ThankCrunchie

The role that Caldwell played against Australia is one Murdoch had been playing before his injury. Pressley has obviously looked to shift him into a more attacking position, but it's just not effective, especially when Jay Fulton is left behind as the defensive midfielder. Imo, to regain defensive stability but to keep Duffie and Kingsley's attacking prowess, the best option is a three CBs and two WBs system. I think having an extra CB would help steady the defense, give them some security and some covering in moments of danger. Two wingbacks firing crosses into the box may not be the best system to use Taylor to his full potential, but until we sign a midfielder with good long range passing, we won't be able to exploit his excellent movement and perfectly timed runs.

A show of two halves imo. Unsurprisingly, the pre-Ripper stuff was remarkably better than the new stuff. The Ripper Owens and Barlow comeback albums were pish - it all sounds like poor rip-offs of the Something Wicked album - but I haven't heard Dystopia yet so last night was my first hearing. I won't be rushing out to buy it. I've seen Iced Earth with Barlow, Ripper and Block now. Obviously Barlow is the man, but Block is very good and an exponentially better frontman than Ripper. I'm glad they played so much older stuff. Angels Holocaust, I Died for You, Burning Times and Watching Over Me are some of my favourite Iced Earth tracks. If they had thrown in a couple of others like Violate, 1776 or anything off Burnt Offerings I could have overlooked the new pish and the poor mix ( the bass was way too loud and the lead guitar almost inaudible. It took about three songs to get the vocals into the mix as well ) A final note for ending the show early - why Mr. Schaffer, did you first claim illness for your frontman, then go on to say "We're stopping early because we have a more important show tomorrow"? If the first is true, fair enough. But when I saw Y&T two years ago and they were clearly all struggling with flu and had to end the show early they offered everyone present half price entry to their next Glasgow gig and half price on their new album at the merch booth. We got hee haw from Schaffer except a poor attempt at an apology. If it's the second then baws to you Schaffer, you arrogant dick. Despite that, it was an enjoyable evening. Nothing will to Iced Earth's performance at BOA 08 but last night was significantly better than when I saw them with Ripper in 07

I guess the logic is that most of the fans will be either at or en route to Bloodstock. Not for me though, Iced earth are one of a whopping three groups I'd see at BOA . I noticed the doors are 8pm tonight....is there a really late curfew or are Iced Earth planning a short set ( a sort of Bloodstock taster if you will), anyone know?

The match report is a lot more exciting than the actual game was. Sure, our youths play a lot of passing football as do Hamilton's, but most of it is among defenders and holding midfielders. Not a lot of attacking emphasis on show and some youngsters not looking too sharp (mainly Jordan White)

What a difference in Lyle Taylor. I think we've found his forte in his ability to make perfectly timed runs onto balls over the defence. Besides the change in tactics, he also worked a lot harder tonight as did the rest of the team. The first ten minutes or so were brilliant. Absolutely fantastic football, probably some of the best I've ever seen. Shame the rest of the match didn't play out to the same standard. Smith looked better tonight as well, but really there was no major failures or concerns in the team.

I actually thought Kingsley was the best defender we had today. Duffie was well off the pace and both Smith and Flynn look like absolute bombscares. The first half we were lucky to go in with even a slight chance of getting something from the game, but in typical Pressley style started the second half better, probably because the innefectual McGrandles was replaced. I felt we really came into the game then and controlled it for a ten minute period or so, during which our useless defence conceded two goals which I think was harsh given the balance of play at that point. But then Falkirk seemed to give up the ghost and just lie back and accept their humping. In the end seven was very flattering on us, as was our goal tally of three. We really did ourselves no favours today. What a terrible representative we were for Division One. What impression is this going to give of the standard of our league and players? A Middlesbrough fan I know says Falkirk are of pub team standard based on that showing. Unfortunately, he's probably right A special note for the Falkirk fans who applauded Boro's second goal. I understand that sometimes you just have to stand back and applaud truly spectacular goals, but to applaud one that was so easily preventable and solely down to incompetent defending seems wrong. Unless you were applauding its comedy value, in which case it was fully deserved. The "You score one, we score two" mantra will have to be revisied this season to "you score four, we score five" Lyle Taylor will have to be in fine form this season with our defence...

Decent band. I haven't heard anything off "Nine" but this remains one of my favourite songs ever, and certainly CM's best in my opinion. Shame the rest of Isolate wasn't really up to this standard. Stellar vocal work, and I'm actually quite surprised Tony Karevik of Seventh Wonder got the Kamelot job ahead of Michael Eriksen of Circus Maximus

He was impressive at Fraserburgh. Really good movement, good positioning, always looking to get involved and I was very impressed by his workrate considering it was a pointless friendly with nothing at stake. He played a lot of different roles - left winger, striker, second striker and central midfielder and looked at least competent in every position. He links up well with Haworth and the full backs. Like I said earlier, I am convinced he'll be a good signing. I wish could contribute to the Rangers discussion but everything's been said already. It's disappointing we haven't heard any confirmation of how we voted, either yes or no. The length of time that has elapsed, with other communications from the club about trivial matters taking precedence fill me with dread that we did indeed vote "yes" to Newco in Division One. I was told by someone with boardroom connections that they are of the opinion Falkirk voted "No" based on their communications with Martin Ritchie and others, however, they have no official confirmation of a yes or no vote...so disregard this sentence, it's virtually worthless.

No he hasn't. Yesterday was Taylor's first goal and it was a six yard tap in. His only other contribution of note was his excellent movement that helped create the first goal By staying deliberately offside when a ball was played through it caused confusion and let Leahy run onto it and strike it. Leahy looked a lot livlier and was always hungry for the ball. I have confidence he'll be a good signing. Kingsley and Duffie were the real stars of the show, they were excellent. I thought we looked a lot sharper when we were playing the youngsters and some of the football they played was simply magnificent. We have to factor in we were playing a bunch of Trawlermen, but they were impressive none the less. I'm a bit worried about the centre backs as their display wasn't exactly confidence boosting and Jordan White was a pile of Jordan White. Overall a good display, but probably not a satisfactory game on which to judge expectations.

Overheard Lyle talking about his two year deal in Fraserburgh today. I assume he's not talking pish.

Also looks like "Trialist B" Luke Leahy has signed : https://twitter.com/Lukeleahy/status/223872393217712128

I saw Mitchell's best (only) asset as being his versatility. He can play (badly) in midfield or in defence so could be a decent option on the bench (for a Junior side, that's about his level) He's also in possession of a "guid injin" and can run a lot. And he scored against Ajax.

Anyone have any information about the trialists?

He can, as can Chris Smith. Ask County and Morton fans how that turned out. No surprise that Compton is away. I thought he was actually quite a good player and was one of the best wingers in division one on his day. But he seemed a bit of a moany wee turd in the Wullie Gibson mould and to question the manager is unacceptable (even though he was probably right if indeed he had a rant against Pressley's tactics) .

With what we have available, yes. However, I don't think he performs the lone striker role effectively, being better employed as a winger or part of a front two/three where he can link up with others and use his pace to exploit through balls and balls over the defence (see first league game against Dundee and first league game against Morton for examples) To be honest, I'm splitting hairs when you consider the alternative is Jordan White

I see that Chris Smith has been allocated the unofficial squad number of 6. Does this indicate a move to the tactics seen on the last day of the season : Three centre backs and two attacking wingbacks Or am I just looking to much into this?

Interesting. He's had 12 caps for India according to his Wiki page. However, it also claims he's under contract with East Bengal for another year.

One is famous Facebook flop Ashley-Paul Robinson who's pus can be seen here. I'd imagine Luke Leahy and the French trialist who was invited back are also there, but not necessarily.

The wording of the article implied to me that Flynn and Twaddle alone took up some 30% of the budget that was left after Olejnik, McLean, O'Brien et al. were released. Could be wrong, or probably am wrong.

Not entirely true. (Inb4Marshmallo) I rated him last season, although believed he was being used out of position. Both Marshmallo and Hero of the Day were prominent Higgy defenders, and plenty on One F rated him too, although the vast majority of them were the happy clapped type who rated duds like Mitchell. Even at Rochdale, he was rated. There was a Facebook group named "Keep Kallum Higginbotham" and then Rochdale manager Keith Hill has since signed him on loan for Barnsley.

An excellent moment in what was otherwise quite a dull day. The only other highlight that day was Edguy's spectacular performance with Markus Grosskopf, easily the best festival performance I've ever seen

I thought he was best used as a forward. His first touch was excellent and he made plenty of intelligent runs in the 20-odd minutes he played up front. He would probably be a very good midfielder due to his physical presence and he's proven himself a competent defender. With a small squad like ours, we'll need players like Bennett who can play multiple positions.

Truly excellent news. Especially considering that he rejected the dizzy heights of the SPL for our humble selves. How often is it these days you hear of people turning down better money and a better league to get first team football?

Alston has really improved recently, and was excellent as a wing back. It's strange, at the start of the season he gave the impression of a central midfielder who looked slightly awkward out wide, but now he looks very assured on the wing. He's also looked dangerous playing centrally. I'm looking forward to seeing him in either role next season.

Tam's a decent defender for this level, but seems wasted at left back. His crossing is quite poor and he's slower than a week in the jail, which is a severe disadvantage with the way Elvis likes to use his full backs. Perhaps Kris or someone else who's keeping track of assist stats could tell me how many assists Scobbie has this season? I'd be interested to see just how many Scobbie crosses have resulted in goals. I'll wish him the best where ever he goes, he's left us with some . But could you imagine a dream team of Scobbie, O'Brien and McBride at Livi? Here's hoping