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ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds

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Posts posted by ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds

  1. Don’t really care about Saturday’s game much, but if we got to the latter stages of the Challenge Cup I’d start caring, so a win would certainly be nice.

    If McCabe and Telfer are ready to return it’s a good chance for them to get minutes. Good chance to give McMaster and potentially others a rest too. Think Gabby could do with the minutes as I think he’s been struggling. And I think others that haven’t played as much or are newer to the squad like Todorov, O’Connor, Hancock, McStravick could do with the minutes as well. Maybe could have some of the academy boys involved as well if they’re ready for a run out in the seniors but no rush for that. Fellows probably the closest to senior level given his involvement in pre-season.

  2. The addition of McStravick definitely seems to give us plenty of options in midfield when everyone is fit. Three starting places between McCabe, McMaster, Frizzell, McStravick, Telfer, Aiken is good cover, and that’s obviously not including Gavin Gallagher or Dunlop who will probably feature more sporadically. Defensive cover is reasonably fine too. You’d expect the defenders to play the full 90 without much issue and wouldn’t want to rotate that area as much, and between the 5 we have plus the option of McCabe dropping to centre back I don’t expect many issues in that area. I think if we’re adding another player on a free or before the loan window closes it should be at the other end. Gallagher will start most games and that’s fine, with Todorov an option off the bench. McGill will have games like today where he doesn’t do that much, but we know he can be very good when he gets going. Both McGregor and O’Connor are still very raw with their pace being their main attribute. I think both are better suited to coming off the bench to make an impact but at the moment we’re quite reliant on starting at least one of them. I’d like to see us try to bring in someone who can play that wide forward role.

    And before anyone says anything, yes I’m well aware that McGregor played a massive part in both goals against Inverness last week and has had a few decent games so far this season, but he’s still very obviously a downgrade on Smith.

  3. Wasn’t expecting a result today so not disappointed but I’d say we were good enough to have earned a draw. A fairly even match with not too many clear cut chances for either team.

    Really exciting debut from McStravick. Looks a very tidy player and I’m looking forward to seeing more of him. Assume he’ll keep a place in the team so I expect he’ll either be out wide next time or Frizz will be a bit deeper.

  4. 1 hour ago, Passionate said:

    This is what this thread has been about for weeks,  lack of cover in a threadbare squad,  we are either having to play players totally out of position or young laddies who will be recovering mentally from their 7 nil mauling in the reserves on Tuesday forced to man up and take on the League favourites in their own backyard.....   hardly ideal,  we haven't been negative all close season just realistic and to be honest 3 players out is nothing,  teams have to cope and compete with a lot worse injury situation than that..

    Three in the same area is quite a lot to be fair. I do think we could do with a couple of signings but when you have three midfielders out and you usually play three midfielders, you would expect to be down to the bare bones. This isn’t even considering McStravick who should be a midfield option going forward as well, or Gavin Gallagher who might be nowhere near the required ability for all I know but can still be another midfield option. Like everyone else I’m hopeful for a signing or two before the Dundee United game but our three most experienced midfielders being unavailable isn’t “nothing”.

  5. Obviously Frizzell is suspended for Saturday. New signing Gavin Gallagher was sent off for the reserves today which I think (correct me if I’m wrong) means he is also suspended for Saturday, despite the red card happening in a reserves match. Obviously Telfer and McCabe might not be fully fit as both have missed recent games due to injury. McStravick isn’t registered yet as far as I know and we’re still waiting on paperwork to be processed. Who joins McMaster and Aiken in midfield at Tannadice on Saturday if neither McCabe or Telfer are ready to return? Dunlop?

  6. Massive 3 points and if not for the red I think we would’ve kicked on and won by more against a very poor Caley Thistle side. Think the confidence from the playoff success, and in particular how we held out after Rae’s red card in the first leg against Falkirk, has turned us into a far more confident and resilient side.

    We’ll miss Frizz at Tannadice next week but I’m not really going into that game expecting much so I can’t be disappointed and anything we do get is a bonus.

  7. Since a couple of people have mentioned O’Reilly and East - both are left-footed centre backs is that correct? While I agree we could do with another defender I feel a right-footed player might be better to provide cover for Fordyce. I’ve came to the conclusion that Ballantyne is at his best at left back and pressing high into midfield on attack, and I think Hancock has addressed the need to provide cover for ATS. Would still be fairly happy to sign either, particularly East since he’s quite versatile.

  8. 8 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

    Come on, the only certain thing about Devenny going was that the fee wouldn't be revealed. Like all young players it will be X amount with various add on's along the way. 20% cut of his 2027 transfer to Real Madrid should see us ok!

    Even if he moved down the way to a Championship team in England a 20% cut could be substantial to us with the fees thrown about down there.

  9. For me that was one of the best performances we’ve had under McCabe. Easy to look at the playoff game where we ripped Falkirk apart, or the games against Clyde or Peterhead where we scored for fun, but to come back from a goal down to win in a game against a strong side that almost got promoted to the Premiership last season and after losing a player as important as McCabe to injury is excellent, and to do it while dominating possession is very impressive.

    Worth mentioning as well that of the starting 11 only O’Connor wasn’t with us last season and the performance still was elevated to a higher level. It’s still early but Watson, Ballantyne, McGregor, and especially McMaster all look greatly improved this season.

  10. I think Dunfermline were expecting to have signed Wotherspoon by now so it does seem that he is weighing up his options. Whether or not we are a serious option to him is up for debate but considering he was training with us and shares an agent with half our squad I’d definitely believe that we’re trying to sign him.

    For the record I think the Consilium guy replying on twitter was probably annoyed that it had been implied Jackie McNamara (presumably his boss) is pulling the strings behind these transfers. That doesn’t mean I trust that twitter page to have inside info, as I think the guy is basically just compiling what he reads on P&B and the Daily Record etc.

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