Anchorman

I thought he was our best midfielder first-half. Lively, ran at defenders, found space, played a few good through-balls (one terrible one!) and actually won the ball back a few times with tackles.

''Dross'' is a bit harsh. Waghorn was pretty poor today, but there's not a lot of criticism for him.

Perhaps we are all seeing what we want to see (me included)?

I must disagree. I actually wanted to like him today, but to me he was getting to the stage where his confidence was dropping because he was so ineffective, Miller was getting annoyed with him as were the crowd. a couple of through balls he attempted were poor to say the least. If Holt stays fit I cant see him being in the side too often. I wont miss him.

Unfortunately the young fella didn't make me eat my words today. Only cemented my view.

Not sure what the stands hold, but the seat planner still shows almost all Broomloan Rear still available. Copland Rear is shown as unavailable as well (pay at the gate). Lots of spaces still elsewhere. £30K looks optimistic to me but I stand to be corrected.

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Is he maybe just taking a different approach and choosing his battles at the moment. If he takes on the SFA and wins does that leave us vulnerable again (I ask the question out of ignorance rather than pretending I know what the hell the ramifications are because I'm lost with the whole business)?

Thanks for that. I agree with Frankie: a point well made. GZ indeed makes a lot of mistakes -- I have never argued otherwise -- and isn't "street-wise", as you suggest, but he is only 19. We do have to put up with these mistakes at that age. I do, however, think that his overall contribution has been good and beneficial, even with those mistakes. I think he will go on to be a very good player -- unfortunately not with us. In an ideal world I'd like a player that can play a similar role, but with more experience.

I think he is a victim of his own hype and billing before he arrived as a 'wonderkid' and that is maybe why the critical assessment bar is set so high for him in my mind. If I step back and look at it from a different angle (lets say he is a new kid just up through our ranks) then yes I would say "this boy has got bags of potential and I cant wait to see his progress". I've come at it from the 'wonderkid' angle and that is why I've made comparisons with a boy who did come to us at the same age i.e. Mikel Arteta, and who was further ahead in his progress IMHO.

Maybe that's why opinions are so divided on this - some assessing a young lad - pure and simple, while others (like me) are assessing a supposed 'wonderkid' or 'superstar in the making' because of the billing he came with.

Cracking read. Specifically on the benefits of a 'metronome' (while I admit to disliking these types of terms as it is 'food and drink' for people pretending to know what they are talking about, thinking they sound like they do, by using the terms. Although, not in the case of the author).

What I would say is that while I am sold on the benefits of the role itself I'm not all that sold on Zelalem being able to do it all that well. I feel that he gives the ball away far more than people are saying on here. I also think his passing isn't nearly incisive enough (a few 'hospital' balls which stop the flow). Last night for example I actually thought he made a number of errors. He isn't very 'street-wise' to tackles coming his way. He can learn obviously but in his case there is a lot to learn.

He's maybe a victim of the young superstar 'hype' that came with him. I have seen nothing at all to justify that. The 'litmus test' for me is always 'if he was playing in a Falkirk jersey, for example, would I notice him as a player?' The answer in Gideon's case for me is unfortunately - No.

And before anyone says 'but he's a metronome so you wouldn't notice him' - Mikel Arteta passed my 'litmus test' with flying colours when he arrived. Similar age (Mikel just turned 20 the month he arrive) but Arteta had far more in his locker than Zelalem has. He played with a shoulders back\head up authority than Zelalem doesn't really have. He was also very 'cute' at riding tackles and making cluggers look stupid. He also knew how to strike a ball when required (this should be a fundamental requirement for a player. Although in saying that I remember Derek Ferguson had to work really hard on that element of his game as it let him down often)

I wish the lad well and I will continue to cheer him on, but I don't see that potential that others see unfortunately. Its just one mans opinion and I would love to be proved wrong.

Whats the thoughts on potential crowd size for Saturday? The ticket sales on the official site look very poor, looking at the seats still available.

Where is the blend of experience that the manager said he wanted? A wily old head showing the way in front of the back four would have left me feeling a lot more easy. We don't have a solid 'spine' as Souness would say. But hey ho the ride with Mr Warburton is far more enjoyable than that of previous years. Fasten your belts folks.

Maybe the RST should get a hold of the software used by that 'pillar of integrity', Spiers, to post 20,000 'likes' online against the statement. You know the one he used to create 20,000 fake Russian Twitter followers?

Incredible for a boy who doesn't know how to strike a ball properly.

One thing that does concern me about O'Halloran - all the talk seems to be about his 'blistering pace'. When will he get to use that with us? 90% of the time we are up against a defensive wall with no room in behind. Has he got more than that in his locker?

So why did it take 23 days to figure out we couldn't afford the guy? Would you not use a scatter gun approach if that was the case? why would you put all your eggs in one precarious basket?

 

makes no sense if you realistically cant afford your number one target for a certain position to then only make an approach for that out of reach player and no other at the same time in a small window of opportunity.

Bang on the button.

The game against Burnley I watched I wouldn't offer near 600.000 for Diagouraga. I don't know if he was carrying an injury or not but it looked like he couldn't even run properly. He just jogged about doing nothing really. I think we were lucky to dodge the bullet on this one so no tears here.

It is a bit worrying whether there is money available though.

The one thing I would say is that MW and DW have seen him a helluva lot more than any of us have, and I'm still in the 'I trust in Warburton' camp. Also if that was the game last weekend the Talksport presenters said that he was desparately trying to avoid any contact at all as he was desperate for a move and knew he was going. He also stayed on the pitch at the end himself apparently to wave goodbye to the fans.

Anyway hes gone now!

As we are now just a week away from the window "slamming shut" (as they say on SSN!) it is most disappointing that our only business has been a winger who can't even get on from the bench when we are 4-0 up, and a reserve goalie who, injury to Wes aside, won't be chosen to play.

 

MW said many times he wanted his business done early, and it is as clear as day that we need to improve our starting 11 for next season but we haven't added one first pick to the squad, yet.

 

MW is also on record as saying it all gets a bit crazy in the last few days of the window, which I would agree with, but here we are with no improvement. Forrester in and Oduwa out and a new sub goalie that wasn't needed hasn't changed our squad at all.

 

I'm comfortable we will win this league come May without any additions but for me this window should have been all about progression of the squad towards next season. MW has spoken many times about squad unity and not bringing in too many at one time, but if we can't get quality (and I certainly don't mean two guys from feckin Accrington) into our squad in the next week, we will have to bring in around 10 new faces in the summer, which is the exact opposite of what MW has been saying since day 1.

 

Not only am I uninspired by the two we have brought in and the 2 we have pre-contracted, I am even completely unimpressed with the targets we are missing!

 

Hopefully negotiations are ongoing and we can get a couple of players in to improve the first team this week. There are to my mind 5 places needing improved right now. 2 centre backs, def mid, creative mid, and striker. Wilson, Kiernan, Halliday (in current position), Law/Shiels/Zelalem, and Miller are all sub-standard IMO for next season.

 

Wes, Tav, Wallace, Holt, Waggy & McKay will all be fine next season I think, although I still have some doubts over some of them they have earned the chance to see if they are good enough and if we can bring in some quality to play in the other 5 slots we can win the title, or at least run the worst ever Celtic team close ( as embarrassing as that is to admit we may have to settle for 2nd to as bad a side as that).

 

It is up to our management and board to deliver. They have one week to show we are on track.

Fully agree. This has all the 'hallmarks' of our transfer windows in years gone by and we don't appear to be learning lessons. There is one thing in being frugal (which I think we are all agreed on), but its another thing all together being poor at conducting our business, and being contradictory in the process which just makes us look plain stupid. "Getting our business done early in the window" (MW), "we've got a few key targets we hope to get over the line in the next couple of day - they are almost there" (MW), "we want to have a team ready to compete in the top flight of the top divisions, a team who have played together and know each other, not assembled in the summer window before the season starts" (DK).

Nobody supports our manager (and our board) more than me but I can't believe MW is happy with how its going. I think he must be slightly disillusioned and disappointed with whoever is conducting this business. Even as an avid supporter of our current management and board we should be able to voice concerns when we perceive certain problems - its unhealthy if we can't.

Even if we did get promoted with this squad we'd be cannon fodder in the top division next season.

Oh Rab, C'mon now.

To be fair, MW emphasises value constantly. I'm sure he's agreed the budget with McParland and the board so it should just be a case of moving to the next name on the list. And, if it's a good list, they should be just as suitable.

I get what you are saying, but I don't believe in this instance that MW would rate O'Halloran at only £200,000 in today's market. I still get the feeling that he isn't going to be happy if we cant close off £500K deals for his first choice picks.

The Manager spoke of a couple of signings he hopes to get over the line by the weekend - "they are very close" I think he said. He's either going to be a disappointed man, feeling let down, if its Diagoura, or we have all been barking up the wrong tree. Looks like he's off to Leeds.

Talksport are reporting that Leeds have agreed a fee with Brentford for Diagouraga.

Bound to happen. We do it all too often i.e. do the prolonged haggling in public (going in with an offer obviously way too low). Other clubs watch it from a distance, get a feel for what the 'actual' selling price is and the gazzump us. And we look bloody stupid in the process. Unfortunately it is often the mhanky mob who do it. Watch this space with O'Hallaron (big Selik family).

I'm not suggesting we pay over the odds, but either pay what we need to (after an acceptable period of haggling) or walk away . In saying that I hope I'm proved wrong this time.

James Doleman will be there to keep us all informed,paid for by the BHEASTS!

Can anyone explain? I'm in the dark about this guy. Paid for by them??

It was in the paper yesterday that the big Latvian striker we had Vladislavs Gutkovskis was waiting to hear from us before he decides to sign for Sparta Prague giving us first choice.

I would really like us to get him.

Oh how I remember getting the fingernail brush and scrubbing all the black-ash out of the graze that ran down most of my thigh. When I think of it it still hurts. It was mostly Knightswood pitches I played on. Blairdardie my school pitches which had red Ash was just a little bit better but the graze was just a different colour.

Do you remember the 'ash cloud' that used to rise up in the Rangers End at Hampden when we scored? You used to be blowing that stuff out of your nose for about a week after.

I once refereed a junior match somewhere, I think it was on the black ash at Possil and stepped out the penalty box at 15 yards and the spot was on 10 yards, which the groundsman swore was correct and "has been that way for years".

I think its true though what woman say about men and measuring. We seem to 'inflate' our measurements at times for some reason .

Oh the black ash - I swear if I had worn aluminium boots (although you would swear I was at times) it would still have got between my toes.

Or the 16 meter box?

Yes absolutely, 100%, totally - thats what I meant (he lied) !

Is that a different box from the 18 yd box ?

Cheers Craig - i did say life can be confusing at times

No worries Bruno. My brother in law is a Possil man. Penalties dont just means those fines that you refuse to pay. It can also mean when you get a free kick from that dot thing inside the 16 yard box. Feckin confusing at times Bruno but life can be eh? ??