OrlandoDon

I see very little of us these days, sadly, my 4 and 7 year olds and two jobs ruin everything! we looked really poor when we got significantly exposed earlier in the season, and looked really weak defensively. I think the extra midfielder has helped, obviously to the expense of duk. I also think domestically teams know duk now, shut down his speed and he’s limited. I hear you regarding Ross country, I just don’t know enough about Helsinki to know if they’ll sit in like a Ross county or try to come out and play like hacken. I’ve said this before, unlikely we stray from the 352 this squad was built around, but a 3-4-2-1, with McGrath and clarkson attacking behind miovski is an option, with Barron and shinnie deeper. Obviously Barron and clarkson can switch as I think both are better deeper.

As Elgin don said, not sure what to expect. They have a squad of mostly Finnish players, and while they are top of their league, how good is that?? Don’t see any Brazilian or Eastern European studs, even a top player like hacken had. Let’s have a go and get a win! Confidence is high from the weekend, looking forward to this. I honestly think we’re a better team without duk, felt this was at this point last year too. Duk went on a tear hence we built a team around him, but I think we play the same formation as the Huns game but be more attack minded. Get Mackenzie and devlin to push up and give us width, and play McGrath close to miovski. 3-1, miovski, McGrath, Jensen.

Do you resent scales doing well then? Or do you dislike that Celtic benefit? But do they really?? My like is he’s a decent lad doing well, good on him. Despise the tic, but that’s not his fault.

So is gartenmann on a loan with a buying option? Started well but obviously still time to prove he’s pish. While nice to see scales doing well, would rather not develop another loanee, would be nice to develop a group of defenders who can play together for more than one season.

Not nonsense at all, we cannot afford to juggle and rotate, we need to find form and that means playing together. One or two changes is not squad rotation. As mentioned already, if it ain’t broke roll it back out. Especially when it went well against the same opponent we play tomorrow.

Wow! Just read this, hope you are doing well and recovering!!! I hit 50 this year and have had a few health issues, has really put life into perspective. Take care. Stress is a big health factor too, which makes being a dons fan a serious health risk! Be well!

We are in no situation to consider squad rotation. Until we have consistent form and rhythm we only rotate if players are off form or injured. No clue what to expect from this game, although positive is that we’ve played two decent games in a row. Cup game is still a one off, hope we show up. mackenzie in for mcgarry and same other 10. Hayes and clarkson to provide the spark off the bench, plus I hope duk has turned the corner. 1-0 us, miovski.

I would hope so, definite red but didn’t var even look at it? Pretty sure both shinnie and Hayes have been sent off for similar. And we saw the scars/marks on Hayes leg, not like it was missed contact!

I’ve heard that, plus pretty sure he’s signed as the wing back in our 352, hence my comment about giving 352 time. But at the same time, most teams in our league don’t significantly attack us at home to put him under that kind of pressure, and we’re also not really talking top class opponents.

Thinking more I really hope we do take a different approach to this one. Playing in Europe allows us to play more to our strength which is defend/counter but the majority of Scottish games opponents sit in and let us dictate. It can’t get much worse so far, bar the Celtic game - which allowed us to play more of our counter attacking - we’ve been a woeful long ball team. I’d be tempted to go for a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield. Mcgarry and devlin have the legs to give us width from full back (when mcgarry is 100%) with back up from Hayes/Mackenzie and gartenmann/or dadia when they get gassed. roos Devlin gartenmann Jensen mcgarry Clarkson polvara shinnie mcgrath miovski sokler id even be tempted to push clarkson to a totally free role and play hayes in with shinnie and polvara. it’s too early to experiment, got to be fair to Robson and give the time to gel a new team. We also went all in on 352 with the amount of defenders signed so hard to switch so soon despite results. intriguing times but we need results.

Impressive. Although miovski’s pic doesn’t do him justice. Would like to see this line up with Barron and polvara, and we try to play through midfield, although it’s 4 center mids who may close the space and get in each others way. think Hayes will get a run off the bench, not an effective starter any more. 3-1 us, clarkson miovski, and one of our new defenders with a bullet header from a set piece.

Disagree, a forward at this level on his stronger foot should be scoring there.

The way things are looking hopefully we sell him in the Xmas window and sign the desperately needed Rama replacement.

I don’t think it’s anything to do with teklic. I don’t think we became a poor defensive team and a long ball team because we didn’t sign him. Many questions around tactics or lack of, more than one transfer. Yes, we really miss Rama but it’s bigger than that, plus I don’t think teklic was a Rama type player anyway. my concern is that the squad has been clearly built for 3-5-2 and specific players. Plan b with a formation and personnel change is seriously flawed. I’ll take it a step further and question whether we should be relying on players like morris, polvara, and Duncan to make significant impact, yet they are being required to do so. lastly, what’s the deal with Macdonald? Back on the bench yesterday. He didn’t become shit over night but surely needs games to get up to speed and help build defensive cohesion. Or is there something else??

Haven’t seen much but this game and others it’s way too much long ball and relying significantly on duk who is a different player from the spring. Creating very little.

I just don’t see how we can stray from a 3-5-2. We don’t have a single right midfielder and are very limited on the left. The whole window was based on 3-5-2 and we signed defenders and two wing backs. think we’ll see the Dane, Macdonald, and Jensen today, devlin and mcgarry as wing backs. Really curious to what he does with that Rama hole, think he’s trying to make McGrath the replacement, time will tell. lastly, Robson is a high pressure work rate guy, that clearly isn’t Vinny. 1-1, miovski.

I think it’s so we can sell him next summer. He had a very good spell here with Charleston on loan and MLS teams will pay for him.

Honestly think this result may benefit us. All the over reaction to nearly qualifying and our run / record has people thinking we’re better than we are. Yesterday showed that. Think the humbling experience is good prep for the remaining 3 fixtures, we have to get our tactics spot on and players need to be grounded and at their best. No mistakes. We’re a blue collar hard working team with limitations, including our manager who may have god his tactics wrong yesterday. I think this is a good opportunity to reflect and take stock rather than our unrealistic feelings of going to Spain to beat them 5-0.

Interesting reading today that Harvey Barnes may consider switching nationality and be open to playing for Scotland. Scottish grandparents apparently. Was in The Sun online so not sure of accuracy or truth, but easy to want to play for us based on our recent success. The way the article is written makes me unsure of this, being snubbed by England so he’ll play for us. I know it’s idealistic but I’d rather players choose to play for us based on us, not based on being ignored by England.

So you are assuming we’ll lose and dent the confidence. What if we draw or win? We’re on an excellent run, why not approach these games with confidence, they are friendlies too so we have nothing to lose. I sense the chemistry in the squad is terrific, and they have the mentality to go at England at hampden, who knows what happens in Spain and France, it’s all part of our evolution. Good squad can still get better.

You make my point. Preseason quite often we look world beaters, beat up on some euro pish in early rounds, or win every game in the group stage in the league cup, then come back down to earth with a thud. If we want to succeed at a higher level you have to play at a higher level, win and lose. The unbeaten run means nothing if we cannot compete at a higher level at the main tournament. You have to plan in advance and improve along the way. These are necessary games in the journey. Getting confidence is one thing, but we’re ready for the next level. We don’t just go to make up numbers, we want to compete. And that takes learning from mistakes and losing a game or two as well. That’s how to get better.

Love the boys work rate, very technical player too. Wasted with the shackles on. He’s a forward converted to a midfielder and as an attacking mid for Scotland you see what he’s all about. Want him to do a john mcginn and be the man at villa, palace, brentford, even Brighton or the likes. Think he’s shown what he can do, just needs to get away from man utd.

Your think it’s purely money? I don’t at all!! Our form is the best (one of) in Europe, unbeaten in a qualifier in 2 years, plus a bunch of stats I’m too lazy to remember from hearing during the game. What’s the next step, beat the big boys. How do you do that? Play the big boys. Friendlies against Luxembourg or Austria even don’t benefit, meaningless, we have to play some big guns to improve. We’re playing the best local team at home so no real travel, then we’re in Spain so play their neighbor, guess it could have been Portugal but no real travel inconvenience going to France either. For us to be better we have to play better against better teams, it’s the only option and makes perfect sense. If we are to advance out of the group in a major tournament we need to be used to playing these teams, we’re beating the next tier and lower, it’s the most natural and smart thing to do.

Wasn’t one of the reasons we were so keen to get shinnie was because Barron and Rama didn’t work? I just don’t think Barron is mobile, athletics, and physical enough.

Pretty sure you know the answer to your own question, and given the window has just closed I don’t see us moving on from a 3-5-2 just yet. We went all in on the transfer market playing 3-5-2 and signed for that formation. I think over the next two weeks Robson will try to determine who our back 3 is - i’d say it’s Jensen-Macdonald and one other, but other than that, I think the team picks itself in robson’s eyes, and he’s got two weeks to work with the majority of the squad. roos x - Macdonald Jensen devlin clarkson shinnie mcgarry mcgrath miovski duk I don’t think we have the squad to play a 4 at the back, we don’t have a strong enough midfield, one of the reasons we’re the 3 at the back. We don’t have two strong central players, and have no right mid. id like us to see where the new boy fits in. If gartenmann can play right wing back move devlin to center mid, or vice versa if gartenmann can play mid (unlikely, never seen that said anywhere. ) with gartenmann or ruby on the right of the three I’d like to see devlin or or dadia at center mid and right wing back, don’t care which is where, but from what we’ve seen of late we’re a mess in midfield and something needs to change. The strength and athleticism of Rama and mccrorie helped us, I think we try to replicate that. Or dadia was said to be a right back/wing back/center mid, and given what we’ve witnessed the last few weeks doesn’t hurt to try him. Given how shit Morris is, surely we give dadia some minutes. it’s bad squad construction, I feel we can’t play more than one of Barron clarkson McGrath, and polvara. I also think we went 3-5-2 to accommodate duk, we’re a little fucked if he doesn't find form. I think sokler is miovski’s back up and needs to be played in that role when he plays. Given where gueye played yesterday, no clue what type of players he is…??