RicoS321

We should have been going into the Motherwell game with two fresh (ish) midfielders in Shinnie and Clarkson. We went in with two knackered ones. We're good enough to not play a low block against Motherwell, but not when breathing out our asses. We started higher in fairness to Thelin, but we quickly regressed as we were getting overrun. Same with any team playing the Thursday - Sunday fixtures in our position, we don't have the fitness or squad depth. The biggest problem is, of course, that the majority of our central midfielders aren't good enough, and it's the most important part of the pitch. However, JT should have known the issue going into this season and should have either addressed it in the window, or sought to mitigate it tactically. For me, it's fairly obvious that allowing two to sit deep is not an issue, as long as you have someone like Armstrong (or even Karlsson) playing centrally ahead of them. The 3-4-3 isn't meant to have two sitters as far as I can tell. Although I notice that Karlsson omitted any right sided forward from his comments! On the whole, I don't think he's said anything that isn't being said in the changing room, I think Thelin's intention will be to support the front two. He could make it easier for them though.

Michael McPeadophile - Heal the World

Aye, I agree. I actually found it more frustrating that we played two up front and yet we never give Nisbet the opportunity of playing with a partner. Not sure what player Thelin was watching last season, but he was almost always better with Gueye alongside him. I said before we resigned him that unless we were playing a two then we might as well not bother with the transfer. It's frustrating that we can apply the available evidence, but a manager can't. I remember watching Bruce Anderson break through for us, and McInnes would almost always take the striker off for him, leaving him as a lone striker which he inevitably couldn't do. It'd be like a form of torture, which it's like watching Nisbet lead the line. It leads directly to comments about him being lazy, or shite, when neither are particularly true.

Dropping like flies

We did go with two up front from the start though. We played a 3-5-2, with Karlsson next to Lazetic, changing half way through the first half as they were overrunning us in midfield. If we're playing two up front, it has to be Nisbet and Lazetic, at the expense of Karlsson in my opinion, but it seems that Karlsson will play every game. Also, Shinnie and Armstrong (mainly the latter) struggled with being stretched between wing back and midfielder when playing either side of Polvara, and we were much better when they reverted to Shinnie and Polvara sitting, with Armstrong breathing out his arse out of the way a bit. I think we'd have to address the midfield three if playing two up front. I would suggest a 3-4-1-2, to allow the sitting midfield with one in front, that will sort of match most teams.

Absolute shite. Gordon is 42.

Back when Fergie was manager, if a player asked for a day off he'd chain them to the side of the pier. After high tide, he'd untie them, and if they weren't dead he'd fine them a week's wages.

That's because they've got better players, and a balanced squad. We've signed badly. I don't think Thelin could be getting significantly better out of what we have got because what we have got isn't very good. It was really a response to the budget comments, as if spending more money means that we should be being better whilst ignoring how we've actually spent that money. I'm not saying that he couldn't get slightly better out of them, just not a huge amount. There's a ceiling to the sum total of that squad, and to me it looks about fifth best in the league, maybe sixth. We've ended up with some individual players who would get into any team outside the scum, but as a squad it's not better than Motherwell. Key areas of the park are missing good players, and we've got zero options to throw on as a wildcard that could get us a few points to push us higher than the quality in the squad merits.

Another window, though, where I think that the first priority has to be shipping players. I'd like to see us go full clear out, and get rid of Clarkson*, Polvara, Palaversa, Nilsen, Ambrose and Yengi. We won't have Europe, and that clear out will set us up nicely for the summer. *I think Clarkson is our best player, but I hate seeing him on the bench. Just get rid of he's not happy, or the manager is unhappy with him.

Who do you think we've not assessed adequately? The Icelandic laddy and Bilalovic are the only two I can think of, and I'm prepared to accept that they might not be ready for the first team. The rest have all had plenty of minutes. A bounce game might be a good idea to test a new formation perhaps, but the biggest problem is that St Johnstone - our designated friendly team - are in the championship and probably don't have the week off. I guess there are other teams, but it would seem a little unfaithful to the saints, who might feel left out.

Michael McPeadophile - Earth Song

On the plus side, our goal yesterday came from Shinnie having to mop up when Polvara took an age on the ball and got caught in possession. One of the many glaring signs that he was struggling, that the manager missed.

But, have you seen our squad? I don't think it's very good. We've maybe had one good signing in the summer, in Lazetic. Armstrong probably a downgrade on the younger and fitter McGrath. Karlsson not being nearly as effective as Morris. The rest being completely replaceable by a number of serviceable SPFL players. Players like Palaversa, Polvara and Keskinen simply haven't kicked on from not being good enough in the first place, with Shinnie and Nilsen being a year older, and it showing. There's just not a lot to work with, and other than the new manager bounce, I don't see us being in a better place. We could probably, maybe, improve the performances of Nisbet by playing him correctly in a two, playing Clarkson, keeping Armstrong further forward etc, but I think the issues are largely personnel based rather than tactics. For me, getting rid of Thelin is basically blaming him for the poor squad building. The entire point in getting rid of McInnes, and employing the following four (and a half) managers, was that we were no longer letting the manager do the squad building (at least not unchallenged). We've done exactly that, whilst having a stupid "strategy" of signing project players that seems to force the manager to build unbalanced squads. I don't think we'll ever get the opportunity to see if Thelin can do it for us as a manager, because the new sporting director will likely need more than two windows to sort the mess that he's walked into.

I think Devlin being overplayed isn't a significant issue at right centre back. If he was tanking up and down from fullback, more so. It'd be good for them both just to share our the minutes between now and the end of the season. I suspect JT will want to revert to a four at some point too.

Aye, it's frustrating. Thankfully we've got next week off, and we can relax watching Steve Clarke manage Scotland.

He wears funny glasses

You reckon we should play with 12?

Aye, another fairly dogshite game and performance. We really struggle with these post Euro games, we look absolutely knackered. Fuck knows what JT thought he was watching that he held off on the subs. Polvara was fucked, as were several others. Clarkson would be best leaving. There's nothing worse than watching a good player on the bench when the manager doesn't fancy him. Interestingly, we seemed to start in a 3-5-2, with Karlsson central. Bizarre really, given Nisbet isn't afforded that setup. That changed soon after when it became clear that the midfield weren't working well as a three, with Armstrong (who was totally screwed from the tenth minute) moving forward to make the 3-4-3. Neither shape works particularly well with the personnel we deploy, from midfield to front.

I don't think three at the back means being defensive though, it's just a different shape. One that suits our defenders a bit better. It also suits our fullbacks, who are fairly shite at defending. Agree about Jensen, although I think a lot will depend on whether we want Lobban to have quite so many games when breaking through. Not that the fans will consider that, and will likely jump on Jensen's back the minute he decides not to float a ball into the box from deep with no strikers in the middle, but passes backwards. Also agree on the front two. If we're ever to see Nisbet do anything in a Dons shirt again, we need to play him in a two or not at all. I think Karlsson is actually not really producing much, and wouldn't be averse to resting him for this one and going with a 3-5-2, with Karlsson from the bench when we're 5 up. I'd also start Clarkson, perhaps even behind Shinnie and Armstrong in a 3-1-4-2 (or 3-3-2-2? I don't think it's got a name, and I claim the formation as my invention).

It was only four minutes ago....

Quite busy in here these days. Just a little warning to the new posters, some of the guys on here can get a little bit precious about general board etiquette. Things like starting new topics where others already exist, instead of taking the time to search for it. I'm not one to get too bothered by such things, but beware the forum Nazis.

Looks to me like a technically very good footballer who might struggle with the athleticism side of things. Similar to someone like Barron I think, but with more of a cutting edge. Think he'll struggle to get into our midfield, although I'd happily let Palaversa and Nilsen go and see how he gets on. If I was to put him in a bracket at an early stage, it would be lower premier, high end championship. Maybe the level of Anderson, or Low.

Aye, basically the story of Thelin's tenure. We fall short just before creating the opportunity in the final third and often don't get a shot away. Players getting blamed for results for missing good chances is a bit like blaming the ref (as an aside, last night's ref was very good). Milanovic could have won us the game, but the decisions you mention are equally culpable in not leading to a goal in my opinion.

It's weird. He is laser focused on making sure the front three is in a line, each with a man, even cleverly switching to the wing to cover for Keskinen at one stage. He's a really intelligent player. Unfortunately, he's not able to do the rest of his job because he's too busy with the management of that part of the game. At some point he needs to start taking the risks and pressing high. I don't think it'll happen though, he's just not a one-up-front kind of guy.

Didn't catch the middle half, but it was good to see a well organised Dons team not giving up too many chances. Another clean sheet is impressive too. Milanovic a bit unlucky, it came at him on his wrong foot quite quickly. You just stick your leg at those ones and at least half the time they just go in. Fantastic from Keskinen, it was good to see him recognising that the guy he was up against was pulling a lorry and just go for it. Too often, he'd make the wrong call. Lobban really good, and the back three. Milne especially looking good again. He looked shattered in the Athens and Hibs games, unsurprisingly given he's played a lot of fitba, so it's nice to see that his form wasn't just a temporary thing. Both lads will be crucial for us in the coming years (either by playing, or being sold!).