rocket_scientist

You dodged a bullet mate.

McInnes = penis. Roy Hodgson has more management skills. And he is and was a total cock.

Yes it is. I guess my "technical expertise" included that but it does deserve mention in its own right. It's strange because positioning is more instinctive than technical and I don't think it can be taught. You either have it or you don't. This is why I couldn't understand us paying all that money for Leighton as GK coach when Clangfool was never going to be close to competent given the alarming deficiencies he had, none of which could have been improved by coaching. Leighton was better than Snelders in my opinion but Joe may be better than both. He could be offski for £5m+ next year and if he manages to maintain performance levels anywhere close to that standard at Murrayfield, would be worth over £10m. Ok, nobody can be that exceptional every week but he's building up a damn good CV and given how shit we are in defence these days, Joe is going to get plenty of opportunities to shine. I disagree that he made the tip over "look so easy". Yes he was positioned perfectly but it was a phenomenal reach and not possible by anyone even with only one inch less height, him being clearly at full stretch.

And before the first pedant argues that the one in the second half was his best save, thereby revealing his ignorance of the art too, that one was a pure reaction from point blank range. Yes it was utterly brilliant that Lewis kept it out and it probably was the chance more than the others that was the most unlikely to stop. Those two in the first half required footwork, agility and technical expertise on top of instant decision making. The one in the second half was pure reaction and as always in such point blank situations, the element of fortune favoured him, it being almost too close to do any "deciding", it being too close to make any decisions. Getting down low to turn it round his right hand post was the best for me. That was breathtaking reactions and the fact it was on the deck made it an even better save, given the ground he had to cover so quickly.

This is where our manager reveals his total ignorance about the art of goalkeeping. He's not alone. The majority of managers don't and neither do the majority of footballers. Lewis's best saves on Saturday were the one he got down right to prevent it going in bottom left and the tip over the bar going in top right. Neither are "meat and drink". Both were exceptional. "Difficult saves" isn't even viewing it in the right language.

I think Lewis has the potential to be the best keeper we've seen at Pittodrie ever but it's too early to tell. The fact he'll never be part of a successful AFC will influence some towards previous keepers.

I despise Americans. That's a dumb statement because I love some Americans and I think some of the best geniuses of the modern world are from there. So I'm generalising, as I genuinely hate many human beings who happen to be American. I know there's a lot of them - Americans - so generalising needs to be recognised for what it is. I despise many Scots and English too but there's an advert on TV right now which nails why the English are up there with the septics, competing heavily as they are for the most despised nation on Earth. Sixt. Drive smug. It's very clever marketing. It appeals to its majority target market as much as it offends the rest of us. They even casted it beautifully, appealing to the national sickness that believes in the British Empire and deliberately offending the rest of us, which in itself hits the spot for the typical guffy wank.

The obvious argument against is that when it's working, don't fix it and max points was working. I wasn't there so not qualified to debate this point but during a very long drive home was able to listen to the match and all the pre and post match comments and analysis. The consensus was that we set up badly and we never adapted and adjusted to the game in progress. You and me both are critical of McInnes at times. He got slated by implication on Sportsound yesterday. Firstly, I didn't realise how excellent an analyst Michael Stewart actually is. I've seen Aberdeen infinitely more times than he has but every observation he had during the game rang big bells with me. I was deeply impressed at how quickly he could read the situation and I also love the courage of his convictions. He didn't actually say that McInnes doesn't have a clue but where it was obvious to the commentator, once again our manager failed to react. He also made a great point about Hearts under Cathro that his fellow analysts didn't understand, touching on the relationship between the mechanics and the mind in high performance sport. It was a syndrome I knew existed but it manifests itself in different ways in other sports but I never thought about it in football like this before. You said it was a fantastic performance by Lewis. The commentators went a whole lot further and one said it was the best GK performance he had ever seen, in decades of watching the game. That same analyst reckoned that AFC were due to "hand out a hiding" to somebody real soon. That comment interested me too. I know most of the SPFL is shit but we're not so much better ourselves. It sounded like we were pretty appalling yesterday and that Levein totally wiped the floor with McInnes.

That would be Scotland but it would be more typical to make the play-off then gloriously fuck up.

Strachan not subbing Brown off. Idiot.

Having eventually worked out the maths, or the math, or the arithmetic ??

By his own spaz logic, maybe he was a nurse in the Crimean war in an earlier life. Either that or a leprechaun.

I must admit to feeling dirty at wanting England to score. It feels so alien, being a lifelong ABE. A very professional first half hour for Scotland but we know this campaign is destined for glorious failure. That shite "we'll be coming" tartan army song just now reminded me why I couldn't really give a fuck.

Slovakia scored at Wembley. Oh dear...

Good question. One man is in charge. He is the chairman. He has put McInnes in charge of "the football side of the business" and unless the chairman is a spastic, or otherwise NOT working in the best interests of the club, he puts the scouts and youth team coach etc. under the umbrella of McInnes's responsibility. IF the "current crop is shite" - as the boy's "all accounts" would have him believe, personally I wouldn't know because we never see them on the park, apart from Wright and he looks amazing - then the guy in charge of football is recruiting badly or not training them properly. Or maybe they're not shite and McInnes doesn't have the balls to play them, keeping fucking journeymen happy?

Roger Manc. I now see that by Tom you meant the Widdows character and that what you were referring to was not that twitter thread (which I didn't read anyway) but to some stuff earlier in this thread including his drawing. I also see that you were referring to self-proclaimed experts in civil engineering stuff, which obviously doesn't include me. From my point of view, and Rico possibly nails it with his post earlier today, I simply don't believe that there was any will to develop Pittodrie by the current chairman, following Ian Donald's obvious agenda of doing so with the building of the RDS. That's my sole bugbear. That Milne decided that relocation was best (for him) and was pursuing this agenda before the paint was even dry on the RDS. Had he been acting in the best interests of AFC, he would have spelled out then why the Main Stand could not have been rebuilt and why relocation was an integral part of our future. This was TWENTY fucking years ago! It's the basic neglect of the facility and the turning upside down of our balance sheet, not to mention the advent of time (and HSE rules etc. etc.) that helps his agenda enormously. It was an agenda that ran contrary to the last chairman and it was an agenda that was never openly discussed with the customers nor the city and shire. It's going to be a new soulless white elephant is my fear, one that was put upon us by deceit and stealth and that is never the NE way. I hope I'm totally wrong and that it will be a fantastic facility that attracts even bigger crowds and we become a profitable business with a successful team on the park. I hope Stewrat's vision turns out to be a boon, despite the way he went about it. But he lied to us in the Capitol in 1996 when he said that "the product would always be his no. 1 priority". Not only was that a strange thing to say, we thought at the time (as it didn't need saying, being so obvious), it clearly was NOT the case that "the product" - which he has subsequently referred to as "the football side of the business" - was EVER his number 1 priority.

^ @Rico I disagree with managers having imposed development minutes put upon them, much as I understand your arguments and agree with the majority of your post. A good manager should be doing this anyway. The real issue of dispute is that you and I consider McInnes weak at player development (I liked your "risk averse") whereas he - or his sources, the "all accounts" people from whom he gets his utter conviction that our "current crop is shite" - disagrees that it's a manager failing. He can't even compute that a shite crop IS a manager failing!

But Strachan did get asked and he did do his usual tangent shite and made a complete tit of himself. Again. For some of the specific reasons I gave. You've added another one. You're right in that he's not too bright. I suspect those formative years in the Edinburgh slum stunted his intellectual development too. It's such a shame that a grown man carries such bitterness and critical thinking handicaps this late into his life.

I have no idea who Tom is nor could I be arsed reading twitter. "If we get the finance" to build one stand is surely more cost effective than getting the finance for Westhill Soulless? "Every cunt knows better" than who? Milne? The man who tried to relocate us 20 years ago without presenting his case? The man who took control of our club through his negotiations with baby Donald surrounding the RDS which he built? The man who wrecked our balance sheet and who "saved" it with a £10m injection from Wm. Donald, a supposed "gift" for which his benefit is yet to be disclosed? The man who presided over 20 years of shite football resulting in the missing thousands? The man who neglected the basic maintenance of Pittodrie to pursue HIS vision? You might think Milne knows best. Some of us would dispute that on the sole grounds that the man cannot be trusted. Therefore it should have been a proper debate, not a fait accompli ramroad job.

How? Is it not cheaper to build one stand than buy land and build a whole new soulless stadium? Does this not make more sense? Would the majority of customers not prefer this?

Strachan got asked about a points target and went off on one. He started rambling like only he can. He can't disguise his contempt for journalists. His biggest issue is that he thinks he knows best. Well of course he has greater experience in the game but he doesn't have ALL the answers. He doesn't even recognise a decent question. Anything less than 20 points will be 18 points in our case and if he's a professional manager - what the fuck else does he do with the copious amounts of time the role provides? - he should know that we have to get 3 wins and 20 points. Even that probably won't be enough if Slovakia win tonight but 18 points would not only be unlikely to get through against the other groups, it will be highly unlikely to get second place in this group! He couldn't even admit that Friday was a must-win, unlike his deputy who didn't shy away from the obvious. Strachan's unwillingness to admit the obvious is born from his obstinacy and his contempt. He is a disgusting human being who's small man syndrome and deprived environmental upbringing has stunted his emotional development. He doesn't deserve to succeed and therefore he won't.

You start by expressing a firm opinion then you admit you're not qualified to say. Who do you mean by "all accounts" and why do you trust their judgement so absolutely? You obviously have faith in the manager too. Did it ever occur to you that if the "current crop is shite" then this is poor management in itself? Who can justify paying wages and wasting time on wasters?

That's not a problem. Prolific expression never is. However, it comes with responsibility. Whatever ye haver, make sure it's not mathematically invalid. Sorry. Not arithmetically invalid.

When you say "acceptable", what do you mean? That's a simple question ok but it's actually quite a complex dynamic. I'm not busting your balls here. This is interesting stuff. Thinking and communicating with efficiency is always worthy of examination. For one word, let alone a concept or principle or critical thinking path to be acceptable, there must exist a code or majority or legislature to determine as such. The word "math" isn't used in Scotland. Only in Americuh to my knowledge. So where the fuck does the concept of acceptability come in to it?

Yes. No. Recommend Topolobamba on Union St. Opened this summer but first time today. Been to the one in Glasgow and love it and Aberdeen is the same damn good.