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We seem to have too many #6s, and not enough #8s or #10s. Davis, Jack, Kamara, Sands, Lundstram; all #6s that can't really play further forward. Sands offers versatility in being able to play CB and RB, which is good. Lundstram was supposed to be an #8, but has only been good as a #6 for us. GvB does like the double pivot, but we do need more creative central midfield players (#8s and #10s). With Arfield and Aribo back, and Lowry pushing through, I still think RW is the most pressing position to fill.

All Diallo’s touches against Leeds U23s earlier this season. I like these videos because they give a much better view of the player than the highlights videos do. He gets 2 goals and assist here, so involved in all 3 goals. Like most players in that position he has a tendency to pass inside and back the way quite a lot which can be frustrating when you just want to see him put on the after burners all the time (which isn’t possible anyway). He scorers a sublime goal here. For whatever reason he has only been in two U23 squads this season. No idea what he’s been doing all season?

I think we need to bear in mind that our investors and board of directors are ambitious people too and I doubt they will need any reminding of what is at stake this season.

I know what you mean but he doesn't just need to be better than Wright, or anyone else for that matter. If there's any point to this transfer then he needs to be good enough for Rangers.

€40m ? Timz won’t like this 😱

Well for the first time, defences will have two genuine threats on both our wings to worry about. I expect it will help Kent.

"No option to buy"! No sh*t! He's worth £20M+!

I'll be delighted if you're still delighted at the end of this season.

I don't like loan deals for players we will never buy but that one would be a WOW signing. I can make my peace with it with this 6 months being so vital.

6 Months of Diallo would be an upgrade on the RW spot

I've been quite critical of Lundstram and he didn't start with us at all well, but no one can deny he had good games too since then. Not sure you can have a player like that and not use him. Especially when the squad is so depleted. You are bang on and hopefully we can move him on if we are not using him. otherwise it may look a little like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Very happy with that win. The awful conditions can't be underplayed and as much as we obviously struggled for quality for long periods, I felt we kept plugging away, kept working hard and deserved our goal. Felt Barisic and Tav were more effective in the second half, was impressed with Lowry and Sakala also contributed fairly well. However, the quicker we can get Kent, Morelos and Aribo back in the side, the better.

Easy to criticise the players last night for a mediocre performance but I'd like to go against the grain a wee bit. First of all the awful conditions shouldn't be underplayed. Same with losing so many key players - Aribo, Kent and Morelos are three vital cogs in the machine. Moreover, as much as we struggled at times, I think the players worked very hard and kept asking questions. Yes, genuine quality wasn't there for the most part but the attitude was good which is a positive. I also felt Barisic, Tav, Lowry, Sakala and Goldson had good games. My own man of the match was James Tavernier. Time and time again this guy leads from the front in terms of getting us into games and last night was another captain's performance. It wasn't a vintage display by any means but I think it was his positive attitude that allowed us to really peg Livi back and finally get the goal.

Good luck to him

Interesting that we are interested in loan signings rather than permanent, however, you have to acknowledge the quality of player we are persuing. Would like to imagine Ross Wilson has discussed the likelihood of us extending their loans if both sign and settle in. No way we can buy them but hopefully there is more in this for us than a loan until end of season. If there isn't, then it means or main targets aren't available until the summer, or we really are skint!

Maybe. I'm sceptical. The Diallo loan makes perfect sense in isolation. Not sure about any more EPL youth team players coming in on loan. Out of favour guys coming in on Loan to buy is fine.

Dont think it has anything to do with having money or not , its more likely that our targets simply arent available .Teams are always reluctant to sell in this window , unless desperate , this loan makes perfect sense .

Being linked with 19 years old James McAtee from Man City. Looks like we don't have any cash to spend. Loaning one wonderkid is fine but not sure relying on a few has worked well for us in the past. I still remember Ojo and Ejaria. I think we also loaned another youngster from Liverpool in Gerrard's first year? Either way we need to procced with caution.

Problem is it happens too often in games for me.

Yeah lets get that option to buy, deal breaker 🙈 Some of our fans are mental..

When directors are interviewed there's always potential for generalities to overwhelm detail but give Bisgrove his due, he's never shy to talk about specific targets and benchmarks. I like high energy people like James Bisgrove and Ross Wilson, who see the importance of building teams with quality and experience if they themselves are going to deliver the headline growth we so badly need. You can see the cobwebs retreating before them.

You're right Gonzo. The only thing I'd add is that this is a process of years rather than months and not everything needing done can be at the front of the queue. Revenue generation had to be the priority but they need to be careful not to allow customer service to lag too far behind.

I dont think the admin on FF know any more or less than any of us. I recall an admin of FF categorically stating we had no interest at all in Zungu shortly before he rocked up.

No he wasn’t. They’ve been working on a loan move for him, loads of interest in the Championship and he was close to joining Birmingham. I think it would take a decent loan fee for us to get him.

About the same as Laudrup, then... ?

I agree. I can only hope we are trying to play the waiting game with Bologna over Skov Olsen to get us the best deal possible. Otherwise I'd have hoped we would have made moves to address this by now. Perhaps we have and its not public knowledge.

As others have stated, Sands is a good prospect and brings a lot of versatility, so he's a good acquisition -- even if it remains to be seen if he will be a success. He actually fills the CB issue we had too. We do actually have options at #8 (Arfield, Aribo, Bacuna and Hagi), but circumstances have gone against us, here, in terms of injuries, AFCON and being p*sh. Jack could play there too. I still think RW is the most pressing position to fill, but certainly #8s and #10s are next on the wishlist.

Simple answer is versatility I think. Agree with Gonzo’s points too.

Sands is a prospect. I doubt Kamara will be here past the Summer, Davis is getting on and GvB will be looking to offload Lundstram.

I think there's good and bad aspects to Bisgrove's activities. The commercial tie-ins and more professional approach are good. Supporters being treated poorly (Bar 72 and retail standards spring to mind) ...not so good.

As I posted elsewhere, I think Lundstram was bought as an #8, but he's just not looked good there at all. His purple patch for us was when he was playing as a #6. The trouble with that is he's got a lot of competition for that slot: Kamara is ahead of him; so is Jack, when fit; and now we have Sands.

Good read as always like Stevie from 4Lads blogs. Given how pathetic our TV deal is we really need to make the most of hook ups with NFT and crypto currency businesses no matter how trivial it seems. Buying the rights to the SPFL in India is something that has always struck me as a very shrewd move. Not sure of the ins and outs but didnt we buy the rights for a few hundred k then sell it on to TV/betting websites over there? I wonder how that has worked out. People will complain about Castore, and some of the commercial deals. But we have come a long way since AGMS in tents with dodgy bus brothers.

To be fair, I think we were forced last night to play with a double pivot because of the injuries and players missing. Ideally, against teams like Livingston GvB would play one #6 with two free #8s. We just didn't have the #8s.

The signing of sands seems a bit strange for me. Clearly bought to play in the defensive midfield role kamara has been playing so well in. That pushes Kamara forwards but he doesn't create much it's not his position. Makes me wonder if we are selling Kamara. Which in the summer will be fine but certainly not right now.

Horrible night for football. Good win. Good for the team to grind that out and stay patient. Sakala and Lowry the real creative sparks for me. An inspired finished from Arfield. A few concerns that have developed over the last few games: James Sands is essentially a CB playing in midfield and doesn't offer much from what I've seen of him in these two games The wingers play really wide (as wingers do) leaving the lone striker very isolated Midfield doesn't really seem to have a shape or logic to it, just some bodies on the park. Manager said he was limited in midfielders, yet Lundstram was left on the bench and didn't feature at all. Pretty clear the manage doesn't rate him. Itten looks miles off it. Either not fit or not good enough. Leaning towards the latter. Our attacking fullbacks seem to have been completely nullified. Tav tried but had to come inside for the most part. (I know Borna set up the goal) Wright struggled. Hagi syndrome. Didn't go well early on then spiralled into trying to hard Getting Arfield, Roofe, Kent, Aribo and Jack back is massive for us. Roofes movement made a difference. Livi are a very well organised side and hard to beat. We were restricted to and scored from half chances last night. Looking forward to the Ross Country game and hopefully the changes make a real difference.

Looks like more players are coming. This guy appears to have had info from Romano recently which is quite surprising.

Man United bought him for £37.5m.

Sakala as he was a constant threat. Hopefully he can dial in his decision making in the final third

Certainly those saying we will sign him are generally reliable. Birmingham were looking likely to loan him so hardly out of our reach. I guess we will know soon.

Apparently up to a million. Huddersfield have a significant sell-on.

To be fair players who set things on fire in Italy go for big bucks and are well out of our reach.

Agreed but we just brought another 6 in.

Aye and I forgot to mention the ticket office.

Our attitude was good. Whilst our quality was lacking. We moved the ball quickly enough we wanted to win and we absolutely deserved to. I would be far more worried if we had bee pedestrian etc.

Spot on with that. Lowry played even better than I expected, the lad is a real talent.

A few positives: Lowry will be a star, Jack is back just in time, Sakala looking good, and Scotty saves us again. 3 points. That’s it.