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But he isn't though. He gave MacDonald his first start of the season. Had he played Devlin in the back three everyone would have questioned it, he played Rubezic. Maybe Mackenzie shouldn't have started but maybe Jensen isn't fit enough for 90 minutes. He eventually did change Mackenzie and gave Jensen his debut. That's not picking the same back three. But it's a new defence. Are we worse than last season - well, he's lost Pollock and Scales, he's having to work with new guys. Individually all four who played in defence today were poor, but too early to write off Jensen and Rubezic, while we know MacDonald is better than what he showed today. Yellow card.

Very little of that today to be honest. Got a penalty off a rare second half chance, that's all.

Miovski's celebration after the penalty summed up Aberdeen today. After VAR checked it, rather than get the game restarted and go for a third, he runs over to the St Mirren fans and starts showing off the name on the back of his shirt like he's done something special. He had a shocking 90 minutes and scored a penalty. Infuriating. We've got another striker coming in which might give him and Duk a kick up the arse.

Nah I don't agree there. We couldn't pass the ball, that was the main issue. Shinnie seems to be praised as a great leader when we win and as not being good enough when we lose. Robson isn't under pressure no matter what happens on Thursday. He'll be given time. You're saying the team is worse, but eight players started today who were there last season and only Roos played well today. Clarkson in particular had really poor distribution. Robson just an easy target - basic things like passing, tackling, concentration all let us down today.

Angus MacDonald's worst game for Aberdeen. Gifted the penalty, slow off the mark for the second goal, mistake led to a chance that should have been a goal, poor pass back putting Roos under pressure. Fair to say his performance isn't helping Jensen have a fruitful debut either.

Like I said...zzzz Jensen, McGarry and McGrath on Mackenzie, Hayes and Polvara off.

Looks like Robson expecting a physical battle which is why he's gone for Hayes, MacDonald and Polvara ahead of McGarry, McGrath and Morris. Prediction: An awful first half, some subs around the hour mark, Dons to start playing and win it late on.

Shame he's been sacked before getting his well deserved standing ovation at Pittodrie for getting Jim Goodwin emptied.

It's arguable whether it's better for the coefficient for Rangers to make the Champions League or drop to Europa. They and Celtic get four bonus points each for the coefficient if they're in the CL group stage. You don't get any bonus points for being in the Europa League. So Rangers would need to win two games (or one win and two draws say) in the Europa League just to equal those bonus points. They'd be in pot one, but they could still end up with a group of Real Betis, Brighton and Toulouse which they could easily finish bottom of with no wins. In truth, because there's no bonus points on offer in the Europa or Conference groups, you could argue it's better for the coefficient if Aberdeen lose to Hacken because we're more likely to win more points in the Conference. That all said, we should want Rangers to beat PSV. Not for the coefficient, but because if we're both in the Europa League then - as I explained earlier in the thread - it'll cost Aberdeen €1.5m in having to share the TV money with them.

This week's results mean Turkey are closing in on us in the coefficient and will likely push us down to 10th. Won't affect us much except in the unlikely event we finish second we'd have an extra Champions League qualifying round to get through. However, for the following season, we've now dropped to 15th. At the moment that means we'll lose the automatic group stage spot for third place. Serbia, Denmark and Poland are all close behind. If just one of them overtakes us, then we'd only have four teams in Europe. A cup win (which would then rank higher than second place) would have four rounds to get through to make the Europa League. Third place means Conference League QR2. Pretty grim. Thankfully Barry Robson is putting together a squad that'll get that coefficient up. The Old Firm need to pull their finger out though.

Nowhere hear the head/neck. Miovski went down holding his face and the ref bought it. Harsh booking, we'd be raging if it happened to us. Had it been a straight red rather than a second yellow, VAR would have overturned it.

Devlin, Miovski, Shinnie, Duk and Clarkson all giving it big licks to the home support. You can watch a different player each time https://x.com/aberdeenfc/status/1694998057782534277?s=46&t=qWaGzv2lOo4L5idOotq-Sg

Really this trip should be no harder than facing the Swedish champions away. I'd start McGarry, MacDonald and McGrath and get the game won by half-time.

That Hacken red card might be slightly harsh. Makes up for the penalty I guess. ed195724-a8c2-40a5-a0e8-40feac389132.mp4

Went on to buy my tickets for Hacken at home and the traditional away end was the only section with tickets left, and even then there wasn't many left, so expecting the sold out signs up soon.

Fans were superb tonight from what I could tell. Was Miovski getting pelters from the home support, because he (and Devlin) both made a point of gesturing to the fans behind that goal when we equalised.

Shay Logan, League Cup semi-final, 2014.

Hacken sold Kristoffer Lund today to Palermo. He was their star player pretty much, a very highly rated left-back. Somewhat surprising he only ended up in Serie B by all accounts. Anyway, big blow for them. Shayden Morris will have the replacement on toast.

To be fair, a Hearts mate of mine was raving about Florence last year so wouldn't be against that. But Roma, Stadio Olympico, Jose Mourinho.

Aye there's also a small block of seats next to away end, a block in section Y and a block in upper deck that all don't get sold. Was trying to buy tickets for the Häcken game next week - I'm having to wait until the season ticket seats get released tomorrow night as there's only the Y and upper deck currently available. Used to love the upper deck but can barely see the goal line these days since they extended the pitch. That's why I always argue it's difficult for Aberdeen to sell out, as once we hit about 16,000 the remaining seats are crap. If we had, say, a Tynecastle or an Easter Road, we'd sell a lot more tickets. Still, new stadium coming soon...

Interesting comment from Alan Burrows on Twitter, saying the capacity of Pittodrie these days is 18,800, and that it'll be lower than that for European games.

Watched Hacken 3-2 IK Sirius. Hacken won it through an own goal in the 96th minute. Wasn't impressed with Hacken at all. Sirius (who are 12th in the Swedish league) played a back five which Hacken struggled with, just knocking it aimlessly before launching balls into the box. That the Sirius' defence was pretty gash is how Hacken eventually got through. But at the other end Sirius would play long balls down the side to their two front men, drill it across the box, and the home defence really struggled. They scored two and could have had more. At 2-1 up they hit the post and had a goal ruled out for offside, but replay appeared to show he was on (no VAR). Aberdeen can definitely get goals on Thursday. Hacken do have a few players with good movement and we're not defending too solidly just now, but if Hacken play like that against us we've got a chance.

Back under way this weekend. Ylber Ramadani's first game is at home to Lazio tonight. Lewis Ferguson's Bologna at home to Milan on Monday. Think Inter might reclaim the Scudetto. Roma hopefully can get top four. Three possible Italian teams Aberdeen can face in Europe. Roma or Atalanta in the Europa League. Juventus were in the Conference league but got kicked out, replaced by Fiorentina. Any of those trips would be dynamite.

But didn't play, not even a 15 minute cameo to get some minutes in the legs ahead of Sweden.

Defence will be interesting, as can't see Morris being dropped, Devlin likely plays too, but MacDonald surely comes back into the team. Is it a straight MacDonald for Rubezic swap or does Robson try and include both? In the absence of McGarry and Hayes, and Duncan not quite hitting the heights at LWB, I'd actually be inclined to play Morris on the left. He can't cross anyway so doesn't really matter what side he starts on. It would allow Devlin to start RWB, and MacDonald and Rubezic to both play. (that away strip is difficult to recreate)