Kmcalpin

Our development squad had a bounce game against Queen of the South's Under 19s yesterday at Dalziel Park. Game ended in a 1-1 draw. https://www.qosfc.com/news-7029

Just had a look at the Carlisle United website and see they have a number of our ex players on their books: Archie Mair, Bevis Mugabi, and Luke Armstrong.

Thanks for the update Denny. That can only mean we are assessing trialists, which is a positive sign. However it also suggests we aren't yet in a position to give our strongest starting 11, whoever they might be, 90 minutes in their legs which is concerning as the Euro clock is ticking. It would seem our pre season preparation is a bit behind where it should be.

Thats true to a certain extent. As Weeyin says, I'd categorise the likes of Just as being an attacking midfielder. I think Jens brought in that specific style of play as he didn't consider that we had any suitable strikers available. If we had had then I assume he'd have selected one week in week out. Although we amassed a healthy goals for tally, on quite a few occasions, we failed to convert good leading up work into actual goals due to being toothless in the box and having no focal point there.

Yes, I get that, but how many are out and out strikers? Stama, Hendry and Thor. Of those, Stama has been a permacrock and failed to impress; Hendry has been disappointing, and is now out injured again long term. I don't want to go into this season with one of these 3 up front, for different reasons. In fairness, I like what I've seen of Thor but he's a specific type of striker and not really had a chance to settle in. He deserves time. Last season striker was definitely a weak spot in our team and surely would be on Nick Daws' hit list for strengthening. I wouldn't class the others eg TJ and RCC as as out and strikers. I assume Vogt has been brought in as a likely replacement for TJ. RCC has also failed to impress.

As things stand, I'd say we need another keeper, 2 CBs, 2 midfielders (to replace Slattery and Nicolson/Halliday) and a striker. Thats before anyone else leaves. I'd like to bring in another 2 CBs to replace Welsh, Gordon and Balmer. Paul McGinn is out for several months and we don't know how he'll recover at his age. I feel we're short in midfield. As its stands, we have Watt, Fadinger, Priestman and Sparrow, with the untried Whyte as back up. I'd be looking for a first pick striker.

We've all had our tup..pence worth.

Just a brief mention in the Rancid Allan. No more details.

I quite get that and have seen more than most good players depart Fir Park. That will always be the case and I can live quite contentedly with that. Blocking moves is a fine balancing act and, like it or not, contracts mean little to better players who can simply throw a hissy fit to get their move. After last season, there was always going to be interest in a slew of our players, so thats no surprise. However, a balance has to be struck. It was known by the club months ago and before the split, that JBA was leaving. So none of these factors should have been a surprise. Everyone connected with the club also knew that we'd be playing our first Conference League tie in late July. My only potential gripe is that our Chairman said that our best players would not all be sold at the same time, and that might still be the case; hopefully it is. However, I am getting a little nervous at the state of the squad for our first Havnar tie. Its unlikely that new players arriving are 100% match fit and gel instantly. The clock is ticking.

Taking nothing for granted but we are good enough to beat Havnar, and in the unlikely event we can't, serious questions would need to be asked of the directors and to a lesser extent Nick Daws. The next round is a slightly different matter.

He has one year to go and we have year's option in addition.

According to the Rancid, we have lined up a friendly against Carlisle United.

I think we'll bring in another No 1. Robbie McCrorie being mentioned on P & B. I strongly suspect there will be interest in the Ox from elsewhere too. As you say, its quite possible or even probable that a few of better players will leave. That would have been known for some months and succession planning put in place. The big question though is whether JBA's departure (which again was known about for some time before he left) has disrupted and delayed that process. Whatever happens, we don't want to start our Euro campaign ill prepared, as we have done in the past.

Its years since I heard that nickname. My dad also called him that.

He took and scored with one of the best penalties I've ever seen, at the Home of Good Football. Lashed it into the top corner with venom - no keeper would have saved it. Not my favourite player though.

An interesting post from Dinnae-Punt-It on P & B. He/she rightly points out that, despite our paper thin squad, Longelo, Wilson and Thor didn't get any game time in Jutland, as far as we know. I was thinking exactly the same thing.

Shaun Teale.

Minutes in legs and a chance to shake off rustiness. Thats about it. Have we any more friendlies arranged before the Genk game?

Nathan Lawson on trial with East Kilbride.

Exactly. Injuries aside, he was back up along with Nicolson. With those two now gone we have little back up to cover for injuries and suspensions. I have no idea what impact Whyte and MacAllister will have. Thats before any unwanted departures.

Hopefully Willy Vogt will add some firepower up front. Welcome.

Happy with this signing. A much needed central defender who matches our style of play. Welcome to Fir Park Martin.

The issue we face now is not so much sourcing replacements as bringing in match fit players. We have our first Conference League game in just under 3 weeks and our first league game in about 4. How fit will will our newcomers be without a pre season with us? How long will it take them to get up speed? Thats been our issue many times before and was always going to be our issue this time round.

Good shout. In retrospect I should have included him somewhere, probably in the 70-100 range. The fact that he didn't earn any caps may have counted against him.

A conundrum for me. I eventually went with Randolph but it was very close. Two very different keepers. Ruddy's best was better than Randolph's but his worst was worse than Randolph's. Randolph was the steadier.