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I absolutely would not want Askou. Because, if he even considered a move to Aberdeen, rather than back himself to chase down Hearts and the Old Firm when he's only eight, five and two points behind the three of them, then what the hell is wrong with him? Also, keep this going until the end of the season, and a bigger job than Aberdeen will be on the table for him.

Sorry @swaddon min, have too much to rant tonight to wait for the match thread to appear. Just how significant is the Falkirk game now? If we lose to Falkirk, they will leapfrog us and we'll fall to eighth. Since we'll be in January, that's sackable territory. A reminder of Dave Cormack's statement on 31 January 2024 when he sacked Barry Robson: "There is a talented squad of players at the Club which makes our current league position unacceptable." We were eighth, after three wins in 11. Robson's final game was a draw. Jim Goodwin was sacked on 28 January 2023 with the club in seventh, with two wins in 11. Stephen Glass made it all the way to 13 February, with the club in ninth, with four wins from 11 (two from nine). Unlike two of the above, Thelin is still in the Scottish Cup, and unlike all three has won a trophy within the last eight months. The sporting director's recent arrival also buys him time as he unlikely doesn't want a sacking on his record too soon. And, Thelin also hasn't had the January transfer window. So all these things to me would suggest even defeat at Falkirk wouldn't mean Thelin is in any immediate danger. However, fail to win on Saturday, and that would be three wins in his last 11 (four in 14). And a double header with Rangers is after that. Lose the cup game to Raith Rovers and you know what, that might be when the club did need to act to stave off angry fans. Jimmy, I don't want to read in two years about your first league title at some Scandinavian club where everyone is raving about your 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3 hybrid. For the love of fuck, FOUR AT THE BACK ON SATURDAY!

One point from nine, and we didn't at any point tonight look better than Hibs despite the players they had missing. We're probably fortunate they weren't at full strength. Now we've got Falkirk away - lose and they leapfrog us, and they've had a free week to prepare. Rangers home and away - I don't see us getting anything at Ibrox if we play the same way we did tonight. And the Raith Rovers cup game, that's a season saving game because it's looking increasingly likely top five may in a month or two be realistically out of reach.

Not sure what our formation was at the end, it looked like a 4-1-4-1, but it appeared Devlin was one of the attacking midfielders, Keskinen was a very attack minded left back, and Milanovic, Aouchiche and Bilalovic all had free roles which caused Hibs some distress, but also meant three players went (and missed) the same cutback because no-one really knew where to be. Lazetic gets worse by the game. Too busy wrestling with defenders and trying to win cheap free-kicks. One example: Chance towards the end of the first half, Karlsson is the only one on his toes trying to be an option, Lazetic stays stationary. Very little hunger from him, which likely explains why he has so few in his career.

As it stands we're currently dropping back into the bottom six, which let's be honest is where this team belongs.

It's been all so predictable so far. We've never got above 'okay'. No real zip or pace to our play. We lack any real belief. Defensively not good enough. And this is against a depleted Hibs team.

No Lobban at all in the squad despite being available after suspension. Really hate that we keep benching Shinnie. Not seen anything yet to suggest Gyamfi is a better player than him. No Kieron Bowie in the Hibs squad. Either injured or, as rumoured, away to Wolves. Josh Campbell starts. He has five goals and four assists v Aberdeen (although the last goal was in Jim Goodwin's final game).

Yeah, it could switch from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3. At the beginning of Thelin's reign and the super run we were on, it worked well with Nilsen sitting deep and Shinnie was almost like a pendulum around him, going forward and getting himself wide to put crosses in. It wasn't perfect, we were still lacking in areas and I think we all knew our results were better than performances, but it was far better than it was now, and there's no real reason for Thelin to stick with three at the back long term.

That might be why Thelin is looking at two new centre halves. Tobers if fit would always have been first choice. Milne did begin his career as a holding midfielder (unless I'm getting him mixed up with someone else). Considering Thelin's preferred formation has always been 4-2-3-1, he could play there then drop into defence when needed - it's not that different than what he does now, as @RicoS321 put it, an auxiliary defender instead of auxiliary midfielder. You then have Milne and Kjartansson interchangeable for that role alongside an Aouchiche or Armstrong. Not saying it's what I would do, but can see it being what Thelin is moving towards.

Scott Burns saying today in the Daily Record that Thelin keen to shift back to a four-man defence, with two defenders targeted in January.

Yeah I think with Tobers injured, and Dorrington not being used, we should be evolving away from thee at the back. Devlin is okay at RCB, but he's not a natural centre half. He should be switching with Lobban at right back (who we have to be careful not to run into the ground). Our two centre mids are always too deep. Playing a 4-1-4-1, or 4-3-3, means they naturally push further forward.

Hibs are down to the bare bones due to injuries and players away at AFCON, so they can't make many changes from Saturday, and if they do it'll weaken them. We at least have more options. Lobban and Jensen/Gyamfi likely start to give us some fresh legs at wing back. Lazetic probably begins ahead of Nisbet. One of Bilalovic or Kjartansson maybe get a start? Tactically they tore us apart at Pittodrie so I hope we don't make the same mistakes again.

I didn't see the offending post so can't comment on it, but why has all OBI's other posts from December been removed? Are we trying to pretend they didn't exist?

Point of order: When he was subbed off v Dundee, the fans recycled the Peter Pawlett chant for him. So, technically, one.

I dont know if it's deliberate, but the one in Edinburgh is on the same evening Hearts are playing, and the time of 6-8pm would be just as all the fans are drinking/making their way to Tynecastle past a pub full of Aberdeen fans getting their photo taken with the Scottish Cup. Fierce Bar isn't too far from Gorgie either. Either terrific raigebait, or someone didn't check the fixture list before booking.

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/aberdeen-fc/6909391/aberdeen-boss-jimmy-thelin-gives-mitchel-frame-debut-update/

To be fair, was very bad timing to post it at the exact same time Clarkson was playing (or, on the bench at least) against that team. Wasn't the smartest decision really as conspiracy theorists would all be trying to work out if there was a hidden meaning behind it. But, Clarkson wasn't the one who posted it so not really his fault, and he looked more than happy for Bilalovic when he scored, so it's a bit of nothing. He will leave as a Scottish Cup hero, and will likely sign for a club down south so probably won't face us in opposition. Cheers min, but don't let the kid grow up as a Celtic fan, much more fashionable and enjoyable to support the Dons.

My theory is that Cormack wants the whole back room structure sorted; coaching, academy. Basically a whole DNA - pathway to first team, pathway for coaches to step up too. This whole "three year project" is more about Thelin leaving a legacy on the club, an imprint. That's why he has backed Thelin a hell of a lot more than Glass, Goodwin or Robson because they weren't offering that. And I think results wise, Thelin winning the cup and banking £6m+ from Europe, that was probably ahead of schedule - the club likely were aiming for that in his second or third season. It would also explain why Thelin doesn't feel the need to throw in Bilalovic and Kjartansson. I think he's quite happy to develop these guys and have the next manager enjoy the fruits of his labour. Like I said, just a theory. If he gets sacked next week, someone delete this.

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.