Panda

Yep. I'm coming up for it simply because I can't remember the last time I was even at Pittodrie, but it put a lot of potential friends off - went from six of us to just two of us. For comparison, Rangers/Malmo (a qualifier, but a Champions League one) was £29. Celtic £21 (£19 for season ticket holders). Hibs/Rijeka was £23. St Johnstone/Galatasaray - dunno what prices were but season ticket holders were free. Should be a full house & rocking, but think we'll struggle to get past 14,000.

Yeh, it is. I bought a medium & had to send it back for a large, and even then it's fairly tight. But then I'm about a stone overweight.

No, draw for the play-off round is on Monday and we'll be unseeded. We could land someone like Roma or Tottenham. Looking through all the current seeds I don't think there's a single tie where you could consider us favourites, but there's some preferable ties to others. I tend to think Qarabag or AEK Athens might be the ones we want based on them not being too convincing in qualifying. In fact, as I'm writing this, AEK Athens are about to get knocked out unless they can find a late goal. Feyenoord too are about to be taken to extra-time so they could fall. Maybe a case of some big names there but not many of them firing on all cylinders yet.

Fair enough I suppose. If the job is just about done by half-time, he has five subs to play with in the second half.

I'm over 35 and I've already bought the new home top ? To be fair I only really wear it to the gym, and I live in Glasgow so feel an extra need to spread the Dons gospel. And, that was the first home top I'd bought since 2005.

I wonder what picture/pose they'll use as their inspiration. The photo they've actually used at the top of the article is good. That might be a hint they're using that one. The Fergie one at Old Trafford has him with his arms folded & grim faced. It's actually a bit crap. Would hope ours would have him in a happier pose.

But it's not just these two games. It's Hacken -Dundee United - European game - Livingston - European game - Raith Rovers - possibly another European game, etc etc. Games every 3/4 days. If there's an opportunity to rest someone, especially someone who is 36, we should take it. Again, my worry is we're so light up front that Hedges, Jet & Ramirez could be ran into the ground, and Hedges doesn't have the best injury-free record either. Just thinking of Dundee United. About time we stuck one on them.

Actually, totally forgot about Teddy Jenks, would probably start him. I'd say ahead of Ojo, but then I'm actually intrigued to see if Ojo can follow last week up with another good performance or if that was just a fluke.

I know we don't wish to be complacent, but with a four-goal lead, do we rest a few players for Dundee United? Especially Scott Brown - surely we want him starting v Dundee United but not after playing 90 minutes v Hacken. Especially since - providing we make it through - we then want him fresh for the first leg next Thursday too. At 36 that's going to be an issue managing his minutes. For as long as we're in the qualifiers we're going to be playing Thursday-Sunday. He's a big game player but any chance to give him a rest we need to take it - Neil Lennon just constantly played him last season even when he looked jaded and that was one of his many wrong decisions. I'm presuming Declan Gallagher's suspension is over, while the likes of McGeouch, Campbell & Gurr must be itching for a start. I'd go with:- Lewis Gurr Gallagher Considine Mackenzie McGeouch McLennan Ferguson Ojo Jet Ramirez -- Still think that's a strong enough team to get a result, and certainly not one I'd expect to blow a four-goal advantage.

I'm gonna be lazy and just say 73

Think McGeouch could actually be an important player this season. Before Glass took over I was reading some American blogs to try and get a handle on how he liked to set up, and it appeared he was a big fan of one guy dropping deep and picking the ball up from defence. That was very much what Brown did against Hacken, at times playing centre of a back three, then pushing into midfield. Brown though I doubt will play 40-50 games this season, certainly not the full 90 minutes. It'll be a big ask to play 2-3 times a week, which at times we'll have to do. So he needs a back-up for that role. McCrorie possibly will be that man with Gallagher partnership Considine, but it's also a role that seems to very much suit McGeouch. The jury is still out on Ojo. Glass seems to be playing him in more of a forward role which essentially means he doesn't have to do all the stuff he's crap at - tackling, heading, closing players down. The guy I wonder about now is Dean Campbell. Not a fan of shipping players off on loan as I prefer they learn how to play in our system, but I don't know where we play him and Jenks coming in on loan pushes him further down the pecking order.

Looks a bit like a Wimbledon top. I like it though.

Hacken looked tidy going forward & we actually had to defend well at times. They have goals in them and could see them scoring at home definitely, which was why at 3-1 it was a bit nervy. But a four-goal lead to take there is just incredible.

Well those fearing a Sigma Olomouc repeat got the scoreline right. It's 80/1 for Aberdeen to win the league. Would get it on before it drops. Also, the final is due to be played in Tirana, but the stadium only holds 22,500. Surely we'll need to get the changed as no way that's going to be big enough for the Aberdeen-Roma final.

I don't think fitness will play as big a part as people think. It's not like when the friendlies got cancelled they went home to play FIFA. They'll be as fit as you would expect them to be in July. The fact that we only organised four (and two would have been on the same day) suggests Glass was never putting much onus on the games anyway. It's often talked about Scandinavian clubs having an advantage because it's mid-season, but this season Malmö (champions) have only just squeezed past Riga in CL qualifying, and last season's champions Djurgården were out straight away last year. In the Europa League last season, Malmö had a few decent results as you would expect for a team that then went on to win the league & were unfortunate to meet a Spanish team in the play-off round, but none of their three sides reached the group stage. That's maybe unfair as their season would have been curtailed due to covid so they wouldn't have had their normal "advantage", but looking further back - again apart from Malmö who have a good record, their sides tend to fall at the same stage as Aberdeen and rarely make the groups unless the draw is kind. So the advantage appears to be minimal. So, I think it's a close tie, Hacken would probably be a top six side in Scotland, but I don't think fitness will be the dominant factor. Think it will simply come down to who is the better team and it's hard to predict Aberdeen at the moment because we haven't watched them since last season. My line-up Lewis Gurr McCrorie Considine Hayes Brown Ferguson Jet Jenks Hedges Ramirez Even then, I dunno if that's a good line-up or not as haven't seen three of them ever play.

It's evidenced by the fact they willingly broke them. It wasn't an accident. Numerous is stretching things, a mere handful more like. And beyond October, it's been nine wins in seven months.

There should be a bigger gap though and we shouldn't be struggling as much as we have, that's the point. We've just taken Motherwell's captain off them and one of Livingston's best players. Apart from Hibs, I don't think any in the division would have been able to entice Scott Brown from Celtic. Only being slightly better than them isn't really something to boast about.

Apart from saying cancelled instead of postponed, which part was inaccurate or unfair? It's easy to look good and motivated and want the ball when you're 5-0 up against Runavik. The players get found out when it's time to roll up the sleeves. Hedges I think is actually one of those players who attitude was fine. There were plenty others who were happy to hide behind excuses.

Well they are all his own guys. Allan Russell, Henry Apaloo and Scott Brown. Cancelled was the wrong word, we had two/three games postponed at the start of the season. There may have been few "incidents", but the players not being overly bothered was evident throughout the season. I still remember them being 2-0 down at Ibrox after being crap, expecting McInnes to hammer them at half-time, and before the second half started the camera panning over Considine, Ojo and I can't remember who else and the three of them were having a laugh and a giggle. You don't act that way if the manager has gone through you, or if he did they clearly didn't give a shit about what he said. We were 2-0 down against supposedly our biggest rivals, at a venue where we had been given a hiding when in a similar position the season before - and unsurprisingly we went on to get another one. There was also the defeat to St Mirren, where McInnes was picked up by those in the stand screaming at the players "it's a cup game, it's a fucking cup game" because they were playing it like it was a kickabout with their mates.

The league placing is irrelevant, that's just polishing a turd. We were awful last season, we've been poor for three seasons, it's why fans wanted McInnes gone. Aberdeen's performances were bottom six standard. That the other clubs didn't take advantage is their own issue. "You make it sound like he inherited a total shambles." He did. He took over a team that couldn't score, couldn't create, couldn't defend, were being laughed at by fans of other clubs for the boring displays they put in, had no real desire or fight in the team, had games cancelled because players couldn't give a toss about breaking rules their manager put in place, and had a big rebuilding job this summer due to so many being out of contract. We were a shambles. And I think people are underestimating the job that Glass has already done before a ball is kicked. He's changed the whole coaching structure, signed six players, and already is dealing with both injuries (McCrorie at centre half surely isn't his first choice), disruption to pre-season with games cancelled, and one of his players handing in a transfer request. Aberdeen could finish in a European spot next season and still be a team in transition. We're not going to finish sixth, simply because the rest of the league isn't good enough. A poor Celtic still comfortably finished second. I'm judging us, and the performance of Glass, by our own performances, not about how many more points than St Mirren we pick up.

It really isn't. We were really poor last season, Glass would need to be a genius to come in and sort us out in one summer. It took Fergie four years at Man U and Gerrard three years at Rangers, just to give some examples. You either need loads of money, or time. I think Aberdeen will be similar to how Hibs were last season - will be be really good and entertaining to watch on their day, but will turn in more than a few shockers throughout the campaign and struggle with consistency. I'm prepared for that, I just want evidence we're getting better, and Europe and a trophy would be good too.

Actually, I'm going to essentially disagree with myself having thought about it. Been a few times in the past under McInnes where we threw everything at these qualifiers, played loads of friendlies, ultimately failed to reach the groups and, while it didn't always happen there were more than a few times we started the campaign poorly. We also haven't always had the best of luck with injuries and maybe that was down to pre-season. 14/15 - lost 3-0 to United on day one of season after the Real Sociedad game, and lost three of the opening five games. 15/16 - Managed to beat United on day one in between games with Almaty, and actually won our first seven. 16/17 - Won just one of our first five games after losing to Maribor. 17/18 - won our first four after losing to Limassol, though to be fair it was an easy start against Hamilton, Partick, etc. 18/19 - Drew with Rangers after losing to Burnley, but won just two of first seven league games. 19/20 - Won four of first eight games. Also went out early in League Cup. 20/21 - The European games started after the league season started which maybe helped us, and we actually only lost one of our first nine league games. But of course then had loads of injuries and were generally pish. I just wonder if the new coaching team have looked at it, questioned whether playing loads of friendlies to prepare for European games rather than working on other things and building it up slowly to day one of the league season has actually impacted the campaign at a later date and led to injuries, and have therefore decided training > games and we'll see how the legs are v Hacken. I do remember when we played Burnley they hadn't played a lot of friendlies and I thought that would favour us. On one hand maybe it did as we pushed them so close, but on the other they essentially won the tie because they had fresher legs in extra-time.

Yeh I really don't know what to expect from us. I would like to think Aberdeen are far better prepared than we think, I imagine there's been a few inter-squad games being played, and our coaching team have surely had it all meticulously planned out. Especially with a player being on the coaching staff, he'd surely be able to say if the players weren't anywhere near where they needed to be. But the schedule and lack of games has me bloody nervous. Is it still five subs this season? Has that rule been extended?

I don't understand how Ramirez has to quarantine for 10 days, yet is allowed to train and played the second half today. I know he got an elite sport exception, I just don't get the logic behind it.