DMAA

Yeh I wasn’t trying trying to nitpick because I agree with that comment, I’d just rather use someone other than Jones as the example because I think he’ll be a backup, maybe an impact sub

That’s the kind of club you want linked to him

In terms of ability (when signed at least) I’d say very similar imo. However Jones has a good attitude and determination to succeed so I think he’ll do fine as a squad player. Being a fan buys you time from the stands too.

I’m going to stand up for Candeias here. Candeias’s assists are real assists, normally a quality pass or cross. Jones is a very similar player to Kent and the assists Transfermarkt give them are not real assists in my eyes. Jones is credited with 4 “assists”. 2 were dives for penalties, 1 was a parried shot, 1 was a shot which was going wide and a defender deflected it in. All are fine but the word “assist” is, well, generous. Looking at his 4 goals doesn’t help much either. A mishit cross against Motherwell, a penalty against Hearts, a decent long shot against us but easily McGregor’s lowest point of the season, and an open goal against St Mirren. As much I believe we had to move on from Candeias he’s a much better attacking midfielder than Jones. It’s understandable that there is hype over a new signing but Jones is an average attacking mid. He’s all about pace, “directness” and going down easily to win free kicks and penalties.

I do think our fans are overestimating Jones. Doesn’t suit our formation and is a less good version of Kent who I didn’t even like. Like Kent he’s good at winning free kicks, goes down easily.

We are not directly replacing either Kent or Candeias because we no longer play with wide forwards, we have changed formation to 4-3-2-1. In terms of the starting 11 you could say they have effectively been replaced by a centre mid and an attacking centre mid, let’s just say Aribo and Ojo. Combined with the benefits of the formation to the team as a whole it’s an upgrade and a pretty big one. As @Rousseau has said we no longer need Candeias’ defensive abilities because we no longer even play a wide forward, we have an extra man in the “middle” and defensive cover is provided from there. The formation is brilliant for Barisic and Tavernier who are turned effectively into wingbacks with loads more space.

I love these guys. Loads of great articles packed with stats. It helps when they vindicate my opinion on Kent, for all the hype he hardly ever put a chance on a plate for our strikers.

Agree with this. Hastie was nervous, but I was delighted to see he is a fantastic crosser of the ball. He’s also a very good finisher. Docherty be really important this season. There are times you need Kamara and Davis and there’s are times you need someone to do a lot more breaking forward and Docherty is that guy. We’ve lacked a centre mid who can carry the ball forward and get in the oppositions box. Very exciting season ahead.

Haha, for full disclosure I only saw the second half. Surprised he was misplacing passes though, possession play is normally his strength.

Agree with that. I said pre-season last season that the attacking positions were the one area we were just still clearly behind Celtic and it was. Both Kent and Candeias needed replaced to take us to the next level. Combined with the formation change I think we’ve achieved that although I still think it’s not our strongest position.

The way he’s saying Rangers wanted him to stay suggests we’ll get a reasonable enough fee. Makes all the difference when you don’t look desperate to punt a player. Hope the move materialises and I hope he makes a success of it, best for both parties.

Has the ability to be an impact sub for us. Having said that he did look a bit nervous tonight. I only saw parts of the game but I think Polster took his opportunity to show the fans he’s a very good back up for right back and even centre mid. Very comfortable in possession. Edmundsson has really surprised me, it’s early days but we might just have unearthed a gem there!

Really pleased Polster is starting. I think he’s possibly one of our most underrated players. I think he is a really good player technically but people seem to think he’s deadwood. Great chance for Hastie and Stewart too.

I can’t go along with that. Every game with dropped points matters. I said at the time we should be capitalising on Celtic’s uncharacteristically poor form because it wouldn’t last the whole season. As it happened it didn’t and we went into the break effectively 3 points behind despite Celtic experiencing their worst start to a season in 20 something years as I remember. Post winter break was much of a muchness, slipped a further 6 points.

He has a year left on his deal and will probably sell for less than we paid for him, circa 500k

Well, due to Celtic being as average as we were. We droppped loads of points and crashed out of the league cup 3 days after a European game. There seemed to be a consensus on this forum that the squad was exhausted by December and the old firm win came out of the blue.

Couldn’t agree more. I’d love to see McPake get at least 45 minutes, this is exactly the type of game he can flourish in.

Firth doesn’t really count as part of the first team squad, he’s a reserve keeper so wouldn’t be included in the 22-23. Only two keepers would be imo. In the defence we have 4 CBs to two positions and 5 fullbacks to 2 positions. I would lose Halliday from those 9 but I doubt any will leave. In centre mid we have 5 players to 3 positions, up to 7 if you include Halliday and Polster. A pretty normal number I would say. In the attacking midfield positions we have 7 players to 2 positions. A bit of a problem and why I’m so confused at the clamour for Kent to sign, Candeias can leave imo. Up front we have 2 players to 1 position with Stewart and Arfield probably offering cover. Fine by me although many want a 3rd. All in all not a whole lot wrong with the size of the squad but we’ve already excluded a bunch of fringe players there.

In my opinion we won’t get back to where we were as a club, ahead of Celtic, until we get UCL money. That is the only massive cash reward available to the club.

Pocket change compared to UCL. If we win the league we get into the Champions League qualifiers next season. I’m not suggesting chucking games I’m just saying I wouldn’t mind it if we were freed up to focus on the league this season of all season. Our league form was badly affected last season.

Should have said I hope it’s a dodgy refereeing decision which puts us out after a flawless performance

I’m going to be honest and say I hope we win a few games and then get put out by one of the big teams. I think we have a real chance in the league this season and we’ll have a bigger chance if we don’t get to the groups.

Always enjoy this podcast. Good guys and good analysis. Don’t know where Johnny McFarlane is though he used to host them all, I preferred him.

Gojak looks brilliant but the Twitter account is very obscure and it’s guesswork who we were watching. We can’t afford Gojak.

Centre midfield will be a fascinating battle this season within our squad. Aribo, Kamara, Davis and Jack are all battling for 3 positions, only 3 will play at a time yet none appear droppable. I can’t really pick at the moment and there’s no doubt they will be rotated. Jack is probably the most common choice but his assist yesterday for Candeias was sublime and there’s he’s the fittest of the lot and covers a lot of ground, an important quality for some games.