The Arch

I was one of the ones that wanted Archie to stay but it’s looking like the wrong decision already. Will an Alan Archibald team win the league? No Will an Alan Archibald team have the balls to win a minimum of two ties in the play-offs? No Was a great manager for us but it’s so much harder to win promotion from this league than it is to avoid relegation from the Scottish Premiership. I don’t think he’s up to the challenge and unless he makes four or five amazing signings, we look like we’ll finish 5th-7th at best.

I think I'd ditch most of these wasters whatever happens next season. Keep Erskine, Doolan, Penrice, McCarthy, Cerny, Elliott, Bannigan(on a 6 month deal) and two or three others, and then ditch the rest. We could do with signing a few nutjobs. We've been soft for years but managed to get round that by playing good football, which we haven't done for a good while now. Still think we're in this, especially if Erskine is back as we lacked any direct running last night. Hopefully Keown will be fit too, just so we never have to see Danny Devine play for us ever again. Been a dreadful season whatever happens, though.

Think tonight showed why we’ve been forced to play Barton and Edwards together for so long this season. Woods was absolutely done by about 50 minutes and Fraser offered absolutely nothing off the ball.

We’re an absolute mess at the moment. I’d say we have the worst centre half and central midfield pairings in the league at the moment. We’ve been without a proper left back for about two months. Cerny has been an abomination the last two games. Spittal has regressed massively, and just shoves the ball straight back to Turnbull whenever he receives it. Our only hope is to get to the winter break with the gap being no bigger than it is currently. Hopefully Woods is now fit enough that we can break up the shit show of Barton/Edwards. I can’t tell if the performances are down to a lack of confidence/not caring. Archie has undoubtedly made mistakes but I don’t think he could have expected signings like Keown to have been so disastrous. We need a Lee Mair style signing to steady the ship back there. I’d potentially play whoever that is with Turnbull, drop the Chuckle brothers in the middle and then Penrice will hopefully save the day at full back in the new year. Didn’t even think Killie were that great yesterday, but having a solid spine to their team made all the difference.

Would imagine he'll start ahead of Milan against County and Elliott will move to left back. Always thought he was decent enough at Dundee.

I think Storey could probably off the wings in a 4-2-3-1. Archie said he wanted two signings. A straight striker and winger cum striker, so maybe it's Sammon and Storey on that basis.

Some suggestion on the St Johnstone thread that the second signing might be Connor Sammon. I would be fine with that if he's not our main man. Offers an aerial threat, and we're a bit small up top.

Still think Archie made the right decision signing Blair Spittal and in selling Azeez, but we do lack pace and power to mix it up with Azeez and Amoo away, despite the latter being a useless shitebag most of the time. In an ideal world I'd like us to sign two strikers - a pacy one like Miles Storey and a target man like Brian Graham - and then another attacking midfielder(whether that's an attacking midfielder or winger). We might end up having to settle for just one striker. If they're even just a tiny bit better than Azeez then I would accept that as Azeez was alright. I think unless we sign something a bit different then we'll rely a lot on scoring perfect goals like the first one against Hibs, which is not ideal. But we were okay yesterday, and I think most teams bar Rangers, Celtic and Aberdeen would have lost that, so it's not the end of the world.

I think he gets a nod just before most signings are announced, given that the club works so closely with the paper. Know nothing about the Czech guy, but useful that he can play centre half as well.

Given today's the last day Jordan Turnbull can leave Coventry on a free, it certainly looks like he might be today's signing. Looks an impressive signing and similar to Spittal in that he's played a lot of games for someone in his early 20s.

Probably adding 2+2 and ending up with 5, but Stranraer posted a picture of their ex-player Gregory Tade in the crowd at Firhill yesterday. Can't imagine he was there just to cheer them on. I wonder whether he is one of the signings on the way. Currently a free agent, and I think would be an upgrade on Azeez. Was a hugely effective player towards the end of his spell in Scottish football, done quite well abroad, and would help compensate for the lack of power we have in the team at the moment.

Couldn't believe quite how bad you guys were yesterday. Was expecting a real challenge, but that was probably one of the poorest performances I've seen at Firhill in the last five years. Didn't look like there was much athleticism in that side. A lot of stocky big guys, or very small guys. It was all very ponderous around the box as well - like night and day to our link up with Spittal, Erskine and Lawless etc. Hopefully you guys get it together for the start of the season, but you certainly look like a team that would struggle to put up a challenge for even the play-offs.

Thought we were superb yesterday. Brilliant having Osman and Bannigan back together. I'd say they're probably the best central midfield pairing we've had in my time supporting the club, and offer us the best balance of any available pairing. Bannigan also brings out the best in Booth and Lawless in the way they all link up. Spittal offers a lot more than Amoo on various levels, and good having someone that's willing to make runs into the box, rather than just cling to the touchline for dear life. Looks a great finisher as well, and I think there's the possibility we might actually make some money on him. St Mirren on the other hand were dreadful. Genuinely looked a similar level to Formartine United.

There's a few candidates for the player from a club in Scotland, but I'm hoping it will be Miles Storey, who just isn't gonna get a game at Aberdeen. I think he'd be a good fit. Storey was on holiday with Danny Devine, so hopefully he's been in his ear Pogba/Lukaku style. Assume the loan player from down south will be a centre half or right back, but who knows.

I would take Keith Watson as a short term loan, but we've seen how we struggle when we sign full backs that aren't as athletic as we'd like. It's hard to blame Dumbuya too much, but he's becoming a bit of a liability.