Derby Jag

Sorry are you implying I was criticising Osman?

Absolutely superb performance tonight from Thistle. I can't recall such a complete performance since since maybe 3-0 away to Dunfermline? Fraser was absolutely superb, he'll be with us for this season maximum so enjoy him whilst he's here. His range of passing is excellent and was involved in practically everything good about our performance tonight. Looks stronger than last year and capable of taking control of midfield for us. Elsewhere Osman was very tidy, completely different player to Ozzy but potentially more suitable for our team. There really wasn't a failure in the team and in fact most played very well. Some hairy moments with Seaborne but I'll put that down to limited time training with Balatoni. Still not fully convicted by Stevo up top but he played well tonight. Please don't use this performance to moan at fans who were concerned at our summer dealings. We still need a couple players, but if they are in keeping with Archie's dealings this far then will be worth the wait.

Pretty surprised at Stevo up top, didn't impress there at all v Sunderland

Those are pretty impressive numbers . A friend had said to me that he was told by someone at the club that we were down on last year. Does anyone know what we did sell last year? I thought it was under 3000 but may be wrong

It's all about opinions, and without wanting to create a Seaborne v McPake argument, I think a fit McPake is a very good defender at this level.

Sorry I wasn't having a go at you personally and I agree with everything you say there, particularly regarding the eejit who called him a carthorse. I think most people have been fair in their assessment of this signing with most confident and trusting in Archie whilst also doing a bit of research on what other team's fans think. No one is in a position to really judge our signings until the season is underway and we see them all in competitive action. Something worth noting when you get English-Scottish transfers is that is quite often shows no logic. Apparent dross from down South frequently enjoys great success up here whilst some of our more hyped exports falter in England when others who are less hyped make very good careers for themselves.

You seem to be implying Archie is a liar by this post. Quite an incredible statement and one that shows, yet again, how much of a clown you are. Sarcasm doesn't really work on forums btw

I think this is a very valid point and I do have some concerns about Seaborne although overall I am happy with his signing and confident hell do well. I accept that I have no basis for this other than trust in Archie to have gotten it right. I do believe there is a certain degree of arrogance with people's opinions on others' signings however. Lot of proven Premiership players that have moved around have been classed as not good enough by people, and I would include McPake in that.

Rather petty and unprofessional of the OS to be putting that message there. Anyway happy with his signing. Good pedigree, addresses a key deficiency in the squad and versatile. I hope however that if he is to be our first choice left back, that he is genuinely comfortable in that position and is capable of playing the attaching style required by our full backs. Interested to see where he plays on Wednesday Some words of caution though, Coventry fans not fussed at all at his departure based on reading their forum where he was seen as 4th/5th choice centre back, and he is seemingly to be replaced by Brian McLean who wouldn't have been an inspiring signing

Was released on Friday, seems pretty likely

And the present being relative success in Europe, having one of the most competitive squads in the league and selling one of their home grown players for a large sum of money which goes towards securing long term future for their club. It their fans are angry at their current state of affairs then I say they are a much more deluded set of fans than ours.

I would be very surprised if they aren't comfortably top 6 again this season. Brown has probably decided they are unlikely to do much better than last year, particularly with continual pretty poor crowds, and so is happy to keep them competitive without pushing the boat. Must be awful to be a St Johnstone fan at present with those Scottish Cup winning, two years in Europe with some good results and consistently a top league team.

On the attendances front I'm interested to see how ours holds up I think we had the 7th highest last season, which although impressive was helped by some large away supports ,particularly early in the season, and a kind fixture list. Not heard anything official regarding season tickets but I'm led to believe we were down on last year which is a shame. The crowd on Wednesday will be interesting, I can't imagine a big County support coming down and midweek games obviously lead to lower crowds anyway

Don't let certain people hear you say that or you will be accused of being an avid FIFA* player/Wikipedia browser. * Think Football Manager is a more apt game to be accussing people of getting transfer ideas from however

Interesting reading others thoughts on their new signings yesterday. Not saying any were targets or we should have signed them or that it's a large enough sample but... Killie fans having very positive opinions of Chandler yesterday. New centre back also getting good reviews, whilst some disappointment with Magennis and he new winger. Looks like McGowan and Harkins had good games at Dundee, personally I'd have taken either at Thistle. Seems they were the better team and rest of new signings played well. St Mirren's new centre back Plummer getting lots of praise from both sets of fans and return of Tesselar has gone down well. St Mirren apparently dominated the game and were very unfortunate to lose.

I would agree that Prince probably only came due to Osbournes injury but at the same time we had a budget to have them both (Moncur as well I guess) here. I'm sure Ozzy was one of the highest earners at the club and if I remember there was talk at the time implying Prince hadn't come cheap.

Right now I think I would go with Gallagher O'Donnell Muirhead Balatoni McMillan Fraser Osman Stevenson Lawless Higginbotham Doolan Not sure how fit Bannigan will be to start the season and think we are better with someone direct in the centre of the 3 attacking midfielders, not sure if Bannigan or Fraser would really suit that position.

Wow

Who has suggested this to be a good idea exactly? It's these types or posts which are causing a bit of ugliness in this thread. Most of the 'pant wetters' are merely pointing out where we are lacking in the squad and are worried that we have left it late to replace these. Anyway good news and fingers crossed it progresses well over the coming days.

That is in agreement with what most 'pant wetters' have been saying in this thread. His numbers are in agreement with what most have been saying as is wanting to only bring in players who will improve on what we have also. Fingers crossed he has some further targets up his sleeve for the coming weeks. Did he say he missed out on the remaining four or not go into that detail? Hopefully could mean they are still targets and negotiations are on going

Was Watmore the red haired boy? If so he looked a good we player. Is the Graham you refer to Danny Graham? I had no idea he was playing.

The proportion is surely Out Mair ATS Buaben Osbourne Erskine Taylor In Stevenson Osman If you take Stevenson as a replacement for Erskine and Osman for Osbourne (Buaben didn't really play similar position to them) then we are lacking a left back, centre back, striker and arguably an attacking midfielder unless Archie has faith in some U20's to make the step up. I've not seen any comments on this forum which say anything more 'pant wetting'-ish than highlighting this fact; we need to replace the players we have lost if we want to kick on as a club and give us the best possible opportunity of avoiding an ugly scrap for 10th place again. We were told by Beattie that we had the money to do this and by Shaggy they had plans to do this early. The fact pre-season is over and we have two new players is very disappointing to many amongst us. I'm also not saying we will go down with our current squad, we may very well stay up but I would fancy our chances much more if we addressed the problems in the squad. And just to clarigy I think we will make some signings before end of the window but I worry whether it will be of the quantity or the quality that many of us hope.

Thought we were much improved in the second half following the half time subs. Some thoughts: Lawless played very well when he was on. Osman looks a player. Balatoni was the best defender on show. Stevenson up top is hopefully going to be a rare occurance. He's not the most mobile and seems to make the rest of the team go for the long ball. Our attacking threat second half was much better which to me was down to Doolan and Lawless' superior movement. Would like to have seen him in one of the attacking midfield positions. Both centre back trialists had some decent, but also some dodgy, moments. Not sure how great a game that was to judge them but wasn't overally impressed by either; certainly didn't look a step up from what we have. Keenan looks like he'll be the left back. Looked OK tonight and decent cross for the goal but would be a massive risk going with him and McMillan as our left backs. Sunderland XI weren't very good

But Erskine, Taylor and Buaben were in team no?

I'm sure every single team will have similar stories... Unfortunately league table is the only metric we have for assessing quality of squads