ShaggerG

He's scored them all in away games. John Baird will never be the most skillful player in the world but I'm glad we've got him. Does a power of running and doesn't give defenders a minute, a very useful player to have around.

Pish, we were fantastic for the first 14 minutes v Dumbarton.

Blair looks a great prospect but I noticed that 9 times out of 10 he immediately turned back instead of forward with the ball as soon as he got it, sort of Barry Ferguson like. Presumably that was on Houston's instruction?

Ok, I'll play! I'm old school (or maybe just auld) so, imo, I don't feel that it should have been a foul because Taiwo played the ball first. Had it been obvious that he was attacking the man and not the ball then the contact on the ball would have been irrelevant but he wasn't. I think it's clear that he tried to play the ball and that's exactly what he did, contact with Law was unavoidable thereafter. So, tbh, I don't think it was a foul by either player but if we had to be pedantic about it and had to pick a 'culprit' I would say that Law hit Taiwo rather than the other way round. What I have a beef about however is that it's far too easy for refs to give the big team the decision under such circumstances and i think that's what Houstie was upset about. I have no doubt at all that the decison wouldn't have been given in our favour if the situation had been reversed, neither, I suspect, would it have been given to Dundee!

The difference being that we wouldn't have got it!

Typical fuckin Falkirk! I think we're now stuck with the strikers we've got and tbh I don't think they'll get 10 goals between them. I just don't think there's enough goals in the team to get us into a decent position as things stand.

Don't mind Cooper tbh as I think he can make an impact coming off the bench. I'd have brought him on before Shepherd last Friday for example.

Who the fcuk said that? Tell me and I'll kick his cnut in!!

Whilst I can sympathise with your views and totally agree that some significant investment in the squad is required to get us up I can also empathise with the BOD's prediciment in carefully having to consider when this investment is most likely to pay off. We are not realistically going to win the league this year as Sevco will romp it. I think with the quality of player that they're attracting, Hibs are likely to get up via the playoffs as well so it makes more sense from a business point of view to delay any significant expenditure until next season when we'll most likely be up against one of Killie, Thistle or Hamilton (Killie would be my pick). If we pay over the odds now they would have to be 2 year deals minimum to ensure that the players recruited are still with us next season and I don't think the board would sanction that or if it would even be within our means. The assumption last year would have been that Sevco and Hearts would both have been promoted and that may have meant that we would have given it more of a go this term and, yes there's a decent chance that Hibs may still be with us next season as they're good at ballsing it up but it looks like the board are going to take that chance. Yes, I would love us to be able to bring in much better players so that we would have something decent to watch but I don't think we're going to see that this season unfortunately.

Did look at one point that he may have made the step up and challenged for the right back position but couldn't quite push on to do that. Maybe better asking Arbroath fans as he was with them on loan last season. I don't think you'll particularly like some of their responses though!

Ok, I'll let you off. Think it was more a case of you mis-writing it though!

No, I'm not having that. I think any goalscorer would love to have Baird as a partner. Runs his heart out and drags defenders all over the place as well as being good for a few goals himself. Ideally I'd have two regular and better strikers playing before him but I wouldn't have any hesitation in starting him and it looks like that's going to be the case this season.

Now there's an idea...

It strikes me that you're under the impression that there's a multitude of good experienced strikers out there that are just dying to play for us. Unfortunately that's just not the case. Guys like Clarkson and Graham are probably the best we can hope for given our budget and I'd be happy if Houston managed to bring someone of that status in. It's entirely likely though that we'll shop in a market slightly below this level as we can't compete with clubs in higher leagues that can offer more money. We've been extremely fortunate in recent seasons in 'discovering' Farid, Taylor & Loy and even Stewart before that. So unless we land lucky again with a player who's just waiting to explode onto the scene or we get a highly rated young loanee from England we're just going to have to go with what we get.

The fact remains though that the type of striker we need, i.e. an 'experienced' guy who can prove to be our main goalscorer is not exactly freely available. Yes, Houstie has known for months that Loy was leaving and should have been planning a replacement and I'm sure he has been looking in that time, obviously without success. I think the chance of a player of that calibre to come in at this late stage is now fairly remote unless we get down to the wire with players who are still without a club. I think it's more likely that he'll eventually bring in a young loanee who's had some success in the under 20's in England.

When he's actually Harold Steptoe's dad and a dirty old man!

Never mind, you'll be signing Paul Heffernan soon. Think that's a stick on!

I'm thinking that you were maybe very tired when you typed this?

We've actually improved the 'squad' albeit marginally. What we haven't done is replaced Loy so, yes I do think we may struggle a bit unless we get a striker in who we can depend on scoring 15 goals +.

Aye, fair enough if another striker came in. I think if he signed Beck that would be the end of the new recruits whether Biabi goes or not.

Aye and I've seen tankers turning quicker! I want to see us attack with pace and flair, Beck's not the answer imo. He's not even that good in the air.

You said he was a young player still learning his trade. I was just pointing out that he's not. I think it's reasonable to ask the question though as to why, at 24 and been with a club for 8 years that he's only started 14 games? That suggests to me that either Motherwell didn't think he was good enough and that includes a few managers in that time or he has a history of injury problems? Please don't get me wrong, he's a Falkirk player now and I'll give him my full backing. Hopefully he'll come good and do a right good job for us.

How did Bowman play? Any good?

McHugh's 24 and made his debut for Motherwell a number of years ago.

Cheers mate. I gather Cooper scored the 1st, who got the second?