GaryMc93

Apparently got an ankle injury according to a match preview from the weekend.

Winner of John Millman v Emilio Nava which has just gone into a 4th set

On paper Francisco Cerundolo 1st round is a favourable draw for Murray.

I'm not sure that's true or you've been generous to McCall. Ecrepont made two sub appearances under him. Debut was about 1 minute in the Dundee United demolition and he probably never touched the ball and the second was Wrexham away Muirhead started at LB ahead of him only for him to go off injured after 15 minutes, otherwise I doubt he'd have got more than 10 minutes in that one. His development has stalled/suffered for a number of reasons such as us winning the league in 17/18 as he'd have probably have played more in L1 the following season, our lack of progression in the Challenge Cup in the the last 3/4 season and no reserve football. However not sure Kerr could have done much more when Harvie was ever present and then the following season he let him go on loan to play regularly (where he didn't exactly standout).

Lyness actually played one game for us 12 years ago, not that many of us would have been at that particular game.

Imagine he's on a decent wage too since it was a 2 yr deal where as Albinson arrived from Warrington Town although not sure who needs a GK. Only August but would be surprised if either are here next season unless Albinson is happy being backup again as I'm not 100% convinced by either.

https://www.iancairnsmedia.co.uk/p633290444 - From these photos it looked like starting line-up was McAdams, Houston, Kirk, Bilham, Ecrepont, Hewitt, Moffat, Smith, Lawson, Guthrie, Bryden. Looks like quite a few youngsters were on by the time most of the goals went in although McAdams even looks bad in these photos and the Go-Pro confirms it.

Now onto Montreal where Andy's been drawn against Taylor Fritz. Also Raducanu with back to back wins this week for the first time since 1st May. Last time she won 3 in a row was the US Open last year although hopefully not for long as her next match is starting soon.

I know DJ the fitness coach said Reid and McKenzie felt stabbed in the back by him so probably some truth in it. Maybe would be a bad idea as Roberts did seem to fall out with even mild mannered guys like Crawford although he did hate our rat of a RB so that goes in the + column.

I think he would have suited the role Scally had as a link between the players and the manager and I'm sure Devlin had spoke about him being a good coach. The issues were his management with his one tactic being give it to Moff and once he left that final season was only ending one way. Sermed to fall out the half the team and the return of Scott McLaughlin showed he learnt nothing from his 1st season where he brought in ex team mates who clearly had no respect for him as a manager and still seen him as the dressing room joker. However considering what he did as a player for us it's a shame that he previously spoke about not feeling like he could return to watch a game at Somerset. Suppose we'll always have that Motherwell game.

Going by our match preview it seems stupid if we open a ticket office then state so boldly that we won't sell tickets at the ground to away fans. Plenty other clubs are able to do it so curious what our reasons are if that is correct as from the outside it comes across as being off putting and difficult for no reason.

Main issue for me is that after 5 friendlies and another 4 'friendly' cup games it doesn't feel like we've settled on a formation that works or that Bullen knows his best team. While we probably need a better RB, an attacking CM and a poacher type forward regardless, which of those is the biggest area of concern varies depending on the formation with 5-3-2, 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 all highlighting different issues. Maybe worth taking a risk of letting someone with proven quality use us to put themself in the January shop window and see what happens. In September 2017 we signed a striker on a short term deal to January and he didn't turn out too badly.

No doubting Bryden's potential and based on current squad ability he probably deserves his chance at the minute ideally alongside Dipo, as he could get lost playing as a lone striker. Only concern with him for me is his discipline. Minus injury time he's played 484 in his Ayr career and been booked 6 times which works out at a card ever 80 minutes, and people thought Muirhead was bad. Maybe just the type of player he is but part of me thinks it's the fan in him that wants to show he cares but better ways to do it than flying into challenges and walking a tightrope the rest of the game.

Suspended along with Reading

With Reading suspended for Saturday hopefully Ecrepont gets a chance and Bullen doesn't try anything daft like McGinty at LB. Shame after his goal that Bryden is suspended too. Might as well throw Guthrie and Viviani on the bench and see if either of them have a spark about them.

Thought so, I imagine a few players will have RSI given how much they were signing. Most seemed happy to engage with the kids which was nice to see. On a whole I think times like today you can feel proud to support your local team or not be a glory hunter. Just need the results to follow.

Gladiator: Benn V Eubank https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrH6BrUmK5M

No idea if you can make out the signature but Lyndsey Whiteside wore number 7 last season. Going by the pictures the rest of the ladies team were all wearing their numbers from last season.

Attacking wise he's limited but his game is more high tempo and pressing the opposition to try and win it back and putting his foot in which we didn't have last season before he arrived. Issue is it's difficult to press in a 5-2-3 as if the opposition can beat it or bypass it then it leaves the defence exposed. For me every issue can be related back to the formation.

That's good to hear. Not that we've had many performances worth watching again in recent seasons but the ease of logging onto Youtube in the morning and knowing 9 times out of 10 the highlights were up and being able to watch through the TV was far better and easier than the set up last year.

Reminds me of the L1 version of Michael Rose. Comfortable on the ball but needs to learn when to not overplay and probably still a bit to learn about the physical battles he’ll get up here. Made one of / the main error(s) for the first goal but looked like he just slipped although hard to say for definite without another look at it however lucky for Bullen we don't seem to be doing highlights.

For me the weakness is not trying something different and failing, it's being too stubborn to accept it doesn't work and ending up trying to force it and making like for like changes instead of accepting defeat and changing it. Hard to believe we've worked on that pre-season as the players are clearly struggling and once we went 2-0 down we looked desperate and had no real patterns of play. Seems to be a risk in over complicating football at the level when 4-4-2 is still as effective as all these other formations if you have the right players. The consistent issue between Saturday and tonight is with the back 5 and McGinty having to play wide as he's forced to cover when Reading goes forward. It risks undoing all the good he did in the 2nd half of last season as he's more exposed due to not being great on the ball and not having the pace to recover when out of position during the defensive transition. At least Saturday has been advertised as an Open Day rather than a Fun Day.

Could be misremembering but I’m sure at the first meet the manager event Bullen said his preferred formation was either a 5-3-2 or 5-4-1 and he wanted to work on it pre-season but he intended to also have 2 or 3 plans for this season. However I’d have thought the failed experiment against St Mirren and Saturday’s performance along with the times we tried it under Hopkin and Duffy would prove it doesn’t suit us but looks like he’s stubbornly going to try and force it to work until we have a heavy defeat.

Did notice today Connor Malley’s left Middlesbrough and is now on trial with Huddersfield’s B team. Technique wise he was the better loan player but Drinan had the work rate where as Malley seemed to go missing or drift through games, not that it was exactly a long spell. Probably the type of player our midfield needs given the lack of goals but looking forward to seeing more of Smith to get more of an idea of what his best midfield role is. Could see us playing a holding midfielder in away games but maybe more of a midfielder in the No.10 role or 2 up top at home.

Stillie no longer to be involved with the first team although may do some academy stuff. Unless I missed it we're still waiting on the full staffing update that the club hinted at when Moff re-signed on the 1st June, although Bullen did suggest at the vision night about increasing Tait's hours.