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With Pre and half time refreshments in the Cairns. Sound like a plan. Get CJT to run it past Doncaster!!

I'm not sure that all we need is an enforcer, though. Foran at his best retains possession and opens up play pretty well, as well as providing strength. There was a noticeable lack of creativity or meaningful possession in the middle of the park yesterday and it meant that we built very few decent moves and more often than not the midfield was bypassed altogether. Williams offered neither strength nor creativity in that position, which meant that Draper, as Mantis pointed , was doing two jobs. I'd hope that Ross, while lacking Foran's dig, would at least give us some vision in there. I'm not sure if Devine would do that. Of course, Ross might just find himself completely outmuscled and outpassed by the Celtic midfield; there are no easy solutions for Hughes here. I think that some of the roles might need to be simplified against Celtic as we will not be able to dominate the middle of the park as much as we might normally expect to do at home AND drive forward. Foran and Draper might have found themselves on the back foot more often than usual. Having Devine in there to add a bit of steel might help break up the Celtic attacks and we have some excellent roaming full backs in Shinnie and Tremarco who can carry the ball forward to the front four instead of channelling it through the middle all the time. One option that could give us some defensive stability in the middle and also an option to carry the ball forward could be Shinnie? He played in the middle a couple of times last season I seem to recall and he might not be a perfect fit but if we're still looking for someone who can take the ball forward after winning it then he could be a shout. Devine played midfield vs cownty last game last season and was totally out of his depth, Williams is a wide player and should not be played centre mid. Trouble is we have no other decent midfielders who can get stuck in and win the ball. I'm trying to forget that game. The majority of the team was set up incorrectly that day and I wouldn't put it all down to Devine who wasn't any more out of sorts than some others that day. Trouble is I think for the Celtic match we are going to have to rely on fitting square pegs into round holes.

Brill Raven Warren Meekings Shinnie Draper Ross Watkins Doran Greenhalgh McKay

Brill Raven Warren Meekings Tremarco Draper Shinnie Watkins Ross Doran Mackay Subs: Esson, Devine, Williams, Pepper, Polworth, Christie, Adgestein

Brill Shinnie Warren Meekings Tremarco Raven Draper Watkins Ross Doran McKay

Brill Raven Warren Meekings Tremarco Doran Draper Ross Shinnie Watkins Mckay

We didn't get started at all yesterday, which was particularly frustrating as Partick looked like they might have wilted if we'd put any sustained pressure on them - they didn't have a great deal of presence and conceded possession in midfield relatively easily. The problem was, so did we, and in the end Partick created the far better chances and were unlucky not to win. There's no question that we missed Foran's influence, and the decision to play Williams in his place was somewhat surprising - he's eased off the ball far too easily, isn't strong enough in the tackle and seemed to be chasing the game most of yesterday. I'd hope to see Ross in there for the Celtic game, but the fact that Ross has been the first player substituted in each of the last two games (wrongly, in my opinion, in each case) makes me wonder how important to the team Hughes believes he is. Greenhalgh did pretty well when he came on and has maybe staked a claim for a place, but I'd like to have seen him replacing either Williams, with Ross dropping back, or Doran, whose performance levels are currently way below the level they were at in the early games of the season. There's perhaps an argument for resting him for a couple of games and making him fight for his place ahead of the semi-final. I think that Doran at the top of his form is unquestionably part of our strongest team, but at the moment he's a long way short of that form. The defence was pretty sound throughout, with with Meekings and Brill the standouts, but they were culpable in the hugely ineffective long ball strategy that we employed for most of the game - my one gripe with both Brill and Gary Warren is that they don't seem to look for a good out-ball properly but instead just hammer it up towards McKay or Doran. If we do that against Celtic then we'll just be inviting pressure onto us and we'll take a hammering. I am, I must confess, a bit worried about the Celtic game now - if we struggled to create anything against a hardworking but limited Partick side, then I can't see how we can hope to take anything against a side that is, it is now becoming clear, streets ahead of the rest of the league. Hopefully Hughes can look at yesterday's performance and set us up in a way that actually plays to our strengths on Sunday.

Clean sheet and a point on the road - decent result. Sounds like Brill had another great game, getting him tied down to a long term deal was a great move. Results went our way so we are back in contention for Europe. Looking forward to the Celtic game, you never know what kind of result you will get.

Anyone who's already decided that Hughes is amazing and beyond all criticism or on the other hand, believe he's utterly terrible, is nothing more than a fool. I, like the majority of people on here, did not have Hughes down as the man I wanted, nor was I happy with the appointment, nor was do I still really have any idea what it was about the man, that made the board appoint him. From my general feel about his appointment, would I be surprised if Hughes is out the door by mutual consent in 18 months? Not really. Would I be surprised if Hughes is a relative success at ICT? Not really. Would I be surprised if Hughes in the end was a huge success? In all honesty, I would be. Next season, we'll find out well and truly how good this guy really is. Anyone who has already decided that he's an incredible choice and beyond all and any criticism until the end of time, or those who believe he's horrendous and should be punted ASAP though, are nothing more than fools.