Leaderboard

Totally agree with this post. Before I'm accused of over-reacting to one result, this has been my feeling before a game was played. Whilst I'm happy about our additions this pre-season- there is a glaring weaknesses to our squad which was there last season. We need a player in the centre of the park that can control the game, especially when Davidson is in there (a player with plenty attributes but helping us play a possession style game it is not). Spoony is not that guy, Craig is not that guy and Alston is not that guy. I'm all for having two of the three of them in there as squad players. They are good options to have, they give 100% when they are needed, but they lack the quality needed to cover Millars place in the team. I'd happily let one of them move on in order to bring quality into the centre of the park. Millar did the work of two men at times in his prime and made up for the fact that in Davidson we have a central midfielder that is often better when the opposition has the ball. We need someone who is brave on the ball, who is willing to help his backline when they are under a little pressure and a player that can read a forward pass. I think that's vital to unlocking Scougall in a more advanced central position. A quality player in that role all of a sudden can improve several players around him. How many times did Millar drop back into space taking pressure off MacKay or Easton and allowing them to 'pass and go' wide. How often did he pick up on MacLeans movement into deeper positions starting attacks? How often did he give Anderson a simple 10 yard pass and take away the lack of distribution he sometimes suffers from. I'd go as far as saying a getting the right player for that role could be the difference in 5-6 places in the table.

Sevco are said to about to pay 2.2 million quid for left back Barisic. Is that slang for skint ?.

Former Rangers striker Steven Thompson on Sportsound "I thought the timing of Gerrard's comments weren't great... one game in, after a draw away from home. If you finish the league season above them, or even beat them on the day, then you can come out and say that but it seems a bit early to me given Aberdeen have been second for four years in a row. For me, it lacked a bit of class".

one permanent and a youngster on loan from down south would be nice but can’t see it

Result: 3 points Matty Kennedy 8 votes 30% of vote 2 points Drey Wright 5 votes 19 % of vote 1 point Richard Foster + Liam Gordon 4 votes 15% of vote Standings after 4 games 9 points : Liam Gordon 6 points : Drey Wright 3 points : Matty Kennedy 2 points : Liam Craig + Stefan Scougall + Richard Foster 1 point : Zander Clark + Drey Wright

As I have said before we lost two midfielders at the end of last season Millar and Willock it's not just one but two quality midfielders that we require to get us through the season.Its glaringly obvious that none of our current players are capable of playing in this role long term.Sure we can make one signing but if he is suspended injured or has lost form what are we left with.??

Alston is another who when he gets to play as an attacking midfielder centrally looks decent. He got far more involved at Montrose when given that license and I can think of a few other decent performances over the past couple of years. The problem is threefold though: The manager rarely plays him there, in part because... We don't regularly play a formation that creates the need for a central attacking midfielder. If we do play a system with a more advanced midfielder, we are well covered there and other players are probably better options. I think he could be a goal threat from the right area but he isn't suited to just a pairing in midfield and definitely isn't suited to playing deeper. He doesn't have the positional awareness, tacking ability, passing ability or indeed much of what is required to fill the hole vacated by Chris Millar. The squad is just slightly starting to get the look of an unbalanced one with too many players that don't suit us or aren't versatile enough. It's not just said off the back of yesterday but I'm concerned about our ability to get Kennedy and Wright (and indeed the strikers) involved in games.

On this note - I'm finding it really difficult to understand why Alston was given a new contract. We were told he'd be given a chance to play more centrally this season, but he's never going to fill the Millar role, and he's never going to be first choice out wide either. Given how tight the budget is and how much of a struggle it is to bring in new players, that just seems like a wage that should have been put towards bringing in a bloody good Millar replacement.