starchief

I think we could do with another utility player. Stuart Duff would be a good addition. He can play right-back, def mid, right-wing and attacking mid (he has played centre-back too but was bloody awful). We've got a good squad, so another specialist* isn't the answer IMHO as it's pretty doubtful we'll get top quality. *apart from a striker, as we're struggling if Rooney is injured. I don't think we need a 'promising' player, as Sutherland looks promising enough. So I'm not sure who that could possibly be?

Billy Reid is excellent at the anti-football game, so conceding an early goal against Hamilton makes it tough. In that case then, probably little need for two sitting midfielders. Cox should have been pushed forward, with Odi as a straight striker. If Cox couldn't work as a more attack-minded mid, then McBain is the man to bring on. Likewise, Sutherland for Odi if need be. We were also unlucky in having Tokely and McCann probably playing with injuries but them's the breaks. Really, both the full-backs could do a lot of pressing duties to support the wingers. Maybe that's a bit tough though with Tokely only just back.

Esson Gillet Munro Butcher Malpas Cox Duncan Hayes Odi Ross Rooney It's gonna be a struggle to get a team out!

I can't believe Ross has been allowed to drop so low in the pecking order. Top scorer, then shunted out wide. Played very well for Scotland too. Doesn't make sense. I'd say most people in Inverness are Rangers/Celtic fans but there is a bizarre second team scenario, where, despite us being in the same league as them, many support Inverness too. That used to be okay in the Highland League times, when the teams never really met (a bit like having a team in England/Wales) but it's past its sell-by date for me.

But is that the case with the Old Firm? Shouldn't they be doing better? Both have been out against teams in recent years where they could buy every player. Spending millions and crashing out to paupers shows something far more seriously wrong here. Lennon is certainly partly to blame but not all. Scottish teams have also gone out to the likes of Icelandic clubs with such stars as David Winnie and Baldur Bett as their best players. Dundee United losing narrowly to AEK Athens is no shame but when another team is stuffed with postmen and Stirling Albion rejects, then something's up. For me, it's Renegade's favourite nitpick - the kick'n'rush philosophy. We don't have to play that way, yet we do.

Just one. They've not got any currently. Watched the game. Samaras and Fortune were poor substitutes for goalscorers. Can't believe Fortune is the subject of a multi-million pound switch. Both Forrest and Maloney were completely anonymous. Juarez was probably their best attacker and he was at right-back! Can't believe Lennon goes in with an attack-minded team after leading 2-0. How about defending and making it difficult for them? Sure, both Motherwell and Dundee United went out but they have zero money to spend. Celtic could buy the Utrecht team. They've not even got 'competitive league' syndrome to blame. Holland's is in almost as poor a state as ours. Cillian Sheridan and Anthony Stokes would score as many as Fortune, Murphy and Samaras for a fraction of the fee. And look at the defenders too! Hooijveld, Rogne, Majstorovis, O'Dea, Loovens and Thompson. How much wasted money?

Imrie went because he wasn't being played. Nothing to do with leaving us in the lurch. There's every chance Black might have stayed had the Board got the finger out. Dargo moved for the location, rather than money - more like Dods than, say, Wilson.

Form is important to selecting a keeper more than any other position. Is Alexander in form? Is Andrews in form? They shouldn't be selected if they ain't playing. Cammy Bell and Ryan Esson should be assessed.

I'd change around a few too: Tuffey McCann - Proctor - Munro - Golabek Duncan - Morrison Hayes - Sanchez - McBain Sutherland Subs: Esson, Innes, Ross, Shinnie, Rooney I don't think it's underestimating Peterhead but giving some players (decent ones too) a chance to state their case. Proctor and Munro to be given a run in central defence to see if they can form a partnership. I expect Tokely to be back or maybe Innes eventually, but after keeping a clean sheet today, they can see if it works out first.

I have severe doubts over this as this is in numerous forums, where, for instance on the Forest forum, the research was conducted by Nottingham Trent University (http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCEQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forestforum.co.uk%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D21011%26p%3D1074766&ei=QG1xTOivEcqD4QbCnZ3eCA&usg=AFQjCNHRTne_21bqTuxMe1r6w5rDZB1NVA&sig2=X2rTkEjeSOkP1hEAtg3y9g). For Cardiff City, the message says the research was conducted by the University of Cardiff (http://www.ccmb.co.uk/fudforum/index.php?t=msg&th=231674&start=0&rid=0&S=dc72e0cfb97de6def59a8d74a19ae267). Smacks of some sort of a scam.

At Mass

Well, I grew up in West Central Scotland and from what I see, Celtic don't have a significant minority of bigots in their heartland...it's the majority. The songs were all full of IRA and anti-protestant sentiment. No exaggeration. Sectarian violence. Verbal abuse. It's a completely different atmosphere to liking Celtic in the Highlands. Wear a Rangers shirt to the Barras and see how well-meaning the hardcore of Celtic fans are. So it's perfectly acceptable to boo black players too? That's political. It's pretty obvious you sympathise with left-wing politics (so do I as it happens) but it can't be that the left can have a voice but the right, with Nazi flags, BNP leaflets, anti-immigration rhetoric and racist chanting are denied just because it's not the kind of politics you like. You hide it well. Don't think you have to be saint to condemn religious bigotry and support for terrorism that was only supported by a minority of Catholics in their own country. Likewise, I don't think you have to be a saint to denounce the booing of black players either. Obviously, as you're a Celtic supporter, why not just blame everything on a Masonic conspiracy. That's what you lot usually do.

You've never lived in Glasgow have you? Celtic fans have a huge number of sectarian bigots in their rank and file. Share a train, bus or housing scheme with a handful and your green-tinted glasses will soon come off. I don't have a problem with Celtic representing young Catholic kids, descended from Irish roots but if you think it stops at that and the IRA are not still glorified or that sectarian abuse by Celtic supporters never happens (don't need to point out the other lot do it, do I?), then I've got good news for you... ...my uncle who is President of the Bank of Nigeria recently died and I have ?15M I need to transfer into a bank account in Scotlandshire, Edinboro. You will receive 50%, so for that I need your name, address, date of birth, sort code and bank account number. May God's grace be with you Reverend Robert Buguwala Son of Presedent bank of niGeria

The obvious problem with merging the Angus clubs for example, is that each of the 4 clubs is situated in a small town miles from the other (Arbroath 22785, Montrose 10845, Forar 13206, Brechin 7199. Is a Montrose fan going to want his club to merge with Arbroath?? The big problem with so many small clubs is that if an ambitious team (i.e. a team capable of F-T footie) drops, like Partick, Morton or Raith, to the lower reaches, they are in huge trouble as they are surviving on virtually no traveling support from the smaller teams, whilst the home attendances also drop against lower quality opposition (well, it is the entertainment industry with little chance of entertainment). I'm not that sure about TV money being the crux. Okay, maybe Sky won't be interested (or on a much reduced deal) and the money will be less. But that would definitely leave the BBC more interested. I also think TV would probably prefer summer football, so they could show that after the EPL is over, yet it's not happened.

I wrote my ideas here: http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/blog.php?b=8215 but basically, I'd like a top 10 SPL with a top 12 SFL (regional below) but, here's where it gets radical, the current season (shifted to a summer rotation) would be split in two. So instead of 36 games a season, there would be 18. One home, one away. Think about it. That's more silverware, more championship battles, more relegation dogfights. When a team goes down, then the impact of half a season to plan on a reduced budget could be more manageable. Assuming a 10-16 (probably 12 by my calculations) team second division, gives us two competitive leagues, with a relegation place and a play-off relegation/promotion endpiece for extra excitement. There are problems with UEFA rules on how many games need to be played in order to quality for a European place. However, whether that could be negotiated away may be a possibility. A comparison with other similar-sized competitive leagues: Austria: 10 and 12 teams in two divisions (regional below) Denmark: 12 and 16 teams in two divisions (regional below) Norway: 16 and 16 teams in two divisions (regional below) Scotland: 12 in the top and four divisions of 10 below.

I agree that Esson wasn't the main reason for not having a heavy defeat. Celtic set up a few chances and dominated the second half but Samaras and Fortune saved us from the heavy defeat. If you don't have strikers that can score, then you're always going to struggle. Lennon said he wasn't worried as the goals will come. I think that's playing the blind optimism card rather strongly. Get a regular scorer in and you don't need to create that many chances. Selling Scott MacDonald, not getting Robbie Keane or Craig Bellamy back on loan and not buying a striker, whilst spending millions on Samaras, Murphy and Fortune is the reason Celtic didn't win by more goals. Quite why they wanted to sell Sheridan, whilst spending over ?3M on Fortune and another ?1.5M (or so) on Murphy beggars belief. I can't see much difference in goals between them.

No changes for me.

No, but I don't mean as the Scotland #1. Iain Turner has to play more competitive football before he's named in the squad again. Langfield is nothing special (thought he was a couple of years ago) and is probably a lesser keeper than Esson. I don't like the idea of a reserve keeper being in the squad - who knows what his form is like? I'd rather Cammy Bell as I thought he was outstanding last season.

Didn't think Hayes should have started yesterday. We know we'll have a defensive battle against Celtic, so I thought McBain on the left, Ross on his favoured right would have been a better fit. We'd have more strength in what would be more of a 4-4-1-1. Then we could throw on an unfit Hayes for 30 mins to skin a tired Mulgrew.

I thought Tokely had an excellent game yesterday and played well with Munro. In fact, for us, Esson, Tokely and Gillet were our best players over the 90 minutes. How many saves did Esson have to make from Fortune and Samaras? Not too many I'd say. Fortune rarely had a sniff, whilst Samaras was picking up the ball outside the box as he was pushed back by our defence. I fancy quite a few clean sheets against lesser opposition this season. I don't think pace is vital for a central defender but Ross is probably one of the quicker ones in the SPL. Way quicker than Dods or Weir for instance. I do think we defended too deep but I blame that more on the midfield. Cox and Duncan collapsed, whilst Ross and Hayes were nowhere near strong enough for a 90 mins against Celtic, so didn't do their defensive duties well enough. That meant Celtic could pile bodies in, overwhelming our back four. In a 4-2-3-1, you don't really want attacking full-backs too much, so it's probably fine for a slower player like McCann. Did okay yesterday but will reserve judgment on him til later in the season. All-in-all, I think our defence looked pretty good yesterday. It's just our midfield tired badly.

Like all Aberdeen GKs for a while, he was in poor form. The Dons went through keepers like water at one stage. A number of them were pretty decent, before or after, but failed at Pittodrie. I'd rather Esson and Cammy Bell called up than some reserve from Chelsea or Everton.

Can't blame him for getting injured. If we do, then maybe we should have a go at Foran for being captain yet not even turning out for our first match. Anyone can get injured, be it the first or 90th minute. I'd stick with the same formation. Too early to change tactics, when we're still trying to find out how good this team is. If we're still getting beaten after a few matches, then perhaps go in to a more defensive or long ball game. For now, we dominated Celtic in the early stages, defended pretty well and tired against a team of millionaires who have already had a few competitive games. Let's see how well we do against lesser opposition before getting too angry.

I didn't see this at all. Thought they did very well but were under so much pressure from Duncan and Cox collapsing in the second half.

I know the reports will say it could have been 5 to Celtic...but it couldn't! They can create the chances but you also need someone to take it. I just don't think they have it. Hayes look shattered, as did Ross. No surprise there. We'll get better, so that's fine. The defence was wonderful I thought. Gillet and Tokely outstanding. Can't see us conceding too many. Cox and Duncan disappeared. Needed to push further forward. Rooney did well but became isolated due to his midfield. All-in-all, a decent performance with unfit key players.

Need to bring on either Sanchez or Sutherland for a last ten minutes surge. Might as well throw everything at it. A loss is a loss is a loss otherwise.