AitchisonJag

Now you’ve said it, you’re going to have to name them.

Exactly. Considering the limited market we’re going to be operating in, getting a very decent replacement for Cerny in such short time is brilliant.

Premiership experience and been to the play-off finals twice, proving himself to be a solid Championship ‘keeper and only 31 which is nowhere near too old. Overall happy with that.

Still excited about the season though. We’ll see if that’s still the case after a couple of more signings.

Wouldn’t mind Gaston. Morton’s defence was actually pretty good statistically last season (any Morton fans could give us a better insight). He might not be good enough to make the step up if we were to go up but could definitely do a job for us. Also, him being familiar with O’Ware could be useful since our defence is changing so drastically.

Totally forgot that Penrice will be taking set pieces next season [emoji7] dreamland

Sensational patter

Why?

Centre half is the most obvious spot and I reckon Archie will bring in a loan player. In midfield, I think we’ll only sign someone if Banzo has another setback.

You’re right, that wouldn’t work. Doolan and Sammon has potential as a partnership so we’d have to drop one of the four midfielders but I don’t know who that would be. Woods has been very good and if he could get through ninety minutes I’d be starting him. Osman must start when fit so it’s between Edwards and Spittal. Spittal is much more creative but Edwards deserves a run at number ten after so long in sitting midfield. These are the decisions that Archie gets paid to make I suppose.

In my opinion, Edwards has improved as a footballer this season. His passing has got slowly better and I think his decision making has improved. However, because he’s been playing as one of two rather than three, he’s not had a chance to show it. One of the reasons that I feel we were so good against Motherwell in the first half is because Woods cane into the team allowing Ryan to push up a bit more. As such he got his goal and made the run which gave Sammon the space to score from. Obviously, he’s had some stinkers this season but so has the entire team and I hope he gets to play more in that three now we have Abdul back. Anyway, Archie has some really big decisions to make about his best XI all of a sudden. He’ll have to pick five players out of: Woods, Osman, Edwards, McCarthy, Spittal, Erskine, Lawless, Sammon, Doolan and Storey. I reckon we should be going with Sammon and Doolan up top with Spittal, Edwards, Woods and Osman as the starting midfield though it’s harsh to leave McCarthy out after doing a great job against the top two teams in the league and then putting in a top sub performance in a crucial match. Also, considering how we’ve relied heavily on attacking full backs and wing backs since Archie has been in charge you would imagine that a fit Dumbuya would come straight back into the team which I think would be a bit tough on McGinn who I reckon has been one of our better players, or less regularly dreadful.

Deal’s up in the summer.

Aye but Archie said Penrice was only playing centre half to plug the gap. He didn’t want to risk Niall since Danny is suspended for a couple of league games. He may have toughened up while at Livi but he’d get bullied if he started at centre half in the Premiership. I agree that a signing would be situational. If there’s a left sided player available I could see us making a move but with the extra coverage from midfield in Osman, we could cope with what we have.

At centre-half? Probably, to be fair.

Penrice played left back at Livi and played centre-half at Airdrie in a two alongside Devine because Barton was needed in midfield because Osman was out and Bannigan was rested due to the turf. Barton hasn't been played as part of a back three yet this season and that's probably where he'll be most useful. However, as everyone has mentioned our lack of centre-miss has meant he's been in the middle. McCarthy has had a very stop start season with development suspensions and little injuries meaning that he's not really match fit. Personally, I'd put Woods in and move Barton back tonight. Having not played much football in months and months I'd hope he'd have some hunger which we've been majorly lacking. Also, Barton pretty good in the air which should help us combat any long balls Motherwell use since as far as I k ow they only have Bowman with Fisher and Moult out. As an aside, if Barton was to drop back, who would you drop?