CallumPar

Despite the embargo, we had 5 new players by the end of July that summer! 1 permanent (James Washburn, whoever he is?) and 4 loans - Ryan Scully, Ryan Ferguson, Jordan Moore and Luke Johnston. So we’re somehow 2 players behind where we were when we had a transfer embargo! That being said, Benedictus and Hamilton make me more enthusiastic about our chances than any of those players did. It’s worrying that we seem to be struggling to complete these deals. Crawford’s a free agent and Mochrie isn’t part of United’s plans this season, they know they want to loan him out. These deals should be relatively straightforward to complete. Guys that should be desperate to get a club where they’ll get regular game time. Also worth noting that you can play trialists in League One. A bit surprised we didn’t even put Crawford (or any other trialists?) on the bench at the weekend.

Pars emailed season ticket holders with a link to buy tickets on Saturday morning. Also been openly talked about here and on social media, with regards to how to find them on fanbase. Away tickets are available in the ‘events’ section of FC Edinburgh’s page on the app.

He works hard and likes to get forward, but his final ball is horrendous. Particularly frustrating yesterday, a number of attacks just broke down when he booted the ball out of play when he attempted to cross it, also had a few chances to score and failed to work the keeper at all. Think he’s an ok squad player, but not someone we will, or can, rely on most weeks.

Big improvement second half today. Got very lucky with the goal, but think we edged it on the balance of play. Wasn’t pretty, but got to be happy with a win. 3-5-2 looked a much better shape with the players we have. Giving McCann a partner up top and having someone in behind them worked well. Played much more direct and were unlucky on a few occasions. More of the same next week please.

Good news - he is!

Hopefully MacDonald can track one of Alloa’s wing backs. For 90 minutes last week, none of our players seemed to pick up either of Alloa’s wing backs when they had the ball. It became quite embarrassing watching both of them constantly get the freedom of the park and every Pars player just ignoring them.

Tickets on sale for Meadowbank next week. Have to go to the Fanbase app (used by Hamilton last season). Go to the FC Edinburgh page, and go to the ‘store’. It will show as ‘ no tickets available’, but if you click on ‘events’ near the top, away tickets are available to buy. £18 to stand round the pitch. Makes £20 at EEP seem like a bargain!

Squad will be very thin today. Noticed that in the tighter games (v Ross County and Alloa), McPake hasn’t brought on the young guys and only brought on MacDonald in an emergency situation (Benedictus injured). With Hamilton out, the only ‘senior’ subs we’ll have is Todorov and MacDonald. Not a great way to start the league campaign. Expect Alloa to start with Scougall further forward, as he was in the second half last week. But they have subs that can change the game. We really don’t right now.

Definitely expected more than 3 signings before the league campaign started. Hope McPake’s patience pays off, but I’m concerned that we have no wingers and no cover/competition at all at CB. Benedictus will get suspended at some point and Breen really struggled to stay injury free last season. I don’t doubt we’re actively talking to players/agents/clubs, but any players joining now have missed pre-season. Missing pre-season is often used as the excuse for players struggling - like Breen and Dorrans last season and they were signed earlier than anybody that we sign now.

They already are, as far as I can see. Looks like you’re in the main stand east wing again. https://dafc.co.uk/awaytickets/

They did, but it’s the 5 teams in Europe and the top 3 group winners that are seeded. That won’t include Annan. Unless Raith win tomorrow, a penalty shootout win would have seen us through to the next round.

First half was fairly decent. Alloa looked alright, but didn’t trouble us. McCann had 2 good chances and forced a good save from the Alloa keeper. Second half, we started strong, then fell apart as soon as we had that run of 4 shots that were all blocked. Once we conceded, heads went down and for some reason, our intensity dropped. Taking off Hamilton was odd. Todd was knackered and Hamilton was our best midfielder by some distance. Then Chalmers came on and barely broke sweat. Same goes for Todorov when he came on. First half (and every game so far), McCann was closing down defenders, hassling them. Todorov did that for a few minutes, then started walking whenever their defenders had the ball. Moving McCann out wide when he was starting to tire was another odd move and really shows why we need to add depth to the squad. Alloa made subs to change the game and we don’t have the personnel to be able to do that. Maybe we needed that kick up the ass. Second half was nowhere near good enough and we need to see a reaction from that next week.

Hopefully the guy comes in and does well. He’ll get a chance soon enough. The other 2 McPake signings have been very good additions, so hopefully this is another one.

Chalmers was very poor last season. There’s no doubt about that. On Dorrans, his red card was rescinded, so that’s a very harsh criticism. He also wasn’t as bad as is made out by some fans. We had a lot of players who were poor last season. Think it was largely down to abysmal management. Wighton, Dorrans and Comrie are certainly much better players than they looked last season. So I’m willing to see what the likes of Chalmers can do under decent management - although, if the manager doesn’t play him, that tells its own story.

Would have been happy to see us bring Kennedy in, to see what he could do under a different manager. He’s clearly highly rated and I think our new system would probably suit him a lot better. He’d be asked to get the ball and run at defenders, rather than whatever Grant/Hughes tried to ask him to do last season. Having said that, he’s also not a great loss. I’m certainly not disappointed we didn’t get him. He’d be a gamble, but I have a feeling most of our signings will be.

Quite telling that he says that, whilst McPake criticised our attacking players for not being clinical/scoring more goals. I certainly went home thinking Buckie were lucky it wasn’t more. Their performance was very poor, and I can understand the manager’s frustrations. But that’s not really an excuse for comments like that. For what it’s worth, 5-0 is genuinely what I would have thought would be expected before kick off, if our players turned up with the right attitude - which they certainly did.

Decent performances all round tonight. Some good play and some good goals. Buckie looked dead on their feet from a very early stage. Never known a team to use all 5 subs before the start of the second half in a competitive game! Our guys put in a professional performance and got the job done. Nice to see Tod and Rennie get assists as well. Hopefully Todorov has given McPake something to think about too, very unlucky not to get a hat trick!

MacDonald played on the left of the front 3 v Killie, which is why I’m assuming that’ll be the case tonight. Not sure what McPake has against Todorov, but he’s about the only player who hasn’t been given any sort of chance so far.

I must be missing something with MacDonald. He’s in the front 3, ahead of Wighton and Todorov? He’s a full back, that has been tried - and failed - on the wing. Wighton and Todorov may not be world beaters, but at least they’re attackers that I’d play in a front 3 ahead of him any day. McCann on the left of the front 3 and Todorov through the middle is better than MacDonald on the left. Wighton was poor first half Saturday, but improved second half. I’m yet to see MacDonald play particularly well. But this is the 3rd manager in a row that’s tried to squeeze him into the team early on. Grant had him at wing back ahead of Comrie and Hughes played him as a winger/wide midfielder.

If Dorrans can be that creative midfielder, we need him back fit. To be honest, I think we’d benefit from him being on the pitch, no matter what role he’s asked to play. We have a very young midfield, particularly if Allan might play ahead of Chalmers. On a slightly unrelated note, I realised earlier that Saturday was the first time I’ve seen us win away from home since March 2019. Crawford was 2 months into the job at that point, we hadn’t signed Nisbet yet. Before Saturday, we hadn’t won in the last 14 away games I attended, under 3 different managers. Our away record has been horrendous for years now. Hopefully McPake can solve that and our Scottish cup curse.

I think we have a few areas that we will be prioritising - GK, CB and wingers. But it would also be stupid not to look at options, if they are available, in other positions. I would expect a keeper to be in soon. We’ve obviously had 2 on trial recently. But also noticed Mehmet’s been given the number 1 shirt. So I think the new keeper is likely to be younger, but still hoping to push Mehmet for that number 1 shirt. We need cover at CB - ideally, I think we need 2 CBs, but I don’t know if we have room in the budget for that. It would be great if we could get one player to cover CB and LB - Lewis Martin’s versatility would have been great! We obviously have no wide options. Most weeks, we’ll probably be fine with Wighton, McCann and O’Hara with Todorov as cover, but I’d love to see us have wingers who are comfortable taking men on, running down the line and getting crosses into the box. I think it’s important to have other options. I also think we need a more creative midfielder, but I can’t see that happening unless we manage to offload one or two of our current options there.

On the game, I thought first half was really dull. Second half, we started on the front foot and kept EF pinned back for almost the full 45 mins. Had some decent bits of play and often just lacked the killer instinct in the box. Breen and McCann both look a lot more mobile - unless I’m imagining that. Also thought McCann took both his goals well - also forced a good save from the keeper. Comrie looked back to his old self, driving forward, overlapping (including winning the penalty), but solid defensively. Edwards played a few good balls into the box too. Midfield seemed to be a weak area still though. We only really looked good going forward through the full backs, or McCann holding it up/flicking it on for Wighton/O’Hara. Paul Allan looked good when he came on, seemed to be trying to find positive passes and move into space. Unfortunately, that’s not the norm for a Pars midfielder!

We lacked leadership last season and, so far, I’ve been impressed by him. Didn’t rate him at Rovers, I’m not going to lie. But he seems to be what we’ve been needing in our defence. Not the best CB we’ve had in terms of ability, but he seems to provide the leadership we have lacked in recent years, organising the defence and having a go at players (and officials) when they need it. Having said that, I’ve only seen him in a friendly v Killie and today v East Fife. It’s all about how he does in league duty. But the early signs are quite positive, in my opinion.

100%. Someone needs to be managed/coached properly to be a decent signing. Kennedy seems to have potential. If our coaching team don’t have what it takes to help him improve/learn, he wouldn’t be a good signing. I’m just saying that he has the potential to be a decent signing at this level.

Couple of things. First, @101is it worth setting up a page for people to donate what they can/want to for the sponsorship? This can then either be topped up by someone, if required, or excess funds can be donated to the club/PST? Just seems better than asking for people to donate a certain amount. Means some people aren’t priced out of it. Also, think Kennedy would probably be alright at this level. Would be a fairly good signing if we got him. However, the appeal of working with McGlynn again might be bigger than the appeal of returning to a club he flopped at last season.