Caley Stan

I applied for all of the Hampden games plus the semis and final - got 4 tickets for the last 16. Will be weird handing over cash when I don't know what the game will be - might've preferred the group tickets given the chance of Scotland being involved.

Storey and Walsh to roast the part-time full-backs. McHattie to protect the back 4.

Ridgers was right not to come. McCart got done by the ball over the top but recovered well.

He's a central midfielder. We need one badly. Probably two.

Alan is a wise man with incredible powers of prediction. You might even call him a 'seer'. Glad to finally have one of those on this forum after years of false advertising.

Livi also did us 3-0 at home in Pele's first league game. We lost 4-0 away to Dunfermline in the opening day in '99. And 3-0 at home to Rangers in '07. And 3-0 at Fir Park in '11. This is just a thing we do. Everything will be allright.

The 3-0 at Livi was a nasty one.

Shankland's hat-trick came from another header from a cross. After that, United played within themselves and we saw a lot more of the ball. White missed a decent chance on the 6-yard line from a Trafford cut-back after 55 minutes and we didn't create another chance thereafter. The subs made no impact, Doran switched with Walsh but still couldn't get into the game. Carson had a torrid time at right-back and the other 3 defenders were all embarrassed for the 4th goal. The scoreline could've been higher but for a couple of goal-line clearances. So, a painful watch - United were better than us in every department but i still think the main issue is in the centre of the park - there isn't a combination among Trafford/Carson/Vincent that either protects the back 4 or provides a platform for the creative players to get into the game. The long ball is a necessity as a result, and Doran and Keatings are wasted without balls to feet. We have to hope United are just way too good for this league and we're having our usual slow start.

Carson's hellish at right-back. Just been booked - he'll do well to finish the game.

Can't afford Tannadice ticket prices so watching on Arabzone from the balcony of my Greek summer house. Mental start - poor play from Trafford and Carson let United through the middle for an early chance. Heroic last-ditch defending from Brad kept them out - looks like it might be the last we see of him for a while because he went off later with what looked like a really bad injury. We responded immediately - great work from White on the left to wriggle free and cut back for Keatings who hit the post - should've done better - was in space 12 yards out. For the opening goal McCart was caught out by a ball over the top, he recovered well but lost Shankland when United got a cross in from the resulting throw-in. Walsh's equaliser was a rebound after a good ?Donaldson header from a corner was saved. United went straight up the park and scored - far too easy for them to pick their passes in the final third - this time it was Coll who couldn't match Shankland's run and headed home his second from a cross. United are well on top without creating clear-cut chances - they ease past us through the middle and cause problems in wide areas. We are playing everything long to White (who's playing quite well) or wide to Walsh. Doran is anonymous. We are a threat at set-pieces.

We could certainly use his pace through the middle, but I can't see us doing that if Todorov and Keatings are in the team.

I wonder if we're only now seeing the importance of Joe Chalmers and his positional discipline. The back 4 has been exposed throughout this competition and while there are issues there (Coll's been terrible, is Carlo finished?), there's also too much space in front of them. Here's a positive - we still haven't played a team that that's had a go at us. I think this front 4 will be decent away from home in the league whether it's White or Todorov that leads it. I love the way Keatings glides in front of his man - we haven't had a player like that for a while.

Ridgers was the clear man of the match before sclaffing his penalty wide. It's one thing to draw a flat League Cup tie against a part-time side, quite another to be dominated by one as we were for most of that second half. We set up with Carson and Trafford sitting in front of the back 4, and what looked initially like a dynamic and interchangeable front 4 with Keatings playing as a 10 and Walsh and Curry pushing up high from the wide areas. There was the odd flash of creativity from Keatings - he's probably not match sharp yet. As with the friendlies, it was Tom Walsh that looked our biggest threat and he put a couple of decent balls into the box, one of which White should've connected with - the big man was played in on goal shortly afterwards but didn't have the composure to get a decent shot away. Carson moved to right-back when Vincent replaced McKay at half-time and didn't look comfortable there. But that doesn't explain what happened in the second half and I don't know what does. We were overrun - Peterhead were repeatedly able to pick their pass in the final third, and more often than not they got shots away from inside the box. I hope we get to see footage of the penalties. Charlie Trafford's was the highlight of the night.

Aye, unlike your patter.

Thanks for all the kind words and support on here and elsewhere. This was our first go at this and we didn't manage to edit it down much. Stick with us though, the plan is to make it shorter, smoother and a bit lighter in the future.

Yes. Some sites might take longer than others to approve it but it should be available from wherever you usually listen to podcasts within the next few days.

We were playing 1 to 11 - no squad numbers yet. Good news about the injuries.

Rooney did his ankle and shouted fuuuuck at the top of his voice as he went down the tunnel, emerging later in crutches. We brought on Coll and the back 4 looked decent for an hour with MacKay performing well behind them. We played the first 20 minutes with a lopsided system in which Trafford and Brown held with McGregor hugging the right touchline. On the other side Doran moved up alongside Curry and White whenever we had the ball. Curry was central with White shifting slightly to the right. We soon switched to 4-2-3-1 with Curry going wide and MacGregor playing as a 10. Both of them were being coached very intensively by Robbo throughout the game as they struggled to impose themselves. Doran came off with a groin strain before half-time - it didn't look serious. Walsh came on and played quite well. Todorov came on for Harper and played centre-half with McCart moving to left-back and gave away a penalty before he'd touched the ball. Later in the game he let a straightforward high ball bounce off the top of his head and Aberdeen should've scored. Todorov redeemed himself by getting a flick onto a corner for Brad to pop up with his trademark back post tap-in. As the subs rained on the game opened up a little and there were chances at both ends. Machado offered more penetration than MacGregor, and Keatings played centrally alongside White when he came on. Chalmers had replaced Brown by this point - we need to get some growth hormones into those boys. It was really depressing to see Trafford taking set pieces - there was a gaping Liam Polwarth sized hole in the centre of midfield throughout. We desperately need the dynamism of a Sean Welsh to give the attacking players a platform. No sign of him, Carson, Vincent or Tremarco today.

A trialist starting at Rothes and another on the bench at Forres. Who they?

Where did Keatings and Todorov play at Clach? I'm guessing Robbo will want to play a different system next season with Keatings playing just off White.

We've based the shape around getting the best out of Polly for the last 2 years so I wouldn't be surprised to see the 4-2-3-1 dropped. Robbo has often been inclined towards a narrow 4-4-2 - could see Keatings playing off White with Vincent and Welsh in the middle and Doran and Walsh starting from deeper, narrower positions. The squad looks to have good balance overall, though it would obviously be nice to add a right-back and a creative midfielder/wide player.

The bookies suspended betting on Sergio Markarian this afternoon. I'm hearing it's a done deal.

That's just not fair Mantis, Caley100 is ageing much better than that.

A fair point, but this league was very tight with just 33 points separating top from bottom so it's difficult to read too much into the following: We took 22 points from the rest of the top 5 and 25 from the bottom 4. We took 18 points from the top 4 budgets and 31 from the bottom 4 budgets. We took 4 points from the top 2 in the final standings and 18 from the 2 promoted teams (that one's quite funny because the narrative at the start of the season was all about us being up for County but not for Alloa). You can spin it in different ways, but the only reason we're talking about this is because we took 23 points at home and 33 away.

Honestly, I'm talking more about my trip to the main stand for the first half of the Ayr game. I would never refer to the mature gentlemen of the north stand in that way - it's on you that you assumed that's who I was talking about.