Broon (old) in the paper this morning saying they have targets in mind but new keeper does not need to be signed before window shuts as there are players out of contract.
Clark Roberston only Dons player called up for U21 squad to play Greece next month. Full squad as follows:
Goalkeepers
Christopher Kettings (Blackpool)
Robbie Thomson (Celtic)
Defenders
Kieran Duffie (Falkirk)
Kevin McHattie (Heart of Midlothian)
Stephen O’Donnell (Partick Thistle)
Clark Robertson (Aberdeen)
Lewis Toshney (Celtic)*
Murray Wallace (Huddersfield Town)
Midfielders
Stuart Armstrong (Dundee United)
Stuart Bannigan (Partick Thistle)
Fraser Fyvie (Wigan Athletic)
Jason Holt (Heart of Midlothian)
Rhys McCabe (Sheffield Wednesday)
Stefan Scougall (Livingston)
Forwards
Dylan McGeouch (Celtic)
Rory McKenzie (Kilmarnock)
David Smith (Heart of Midlothian)**
Anthony Watt (Celtic)
* on loan to Dundee
** on loan to Raith Rovers
We have better individual players at the club and they have better to watch at times but there have been other games that have been just as bad as anything in the previous seasons. Any improvement has been slight and definately does not reflect the investment made in the playing staff. On paper we should be doing a lot better than we are with the players we have. I know we have had injuries but we only picked up 4 points more in the first quarter than than we did in the 2nd so they do not seem to have a massive effect.
We are still only winning just over a third of our games and look no nearer to winning anything so what improvement there has been in the style of play is being wiped out (for me anyway) by the fact results are not really improving.
Could be argued that improvement on last year is purely down to not playing Rangers (deceased) and instead playing a shite Dundee side that only had two weeks to prepare for SPL.
Do not like this set up at all. Fact it has been tried in 3 other European countries and all have chucked it suggests its not going to work here either.
Compared to this point last season we have won 2 more league matches (6 last season after 24 and 8 now) and lost two less (10 last year 8 now) with same number of draws 8. We had scored 4 more goals this year after 24 games (30 compared to 26) and conceded one more 31 compared to 30.
Is improving the football from the level played under McGhee that much of an achievement though. It could not have got much worse. For all this improved football we still create very little as the number of goals scored shows.
Think Raes lack of pace is main reason for not giving him a new contract. Cannot fault his effort but he is clearly a couple of yards off the pace of the game. Yesterday you could see him trying to get in to postions but was always to slow to get there especially when the ball was moving forward.
Edit: Mean to say is anyone else concerned by our lack of activity in this window. Most of the teams have strengthened or at least replaced players that have left.
Loads of possession today but no cutting edge. Plenty times got the ball into good positions only for the support to be to late arriving. Thought McGinn took penalty like a player lacking confidence which is odd for a player who is scoring for fun. Thought Pawlett was decent along with Osbourne and Milsom. Not sure how we address lack of cutting edge. Maybe playing more than one striker up front might help.
Venue now been confirmed as Novi Sad. Stadium only holds 12,000ish so probably going to be a scramble for tickets for the away end.
Already booked up for this and heading out via Budapest. Anybody else going?