Paulo

Not many positions in the club Gerry hasn't held now!

I thought Booth did a serviceable job and no more. Quite weak, but not a regular bombscare defender. Will I be worried about us facing him next season? No.

Superficially, yes, but it's a futile exercise to compare this time v last time given the factors involved. Give it a go if you like. Are we in a better place as a club than the last time, given our financial/managerial/structural situation? Are we facing better opposition in the coming season than we did last time? Are we competing for players with the clubs around us, or perhaps similar sized clubs who could offer top tier football? Those and more are impossible for us to definitively answer right now, but there's no harm in having an opinion on it.

I can remember him conceding a goal by backing off into his own net. I can't remember too many contrasting opinions on him or Campbell's decision to keep playing him.

Some of those names still give me the heebies. Grant "Back off" Murray. Colin Stewart, who I remember used to be subjected to shouts of 'you're not even the best footballer in your own house'.

Very true. We're talking about having a decent budget for this level, but I guess we need to take into account our targets. Who wants to come play for us in the championship, and if we're looking for someone who might stand out at this level, how much over the odds do we need to offer to convince them when the likes of Hamilton, Livi, St Mirren will no doubt be in for a similar level of player? Even with a budget, we're a difficult sell now.

I don't think we're talking about splashing the cash to the levels of Gretna or the Rangers. A bit more like, not drastic cuts. I hope this means we're in a good place to compete next season. If we're signing off suggestions here and end up with a midfield of Ross Draper, Willo Flood and Paul Paton though.....

Blanck Mass gig there next Friday. That should be interesting.

If Danny Devine can't get on the bench ahead of Martin Keown.....

Not that I don't agree, but pick me 2 good referees in the Scottish game?

I can't bring myself to consider this until after Sunday's game. There will be quite a few changes no matter which division we are playing in.

I think my feeling is that we're the better team, and we can pass it through them with the correct players on the pitch. Most of our good football comes when Doolan, Erskine and Lawless are linking up. Any news on fitness? I'd really like to see Christie Elliot not playing left back.

And I could see what you did from the other side of the room!

They will be totally Douglas Clark. Hard working, jumping in to tackles and hounding the ball. That sounds ominous. But, we have players who can exploit the spaces left by a team doing that. We certainly need those players to do the business, but if we can get the likes of Lawless, Erskine and Doolan on the ball we can make this happen.

Close the thread! Give me Alan Hansen or any of our numerous handy centre backs over the years. Someone who can bring some organisation and security to the back, allow the rest of the team to play.

I don't see any way Dumbaya or Penrice will come in. Neither seems to be in favour at all. I also don't see us going back to 3-5-2 after our last attempt at that in an away game.

Very true and an important point (pun intended?) Any news on injuries? Wouldn't mind Booth back in particular, but hearing that might be unlikely?

Admin, can you lock this thread please? Far too close to a reasoned discussion.

I'm not advocating one way or the other until the season is over, but the topic did cross my mind last night and I couldn't help thinking that if we did change we'd end up with Steven Pressley. His cv fits the bill perfectly, despite what some of us may think of him as a manager. Managed in the lower leagues of England for a while, should be able to leverage some contacts and attract some players north. Hmm.

Uft. That was a very typical performance last night. Thought we looked decent in the first half and with a bit of luck we might have been ahead. We were getting some joy down the right with Barton doing well, Doolan coming out and McGinn getting involved even though he can't kick it hard enough to get it off the ground for a cross. Second half was about 3 mins old when I remarked that we would be in trouble if Archie didn't change our shape, and I'm sure 99% of those around me saw it the same. Woefully exposed on that left side, since Edwards was doing his headless chicken routine feck knows where on the pitch, and Elliot was a waste at LB. Gave me a horrible flashback of Edwards 'playing' on the left side against Aberdeen last game of last season - and their winger scoring an easy hattrick. A whole load of running around was going on last night. Whether that equates to actually taking responsibility and fighting to win, I'm not sure. Constant jockeying of the opponent instead of putting a foot in, Woods constantly turning through 355 degrees just to manage a backwards pass, the midfield with time, then spending 30 secs of last ditch passes just to get the ball back to where it started and launch it nowhere. Frustrating.

Booth being available would be rather nice. Fingers crossed for that.

YES. Absolutely this. I have no idea what is going on, do not listen to me.

Agree with the calls to keep Christie at RB. Moving him to LB takes away one of our assets just in order to fill a position. Would even rather see Dumbaya at LB, as unlikely as that seems now. He did ok there at Fir Park. Hopefully, we can start the game with the intensity required and keep it going. Hoping Motherwell have taken their foot off the gas until the cup final.

Let's hope your dad's luck is travelling with you. Enjoy the game!

I would love to see Sammon and Dools up top from the start. But I don't really see how we can retain width and an attacking midfield presence if we do that. Then there's the feeling that we might just start going long again from the off. The big value of Sammon and Edwards recently has been introducing the fresh legs and change of approach.