rocket_scientist

I only asked two questions. You failed to answer half of them. WHEN did this tactical masterstroke get deployed?

Twice, nothing to do with either goal, Morelos was put through where he should've made it a clear one-on-one. The first he was sluggish to get going but did get a shot off towards Lewis's left post but the second, he didn't even get it anywhere near under control, it eventually bouncing off his shins. They certainly did have enough chances to make three goals but their top scorer had an off-night, a real mare actually. You say that McInnes made a tactical change which made a "massive difference" and which was "blatantly obvious". I'm saying that it can't have been as blatantly obvious as you say if I, and the commentators, totally missed it. Make the distinction; I'm not saying that you're wrong but I am disputing that it was as obvious as you say. For clarification, what exactly was this change you speak of and when did he make it? They weren't the only ones who were surprised by the goals. You were surprised by the first, as was I, as was anyone who watched the game, whether in person or on TV. It came out of nothing, as I said, because until that point, we hadn't done a damn thing and their keeper had zero to do. Now we need to talk in a different realm and to explore an angle that is normally invisible to "men of the earth", to the granite-headed ancestors of ours (assuming you're of NE stock), fishermen and farmers being concerned only in the tangible and lacking the imagination and the intellect to explore subjects such as art or the mind, anything that they consider intangible and therefore "not real". Performance in sport, including football, is heavily dependent on mindset, confidence and attitude. Some of us believe that it is the most important aspect. In golf for example, some of us have concluded that putting is mostly mental. A look at the first table of stats I pulled up shows that for the 2019 season, the best two putters between 15 & 20 feet included Adam Scott and they holed 30% of putts made from this distance (29.93% and 29.73% to be exact). Double major winner Zach Jonson - himself with a great reputation for putting - holed less than half as many, 14.85% between these distances. Other major winners Bubba Watson (13.68%) and Phil Mickelson (13.48%, himself a very strong putter generally) were well off the pace and worst of all, at the bottom of the table was Sergio Garcia, another major winner at a paltry 8.00% which is holing almost a QUARTER of the times that the best did. We can look at any distance table fir any year we care to look at going back decades and we will see the same massive gulf between the best, the average and the worst. The intelligent question to be asking is why? It isn't purely technical or mechanical i.e. what they do, how they hold the putter and how they hit it. Similarly in football, when examining momentum shifts, last night being the most stark example I've seen in ages, it isn't so simple that "we stood off them and let them play, then we got in their faces and that's why we won the last hour 2-0". They played with fear and consequence after the fluke 1st AFC goal. It became apparent to them at HT that it wasn't actually 3 points won yet. They lost their sharpness, they weren't as intense and they deserved to drop points as a result. Unless we can even see, let alone acknowledge the role of the mind in what happened last night, we will continue to talk a different language. The one I'm talking about doesn't ask you to take a Rupert Sheldrake-like leap of faith into morphic resonances etc. but it does include the power of the "collective mind" that occurs in team sports, itself an invisible aspect to most in the NE. You remind me of Dom Sullivan and them doing cartwheels for getting a draw in Glasgow. That was 40 years ago. It disgusted SAF then and it disgusts me now... because the power of the mind is something you fail to appreciate.

Rico, I think you're forgetting that Morelos was put through twice for golden chances that every top class striker would've converted, twice. There are no top class strikers in Scotland of course but they had done enough to be at least 3 up in the first third of the game, Joe Lewis shipping one of course. Your opinion is that Rangers were pedestrian because of what AFC did. Mine is that they were pedestrian because they were managing out the game, having had such a fruitful start and been shocked by a goal out of nothing. Had they gone at us with the same hunger and intensity, that was a comfortable away win and we would've been powerless to prevent it, such is the gulf in class. It's depressing to know that there are going to be two teams in May who will post bigger points gaps over us that at any time in recent years. Celtic haven't even got better under Lennon. The rest of us are shit football teams who won't win fuck all against their duopoly.

Well that was the strangest of games, a thoroughly bizarre draw. For the first half hour, it was jaw-droppingly good football from them. They were slick and fast, precision-passing and great ball control. I knew their results had been good all season including in Europe but I didn't realise how good they actually were. Their only non performer was the son of a mattress. He was cumbersome when put through twice and never looked like scoring a couple of golden chances. Then we got a goal, out of nothing really. And it all changed. I didn't see the tactical switch from the telly that some of you at the game are telling us. Neither did the commentators. In fact, Andy Walker was taking great delight, perversely, in lamenting Aberdeen's gutless uselessness but I didn't even see it like that. I saw a gulf in class that was so wide between the two sets of players that 2-0 after half an hour was a fair reflection and there was nothing we could do about it. That was the best half hour of football I'd seen from any SPFL team this decade. In the second half, Rangers were strangely pedestrian. Their energy wasn't half as intense and it was like they were trying to manage out a win without working for it, like what they showed earlier in the game was going to convert another 3 points at some point. We need to thank Gerrard for persisting with Freddo because Dafoe should've been let loose to expose our limitations. His experience would've got him into the right positions but even then the service might not have come to him. As good as they were in the first half, they were utterly ineffective in the second and it was a self inflicted two points lost. Other than Lewis Ferguson, I see no assets in that AFC last night. If Stoke want to offer £2m for Cosgrove, take the money. McKenna's not worth that much, he's just a big unit with limited football intelligence and a liability at times with stupid mistakes, both positionally and of heavy touch. I can see why we struggled against shit teams recently. I can see why we shipped five at Ibrox. I can't see how we would have managed to get a point against them last night other than we deserved it because they stopped playing. The gulf between the rest of us and the Glasgow bigots will grow wider as the season unfolds.

Wouldn't be so sure. Not certain. Man C were awesome last night, again. It's up to Liverpool to keep up picking points and whilst home to Everton and away to hapless Bournemouth SHOULD be six points, it's doesn't always work like that of course. There is still a very long way to go.

What he says isn't as important as why he says it. You can draw comparisons with his previous comments all you like. The far bigger issue is whether the man is fit for purpose. Given how you all sang for McInnes twice at Hampden in the last year, I'm guessing the majority of you do think he's worth pursuing with, just like the outgoing chairman does. It would be boring if we all thought the same. Time will tell if you were all right.

We do know why (he couldn't say the right thing). It's because he's not made of the right stuff. He's not of a winner mentality. McInnes is the main reason I fear a doing. If he doesn't believe and expect to win, how are the players going to? Plus the inevitable impending negative sit in and hope tactics. What a good mindset would've said is "yeah it's a tough game but we beat them three times last season, all in Glasgow so we are well overdue to beat them at home and that's exactly what we are preparing for".

Easiest 3/5 away win of the season coming up. Odds reduced to 1/2 this morning.

Three games in and I predict success. Six goals conceded isn't great but this is a different Mourinho, the old Mourinho, the masterful manager with something new that he's not had before, humility. He's had a scare by fucking up and being sacked his last two jobs and he's learned from that. His management of Dier after he needed to take him off after 29 minutes was very brave at the time but it worked and he handled the player with great sensitivity both face-to-face and with the press. Slightly surprised he's not started Eriksen in all 3, he didn't even come off the bench yesterday. He's too good a talent but this may well be master management again, keeping him hungry before releasing his potential in the weeks ahead. Or the player may still have an attitude and isn't working hard enough in training, time will tell. Great to see his interaction with the ballboy who's quick actions led to the important goal on Wednesday. The human side of Mourinho was something conspicuous by its absence when he was in trouble in his previous failed appointments.

EPL over before December. The European Champions are the best football team I've ever seen in England. Not many will agree with that just now. By May, more will agree with it. No weaknesses. All attack. Beautiful rhythm and balance. Plus heart, the ability to grind. Gorgeous to watch.

Both correct but with provisos; If the chairman can't communicate with and question the manager, the culture is wrong. In the case of a manager being incompetent, the simple questioning of him may be enough to expose his inadequacy, particularly if his insecurity makes him take it the wrong way, an insecurity rightly held. Thousands of fans can often see reality better than the shit manager can and a chairman by nature has skills which most of us "ordinary folk" don't have so there is no reason why he wouldn't be able to see it too. Accountants running businesses is more clear cut (as a concept to discuss and define). The "model" of many successful businesses includes a "triangle" of three people at the top of the "pyramid", a Managing Director flanked by two "employees", the Sales Director and the Finance Director. That's simplistic I know, as there are operational, logistical, HR, legal, administrative and other requirements which can be represented at director level but the bottom line is that without sales (bringing the money in) and financial management (making sure it's not pissing out the back door), the ship's fucked. The M.D. normally comes with either a sales or finance background. If he's too tight arsed a bean-counter, he will inhibit revenue. If he's too oriented towards sales without understanding the value of fiscal prudence, it will die a totally different death.

Rodgers won't go to Arsenal. For many reasons.

Aye Yoo nigh no more. Dead man no longer walking.

Fontaines DC in Brixton in Feb. 6 Music (and others) have just announced Dogrel as album of the year. Those of you who've not heard them yet aren't interested in what's new and happening in music. The fixed mindsets who repeatedly play old shit that they like are stuck in comfort zones which won't actually give them any comfort whatsoever as they approach the end and die with regrets. Is that too real for ya?

How is it even possible for Cormack Park to have cost £12m and to cost £750,000 p.a. to run and maintain? They know already that it's costing £62,500 a month = £14,423 a week? How the fuck did that happen? Is there consultancy fees or introductory commissions included in this? Does this represent part of the capital outlay and perhaps interest on top? Is there any fucker making money out of it? Other than the ground staff, there should be NOBODY making money out of a training ground.

Aye Milne is hard work but I take my hat off to Cormack. He's done a GREAT job and the boy Eales feels and tastes good too. Just got to get a winning mentality in the manager's position before we can play good fitba to get the missing thousands back. Fantastic work Dave Cormack

Did you miss this bit? You're in a mood these days? Any particular reason?

Any news on whether SMG are going bust yet?

Great post Jute. The sub of Main for Bryson so early in the 2nd half was his biggest crime but unsurprising given his previous. He's got no balls, his lack of positivity infects the whole culture and karma in the squad and he's a stone cold loser, a midget charlatan zed male. And yes, the "quality" of both sides was absolute pish.

I gave you my time. I gave you my words. I gave you something to reflect on, something that would help you and you want an apology to go with it? There's a disconnect here isn't there? Do I try to allay your confusion or do I walk away? A wise man would walk away and leave it. He would know that when the other is incapable of introspection, of listening, of making evaluations and reflecting, there's no point. But I never said I was wise so here goes... yet again; It was pointed out by another that you were in breach of "forum etiquette". This is something you do all the time. You even admitted it yourself by withholding the identity of an "artist", one who you "felt his anger". There is a very specific reason why you fail to offer links and references. It's related to your inability to give unto others but it's not the main driver. It's up to you whether you want to listen to what more than one of us are telling you. It's only through reflection and being honest with ourselves that we can grow and develop. Many stop learning in adulthood and some weren't capable of ever learning at all. Love and peace.

We know you're not the brightest - and some of us think you're a thick fucking horrible cunt of a human - but try LEARNING for a change. Like you, I make mistakes too but when someone points mine out to me, I'm grateful for the external advice and more often than not, they're bang on. This continuing to pontificate and offer supposed "facts" without links nor references comes from a deep dark place. Your insecurity is obvious to anyone with half a brain. Just as my misanthrope is equally patent. But love is good and hate is bad. You hating on yourself is tragic to witness. So try learning yourself, how you think, how you operate, how you express yourself. Then you would become less vile as you are.

Wow! I remember that exchange. It must've been five years ago. You still licking your wounds? Must've cut deep huh? Why don't you tell the truth? I had the audacity to say I didn't like Yes (nor Coldplay and Dire Straits and Springsteen and ELP and Genesis etc.) and your first response was "not getting your hole". I don't know if you were on the bevvy at the time but when you turn a normal discussion by introducing insults, there's bound to be a consequence. You misrepresented the truth, for reasons unknown.

I've never understood this. I've never had a curry that burned my arse. You must be eating low quality shite or your constitution is weak as piss.

Contradictory. If he had made good management appointments, rather than the several poor and shocking ones, it WOULD have made a difference. Personally, I think you're wrong. I think he is yet another one who will never succeed in management at a higher level than AFC, despite what he thinks about his own ability. It's a fucking disgrace how much money Milne has, and is, throwing at him. Lies. Absolute rubbish. On the contrary he MADE money out of us by charging +2 over base for the loans he (and Gilbert, who also abused AFC for personal gain) provided. There is not ONE PENNY of his own money having been ploughed into the club. Even the shares that he got, he paid considerably less than we all did, thanks to his raping Ian Donald up the arse. Over £10m in debt for many years wasn't stable. It was only because we had a fixed asset worth more than the debts that we weren't foreclosed on. The banks, and SMG and AAM made a pretty packet out of our money, and all the consultants and other pigs snouting in the trough with feasibility studies and all the other shite. The bigger issue is how we got into debt in the first place.

And like you, we don't give a fuck. So easy to wind up the retards though. He didn't even recognise that my "faux offence" pointed at him, where he hadn't taken any, was directed at myself.