blueheaven

If the below options are fit/available, I'd like to see us go with: __________Steward Smith Diabate Baird Foulds ______McAlear Holt Steven Gullan McPake __________Fowler That puts everyone pretty much in their natural positions and is closest to the line-up and formation we've been most successful with. I'm a bit 50-50 over whether I'd start Steven or Agyeman at right-wing, but given that no one has really managed to make the position their own, I think it's time to give Steven a chance to play an attacking role more similar to the one he had at Arbroath and see what he can do. I also think Steven is more likely to hold his position on the right than Stanton would, and that should help Smith's performance. And for me, McPake has produced his best performances this season when he's had Foulds behind him.

I think letting Sprangler go out on loan really came back to bite us last night. He's exactly the player you want to add to a midfield when we're defending a lead and all we need to do is see it out. Mallan just seemed in a daydream the whole time he was on the pitch, to the extent that I'm wondering if we'll see him in a Saints strip again. For me the whole system that the squad has been built to play isn't working without Sidibeh, but I've no idea what we would change it to with the players who have been assembled. A front two is probably worth a try to get more out of Fowler, but I'm not sure how you fit McPake, Gullan or any of our midfield in with that. And I don't want to see us switch to a back three either as it doesn't suit our centre-backs and we don't have any viable wing-backs. But we need to find some sort of way to vary our play. Controlling possession can be great but the best teams who play in that way also know they need to break out of it from time to time, whether that means a quick counter attack, a long ball forward or anything else. Without any of those elements we're just way too easy to defend against and if I was an opposition manager I'd be telling my team to just relax and let Saints knock the ball around as much they like, because as long as you stay in your shape at the back Saints will really struggle to break through. The one thing saving us at the moment is that Partick are really pretty poor and keep chucking away their opportunities to catch us.

What I found incredibly frustrating last night, and in quite a lot of previous games, is that despite having plenty of attacking options in our squad we're basically using Liam Smith, a fairly limited full-back, as our main attacking option down the right-hand side. We need to either play someone at right-wing who is able to stick to their position, or - in games like last night's where we know we're going to be doing most of the attacking - pick a more attacking player at right-back. So either start Agyeman on the right (is that not why we signed him, after all?) or, if we must persist with playing central midfielders out of position there, pick someone like Steven or Tumilty at right-back who will actually be able to get forward and do some damage. And Tumilty seems to be out of the picture so that probably means Steven. I think Simo has been really over-thinking it lately - too much tinkering with the backline and too many square pegs in round holes, and it just hasn't helped things at all. The whole balance just feels off at the moment. Personally I'd go back to Foulds at left-back for the foreseeble future (as I think McPake's best performances earlier in the season came with Foulds behind him) and have either Agyeman or Steven at right-wing which would take some of the attacking responsibility off Smith and allow him to concentrate on being a right-back. I get that Simo wants to play Stanton but he's being crow-barred in at the moment and just doesn't work as a wide option. For me the problem with Stanton, Mallan and Fotheringham is that they all only really work in Gullan's central position behind the striker, but Gullan's rightly the guy in possession of that role because he's the one who's performed best out of all of them. As a slight aside, I honestly can't quite get over the idiocy of fans setting off flares and causing a hold-up in the game when their own team is in the ascendancy. Just absolute madness.

Nothing confirmed yet though, as far as I can see?

Quick update on the squad list as it stands ... Goalkeepers 1. Toby Steward - 2026 - on loan from Portsmouth 20. Ross Sinclair - 2026 39. Kyle Thomson - 2026(?) Craig Hepburn - 2027 - on loan at East Kilbride Defenders/wing backs 2. Reghan Tumilty - 2026 3. Cheick Diabate - 2026 5. Bozo Mikulic - 2026 25. Scott Bright - 2026 - on loan at Forfar Athletic 33. Liam Smith - 2026 35. Adam Forrester - 2026 - on co-op loan from Hearts 52. Arran Brookfield - 2026 4. Morgan Boyes - 2027 14. Mattty Foulds - 2027 15. Jack Baird - 2027 Midfielders/wingers 7. Jason Holt - 2026 8. Jonathan Svedberg - 2026 11. Sam Stanton - 2026 19. Taylor Steven - 2026 22. Stevie Mallan - 2026 24. Josh McPake - 2026 27. Alfredo Agyeman - 2026 - on loan from Falkirk 46. Fran Franczak - 2026 51. Murray Binnie - 2026 - on loan at Jeanfield Swifts 23. Sven Sprangler - 2027 - on loan at Newport County 42. Reece McAlear - 2027 Aaron Essel - 2027 Forwards 18. Ruari Paton - 2026 - on loan from Port Vale 10. Jamie Gullan - 2027 21. Kai Fotheringham - 2027 9. Josh Fowler - 2028 17. Louis Lloyd - 2028 Departures Jannik Wanner (end of loan, returns to Livingston) Craig Hepburn (East Kilbride, loan) Adama Sidibeh (Stockport County, undisclosed fee) Uche Ikpeazu (released, signed for Ross County) Jackson Mylchreet (released, signed for East Kilbride) Sven Sprangler (Newport County, loan) Victor Griffith (released, signed for CS Emelec) Arrivals Alfredo Agyeman (Falkirk, loan) Taylor Steven (end of loan, returns from Arbroath) Josh Fowler (Queen's Park, undisclosed fee) Ruari Paton (Port Vale, loan)

The whole format of this competition is a pain in the arse and the amount of work Saints have had to put into trying to play a game that very few people actually care about is just ridiculous. Giving lower league clubs extra games to play in winter months when fulfilling fixtures is hard enough just makes no sense. The SPFL needs to learn from this and look at ways this tournament can happen at times of the year when the weather's better. One suggestion I'd like them to investigate is scrapping the League Cup group stages and playing the Challenge Cup at that time of year instead. It's similarly ridiculous that in a cold, wet country like Scotland the top flight clubs actually voted against allowing artificial playing surfaces. The vast majority of clubs should have switched to those years ago and it would have saved everyone involved a lot of time and money. It really does make me laugh when people complain about the bounce of the ball not being right on those surfaces, or them causing injuries. Does anyone seriously think the bounce of the ball or risk of injury is worse than what Saints are trying to play on at the moment?

Never been a huge fan of Puma's designs but it's quite exciting to see us go with one of the better-known brands for a little change, and hopefully it'll mean a better range of extras like training tops etc. As long as the prices aren't hiked too much I can see there being a big increase in sales, with the novelty of being able to get some Saints Puma stuff appealing to people. I'm hoping for a simple home kit of blue shirt, white shorts and white socks. With the away kit I always prefer us to go with something a bit more fun and unpredicatble, so I'd love us to steer away from the boring white/yellow/maroon stuff and give us something unexpected. My experience of Macron seems to be different from other people's, as I thought their quality was awful. Several of the shirts I've had from them have had loads of messy, unfinished threads hanging all over the place, to the extent that they became the only one one of our kit suppliers I've ever felt the need to complain directly to. Plus, their sizing was all over the place. I definitely preferred Joma, in terms of quality, design and range.

Can't complain about Griffith leaving given his lack of game time but I'm really disappointed it hasn't worked for him here as I thought he had a real touch of quality about him. Up until his injury last season it looked like he was one of the first names on the team sheet but after that he just never seemed to re-establish himself. I'd really expected him to be one of the players who would shine for us in the Championship but obviously Simo just didn't feel he fitted into the new system. Pity we're not going to see another Saints player go to a World Cup but I hope he makes the Panama squad anyway. We're suddenly looking a bit light in central midfield after being over-staffed in that area for a while. That could mean another chance for Svedberg if injuries and suspensions start to build up.

Even more so when you consider his age and the fact that he's not exactly a goal machine. And as well as he played for us this season, I have my doubts about whether he'd have been good enough to be our starting striker in the Premier League next season, in a hypothetical where we won promotion and he decided to stay here. And on top of that we've gone straight out and spent a smaller fee on a younger striker, on a longer contract, with a better goal tally in this league, who you'd have to think could well turn out to be a better player all round. I think all those involved in our transfer business would have every right to feel pretty smug about pulling that off.

He was initially named in the starting line-up, but they took him out 10 minutes before kick-off. Can't find any reason online but sounds like he might have got injured in the warm-up.

As a quick follow-up to this, very impressed to see Saints have done exactly what I asked for above, and brought out some really good, fleece-lined, nicely designed hats. For years the hats on sale have been really poor quality, so this is a big improvement. It's only been a couple of months since the club took the merchandise in-house, but I think if you look around either of the club shops you can already see an improvement in some of the range. And hopefully that only gets better when we ditch Macron at the end of the season.

Has it been confirmed anywhere?

Think this is how the squad looks at the end of the window, but let me know if I've missed anything. I know Essel looks like being away too but it doesn't seem to have been confirmed anywhere yet. Goalkeepers 1. Toby Steward - 2026 - on loan from Portsmouth 20. Ross Sinclair - 2026 39. Kyle Thomson - 2026(?) Craig Hepburn - 2027 - on loan at East Kilbride Defenders/wing backs 2. Reghan Tumilty - 2026 3. Cheick Diabate - 2026 5. Bozo Mikulic - 2026 25. Scott Bright - 2026 - on loan at Forfar Athletic 33. Liam Smith - 2026 35. Adam Forrester - 2026 - on co-op loan from Hearts 52. Arran Brookfield - 2026 4. Morgan Boyes - 2027 14. Mattty Foulds - 2027 15. Jack Baird - 2027 Midfielders/wingers 6. Victor Griffith - 2026 7. Jason Holt - 2026 8. Jonathan Svedberg - 2026 11. Sam Stanton - 2026 19. Taylor Steven - 2026 22. Stevie Mallan - 2026 24. Josh McPake - 2026 27. Alfredo Agyeman - 2026 - on loan from Falkirk 46. Fran Franczak - 2026 51. Murray Binnie - 2026 - on loan at Jeanfield Swifts 23. Sven Sprangler - 2027 - on loan at Newport County 42. Reece McAlear - 2027 Aaron Essel - 2027 Forwards ??. Ruari Paton - 2026 - on loan from Port Vale 10. Jamie Gullan - 2027 21. Kai Fotheringham - 2027 9. Josh Fowler - 2028 17. Louis Lloyd - 2028 Departures Jannik Wanner (end of loan, returns to Livingston) Craig Hepburn (East Kilbride, loan) Adama Sidibeh (Stockport County, undisclosed fee) Uche Ikpeazu (released, signed for Ross County) Jackson Mylchreet (released, signed for East Kilbride) Sven Sprangler (Newport County, loan) Arrivals Alfredo Agyeman (Falkirk, loan) Taylor Steven (end of loan, returns from Arbroath) Josh Fowler (Queen's Park, undisclosed fee) Ruari Paton (Port Vale, loan)

I thought that was a cracking game of football - proper end to end stuff in the pissing rain with both teams chucking everything at it and plenty of drama. Obviously gutted with the late penalty but I'd very happily watch games like that one every week. Felt starting Bozo on that pitch in such a crucial game was a real mistake as he looked slow in his first game back and then didn't even make the bench for the game after it so I'm not sure what the rush was to start him when we have plenty of other options. He looked properly upset when he came off, too. Really feel for the guy. Like others, surprised Fowler didn't start as he's match fit, knows the league and is raring to go and surely wouldn't have needed a huge amount of prep to be chucked into the team. And I think he proved that when he came on. Alfie looked really effective on the wing too and finally gives us an option to go down that side after half a season of playing everything through McPake. Hopefully we start the next game with that front four. Despite the late disappointment and dodgy first half I came away from that game feeling enthused about what's to come in the next few months and we're still in an excellent position. The pitch is starting to feel like the last remaining hangover of the old regime that hasn't been addressed/modernized yet. I have faith in the new ownership to put that right but we just have to hope it doesn't derail our title push before it can be fixed in the summer. Right now the pitch is probably a bigger obstacle in the way of promotion than any of the other teams in the league are.

One thing I haven't seen much mention of in this window is the opportunity to try to get a player in from one of the leagues abroad where they've just finished their season and players are out of contract. Simo did that this time last year with Balodis, Mikulic and Svedberg, but it doesn't seem to be on the cards this time round, as far as we're hearing. I get that we're a less attractive move for a foreign player as we're in a lower league now, but I'd have thought players looking to play in the UK might look at our league position and figure it's worth a gamble. Especially if we offered them a deal with a good pay rise upon promotion, or maybe even a non-promotion release clause. I know the strategy shifted over the summer to looking mainly at players who already know the league, but now that the squad is a lot more settled I'd love to see us bring in more of a wild card to fill the Sidibeh gap - someone who defences won't be used to playing against. Especially as the available options here in Scotland all seem a bit underwhelming.