AMMjag

I'm queasy at having Falkirk on a coupon, but backing against Peterhead and Hartlepool should prove reliable enough most weeks this season.

AZ starting to piss about at walking pace. Disappointing contribution to banter these last 15 minutes.

Yeah there's double figures in this for AZ if they want it.

Hearts to draw Man Utd in the Europa League and take the Banter Years to new levels.

Great to see Nev, Carra and the lads back for the season. Banter between @MicahRichards and Keano should be class!

We're not the most fluid team anyway with Docherty and Bannigan still playing together in the middle, but this was compounded with having no right back and Milne having a bit of a shiter as the game wore on. We might have to rotate Milne a fair bit as on the evidence of the second half he was gubbed, glued to his position and not offering enough runs. Having a variety of attacking options is still a vast improvement on the end of last season, when the game would have been finished after the first goal. I think Dowds would have been the best one to use here and after the equaliser would have been the perfect time to bring him on.

Fletcher has been outstanding, I think his presence and link up play is the difference between United being able to compete going forward as opposed to being camped behind the ball most of the match. He's also the exact type of player Middleton has desperately needed to play next to for about the last five years.

Strong Doonfermline vibes off of Dundee atm. Whilst your manager is not Peter Grant, he is nonetheless concerningly specky. Bring in Yogi before it's too late IMO.

I am, quite frankly, shocked that Paul Hartley's seaside league bargain bin XI has fallen to a 4-0 horsing on the opening day.

Ten gingies for Arjen Fitzpatrick is the deal of the window. Get the #strikeforce on and finish this.

Both Burke and McBurnie, or any other forwards at an at least modest level, are only ever a purple patch away from a call up. In recent memory we have capped Kevin Nisbet and Marc McFuckingNulty and our options in backup to Che Adams haven't improved much since.

Seeing us with two shiny new full backs after the last 6 months of McKenna and Foster is like watching 70s Brazil. All future fixtures between these sides should be played at Rugby Park.

Viggo Mortensen

The prevailing feeling from the Ukraine and Ireland games were that we looked poorly prepared and easy to prepare against - we folded like a deck chair when opposition put any sort of pressure on our full backs. The attitude in the latter game especially to have come so soon after the Ukraine result - was a disgrace with players pulling out of tackles all over the place and coming nowhere close to matching Ireland's work-rate out of possession. I'm not sure Clarke can survive another couple of those performances in September. I have some sympathy for him though in that this is still a difficult squad to balance. I imagine Clarke sees the 3/5 at the back as a necessity not just as a way of fitting Tierney and McTominay into the team, but also because there's an absence of credible wingers in the squad pool (having fallen out with Fraser) to give proper balance to a 4-at-the-back formation. You're looking at Barrie Mackay as the next best available to us and it's hard to imagine us being much more effective at either end of the pitch. The problem with any 3-5-2 though is that if any kind of good pass is played between the outside centre back and the wing back then it's hard not to concede. That's how Ireland got their second goal and Ukraine, Denmark, Austria, Czech Republic all put similar goals past us. To mitigate that as best as possible you need a settled, consistent defence and we've never had that under Clarke - partly through injury, partly through tinkering with different players. The best thing he can do now is pick his best central defence and stick to it as far as possible - for me that's Souttar-Cooper-Tierney who started the Denmark game, and ideally Patterson can sort out some regular game time for himself as he is by some distance the best option at RWB and improves us immeasurably going forward, taking some pressure off Robertson aswell. Oh and if a good goalie could appear out of nowhere too then that'd be great.

A masterstroke by UEFA to introduce relegation to international football

A third striker who could feasibly start ahead of Dowds and Graham would be nice, but there are more glaring priorities for us in the transfer window just now. In order, I would say: - A dynamic, attacking centre mid to breathe some much needed life into the Docherty-Bannigan pairing; the Father Stone of central midfield partnerships. - Another winger, preferably right-sided. It's hard to find one at this level who isn't a hopeless sand-dancer, but even an Aiden Fitzpatrick type as a standard example should give some much needed balance and reduce the complete dependence on Tiffoney for a creative outlet in the final third. - A goalkeeper who isn't signed as a back-up to Sneddon, but as a credible contender to replace him as #1. Sneddon had his moments last season but on the whole I'm not convinced he's a keeper that earns us more points than he costs us.

Obviously it's a considerable downgrade in opposition, but everything you'd have wanted to see after last week was on display for most of last night - effective pressing, higher tempo, good ball retention and aggression. We could/should have scored more but it wasn't for lack of trying against a very defensive set-up - we hit the bar/post at least 3 times, had a goal disallowed and forced a very good save as well as the two goals scored. It was as comfortable and well-managed a home win as you'd want to see. This subforum is responsible for some of the most stultifyingly ill-informed opinions I've ever seen, but I'm not sure what more some people were expecting from the team last night.

Every fibre of this silly little country's being screams shitebag. f**k off.

Liverpool are set up to be a consistent outfit that'll overpower weaker teams over 90 minutes, most weeks. They're very good at this, as 3 seasons scoring 90+ points shows. They're rarely as convincing in one-off games against a similar standard of opponent. Madrid had their 'high pressure and chuck the full backs forward' sussed and should have added another couple on the counter. Chelsea would have done the same in the other finals if they weren't playing dross like Mount and Pulisic.

Salah has spent the half sauntering about like a pished Sean Kilgannon.

As long as independence is tied to the fortunes of the SNP, it's always going to be a huge ask to consistently poll at >50% - even if the party wasn't a complete rabble. Watching John Swinney just now putting in a ruinously bald, specky performance in the Scottish Parliament is enough to make you want to see the place dissolved.

I quite like Shaun Maloney, but I'm getting strong 'Steven Pressley football philosopher' vibes off him. Needs a 5 year deal to properly implement his ideas IMO.