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You could combine it with a trip to Moominland Al - probs better fun than being at the game ha

Always good to put together first impressions for the new signings early doors. I'm assuming there'll be no further business, maybe one in (hopefully). Overall, we look weaker than last season and the best signings have been re-signings, so I'll not include them in this list. Doohan - amazing. Everything we need in a backup goalie McGarry - jury's out. Looked positionally and defensively poor last night and had to be taken off due to lack of fitness. Ran into trouble a couple of times with poor decision making. I'm going to say that he'll be okay but nothing great. Jensen - jury's out. Looked weak in the air, generally timid, good on the ball but prone to putting us in danger because of that. Looks like the centre of a three rather than left of a three. I don't think he'll make it in the SPFL unless we change the setup (either to a four, or play him in the centre of a three), he doesn't have the physical presence required. Rubezic - jury's out. Looked great against Livingston despite some dubious passing. He's clearly not a guy that can play in the centre of a three and needs the man in behind him to organise him. He's positionally suspect and is terrible with the ball but solid. I think he'll be fine in the SPFL if Robson plays him correctly, he's basically Ash Taylor, which we can work with. He'll struggle in Europe. Devlin - success. Obviously. A leader, an organiser and will throw himself into everything. He needs to be playing wingback or right back in a four. So far, the best of our signings. Dadia - fail. This season's "why has he never been given a chance?". Because he's pish. That's why. Williams - fail. If he's not good enough to get into that back line then he's not likely to be good enough. Plenty of rumours around his attitude, but we'll assume that's just him being a young lad, and Robson will sort him out. Probably one of the many wasted EPL loans. Although we may need him if Rubezic doesn't get his shite together soon. McGrath - jury's out. Technically good player with some nice touches and good use of the ball. Doesn't fit into our midfield at all, and doesn't appear to be any better than Barron in that he has less work rate. We'll get regularly overrun in midfield with him and Clarkson in there, especially in Europe, and Shinnie can't be doing forty games at full tilt to make up for them. I think he'll be fine if used correctly. I originally thought he might be able to do the number 8 thing like Ramadani, but last night dispelled that hope. I don't trust Robson not to persist with him out of position and he ends up being a scapegoat. Sokler - jury's out. Looks exactly like Miovski in every single way. But slightly shitter. Not getting enough minutes to get the required striker's sharpness. Plays on the shoulder and makes intelligent runs. I think he'll be okay and will score goals. Gueye - success. He's big, and we kick the ball high. He'll be amazing. Probably our best signing. Think that's everyone. This summer was always going to be difficult with such a massive turnover and with European football. As a squad, we're miles away from one that can finish third whilst playing every Thursday. Our fringe players aren't good enough to win against likes of St Mirren, Motherwell, Livi and Killie away. Without a change to the system (or another signing), we're going to struggle with the players we've got. Robson has to decide whether playing Duk into form is worthwhile, especially at the expense of the entire formation (it's why we play three at the back). I think Robson needs some assistance with tactics in the background, he's clearly fairly clueless about how to change things if he doesn't settle on a good strategy from the outset. Think it could be a long season, with top six being a difficult target. I expect we'll have signings ready to go in January that could be the difference like they were last season, so it'll be a season of two halves again.

I don’t know McGrath enough but I saw him as a 10 and potentially playing off one forward. A different look, be that with the big guy, miovski, or even with sokler. We’re also very reliant on clarkson, I also saw McGrath as the man when clarkson is injured/rested. The other player we are overly reliant on is shinnie, a midfield without Rama or shinnie is very lightweight unless it’s one coming in today. Hopefully. I get that it’s a quick assessment, I just think it’s timing. One month into the season and folks seem to have turned negative and critical. We’re still in Europe and it’s an exciting season ahead to me. I’ve seen enough positives in the team and new signings to be optimistic. Yes, ruby has made mistakes, but I still think he’s a good player and a step or two above ash Taylor. I didn’t want Robson as manager but I think he’s brought some intrigue and optimism, even seen in the 3-1 loss to Celtic. I’m not ready to be overly critical yet.

That bit in bold is only really applicable if you're not on a fitba forum discussing fitba. I didn't think I needed to explicitly say "but these guys are just in the door", because it's fairly obvious. The whole point in first impressions, or predictions, are that they'll be proved wrong. It's a way to look back and say "Jesus, I got that one wrong". If you look back to last season I did similar, and got a few wrong (most notably Duk and I think I also complained about us giving a Liverpool loanee time ahead of Barron!). There's very little point in me writing it once we can all see how good or shite the team is, it kind of defeats the purpose. You're obviously reading my post(s) as if they're some sort of criticism of individuals, rather than just a quick assessment Other than Dadia - where I was being flippant - most of the criticism surrounds the type of player they are and the role that they're being asked to play. It should be fairly obvious to everyone that Rubezic is a beast that's going to fly into challenges for example. I don't think I'm at risk of him turning into Eoin Jess overnight. How does McGrath fit in our team, where is Jensen going to play, what the fuck is a Shayden Morris anyway? That sort of thing.

And yes, I think we are better off in a way in the conference league. There are some weaker teams in there. Some good ones too obviously. Based on some of the comments today we’ll get crucified by some of you if we get a European pumping. It’s an exciting adventure, won’t be perfect or pretty at times but enjoy it ffs. robson is trying to implement a more attacking style, I think we hear and see that. It’s work in progress with new players yet we’re getting complains about our performance. I’d rather we tried this than the mcinnes tactics. Or Goodwin. lastly, refreshing to sign most players rather than a bunch of loaners coming in. Congrats to the club for that. We’ve got this group for a couple of years at least. It’s been less than a month, scrambling to put a team on the field. Again, give it time.

Rubi has looked very uncomfortable in it in either centre or right side of a three. McGarry does not look defensively strong enough for the wing back role. He did not track back in either of games I have watched him play. Morris is even worse on the other side. I am not convinced Jensen is comfortable being the left of the 3 either although that may have been because his wing back was offering him no protection. The above of course are early impressions and with time they might learn to play these roles but I remain to be convinced.

Quite a bit of bitching and moaning, come on boys. Had we scored our chances we’d be in the group stage. We didn’t though but we’re still in a European competition with exciting games ahead. That’s a good thing. Would rather see that than play group stage league cup football? Think we missed a healthy Macdonald last night, that’s a factor. We also lost to the Swedish league champions who are in mid season, that’s no embarrassment. We’ve lost one game in the league to our league champions, and we actually played quite well in that game. St mirren beat us last year. Livi away isn’t an easy fixture. Loads of signings coming in, lots of varying fitness levels, players developing chemistry, even possibly Duk and miovski a little unsettled with transfer talk. Hopefully we sign Baccus today and let’s give the team and squad time. I’ve seen enough from the new signings to suggest we’ll be a decent team this year. It’s September 1, breathe!!

Don't worry about it @RicoS321, we've only got another year of group stage football to worry about before our coefficient goes crashing through the trapdoor.

We're not better off, other than financially (temporarily). I don't really see group stage European football as a good thing for Scottish football at all to be honest. You've got chairman with trigger fingers, teams trying to build large squads in single windows, and unearned money going to one or two teams in an attempt to create another financial gap to make our league even less competitive. It's just a really shit way of creating tournaments (league cup aside I suppose, whose purpose isn't money). Despite the good atmosphere, I didn't really enjoy last night, and it's a really shite feeling to be that team that wins the ridiculously lucrative runner up prize. I'm used to it being the scum getting knocked out of Europe 18 times a season, it's just weird when it's us. It's like those shitey "plate" rounds you used to get at tournaments as kids, where all the losers from the first round created a mirror tournament to the real thing. It's desperate stuff.

Absolutely, but that doesn't excuse basic organisational errors and a complete inability to change them. Unless we get Baccus (or similar) in too, we simply don't have a midfield that fits the system that Robson wants to play, which he seems not to have noticed.

It was a pretty even game in the end. I think if we took either the Duk or Miovski chance the momentum swings in our favor. Ruby didn't fill me with confidence but he was left horribly exposed at times. I actually wonder if the main miss was Ramadani tonight tracking back and breaking up play. I think the team has a lot of potential so hopefully coherency will come in time. Notice Robsons post match comments suggesting we may not be seeing any more transfer activity, not sure how I feel about that to be honest. Squad is still pretty threadbare but we all want to see some youngsters getting into the team and maybe this is there chance.