ALSY

Got to say the tactics and motivation looked excellent yesterday. It took the team about 10 minutes to find their feet and Aberdeen had slightly more of possession (exaggerated to 20 minutes by Tangoman post-match). At first we seemd to lack a little width, but as soon as Imrie started getting the ball in wide positions, we dominated. Cowie provided most of the support for Barrowman, but occasionally he dropped deeper and Blackie pushed up. This flexibility, and the fact that we pressed Aberdeen really hard when we didn't have the ball, meant they couldn't really pin us down and couldn't develop any fluency in their own play. If this is a formation we are going to use regularly, then Barrowman looks tailor-made to play on his own up front. He's a classic goal-hanger, hardly dropped back at all yesterday, but he was constantly looking for the ball, dragging the defenders around with him and received the ball well with his back to goal. Also seems to have reasonable pace, although it was difficult to judge how much skill he has beyond sticking the ball in the net. As for the rest of the team: thought Imrie's workrate was superb and he showed a few flashes of great ball control at speed. Definitely looks most effective as a winger IMO - he looked genuinely dangerous on a few occasions; Cowie saw less of the ball than he did for much of last season, but he still worked really hard, closing down opponents and creating options for his team-mates; Duncan was superb in the second half in particular when we had to defend a bit more - read the game excellently, making important interceptions and tackles and not misplacing too many passes; Hastings for me deserved more than the 3 stars most supporters have given him. Now and again he let attackers in behind him a little too easily (as did Tokely on the other side, but like Duncan he made some vital interceptions in the second half and also showed an aggressive streak which I've never seen before in him and which seemed to wind up the Dons players; McGuire didn't do a great deal wrong but he really does lack the dominance in the air that we've missed since Dods left - as someone else pointed out, he's prone to let the ball bounce and then misjudge it, and another thing which irrritates me is his tendency to barge into the backs of players when he's challenging for a kick-out, thus giving away free kicks. Yesterday wasn't a perfect performance - not enough fluency from midfield to front and still a tendnecy to let opponents in too easily at the back - but the fight from the players was superb, the tactics and formation were well thought-out and effective, and although there was some long-ball stuff, there were also some genuine attempts to play the ball on the ground and build patiently. Early days, but I'm more confident than I was 24 hours ago,

Do you not think Black mistimes a few too many tackles to play as our deepest midfielder? Maybe I'm doing him an injustice based on times I've seen him, but against quicker players he's tended to slide in late a bit too often - this has contributed to his poor disciplinary record IMO. I'd prefer to see Duncan mopping up behind him and passing short for Black to do the link-up work. Possibly I've also got a blind spot where McBain is concerned, but I'd rather see Imrie and Cowie as the wide players with McAllister given his chance alongside Barrowman up front. Last season's defence should probably get one more chance - maybe McGuire will miraculously recover his "new Willie Miller" potential of ten years ago. So: Fraser Tokely McGuire Munro Hastings Cowie Black Duncan Imrie McAllister Barrowman Wilson as an early sub with Cowie going central if that midfield isn't working.

Don't see why a 6 month limit should put the club off - if he is the next Stokes and gets us a few goals before January, that could go a long way to keeping us up. Would also mean we wouldn't be paying a % of his wages for a full year. 6 months might buy us time to bring Wood and McAllister on a bit.

That crossed my mind too. Brewster might well be holding his fire to see how the likes of McAllister and Duff perform if they're given chances in the early games. He was able to bring in players at the last minute last season when he had to, after all - although I'd prefer better signings than McGuire and Malkowski this time around. If that what he's doing, though, it's a risky strategy for the sake of a few quid.

Don't think my heart will stand it if it's still 0-0 after 89 minutes - I'll be waiting for Lovell to teleport in from Grangemouth, pull off his Falkirk strip to reveal an Aberdeen shirt and stick the ball under Mikey Rory to start and score for me - the sooner he gets off the mark, thebetter his chances of making it this season, IMO. If not Rory, then Barrowman.

I've thought for some time that having a pool of full time referees in Scotland might be a good thing, and this dispute has convinced me even more. The duties of the job could surely be expanded to include training of up-and-coming referees, a personal skills development programme and some form of ambassadorial work for scottish football or promotion of health and fitness, for example in schools. Although referees do have a difficult job and work hard to get where they are, I still feel the fees being quoted are too high for what is currently very much a part-time job, carried out mostly, it would appear, by men who have well-paid main jobs. Inevitably, refereeing must impinge on their main jobs to some extent. For example, a friend and fellow teacher works alongside an SFA Grade 1 referee. This guy apparently gets a fair amount of time off for various refereeing commitments and there is some degree of resentment among the staff who are asked to cover his classes. I imagine this resentment would increase if they felt he was being paid ?575 per game and still looking for an increase on top of his teacher's salary. By making the job full time for, say, a pool of 15-20 referees, the SFA would prevent the possibility of the posts being filled by men who might be compromising both their main jobs and their refereeing skills; they would allow greater scope for training and development, thus (hopefully) improving the standard of refereeing in Scotland; and they would also be job creating and spreading the wealth a bit (my woolly socialism has always been a bit outraged that lawyers and teachers and ministers are being paid for their hobby when others could be given a full time job instead).

Will be there. Meeting my Dons-supporting brother pre- and post- match so will get the alternative view quickly. Already braced for barely-suppressed smugness, but maybe, just maybe, it'll be my turn this time...

Ta. Same old, same old from Russell on the passing front, then? Not encouraging about Black, though. At least he didn't lamp anyone. Or did he?

Thanks for so much info and analysis, Harry. One question: Were we opting for the long ball again during the first half? ExiledICT's post suggested this and my heart sank when I read it. Given that nearly all our quality lies in midfield, I think we will go down if we start this p*sh again this season.

F** me. The level of eedjitry among Scottish football pundits is something to behold. Did they also refer to Brewster's shrewd use of substitutes? Didn't sound like there was too much of the old "aesthetically pleasing short passing game" going on against Burnley. 1 out of 3 in the Sunday Herald have us going down, btw. Fair enough. No-one seems to think Killie are in much danger though. Is it unthinkable a Jim Jeffries team could be relegated?

No-one has any real idea how many goals he's worth. But as I've already posted on the "Brand New Strike Force" thread, if Brewster believes in him then he should get him in the team straight away and see how he does. His confidence should be high after pre-season and Aberdeen's defence is looking shonky.

Interesting post on P&B a few minutes ago suggesting Russell Anderson may be loaned to Hibs this season. This would probably be a non-starter for two reasons: firstly, if it came to a contest between us and Hibs I suspect he would prefer a move to Edinburgh; secondly, we probably wouldn't be able or prepared to meet the percentage of his wages that Sunderland would want us to pay. That said, it might still be worth making enquiries in case the Hibs move falls through. NB should point out that Anderson scored an og in Sunderland's 2-1 defeat to Accies today...

I'd rather have Imrie and Barrowman than Niculae + Wood/Mcallister. Apparently Imrie had a couple of good games towards the end of the season playing up front (neither of which I got to), but isn't he really more of a wide man, possibly a long-term replacement for Barry? It might be heresy in the eyes of some supporters, but I'd be inclined to start with Barrowman and McAllister, based on pre-season performances. If McAllister is going to fulfil any potential he does have, then he needs games and support from the mangement and fans early. I suspect he's a confidence player, and there will arguably be less pressure on him if we give him his chance straight away than if we turn to him later on as a last resort if other combinations of players aren't delivering. If he's a disaster, then there will still be time to replace him with Wood or Imrie. Aberdeen probably isn't a bad game for him to start in - he'll be playing against his home town team and their central defence looks very ropey, especially if Diamond is still injured. Ideally I'd still like to see us tie up Rooney or sign another attacker, but a defender is even more of a priority.

Agree absolutely with the first point here - we saw some great football occasionally from Marius, but he was far from our most important player last season. I would quite like to have seen him stay on, if only to see if we could get a real season of quality out of him, but it's not as if the heart of the team has been ripped out. The guy seemed to conduct himself well while he was here and showed the supporters respect, and obviously there are questions over the club's conduct in seeming to push him out the door, but we're only a fortnight off the start of the season now and should be looking forward. F*ck the club politics, this is what I want to see: I want to see Rooney given a deal so that we increase our attacking options and give a chnace to a young a player who genuinely feels he has something to play for. I want to see the money from Marius used to shore up the central defence, although with whom, I have no idea. I want to see Brewster build a team around the midfield he has been lauding instead of playing the long ball. On August 9th, I want to see us lay to rest this ghost of never beating Aberdeen. I want to come on to this website on Saturday nights and see posts debating the football we've been playing and not what the board should be doing. Sorry if that seems naive - roll on the season!

I was impressed by Wood's presence in the box at the County friendly last pre-season, and if he's grown physically and in confidence since then then he could be really useful, but Ross's point here also worries me. Given Brewster's recent comments about the quality of our midfield, I'd hoped he had decided to move beyond the long ball tactic, and Rooney, if signed, sounds like a player more comfortable with the ball played on the deck. It would a serious backward step if we set out this season with a long-ball tactic based around a target man - not only is it predictable and easy to defend against, it would also frustrate our more creative midfielders and make them far less effective when they are asked to take control of a game. We have to build the team around Black and Cowie this season - if they move on after that, I'd rather it was because they had had outstanding seasons than because they felt they weren't being properly utilised in the Caley Thistle team. All that said, 1-1 sounds like a decent result against a Danish Sueprliga side.

I think Dods was a Robertson signing - summer before our first seaon in the SPL if I remember rightly? Same principle, though - ex-strikers should understand what makes a good defender by having directly opposing defenders during their careers. I agree with the concenrens about the back line and I worry about Brewster's ability to bring in someone appropriate. I haven't been impressed by Brewster's record of signing defenders - McGuire is temperamental and error-prone and I'm still not convinced by Proctor's defensive qualities, especially in the centre, although I know some posters will disagree with me on this.

Admirable piece of bluff-calling by Falkirk. Really hope all the other SPL clubs follow suit and put these presumptious @rseholes in their place.

Enjoy your holiday, IHE?...

I'm inclined to agree, although this is purely a gut reaction - I didn't see the two friendlies he played in. Obviously there's no point in signing a player who isn't up to standard, but I'm still worried about our lack of attacking options and it seems strange to think that a player that got significantly closer to the Man U first team than Rankin ever did isn't on a par with, say, Imrie or Paatelinen. Hopefully this isn't a repeat of the situation (I think) we had with Liam Buchanan, whom Brewster (if I remember correctly) took on trial but declined to offer a contract immediately. That said, another central defender is probably more of a priority.

God, how funny. Away over to P&B to snigger at the reaction from the seagulls.

Why not? We've always been a pioneering club, even though some people think we're stuck with a Highland League mentality... That's not to say straight men can't lay it down, however - remember seeing Roscoe cut a mean slosh on the floor at Gs a few years ago with a bird on each arm.

Not intentionally, no - sorry if it came across that way. My objection was mainly to Bright's sneering tone. We are almost certainly the smallest club to be represented at the finals, but it doesn't automatically follow that a national team which contains players from smaller clubs will have no hope of competing against teams who draw all their players from champions League clubs, nor that the players from smaller clubs cannot contribute effectively in a major finals. That probably doesn't make much sense. Sorry. Some beer has been taken.

Agree absolutely, Scotty. The vertical stripes, as well as being a fairer representation of our parent clubs, make us immediately distinctive - there isn't another senior club in the Scottish game with vertical red and blue stripes, is there? Also, having to live in Glasgow, I object to anything that makes me look from a distance as if I could be a Rangers supporter.

From a completely neutral viewpoint it is a valid point, but there was something about the tone of voice that really grated - like we're a novelty act or something. Besides, he only made the comment because we're a team based in the UK and he was pandering to what he feels are the preconceptions of a UK-based audience. If Marius had still been playing with Mainz in the German seond division, he probably wouldn't have made the comment because people don't feel they know anything about Mainz. Also, Mark Bright's career never really took in any of the bigger English clubs as far as I can remember, yet I bet, had he been selected for a major finals, that he would have taken issue with you if you had suggested to him that he didn't have the right to be there.

No, No, No. For a start, look at the scoring records quoted in the article - 18 in 4 years is worse than Bayne or Wyness, who we've deemed surplus to requirements. Secondly, I seem to remember that both have poor injury records. Thirdly, try to find any Killie supporter on P&B with a good word to say about Wales. I know we've got a bit of history of turning round the careers of "failing" players, but at least Dargo had an excellent record as a young player at Raith Rovers. Wales never had the same record, and while Di Giacomo had promise as a very young player (like David Bagan, for example) he hasn't come close to fulfilling it.