PauloPerth

We already score the best goals in the country, so I don't see what Coulibaly can add. He'd be exciting, that's for sure, but I seem to remember when he left killie, their fans saying apart from his spectacular goals, he's anonymous in a lot of games, and they were delighted with the deal. Was that not the case? With Spoony and Scougall ball players who may well struggle for consistency, can we carry another enigmatic player? We've looked quite exposed in both our domestic games so far, certainly not as sólid defensively as we've become accustomed to. I haven't seen enough of him to judge, is he be a striker who could get us 15+ goals a season? On the positive side, his goals tally for killie was 8 in 21 and for Ivory Coast under 20's its 14 in 9 matches, which would be acceptable. And he scores overhead kicks and goals from 40 yards.. Let's do it.

Same boat. Would be a great signing

I see your hint there Templar, the capital R is a giveaway. .. we're bringing Ian Rush out of retirement aren't we?

I originally wanted Trakai to make the group stages to dispel the myth that we were knocked out by a poor team. Now I don't care, I just want Maksimov to return to his spiritual home at McDiarmid Park. What a signing this could be....

Could anyone just rock up and park their 3 wheel motor at the side of the park, or did you have to book in advance? Used to see it at Celtic park on scotsport in the 80's and never thought anything of it.. but now, when you think about it, it's a bit fucking weird.

Ok cheers. Here's the link https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UyNhsFWj7Qs

Don't do it TRS unless he reveals the mystery target....

I get Levein isn't popular with Hearts fans due to his involvement in the whole Cathro episode etc, but I think he might well be their best bet at this stage. Its very late on for a new manager to get to know his squad and best team. Most decent managers will be under contract and money is an issue. Hearts have a top 6 squad of experienced pros who just need disciplined and organised. Levein for one season might not be thrilling, but he'd steady the ship and you'd know relegation would never be an issue under him. Give an opportunity to take time over the right appointment. Abuse incoming in 3 2 1 ....

* Mackay in bold and Colin McCredie (sp?)

You realise even more how absolute class Steven fucking Maclean is with his back to goal after today. We take it for granted, but it's a difficult art to perfect... and you realise how good he is at it when you see Kane and Cummins trying to play that way today. Though to be fair the ball did seem to get stuck on that pitch quite a lot. There may be more talented finishers, or players better at making runs, but I don't think there's many strikers, if any, better at hold up play in Scottish football right now.

One other team in the running as well apparently, be amazed if we pull this one off to be honest, surely out of our price bracket! Nonetheless, exciting times..

Just back from his summer holiday... in Iceland??!!

* our strongest team

Delighted to see O'Halloran back. Spoony is looking good this pre-season, will be like a third new jewel in itself if he's balling as hes capable. Our squad looks brilliant going into this season, and if we did add another striker.... champions of Europe 2019 you would imagine. My only two very minor concerns are that we may well start the season a bit slowly; our pre-season has been disjointed due to Europe, and others have been playing competitive league cup games so might have a slight edge on us. The other is the size of our squad! We had two starting premiership quality teams today, that's without Kerr, S Maclean, McLean, Watson and two playing for east fife. There are so many options hopefully the temptation to constantly change things isn't too great, and we quickly settle on out strongest team. Expect Watson to be moved on, Kerr and one of Gilchrist or Gordon, and possibly Thomson to be loaned out. As mentioned, they are two very minor concerns, far rather have too many options than the opposite scenario. Looking forward to this season a lot, and hopefully a good few more locals are tempted along to back the club after this summer's dealings.

Why is Liam Gordon warming up with east fife and in their strip though? has he been loaned there and I missed it???

Yes!!!!!

Have to say I'll be a bit gutted if we net catch land Sammon. His goalscoring record isn't that outstanding, Hearts and killie fans are keen to see the back of him, and whilst I haven't seen that much of him, what I have seen I thought he was just a big carthorse. It also makes me fear for the way we're going to play this season. Surely we're going to try to play a bit more football than last term. When watching Habran play and seeing the reaction he got from the Saints fans, even after an average performance, it must be obvious to the chairman and manager that we're desperate for something a wee bit different, with a bit of flair.

TheReturnOfAdamMorgan:UnfinishedBusiness

I know, I'm just trying to prepare myself for the worst here...

Sammon and MacDonald are horrendous prospects. I really hope not. Others I wondered it might be were Brian Graham and Stockley at Aberdeen. I have no idea but I think Sammon is the likeliest. Please God no.....

Cifti?

Yes that's fair enough

Interested to hear what people are looking for in a trialist? I can't remember the last time I watched any for us so not really sure. I thought he fitted in well, and didn't look out of place. He looked lively up front and offered something different from our other options. He occupied defenders to the point where I felt Maclean was getting far more space to do his thing, and Macca was looking really good. As a team, I thought we were better in the first half yesterday when he was playing up front, and I also thought we became more of a threat again in the second half v Sunderland when he and O'Reilly were introduced, as after HT up until that point it was more Sunderland on the ball. He is two footed, can turn and can run with the ball. He constantly looks to get on the ball. On the flip side, he doesn't challenge for headers and seems to prefer to drop off and look for the ball, rather than make runs in behind to stretch a defence. He also didn't seem to manage to get away from full backs a couple of times when he knocked it past and ran at them. That might be simply because he was up against a quick opponent though. He obviously needs disciplined on what his role will be, but that can be done. If his demands are not unreasonable, and we don't have other options, then I hope we sign him. .

Agree with all of this. Just shows it's all about opinions! I thought Ando was very competitive and for a first game back did fine. Our centre backs looked comfortable all game. In terms of his passing, I didn't think it was that much worse than usual. Compared to Gordon, most of our centre backs are going to look pretty average on the ball.

I hope we're signing him as a striker, because our wide he didn't bring anymore than our current midfielders offer. Thought our 4-5-1 in the second half was a bit unexciting, and maybe just to match up with them and protect our lead. If it was a competitive match I would understand it, but didn't think it was that necessary in a friendly, especially as we'd done okay 4-4-2 first half. Thought it might mean Scougall more central pushing on but didn't end up that way.