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How impressive was it though? I did say I didn't think our performances are much better than they were prior to those 10 games. The last two games have shown how fragile we still are. The reality is, for a club that has spent the money we have, the last time we beat one of the division's top sides over 90 minutes, and coupled it with a really good performance, was Hibs in April. We beat Hearts this season, but I think we all admitted on the match thread we weren't great and rode our luck a fair bit. St Mirren away was a decent result, but had our fair share of luck there with VAR, and they are a bottom six side anyway. The impressive performances have been against Dundee and Kilmarnock, teams that - with respect - we should be miles ahead of. Since that Hibs win in April, it took us another 11 games to win another league game. And Hibs have been back to Pittodrie and utterly dominated us since then. That's regression rather than progress. The next two games are huge. Not for the result, but if we go to Easter Road and get a chasing then what the hell have we been doing since April?

That sounds about right. They said they had only 500 tickets were left five days ago, and they've opened up the ticket exchange so fans can sell their tickets.

Who in the league would you swap him with? I still think he's the best goalkeeper in the Premiership, his confidence is rocked just now and yeah, a few too many mistakes are happening - potentially it's a mental thing, just a bit of weariness, and I wouldn't be against Sumans getting a game or two just to let Mitov sit a couple out. However, I think he absolutely should still be our first choice goalkeeper. Best we've had for years.

I think he probably deserves at least the January transfer window, and it'll be the first with a sporting director. And if you're giving him that, then you're essentially giving him until April, unless the form becomes terrible again. I do have my doubts now. Some really poor decision making coming from Thelin; namely I don't think he's used the squad well enough this season, and I think the tactics are wrong. But I have not lost faith with him the same way I did with Goodwin and Robson. We're in December, we no longer have the European games, and there's still a lot to play for - third is still very much there, and should we be any less confident about winning the cup than we were at this stage last season? So I'm still backing him for now, but a bit pissed off with him.

He's made a poor pass, it's a mistake, and it's something many players do (Milne did it in midweek, Keskinen/Lobban both combined to gift the first goal). The saves he made kept us in the name. He's still a very good goalkeeper. But that's on Thelin. Karlsson shouldn't have played 90 minutes in midweek. Aouchiche played 86 minutes. Shinnie being on the bench while a young inexperienced player in Lobban started contributed to how things went.

Yep. We absolutely haven't learned anything from Thursday. The same tactics and game plan, and on both occasions fortunate to only concede three.

He would suit a back four where he can sit in front of it, and then Aouchiche and Armstrong could play further forward and link up with the front three. Only positive from today is Bilalovic is this generation's Zoltan Varga.

Yeah, I suppose the 9-0 defeat probably still edges it To be honest, I'm beginning to doubt if he's even real.

A shocker of a performance. Playing 5-4-1 yet still being easy to play through is astonishing. The way we were set up in the first half, Lobban, Jensen, Karlsson and Keskinen were barely in the game. It was like seven v eleven before the red card. Mitov - howler for the red card, but some huge saves in the second half to keep us in it, let's not forget that. Milne, up until the mistake for Tierney's goal, was okay. Off the bench, Gyamfi, Shinnie, Kjartansson and Bilalovic all did well. Apart from that, Armstrong and Aouchiche guilty of trying to take Celtic on themselves at times (although, they didn't always have a lot of passing options). And the five at the back just invited Celtic onto us.

Once again, five at the back is doing nothing for us, because we just pass it in a horizontal line, they press us, and we have no-where to go. If you actually get at Celtic they don't look that great at the back, we were playing this pathetic passing out from the back, knocking it along our back line, and losing the ball before it gets close to the halfway line. And now with 10 men.

That goal has been coming because we're getting caught in possession and have no-one to pass to. Keskinen has to go back the way, Lobban receives it in a horrible position, and Maeda - like I knew he would - just kills us down the left. We're beating ourselves here.

That Celtic line-up is (on paper, and pre-match while my optimism is still at relatively normal levels) is as poor a side as I can remember facing at Parkhead. One recognised centre half, in between Ralston and a Tierney who isn't the player he was. Yang, who was one of Aberdeen's best players in the cup final. And Kenny, who isn't even close to the level of striker you expect Celtic to have. Maeda, McGregor and Engels the only players in that team to worry about. Fuck it, it's a winnable game for Aberdeen, get at them.

Results (domestically) have picked up since this thread was last active, but not sure we're much more convincing than we have been at any other stage of the season. Next five games:- I would love to come up at the other end of these with a good tally of points, but that's four away games there, at least three at tough venues, and I can't say I'm confident about winning any of them. At least two of them though are after all our new January signings arrive...

But would Thelin survive another 6-0 within two months?

Yeah, it was one of the reasons why I wanted Thelin, because I thought his "long pass" style of play would actually suit Scottish football. Elfsborg usually played a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1, quick transitions, outpaced defences, and their inside forwards were generally the goal scorers. The striker was a mere link up man. But Thelin has moved away from that. When we have been at our best under Thelin, it's been a 4-2-3-1 with a second striker. M**** in the few games he played under Thelin was in that number 10 role, Nisbet did it last season when he had Gueye with him, and together they'd find space for Duk and Morris to run into. Now we have Karlsson on the edge of the box. He waits for an overlap, or cuts inside and takes on three players. Armstrong has to do the same on the right. Whoever is the striker barely touches the ball. I know it wasn't working at the start of the season, and we leaked too many goals and didn't score, so moving to a back three shored things up. However, it'll be interesting to see who he signs in January and what our "style" is in the second half of the season and whether the system changes again.

I watched the Celtic game on Wednesday. They could have had the game won by half time. Maeda suits the 3-4-3 and Celtic were killing United down the left. I'm not overly confident Devlin puts the brakes on him. In the second half, the turnaround was because United played to their strengths, which is that they are probably the tallest team in the top flight. They got it wide to their wing backs and threw crosses in against a side playing just one recognised centre half. I don't see us beating Celtic the same way. But, you would expect Karlsson should be able to cause Ralston problems - it's why I'm surprised he played the full 90 last night. The likes of Aouchiche and Armstrong should get space to work in though. We'll get chances.

I think it could be a lot better than it actually is. For starters, the top five leagues should not be in it. Now, only Strasbourg and Rayo Vallencano actually finished in the top five so you could argue it was competitive, but a lot of that was the others - Fiorentina, Crystal Palace and Mainz - knowing they only had to give 75% effort in some games to get through. Palace made 11 changes for their game last night. At full strength they are way too strong for the Conference League. It should be a competition for the rest. You'll still get good games and a decent final. As for Aberdeen, I think it's a good platform to go test ourselves. I enjoyed the Donestsk game for example, and despite the defeat it actually gave us a lift at a time when we badly needed it. The issue for Scottish clubs is they have been going into these group stages when their domestic form has been poor. Hearts had the same last season and Aberdeen had it the year before. The feeling is the domestic form suffers because of Europe, but I think it's an easy excuse. We should have been doing a lot better domestically this season despite the European games.

If the team was even weaker than it was last night, then that 3-0 could have been another 6-0. Thelin had to balance it with giving some players minutes and still being relatively competitive. That said, not sure playing Karlsson for the full 90 minutes was helpful if you plan to play him on Sunday, while Shinnie's 86 minutes suggests he won't play either at a venue where you would quite like your captain being in the face of the referee arguing against every shit decision we're likely to get against us.

I get Sparta had a similar formation to us, but once again we played three at the back when we really didn't need to. All three at the back really does for us is give us an extra man when teams throw in crosses. But on nights like tonight, we can't hold onto the ball, and the way Sparta played meant any 'advantage' of having an extra man was lost. As much as they are struggling at the moment, Celtic will play a similar way on Sunday, and Wilfried Nancy will absolutely have Maeda and Hatate cutting inside and finding the space to get shots away.

Successful European campaign imo

Thelin mixed it up tonight by not fixing anything at half-time.

I get tonight is a tough watch, but overall Europe has been good for us. Four games where we have played relatively well in, we've banked £6m, and by qualifying we've attracted a few players. But, for those who don't enjoy it, be encouraged that if we do qualify next season, it'll likely all be done and dusted by the end of August.

We're becoming very predictable. Name the wrong line-up, fix it at half-time. Clarkson being hung out to dry in an unfamiliar position. Karlsson not suited for any game where we have to be disciplined. Outnumbered in midfield. Worryingly, Sparta look a better side than AEK Athens.

Clarkson said on the Dons social video yesterday that he would be playing Football Manager on the flight over to Prague, and was playing as Aberdeen. Clearly Thelin is not going to accept him thinking he can do the job better than him. Probably pipes up every 20 minutes to announce Ambrose has just scored a hat-trick in a 7-3 win over Motherwell. He should have played as Torino and tried Serie A. NB: Nilsen said he would be writing poems on the flight over, which sounds lovely, but he's not playing either, so they must either be shit or all about Thelin.

Be interesting to see the midfield set up. Is it the normal two in the middle and front three - and if so, who is stepping into the front three? Or, is it a three-man midfield with Karlsson and Nisbet as a front two? I'd like that, and tonight would be the time to experiment with it.