craig

McGregor Flanagan Goldson Katic Barisic Jack Davis Kamara Aribo Kent Defoe Subs : Foderingham, Edmundson, Halliday, Patterson, Jones, Arfield, Ojo

Havent seen a great deal of the lad but what I have seen he looks pretty decent. A decent gamble given the cross-border transfer rules. We need another striker anyway so hopefully one that can be done in this window, though with Stoke fighting relegation you have to think they would prefer it to be in the summer.

Aye, but we all know the proverb about stats The proof will be in the results and performances. Starting tomorrow night. LETS GO !!!

His opening goal was a tap-in. Not that it matters, he found himself in the right place at the right time to score against the Championship leaders. Stoke were good value for that win too. I would hope that his Dad would guide him towards us - Sheffield Utd are doing very well this season, they have had that "first season in the EPL bounce" but it wouldn't surprise me if they were relegation candidates next season. If he goes there he will likely be on a 3 or 4 yr contract - would he want to go knowing he could be back to the Championship within a season ? I would also like to think that Rangers (and Gerrard in particular) would be able to sell him on us better than Lennon. Lennon just always seems angry, whereas the camerarderie in our dressing room is there for all to see. Clutching at straws loyal

The first couple of league games are of the biggest concern to me. Why ? Because it was at this stage last season that our title challenge flopped. If we come out against St Mirren and Hearts and beat them whilst performing reasonably well then I will take significant encouragement that our 1st half form has continued. The mid-season break didn't do us many favours. If anything it helped Celtic IMO.

He was called up about that on the show at the time - the presenter (good for him) basically said "John, isn't a bit rich for you to be saying all this when you kicked a team mate in the head when he was on the ground on his knees". Hartson's defence ? "Was my worst moment in football, it was 25 years ago and I apologized for it". All good then John, you can continue your moral crusade. Hartson is a bellend.

Except they actually aren't ignorant of that - why you may ask ? Quite simple really.... they weren't the first name drawn out of the hat - the romance of the cup is a minnow being drawn at home to a giant - Stranraer weren't drawn at home to us. I'll willingly bet you a cyber pint that if the draw had been made and was Stranraer v Rangers rather than Rangers v Stranraer that the game would have been played at Stair Park and not Ibrox. Not a chance would Stranraer have even requested to play the game at Ibrox rather than Stair Park. Kind of negates your argument right there, IMHO of course.

Unless, of course, its the Tims

Not really. Where we actually stand is hat what you’re looking for isn’t currently in the rules. 1st team out In the raw is the home team. Thats where we stand. And no amount of you chatting to Accies fans because you know them so well will change any of that. It’s prevarication, Its a hypothetical suggestion which s hardly worth mentioning, because it isn’t going to happen. And it would be wrong too.

Suggesting it for cup games between two top flight teams is just as ridiculous. Absolute lunacy. I could ALMOST get behind it for a Junior club playing an OF team, but top flight teams ? Nope, not ever. You aren't talking about Stranraer, youre talking about another team in Scotland's top flight. Fans shouldn't be taken into account in this type of suggestion - the rules of the competition, tradition, and common sense should though. Silly suggestion.

Completely agree. Allowing clubs to change the venue based on their financial desires completely ruins the romance of the cup. Like it or not, Accies should be playing this tie at home, not at Ibrox. Maybe we should just let Accies, St Mirren, Killie etc play all their league games against the OF at Ibrox or Parkhead too - you know, because it would be financially beneficial for them to do so. It's a ridiculous suggestion for a top flight club to give away home field advantage to another top flight club.

To be fair to Jones though, he was playing very well prior to injury. He’s easing himself back to fitness. Id be looking to get rid of Barker and Ojo in the first instance. Ojo has something but doesn’t produce it often enough. Barker offers virtually nothing. I was more impressed by Kennedy in his 10 minute cameo than I was with Barker

Disagree with almost everything you say here. 1. Gerrard is spot on with his comments. The fringe players offered very little despite being given 90 minutes. 2. Shouldn’t need to play more than one up top when the two “wingers” are playing narrow, effectively as strikers themselves - particularly when the full backs, Paterson especially, was playing as a winger and giving a 4th player up top. 3. You throw out stats and say they’re similar to our “starting brigade” yet ignore that the opposition are two leagues lower, part rather than full time, than the teams our “starting brigade” produce those stats against. 4. You downplay the credit Paterson gets because he “wasn’t tested” and at the same time absolve Halliday and Barker from being poor.... were they tested more than Paterson ? No. But it suits your agenda to suggest so. 5. “He threw in Halliday and Barker” hoping they would gel.... he threw in Paterson too and he would have to help with whomever played down that side.... and he did for an hour... and he’s a youth, not an established 1st team squad member. 6. In fact, Kai Kennedy offered more in 10 minutes than Barker did all game. Barker just isn’t good enough for us, it really is that simple. 7. Bemoaning fringe players not getting game time - they got the chance last night against a team where they should shine. And they didn’t. If they can’t look good against 3rd division opponents then they’re going to struggle against Premier League opponents. They aren’t good enough. 8. You keep banging on about changing formation - why should Gerrard change formation ? Domestically he’s lost two games all season, one where we were robbed.... and, funnily enough, that game we lost was when he changed from his usual narrow 4-3-3 - yet here you are complaining that he should change tactics - why should he change a winning formula ? Makes absolutely zero sense to me. None whatsoever. We’ve just pumped our nearest domestic rivals on their own patch using his trusted narrow 4-3-3. So why change it ? Further, a change of formation last night would have told him NOTHING about whether those fringe players can fit his system. 9. Jones or Aribo as a second striker ??? No thanks. If it comes to that then we definitely need a striker to come in. 10. “...adjusted formation according to the opposition at hand...”. We’re playing the best football in the country, were two points off top with a game in hand, we’ve qualified for the EL last 32, we’ve lost one league game all year (funnily enough when we changed formation....) yet you want us to change formation for the opponent at hand ? This season Gerrard and his team have proven time and time again that it’s other teams who need to adjust because if they don’t we will beat them. We’ve overrrun Celtic in 4 of the last 5 games against them and the one we didn’t was the game when WE changed formation from our preferred. No thanks.

Have to love their honesty ?

The only one who staked a claim, as Gerrard said, was Paterson and, I guess, Edmondson Halliday offered little, though played injured for over half a game. Jones was almost anonymous. Barker offered nothing and Ojo came on and offered nothing too. Worrying if we have to rely on some of these guys at crucial stages of the season.

Hopefully that statement truly is just a placeholder. The statement next week had better be far, far better. Weve done well of late with our statements hitting the mark, hopefully this one does too. Still would have liked to have seen us ban The Sun for their xenophobic columnist

my Premier Sports stream is working fine ?

Got a goal from a corner that should have been a goal kick. Tim’s will be raging ?

Result

Good. Because despite plenty of our fans not being Tav supporters, I think he offers such an attacking threat down that side which helps pin opposing teams back. Nobody else on the right would give us that, leaving everything for the overlap on Barisic down the left

Surely you mean Lacrosse given it is the national sport of Canada

He set up a goal at the weekend with a nice backheel pass - tidy player is Marcus.

Or maybe it’s that their level of acceptable quality has diminished given lack of CL group stage entry, rather than a marked increase in our quality.

Yeah, Arsenal. Brutal times.

Tims in for him too apparently