smpar

Christ. I didn’t think calling Morton our bogey team would be controversial, but here we are. For anyone who wanted my definition, I’d say it’s any team who isn’t much bigger than your club but you have a shite record against them. For us, that’ll be anyone smaller than the old firm, hearts Hibs and Aberdeen. Anyone outside that, we should have at least a fairly balanced record but against Morton, particularly at Cappielow in recent years, our record is honking, making them somewhat a bogey team for us.

Dow and Kennedy would both fit in well in that front three I’d imagine. Mehmet/OFW/Currid MacDonald/Fenton(?) Comrie Watson/Breen Graham/Gaspuitis Edwards/Martin Thomas/Dorrans/Pybus/Todd Wilson/Cole/Allan/ Wighton/Dow Todorov O’Hara/Kennedy/McCann If Dorrans signs, that’s how we’ll look for depth in each position in a 5-2-3. Looking a lot better than it did 7-10 days ago. We have an abundance of attacking options when all are fit so it’ll be interesting to see how the shape changes depending on who’s playing. We still don’t know how Dow would play in that shape, or if Wilson will cope with just one other midfielder etc. It only takes a couple of injuries/suspensions before we’re left with Pybus and Allan or Todd in the middle which could leave us very vulnerable. I’d like to see Thomas get a shot in that front three as well.

I rated Shiels quite highly when he was with us. He was less effective during the second half of the season but then again the majority of the squad were like that.

If we’d signed Billy King and played him against Stenny then Nat, King and Cole would all have been on the pitch on Saturday.

Heard they barely scraped a win today while we won comfortably this weekend. Shouldn’t be too difficult.

f**k sake man.

Got a sickening feeling we’re getting Rangers away.

It’ll suit us if Morton come and have a go, there’s a lot of pace and energy with our wingbacks and 3 forwards, and a bit of creativity from Thomas in the middle. Our wingbacks will cause teams problems this season, and it suits them to get a bit of space in between fullbacks and centre halves. I think teams will get more joy from sitting and deep and limiting our options. Can’t be arsed with a stream again so there’s little chance that I’ll see it.

Cole had a couple of heavy first touches but other than that he had decent energy and looked comfortable on the ball. Kennedy looked sharp, nice change of pace and keen to take a player on. Pybus was fairly anonymous when he came on, Todd and Allan were much the same.

We haven’t exactly made a barrel load of chances so being 3-0 at half time is good going. We look like a well-organised, coherent side, without having to get out of second gear. Stenny, however, have been poor. Individually there are some neat and tidy players but they don’t really look like they’ve played together before. Don’t think I’ve seen so many misplaced passes from one team before. Expect Kennedy and Pybus to come on before the hour mark, interested to see how they fit into this system.

Ear-to-ear grin being back at EEP. What a fucking feeling.

No reason why a screenshot wouldn’t work unless the image blurs or loses quality when you send it. I’m going with the old boy and the tickets are on my phone so I’ll be passing it through the turnstile.

I really hope it does all go to plan - no reason why it shouldn’t. Interestingly, I see Rangers have somewhat promised their fans a full house for their first(?) European game of the season, with only the Scottish Government in their way if the road map is altered, giving them a good “the SNP is anti-Rangers” platform if there are changes.

Really can’t be arsed Googling different dates and potential caveats or changes to the level system but the 9th august is the next planned change on Covid restrictions, including no limitations on football attendances, so are we looking at a full house for the Rovers game at San Starko for the first game without restrictions?

Aye, I'm surprised he's got a half decent gig up here. He's young, though, and I'm not surprised some club has taken a chance on him - not exactly going to cost a lot is he?

Pleased with that considering 920 were sold for the Dumbarton game on the morning of the game.

Wasn’t that when Cammy Gill played? Not that it was a poor free kick but it should never have gone in IIRC.

I presume we’re at a 2000 max capacity for Saturday? I wonder how many tickets sold today.

I was buzzing with Nisbet and Dom Thomas.

Where do you get your information?

Did he even do that much?

Don’t know what shapes suit him better, but if we’re playing 3 up front then he could be one of the wider forwards rather than being a midfielder or wingback (surely not?) If central midfielders come in then Thomas and Kennedy might be a preferred choice of wingers with one forward? Though it would seem wasteful to have three of Wighton, O’Hara or Todorov on the bench unless we’re going for a more counter-attacking style against one of the bigger teams.* Grant has been pretty adamant about playing a system that suits the players, so hopefully that means we’ll very rarely see players wasted by being played out of position. Injuries and suspensions are an exception to that, of course. *This has me thinking. A 4-3-3 could be interesting with this squad. We’re well sorted for defenders, and a midfield 3 of Thomas, Kennedy and Wilson, with our three forwards, has potential. It could leave us very open in the middle, but there’s a lot of excitement in that front 6 with Edwards and Comrie pelting it down the wings. A 5-1 win against a weak Dumbarton hasn’t got me overexcited at all, has it?

That’s not strictly true. There was talk of Robbie Muirhead playing for us but I don’t remember that happening.

Kilmarnock - evs Cove Rangers - 9/4 Kelty Hearts - 8/11 Leicester to finish top 6 - 10/11 (was tempted by top 4 at 4/1) Sunderland - 13/2 Salford City - 6/1 1,125/1 Quite fancy swapping in Dunfermline (7/1) and Queen’s Park (5/1) for an each way bet at a fifth for the top 3.

I must say, the potential signings don’t exactly scream title contenders. I’m all for trusting the process and all that, but none of the rumoured signings as well as the ones we’ve brought in, apart from Todorov, are all exceptionally ‘meh’ players.