MelvinBragg

Don't disagree but don't expect an avalanche of enthusiasm when we sign another one. He might turn out to be a smashing player but not one to get any excitement on announcement...

I don't think anyone is looking for us to sign a household name or a high profile player. None of us had heard of Scott McDonald, Louis Moult or Cedric Kipre, all players we have made money from. I think a huge difference is the age where Morris is concerned. With those relatively young guys, there was a sense you were getting potential, you never knew how good they could become. Morris is 31 in September. And this doesn't feel like us signing a Bobby Russell or a Davie Cooper, a quality player who can still do a job at our level. This looks like signing a journeyman. He might well do a great job for us but don't expect fans to get excited by his arrival..

Maybe their scout has a season ticket at Ibrox...

I agree. A few have said to me that Ojala and Johansen should be better this season, having adapted and also having had a break they hadn't had last season coming straight from a Scandinavian league timetable. Time will tell, Johansen in particular I have my doubts about. What I do feel might make a difference, and I'll be laughed out of court on this one, is the return of Barry Maguire. People point to the loss of Tony Watt leading to our form tanking last season but it also coincided with Maguire getting injured. He's the only one who seems to have the positional discipline to play at the back of our midfield. For me, he's key to a midfield balance. His presence might stop our defence being so easily got at. As I say, I know this is an unpopular view but for me the midfield should be Maguire, Slattery and one other, preferably not named Sean Goss...

He's unlikely to be shipping out players that he's signed recently or whose contracts he has extended recently. Carroll is the only one I can see moving on. He extended Carroll's contract quite early in his tenure and may be regretting that one now. But even there, I'm not certain he'd want to move him on...

We have two left backs, three right backs and five or six players who can play centre half. You can quibble about the quality of them (and personally, I would) but to sign another defender when Alexander has signed or extended the contract of every defender on our books would not reflect well on his judgement...

Eddie Nolan?

Ok, perhaps ruined is strong. Jarring every time I look at the shirt though...

Generally a nice shirt, ruined by the odd cut out bit at the back of the collar...

Looking at his stats and, I don't mean it badly, he's unlikely to improve at the age of 29, it would be a no from me. But like you say, reading some reports that he's signed...

Where does he play?

Scott McDonald wasn't good enough for a contract at Dundee United. John Sutton wasn't good enough for a rubbish Hearts team. Going back, Mickey Weir wasn't good enough for Hibs. Keith Lasley wasn't good enough for Blackpool. You know, it's almost like sometimes players thrive in a different environment. Or managers of other clubs get it wrong...

Hibs have made an arse of things more often than not. How many relegations have they had since we last went down?

Add Tony Straker, Danny Murphy, a past it Alan Sneddon, and more recently Aaron Taylor-Sinclair and Stephen Hendrie. McGinlay and Carroll are limited but let's not kid on they are anywhere near the worst...

That is a lovely kit...

I disagree about Maguire. I think you have hit upon the reason for his not being as developed as other players of the same age when you mention the number of games he has played. You need games at a good level to aid your development. Over the last few seasons under Robinson, he had McHugh, Gorrin and Donnelly ahead of him for his best position, players Robinson liked. I'd hazard a guess he has played as much under Alexander in one year (and he's been injured a spell) than under Robinson and he has improved. Since his injury against Hearts, we suddenly became a lot easier to play through. For me, he seems to know his limits and is less likely to abandon his defensive midfield position. On a general point about young players (and this isn't aimed at anyone in particular, just a general thought), there is a tendency with young players coming through that if they're not the star of the team or likely to bring in a transfer fee to brand them "not good enough". There's a place for squad players and to use Maguire as an example, if you don't think he's good enough to be a regular starter, is it not better having him on the bench than paying a signing on fee for a Lee Lucas, Craig Clay or another random player with no real affection for the club...

Fuck no...

Who?

I went to an EPL game at the weekend for the first time. I'm definitely not in favour of VAR. Over two minutes standing about whole people look at miniscule details to see if someone is offside. Saturday was a warm day, Tuesday night in November? No thanks. It doesn't even clear up doubt. Still debate over which decisions get looked at, what angle they looked from. And it will still be the same referees looking at the screens, so if you think they favour the Old Firm, chances are they'll favour the Old Firm in what they choose to look closer at...

Brian Martin is better than Johansen and he's 59 now. Ojala is clearly unfit, I suspect not unusually for him. He looks a quality injury prone player...

I think it's possible. St Johnstone would need to win three games and for us not to pick up a point. The second part of that is entirely believable right now. Not creating chances, not defending properly...

Those saying to get someone else in the summer or to get Lasley to see out the season seem to be under the impression there's no threat of relegation out there. Can see us losing pretty much every game from now til the end of the season. Could St Johnstone win three games? They'll have one against us so that's a gimme. Two wins they need out of the other seven games... Real danger of us going down this season...

We're in a relegation battle that we're ill equipped for. Can easily see us finishing in the relegation playoff spot. And I wouldn't fancy us to get a result in those playoffs...

Only a matter of time before we're looking for a new manager. He's not turning this around....

McGinlay and Roberts not on the bench, assuming they are injured. Mugabi is suspended. That's the only three changes from last week. So you can't actually accuse him of chopping and changing this week.. Whether he should have stuck.with most of the team from last week is a different question...