RicoS321

There's no better version of VAR. The time was for the referees to talk about whether to send the player off or not. It's honking across the world, because it's a shite system, based on an idiotic premise. It always will be. That said, I couldn't believe that Morrison wasn't sent off before VAR intervened, I'm not sure what the ref thought he saw. Yep, this is where I am. I can't work the guy out at all. He could be completely shite, or he could turn out to be very good. Positionally, he seems to know what he's doing, and he's okay on the ball too. However, I thought he looked overweight, and is certainly not ready for a start. It was awful management. I don't think we'd have lost the third goal if we'd subbed Geiger. Nilsen would have been sitting in that area, and the defensive lineup would have just been more secure. Geiger wasn't offering a great deal going forward either, and a 70% fit player is rarely better than a fully fit one coming on. It was a glaring error by Leven. I'd argue not making a double sub in the first half, taking Aremu off, was also a mistake that led directly to us losing goals before halftime.

I like Leven. He makes some fairly astute calls at times (like recognising when certain players shouldn't be played on their wrong side), but then seems to follow them up with utterly inexplicable ones. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what role he plays when understudy, so don't know enough to suggest he should be binned entirely. In his defence, he's overseen a big turnover of players in a short spell, and been exceptionally unfortunate that his players have decided to take up red cards as their new hobby.

There's a politics thread for this. Your use of the new thread button is getting out of hand. I'm not one that cares about such things, but I'd be surprised if you weren't well on your way to a final warning.

Well that was pish. I hadn't seen or heard the lineup beyond the first 11, so I couldn't believe it when Milne came to the sidelines after Morrison sold the shirts. A fucking ridiculous call to play him, he's not ready for first team football. Dorrington probably had less minutes than this lad. Should have been a double sub after the sending off, as that midfield three clearly wasn't going to have the legs to cope. Aremu way off the pace, Geiger might turn out to be decent, but he's fairly suspect positionally and doesn't seem to have the legs. He might have looked good on the telly, because he has a bit of bite to him, but he arrived late to almost every duel (is that what they call it these days?). Palaversa isn't the answer to anything, of course. Shinnie is head and shoulders our best midfielder despite his legs having been absent for some time now, which is a real concern. Olusanya can't play fitba really, and neither can Keskinen. Cameron decent but again does a lot while doing nothing. Nisbet very good, again, working hard and a beautiful free kick. They're goal was an absolute peach, worthy of winning any match. We're in the shite.

Bit worried about our midfield for this one. Shinnie a big miss. Don't think Geiger and Armstrong would work, and not sure about Aremu yet. Nilsen and Geiger might be best. The wide players are a big concern, but unfortunately we need to play them. I think 4-4-2 would be our best option, but we can't play that with Cameron in the side. Similarly, we can't play Olusanya wide. A reluctant game for Milanovic and Keskinen basically.

A hard watch?

Exactly. Ryan Jack loves his home city for example, and Connor Barron. Not to forget Scott Wright who can't stay away from the place. We should welcome them all home. Probably wait until they're past it though, so we get them cheaper.

Will he going today, or did that game put him off forever? I was also there. Of course. And will be today. Mainly so I can witness the booing of Wright while not booing Cameron.

He's also a fucking Hun That aside, he's working hard and looks decent on the ball with little in the way of end product yet. I still think that number ten role would be better filled by Armstrong.

Also, it was one of the hottest years ever last year and we didn't have rain from April to nearly November. He was just pish.

I've not compared them, necessarily, other than by the position they play. Too early to say if Geiger is similar, just that they occupy a similar role. It was clear to anyone watching Aouchiche (apart from Thelin) from his first game that he wasn't an attacking midfielder. He was very similar to Ramadani. Ran up and down all day long, good at harassing players and very good at intercepting. Good on the ball, in terms of retention, but not a particularly progressive passer, and not someone who would shoot unless required. His biggest attribute was the ground he would cover, which I think is something we could really work with. Basically a hardworking number 8. Geiger looks like he might be a better passer and more progressive than Aouchiche. McLean might be a good comparison, although I've not seen anything to suggest he can ping a thirty yard pass or have a strike at goal, so perhaps the deeper McLean of recent years rather than the one with us! I was a little underwhelmed in his opening games, but I think that was a fitness thing. I didn't think he was first to enough second balls, that Aouchiche was good at. That should come good once he's had a few games, I don't think it'll be missing from his game entirely.

I think this is a worse take than your race card shite.

I like to see this sort of thing. I've played kick abouts at the sports village where grown men are diving to win free kicks. The lack of sportsmanship in football is insidious. I don't believe it was always the case and we seem to not only be getting further and further away from a sport where sportsmanship was built in, but accepting and promoting it, and building it into our rules. The handball rule is a prime example, where sporting advantage (i.e. deliberate Vs not) has been removed from the equation. Accidental collisions are now red cards. Their red card, given after a slip etc. It's a real shame. It would be very simple to add the word "deliberately" into stopping a goalscoring opportunity, for example. Or "deliberately" endangering an opponent. Ironically, the sending off that everyone seems to be complaining about from last night was the one where the Motherwell player deliberately and cynically hauled the player to the ground to stop him getting away. He did it in an attempt to "take a booking" probably, with no idea whether his teammates would get back or not. It's certainly the most deserved of the sending offs, but we're all arguing over the technicality of whether the defenders would have caught the player, rather than the deliberate lack of sportsmanship in the challenge.

We did have a bit of luck, but I agree that we played well and deserved the luck and the win. I'm not sold on Geiger yet. He looked okay, but I thought he looked a poorer version of Aouchiche. Doesn't quite have the legs I'd say, but hopefully it's just him getting up to speed. Agree about the wind, that's how I saw it in real time, although it does look a lot worse on the highlights! I totally disagree about your point in miovski. Last night, he had his eyes on the ball and accidentally caught the player, who was back on his feet in thirty seconds. If he's going to get sent off against the Hun, then there needs to be at least a season ending injury, and preferably in a challenge where he can follow through and take out at least one other Hun. Followed by him screaming in their faces and throwing his top into the Ibrox stands.

£20k?

I actually like it when players go and play in the lower leagues because they enjoy the game. His reputation is already sealed.

We'll regret letting a 39 year old Shinnie move on IMO.

Well that was entertaining. Our captain MOTM, not for the first time, despite having lost his legs three seasons ago. Covered every inch of the park, and a great strike. Thought the defence did well. Frame was shakey first half, but did well second, and the other three were just sensible and solid in windy conditions. Exactly what you want to see. Nisbet played well again, and Cameron worked hard. Keskinen and Milanovic were dogshite, and really good subs by Leven to address that. Not playing Olusanya wide was an excellent decision. He's a poor footballer, but he can run quickly and harass defenders, which is exactly how he earned their player a red. It's all about playing players to their strengths, they don't have to be world beaters. Beaton was pish. Think he was rattled by the VAR calls. Getting two big calls wrong, apparently, must add a bit of pressure on to a ref. There was no doubt in my mind that their defender was going off after he was called over to the screen, even though it looked fifty-fifty. I didn't think either red was a clear and obvious error, with the ref getting the first call correct (although I think the challenge was soft and accidental, but last man and all that). Fancy a trip to East end for the next round, it's been a long time since I've been.

If someone has started a thread on a topic that you'd expect to be approached with a bit of empathy and an attempt at understanding, and they haven't bothered to do a basic fucking Google search to find the information you've provided, then it's probably a waste of time providing it.

You think it's easy for a black person to accuse someone of racism? Do you think it was easy for Logan? Did it look like it was easy for him? Did it look like it was easy for him to get booed by an entire stadium for making it known? Or would it have been much easier for him to be racially abused and kept quiet? The bottom line is, you (nor I) have absolutely no idea what happened in Milne's situation. I've no idea who this thread is referring to either (some foreign pish no doubt), but I suspect that you've got no idea what happened in that situation either. You're choosing to believe the accused rather than the accuser. It suggests a lot about your pre conceived biases. Now, I could take that, and extrapolate that you're a racist, but that would be equally as ridiculous as the suggestions you appear to be making.

It doesn't only protect us from relegation. It protects us from relegation and gives us a higher likelihood of playing in Europe. Which we've done, regularly. The fifteen year period you have taken spans two different approaches. Expensive European imports are a recent thing. Prior to that it was a mixture of expensive and inexpensive British imports. We have also increased the expenditure on our youth system as we've increased the spending on foreigners. You've also used Motherwell to make your point, who have probably had a similar return on youth investment to us, and aren't currently littering their team with youth prospects. In short, you seem to be mixing together various arguments to form a solution, or point, which will likely change to mean something closer to what you're actually trying to say (I'm not criticising here). As I mentioned previously, and on various other threads this season and in the past, the balance of our squad is the issue. We should be looking to have a good balance between players with SPFL experience, project players, other experienced players (if we can't get SPFL ones) and youth. Once again, in January, we brought in players without SPFL experience, which exacerbates the imbalance. In my opinion, for youth team players, we need a quota, publicly stated, that both forces the manager's hand, whilst giving him a bit more time and patience from fans (the equivalent of announcing a three year project).

This thread has gone wild. There a few points worth noting. Our goals scored would fair worse than. Motherwell's, because teams come to Pittodrie and sit in when we're good (and to a large extent away too). That doesn't happen to Motherwell as, for whatever reason, teams fancy their chances. We've had many more qualifications for Europe than Motherwell, which is probably a better indicator than league position. Our budget, when we get it right, allows us to blow most of the diddy opposition out of the water. When we get it wrong, it offers no advantage whatsoever, and is generally a hindrance. We don't spend enough money to consistently finish above the rest, it only takes two bad signings to completely nullify the additional spending. We've tried reducing expenditure under Paterson and others, and we saw the return too. Our budget seems to just keep our worst possible place at around tenth, with a ceiling of third. Reducing it could lead to relegation. The Dons seem to have a higher expectation when it comes to player salaries too. It's almost like Motherwell can afford to offer less for players as there is no expectation of a good salary there (Ged Brannan might disagree)! I don't think I'm imagining a premium for coming up here.

Does any club feature strongly for Scotland? Looking at the last u19s for example, half the players are in England and the rest belong to different clubs. Boyd is in it, as our representative in that regard. I can't find much on the u17s, I'm guessing that Masson and Carrol would be involved, with both at one point rumoured to be off down south too. It seems reasonable to say that we should be well represented, but I don't think anyone is, which suggests that young players are moving around a lot more.

Of course there will have been youth players that are better than Ambrose or Yengi, but they can be better than our shitest signings without being good enough still. The thing about youth players is that we know whether they are good enough or not (generally speaking), whereas players we've signed are comparatively unknown. Being better than the shite isn't a reason to play youth players, because they might have deficiencies in physical areas, whilst also being not good enough. I'm not totally sure what the benchmark of a successful youth development would be. One player per season? That would mean that you should have two or three minimum that have come through the youth system in the team. We have Milne and Lobban. Probably one short.

I don't think so. Shankland was better before we signed him. He also had the physique that had a chance of making it. Bavidge would be better compared to Anderson.