tonicg

Agreed. EPL vibes about it. Those clubs have no soul or community and can only amount to singing people’s names over and over again.

Didn’t realise it was KVV himself that was carrying the wean. Looks hopeless in the warm up…….

Just on this, by my reckoning we had 7 (if you now include Paton & Spencer) full internationalists in our starting 11 playing at Ibrox against their measly 5. Not sure that's ever even came close to happening before but it really makes a mockery of the cliché, "a team of internationalists" as if it's a sign of sheer squad quality/depth...

I was excited as anyone when McKinstry rejoined us on loan but I have to admit to being pretty underwhelmed by his performances. From a numbers point of view, 4 goals was a decent return but even Joe Efford got more assists than him from half the number of appearances. I imagined after a few years of development Leeds he would've at least had a bit more about him physically. It's been obvious his favoured position(s) didn't suit SK's formation. He did offer something different in that he had some flair and had some nice flashes but the fact he only managed 5mins playing time under SK last season and is now looking at the Scottish Championship kind of says it all. Wish him all the best wherever he goes and he gets the run of games in a team that suits him.

Casey hasn't played since October. They mentioned a few times that Blaney was built up to match fitness for several weeks since coming in before making his debut which makes me wonder if Casey will under the same programme... The alternative at the moment could be all the full backs at centre half again. Some laugh.

Just realised Spittal played with Butcher at United. Wonder if Butcher will bring his game on...

Fingers crossed Butcher comes in tomorrow morning at training and just lamps the lot of them.

I know this shouldn’t come as a surprise since we had two full backs playing centre half but the goals we concede today are again laughable. Duk (just like Nisbet a few weeks ago) doesn’t even need to work to gain yards of free space on edge of 6 yard box. Easy unopposed nod into the net. Slattery yet again loses possession in a key area and big SOD doesn’t have a clue where he or his man is as the ball is played into the box to be slotted past Kelly for the second. Their 3rd, it’s McGinn this time who has no idea what he’s doing and chooses to pass the buck and blame young Furlong. These “experienced” heads need to get a grip soon or they can get to f*ck. I’d play Dunachie and Casey. Impossible they could be any worse. Hammell clearly ditched his so called passing/possession style today and tried to lob balls up to Obika from the off. To go with 3 at the back on today of all days was desperation. I like others find it hard to call for his head but we need to change now while someone else can come in while we are still within the relegation pack.

Quite simply the worst performance from us I can remember in a long long time. I’ve been hanging on to the hope that Hammell would turn it around but the manner of that defeat tonight says to me we need to change it. If we’d lost tonight but went down fighting and showed like we had a plan then maybe let him have more time to bed the players in but it was the manner. The worst I can remember. Worse than Malpas. If he remains then we are digging our own grave but if we act now I actually think someone could get a tune out of this squad to keep us up. Never seen a team lacking in confidence as much as they were tonight. A change of manager is the only way I can see this turning now. if he’s still there on Saturday (and we inevitably lose) then I don’t fancy us at Stark’s Park at all. Change it now.

Louis Laing - Bespoke Financial (bespokefinancialnewcastle.co.uk)

He finished top scorer in Finland’s top flight in 2022 and has now bagged 4 goals in two games for Al Ahed of Lebanon.

Interesting to see Arbroath choosing to play their number 2 goalkeeper for the cup. Also got 50 year old Rab Douglas on the Bench.

As with all of our academy graduates (this one via Hibs), I really want to see Dean progress and cement a first team place. However, i'm left feeling a bit underwhelmed watching him sometimes as he makes himself look busy as if he's about to put himself about but puts on the breaks at the last minute. He's got the second highest number of appearances (9) from the bench (Tierney -11). Probably brought on to inject some energy late on in games. Needs to make more of his chances. As for the link to PNE, i can't see it.

It’s inevitable that we sign another of our ex players. I noticed Ryan Bowman’s contract is up in the summer and he hasn’t had many 90mins recently. He’s had some decent numbers since leaving us. Certainly put himself about (RIP Cardoso). Not difficult to imagine him being an improvement on what we have at the moment. Also noticed his partner in crime (Curtis Main) with a nice finish against Livi the others night. They were no where near the best strikers we’ve had in past 10 years but we’re so bad up top right now they’d probably make a sizeable difference.

I noticed Neil Alexander too but just assumed he was part of United's backroom staff as I didn't see what gear he had on. FWIW, anytime I hear him he comes across like an insufferable bluenose in the same mould as Mo Ross.