Coventry Saint

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/in-your-area/renfrewshire/jim-goodwin-warns-jamie-mcgrath-24569220 From 19th July. Interesting to see how this pans out.

18 fouls and one yellow card. Thank goodness the crowds are back, eh? (Not saying it affects the outcome, obviously.)

He was incredible last season; not sure what happened at the weekend. It's not the first time a Rangers-minded keeper has let in 5+ goals for us against Celtic, of course.

Last season I had an enjoyable break away from my default position of basically praying at least one team would be shitter than us. Can't say it's good to be back.

Think back to when Ross had just taken over, or when Kearney was in post. Our league position said we were shite, and nobody could understand why our fans seemed (mostly) happy with the way things were going. But in both situations, we could see an improvement in attitude, application and overall performances. I've got to be honest, this doesn't feel like that. This feels like a team that's been unable to score with any regularity for many, many months, and with a few key players who are after a move. This feels like a team being made to persist with frankly baffling tactics. I challenge anyone to honestly say this feels like a team that's heading in the right direction. Just not getting that vibe from the players or their performances. Obviously Alnwick has had a mare today, and previously may have kept that down to 3/4, but we can't blame him given he was on the wrong end of a turkey shoot today.

Yeah, red card and shit decisions or not, we were getting hammered today.

Should have got ourselves a few more positive tests and requested a 3-0 defeat.

We look completely hapless. I'm turning it off. Can't be arsed with the misery this afternoon.

FFS, Power. Red card all day long that, and it was a completely needless challenge. Fucking w**k.

Or might just be a 4 with Fraser and Tanser at FB with 5 in midfield I think it's a 3-6-1, a bit like the last time out at Parkhead. McGrath and Kiltie behind Main, Power and Erhahon sitting in, Flynn and Tanser at Wingback. It's about as congested as we can possibly make it. Could be a long old afternoon.

I'm mostly against VAR, but goalline tech has been seamlessly integrated in other leagues and it feels like a bare minimum for a top flight league (I realise this was a cup game...) in 2021.

Nah, that's not for me. Surely if that happened you'd always end up with tonnes of St Johnstone fans invading threads that have nothing to do with their team.

Bloody hell. Good job there's been so much distancing in that main stand

Sorry, I was being facetious, based on Jim's claims that we wouldn't entertain late bids that wouldn't give us time to replace him.

Genuine question, Can it be a PCA? Is he not a Aberdeen player until end of 22/23 season? Plot thickens. And the clock continues to count down. 12 days now till the window closes. I'm assuming we're now keeping McGrath.

Have Aberdeen pulled the plug because of their injuries, perhaps?

Bahoken is a fantastic shout. Totally forgot about him/his development since leaving us. I'd have to squeeze Mooy in, I think, so I'd go: ---------------- Hladky --------------- McGinn - McLoughlin - Famewo - Dummett ----------- Mclean - McGinn ------------ ------- Morgan - Mooy - Durmus -------- --------------- Bahoken --------------- Probably a case of when, not if, that team's winning the league, tbh. I'd drop Sadlier in favour of Mallan, and I'd find room on the bench for Graham Carey, too. Still only 32 and you never know when that left foot's coming in handy.

I feel like he tried 4-3-3 once and binned it, but he did so with Lee Erwin in the wide left position. Per my post up the page, I reckon Brophy could do that pretty well - he seems better coming into the box and does most the chasing around in the channels anyway. Trick would be to make sure people are getting onto Main's knockdowns

He was genuinely on my shortlist but there were better players I'd forgotten about. I know you released him; was he not good, then? Thought he'd stroll the Championship.

As long as they're not out of place. No putting Lewis Morgan in at left back, for example.

Inspired by my own ramblings on the St Mirren thread, what is the best XI/squad you can assemble based on your team's former players? Rules: They must have played at least one first team game for you. They must still be playing, and you're picking them on current age/form (ie if they're 42 and still playing in the juniors, you're getting the 42-year-old version). You've got to make an effort at picking them in their correct positions (sadly for St Mirren fans you can't pick 11 midfielders*). * Seriously, we have genuine class in the middle of the park, and f**k all else around the rest of the team. This will not be a balanced team.

Let's not forget that Goodwin has played McGrath at LWB on more than one occasion, so he's clearly not averse to basically jamming anyone into his preferred formation. Assuming McGrath is still leaving, I'd roll the dice and try this (not on Saturday, too soon): Tait/Fraser - Shaughnessy - McCarthy - Tanser ------Kiltie ------ Power ------- Erhahon --Kennedy ------- Main ------- Brophy Full backs provide the width (which they're doing anyway); Brophy, Kennedy and the midfielders tasked with getting closer to Main.

Jim said none of the injuries were that bad, I think.

Two weeks today until the window closes. I'd say this is about the outer limit for us being able to identify replacement players, as Jim mentioned we would need to be able to if McCarthy, McGrath or Erhahon were away. He also mentioned us not being taken for a ride and basically not accepting late bids. I suspect the 'no late bids' thing was all talk and as usual we're about to get utterly ridden in the transfer market. Edit: St Johnstone are having difficulties getting the requisite paperwork through for a European player. This puts HUGE extra value on our UK/Irish players. I hope that is being taken into consideration.