Stephen1876

I had the same thought - may be prone to the odd mistake but far fewer than our defence and has played at a higher level than any of them ever will. Another free agent is Ziggy Gordon…

Whilst I agree with most of that, and Graham missing sitters can be infuriating, we have not struggled for goals this season. Even in this bad run, we are still finding the net. It’s the defence and more generally how we defend as a team that is the problem. For large parts of the Raith game last week and also at points yesterday, we completely lost our shape

Imrie came to mind for me - he has done a brilliant job with a dross squad. Suspect the compensation would be too much though. On the Morton theme, when Holt got injured, Efe Ambrose should have been a short term fix for us and he is now there.

The BBC even said he showed “great composure”!

The space Raith have in midfield is unbelievable and the defence is appalling. Hodson with a criminal ball for the first, Milne sleeping for the second (as he was for the third on Tuesday) and Akinola wrestling the Raith forward to the ground for no apparent reason for the third.

Feels like Stanway should be given a chance - maybe not an experienced and disciplined DM but has looked very competitive on the admittedly limited occasions I have seen him. Suspect Hodson could step into DM. Another alternative would be to go to a back three like we did at Pittodrie with Hodson tidying up when Brownlie / Muirhead / Akinola get turned.

Agree 100%, was delighted when he signed a new deal and thought he was excellent but has really struggled since that red against Airdrie a full nine months ago. Seems a nice guy as well and would love to see him recover the October to December form of last year.

After a shambolic performance at Falkirk, Brownlie was excellent when he came on last night. If Holt is out, he deserves his chance to stake a claim. That said, he needs to get his form and fitness back as he has been training since May / June and if he can’t step in now, his longer term future is questionable. When we resigned Aero, our thoughts were that he was a squad player. He has been excellent for us and is deservedly first choice, but it also suggests that Brownlie and Tunji have been below par.

Unfortunately could see why Aero struggled in the top flight last time - really struggled for pace before being hooked. The extra touch players get away with in the Championship isn’t an option against a top flight team

Unlucky not to get a point tonight despite playing nearly 60 minutes with ten men

Akinola seemed to bring on his caravan to tow with him there. Caley player just ran straight past him despite fresh legs

Good response from Morton tonight, and two very good results for us. Had we won that game against Cove, we would have quite a comfortable cushion at the top at this stage.

Glad to be ahead - better team without being at our best, not helped by Morton slowing the game down. Muirhead and Holt need to sort it out in the middle of defence though, every cross ball seems to cause chaos

I believe Morton have a few injury and suspension issues today also

I struggled to understand why we were looking at Shaugnussey given our options at centre half. However, I see now! Akinola has lost all confidence since that red card against Airdrie - gone all Niall Keown on us. Brownlie looks slow, overweight and struggling to regain form, and will struggle to do so without games. Could do with a loan somewhere. One small positive tonight was Stanway when came on. The youngsters haven’t been playing much either but showed up the experienced players. Mullen looked totally disinterested - can’t see him playing much this season

I know McCall doesn’t care about this competition but that was an absolute disgrace of a first half from players who should be trying to push for a start. Brownlie has been particularly appalling, sadly looks like that injury could have set him back long term.

Playing brilliantly but I hope we don’t regret these missed chances. Graham is brilliant for us but he misses at least one sitter every game.

Lawless has been brilliant - so much intelligence to find those little passes to open teams up rather than the square ball stuff. His ball retention is excellent too.

I felt we created enough yesterday but our finishing or final ball let us down (even if we were a bit slow on the ball throughout). Should not be scoring two goals and losing. The defence is a major worry - looked absolutely solid for most of last season but is shipping horrible set piece goals, the one mitigation being it has been slightly makeshift so far. No idea what has happened to Tunji - has gone to bits since that red card against Airdrie, a bit like Niall Keown of late. Brian Graham has been excellent for us on and off the park and I’m glad we have him tied down. A goal and three assists in the league so far. However, he has had at least one awful miss in each league game, that can’t keep happening. If I was Sneddon, I’d be in for a chat with McCall on Monday. I remember the stat last season that he was only behind Alison and Ederson in Europe in terms of clean sheets - completely different levels of course but his stats were superb despite the odd howler (all goalkeepers have them). We have never replaced the Abdul Osman of the top six season, our key weakness. I wonder if we would think about putting Muirhead in there although I’m not convinced. It did work with Mayo in one game last season but he was very comfortable on the ball.

Good memory - Steven Craig’s first goal for the club - can’t remember who the Accies keeper was that day

Given the season he had last year and the recovery from some early mistakes, it would be unjust not to start Sneddon. Almost one clean sheet in two is an excellent record. The good thing is that, unlike last year, he will be pushed all of the way and we can have reasonable confidence in our backup goalie.

Delighted to win the group. Our record in this competition in the group stage must be amongst the best. I can only count losses in 90 minutes to St Mirren, Dunfermline and Ayr in 90 (possibly one other in our League 1 season). I think this is the sixth or seventh year playing the groups. Blair Lyons looked a major upgrade on Hastie and McAllister, wonder what the story was as to why he never really got a chance. We have some amount of choice up top - Graham, Dowds, Mullen, Tiff, Fitzy, Lawless, Weston, Smith. Not sure who will play alongside Holt next week

I think this is the smallest forward line I have ever seen, but playing reasonably well for a friendly. Fitzy has had some brilliant runs so far. Brownlie understandably still looks a little rusty and Tunji not as dominant as he was in the first half of last season. Really positive that two or three of the young players look like they could step up this season. Been really impressed with Lyon every time I have seen him.

I quite liked all of those players but I suppose the one difference was that we were in the Premiership when we released them. Still think Welsh is a class act

Sena came in last season when we had an injury crisis and played centre half, part of a team the recorded six clean sheets when our strikers weren’t scoring. That contribution was as important as Rudden’s purple patch in the second half of the season in helping us win the league. I for one hope he goes on to have a successful career, with the usual caveat of not playing well against us!