suggested?) was always going to be under great pressure to firstly protect our defence and secondly feed the 2 wingers and striker with a continuous supply of quality balls and I don't think they managed that. Early days and despite my realistic (?) view of Saturday's game we have to show fight and determination.

Absolutely. If we get beaten, as I expect us to on Saturday, we'll have 3 points more than I anticipated before the season kicked off. No need to panic. Our season starts in earnest a week on Saturday at Perth. A 1-0 or 2-0 defeat tonight was always very likely. Main thing tonight was to avoid red cards or injuries. Being realistic, tonight was always going to be about damage limitation.

BBC reports us as having a meagre 35% possession. That doesn't sound very good if true and implies that Louis Moult is having a difficult evening. We can't do much if we can't get the ball. Sounds as though midfield is being overrun. Is Scott MacDonald playing in support of our striker or as an auxilliary defender?

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.