If we had a full squad available it might be a little harder to pick a team for the visit of Stirling Albion, however, with us being just two games into the second-half of the season, a raft of players unavailable, and the performance against Aberdeen, I wouldn’t expect wholesale changes although those on the fringe might get a chance.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst has only subs to play with so there isn’t as much opportunity for young players to get a taste of first-team action, however, the senior pros have to do their job first anyway.
This is the team I think the manager might go with to get our Scottish Cup campaign off to a winning start:
A mixture of players who need minutes and players who can still dominate a game that should be a relatively straight forward one, if Glen Kamara and James Sands is going to be the midfield pairing without Joe Aribo and Scott Arfield available then they might be picked together again to get used to each other, personally I’d rather John Lundstram got the chance to be the main man in the middle.
With the midfield and defence staying the same, Fashion Sakala and Juninho Bacuna should be brought in to freshen up the attack, something wasn’t right against Aberdeen and the pair have done little wrong on the rare occasions that they have had a chance.
There is also no point recalling Cedric Itten if he isn’t going to play, Alfredo Morelos needs to be kept for the bigger games ahead and the Swiss international should be given a run out as a central striker, an opportunity he has rarely been afforded since he signed plus, El Bufalo could miss two games with Colombia, Itten needs to be ready.
Start strong then make the changes, give players on the fringes some minutes in case they are needed in what is going to be a packed fixture list over the next few months and hope for an easy draw in the next round.