Durnford

I would prefer a fit Jacobs ahead of Crawford any day. Jacobs steadies the ship and allows players like Bartley and Pittman to shine further up the pitch. I like Crawford but still see his higher instances of errors as indicative of lack of experience at this level. Also when he plays it seems Bartley in particular needs to drop back which is a massive waste. Savane is an odd one; I thought he was hugely impressive against Alloa; decidedly average against Forfar and frankly a bit flaky when he came on against St Mirren. Maybe its a matter of lack of match practice? Don't know what's happened to Sibbald; he's been on the bench a few times but hardly made an appearance this season.

It would be interesting to know whether the incidents of injury at clubs with artificial pitches is any higher than those with grass more from a point of view that the player play and train on the same pitch and, presumably, get more conditioned to the surface. That being said a lot of sides with grass pitches seem to train or artificial surface so would you really be comparing complete opposites? I must admit that a lot of the reports I've read almost seem to have been created with a preconceived viewpoint and the "evidence" is accumulated to try and prove that point.

Blow-up dolls are no good - one love-bite and they fly out of the window......

To be honest I've seen plenty of shite football irrespective of surface in my 60 years of watching the game. That being said the worst football I've seen recently has been with the English premiership - which isn't to do with the quality of the surface but more with the level of playacting; cheating and general over analytic nature of the hypo-commercial professional game; but then that's probably a different arguement.

Are you sure you have? Quote: "FieldTurf is, in many cases, safer than natural grass when comparing injuries in collegiate men’s soccer."

Just a thought - if injuries happen on grass and AstroTurf (for want of a better description) isn't the answer to play all games on asphalt? Or maybe give up playing football altogether - although there might be a few clubs further down that route than others....

Strange week; really struggling to get excited about this one in spite of the fact that games v the Dons are generally pretty challenging affairs. With both sides suffering so many injuries so early in the season its almost like this is a pre season friendly with experimental sides. Personally I've no idea how this one is going to pan out.

My heart-felt thoughts are with the friends and family of this young man. Very sad news.

....And we can go back to leather footballs with laces which leave an imprint on the forehead and allegedly caused brain damage but that was how the game was meant to be played. These newfangled footballs just don't bounce properly..

And we're not the old firm.....

Yes; that was the game v.s Stirling Albion wasn't it? Keaghan and Kyle played for us and Devon was for Albion. On several occasions the referee looked like he was going to produce a card only to change his mind when he saw the boys joking about.

Think the squad is 26 excluding loans but including Gary Maley. However if you take into account long term injuries to Odffin; Miller; and maybe Robinson it brings us down to a potential first team squad of 22. Five injuries and we cant put out a full squad and seven subs.

Very strange - can't fathom that one at all if its correct. I thought he did okay pre season and indeed the sounds from the club were that he had a future with us. All I can guess is that there's something else in the pipeline. At the moment we're starting to look fairly threadbare.

Its been a really strange start to the season, of several of the teams I've seem already, they still seem to be on holiday mode. Generally the overall standard has been that much lower than this time last season; several teams have been pretty poor compared to how I expected them to be. The one exception there was St. Mirren who were marginally better but that's only because I was measuring them on their performance this time last year. Going forward I think squad depth is going to be quite telling. Currently I feel we have one of the smallest squads in the league (with the possible exception of Hamilton) so keeping players fit and injury free will be really key. Obviously other sides that may have started quite poorly (e.g. Hearts and Hibs) won't have that restriction and, even if it did get to be a problem, have a fat wallet come the winter transfer window. At the moment I want us to get as many points on the board as possible to help cushion the impact of injuries later on.

Personally I'd doubt it but I've been wrong more times than I've been right about Livi transfers so who knows. His main contribution last season was in the Colts and reserves; this season he made a short appearance in the pre season friendly against Alloa and actually did pretty well. He'd put on weight and was a lot more physical than before hence the need to get him out for some quality game time to see if he continues to develop. I think he joined us from Falkirk at about the same time as Sibbald which probably means he joined shortly after Hopkins had left us but he would have seen the boy playing at Falkirk so presumably could make up his own mind. As far as Van Scheik was concerned he looked okay in the couple of minutes he came on in our draw against Celtic but he didn't make an appearance again for us. He went out on loan to Dunbarton but I believe the fans there weren't overly impressed. There are stories that he's been carrying a serious (career ending) injury for some time but I'm not sure how accurate that actually is or was.

Incidentally has anyone else noticed that the Friday Night Football on BBC Scotland seems like the Livingston Old Boys reunion. I think in the Morton v Partick game I counted eight ex-player (including one (two if you count Miller) managers) . At the ICT I think is was slightly less because Blues wasn't playing but still a pretty impressive turn out including the much travelled White; Donaldson and Toddy.

Recognise the name but otherwise cant remember anything about him. Three years ago? Were we in Division 1?

Hopkins is still remembers with great affection by the Crystal Palace faithful - I was drinking with one on Saturday night - an old School friend whom I hadn't seen for more than thirty years and e still remembers Hopkins and his time at Selhurst Park. Connection are very useful things; it gives you a greater chance of getting past the proverbial receptionist and actually managing to get to speak to someone with a bit more authority. Once through of course it doesn't mean your going to get a better deal than anyone else but least ways the club will have dozens of player who are probably not currently going to get a chance at even breaking into the reserves so who knows.

See Lawson's been on international duty with Togo apparently for the world cup qualifier with Comoros (I had to google that one - a group of three small islands in the Mozambique channel).

Almost certainly will win the August player of the month in my opinion. No chance he's moving unless for a bumper amount of money which I doubt Killie have at the moment.

Said we got them not that they were any good although I do recall one doing somersaults at Ibrox (Sekajja?) Pretty sure we had another one but I'm not sure if they ever made a proper appearance.

Both Souda and Stobbs can play as strikers although its a shame that we have Hamilton and De Vita out on loan at the moment. Not sure if our finances will stretch to taking anyone else in. Despite our recent success we haven't notices a particular uptake on ticket sates beyond the current norm of about 1500 - 1600 in the home end. True, we are likely to see a significant increase in away supporters travelling to our ground but we cant rely on that. St Mirren brought a respectable 850 travelling but expect the likes of Hamilton and Ross County to struggle; certainly unless they up their game. We've built our recently success on prudent financial planning and don't want to see that go; as such the only real option is a loan deal where the parent club continues to pay most of the players wages. With Hoppy in charge we managed a couple of those off Crystal Palace; not sure what contacts Holt has in that regards.

Think the squad is too small to allow player to leave at this late stage to be honest. Both Sibbald and Lawson will get their chance; replacing Pittman will only happen as a result of injury but all other midfield roles are up for the taking. Both upped their game last season and could do so again. We're obviously hoping Stobbs fitness will improve rapidly and we have the option to extend his loan if so but he seems too "route-one" for our creative midfield and will probably be up got one of the congested winger roles. Hamilton is out on loan until the winter but I'm not sure if he'd really fit in with the new look attack. Blues also showed some promise in the friendlies but again its too soon for him. I actually liked what I saw of Savane and Pepe but that was generally against lower league opposition; against premiership sides I suspect both with struggle at the moment unless they can really up their game to the speed of Scottish Premiership level. Playing three central defenders and two wing-backs might help to plug the gaps in the defence but at the cost of midfield. Later on in the season though it may become necessary as shortages start to bite.

Nice piece; thanks

Sounds like a career-ender if this is correct. A real shame for someone so young