RicoS321

It's not Trump, as such, the Republicans are experts at fixing the vote. They began as soon as they won the last election, and are still using the same tactics as 2000. They raided offices in Georgia recently on the premise of "investigating the 2020 election", getting all the voter records handed over. What follows is the purge. They've shorn districts of mail boxes for postal votes, under the nonsense pretense that those are being fixed too. The Democrats are way behind on this, and there's only one or two swing states that need to be targeted.

I guess that's a fairly meaningless statement without any possible guage. You could just as easily say that if you are under too much pressure to perform (expectations are too high) then you could can let things get to you and struggle to perform. I'm not saying that there is too much pressure, just pointing out that it's impossible to tell. Why not stick to any one of the things that we can see with our eyes on the pitch? Such as players not being very good, or playing out of position? Would you genuinely say that "pressure to improve" has a bearing on Yengi, Ambrose, Milanovic? Or are they just pish? I thought Milanovic worked very hard in his last start for us and was actually quite diligent in tracking his man. He was fucking honking at playing football though, and I don't think you can pressure him into being otherwise. Armstrong isn't going to be pressured into not giving the ball away or losing his position in a deeper area, that's what he does in his attempt to try and create something, so you play him further forward. And so on.

Right, but what has that to do with lack of pressure? Both Lutz and Leven would be responsible for putting pressure on players to perform, wouldn't they? Are they suggesting that they don't do that enough? I've seen plenty of performances where the players have looked disillusioned and confused, probably even dejected. I've also come away from many games this season thinking that many of the players have worked their arses off and come away with nothing due to ridiculous errors and terrible tactics. Their confidence looks battered, and the stupidly imbalanced squad means that they aren't good enough to get themselves out of the hole they're in. I've seen players like Shinnie, Aouchiche, Devlin and even Jensen being hung out to dry by the inability of their managers to see that who they are being paired with, or what they're being asked to do is wildly beyond them, when other more appropriate combinations would have worked. We haven't seen a midfield three of Shinnie, Aouchiche and Clarkson once this season for example. Two midfielders that work their arses off, and one who can spray passes about for fun. We've seen Armstrong continually expected to play as a number 8 when he is pish there. No amount of pressure is going to turn Armstrong into a box to box midfielder, just as didn't for Jamie McGrath when we made the exact same mistake with him under Robson (lo and behold, when we played him in his correct fucking position, the mysterious pressure evaporated and he was one of our best players again). But it's fine, we can put it down to some nebulous theory of "not enough pressure", that can never be proved either way, and in reality none of us have the slightest clue as to what happens behind closed doors, or the thinking behind it.

I don't think any of those things has anything to do with lack of pressure.

I don't think there'll be a football player on the planet that would agree with this to be honest. The notion that our players, or any professional footballer (unless they're really good), doesn't feel the pressure to perform is ludicrous. It would suggest a mental health issue if they didn't! These are guys who have worked their arses off from a very young age to make it to where they are (think how difficult it is to become a professional footballer, and how many kids fail), and guys at Aberdeen who will never make enough money to live a life of luxury. You might get the odd player who is disillusioned with a particular club or role, or is maybe seeing out a career, but it doesn't bridge an entire squad. Our club just sacked its cup winning manager for his failures (correctly). If there wasn't pressure to succeed then he'd still be here. The players will have felt it when he was binned as he was clearly a likeable guy, just as they'll hear the boos around Pittodrie and away from home. Of course they feel the pressure of that. The performances and results can very easily be explained by the atrocious errors in the transfer market, the imbalance of the squad, poor tactics and very low confidence. It doesn't need other explanation.

Apologies, I was under the impression that he was just a six month loan, but if there's an option to buy then it's decent. A long term strong midfielder is a good option. A loan deal for a guy that would just take Shinnie's place for a few months wouldn't be (just like Cameron isn't). Having said that, I would probably have prioritised a centre back and a winger over another midfielder in this particular window, but if we can get a good player early, then that's fine. Certainly the loans of Morrison and Cameron are both more of an issue than this lad. It looks like Shinnie, Armstrong and Clarkson will all be surplus to requirements for the remainder of the season.

Our problem is signing players in positions we no longer need.

Hopefully by "player" he meant manager.

You jest, but I think the height is actually fairly important. We tried and failed to play Clarkson in there because he was easy to press until he ended up playing in the same spot as the other midfielders (Barron was the casualty of that). Armstrong is 6ft. Whilst not a giant, he defends the ball better with his back to goal, whilst also capable of being more direct. It's rare that you get a small number ten in the SPFL that is successful. Maybe at the Tims perhaps, but I can't think of one. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cameron occupying the deep role that Clarkson and Barron play in after his next move. I don't think it would take long for teams to figure out Cameron at number ten. Perhaps Killie already did.

It's almost like because we were in for him before we don't want to give up on the idea. A fear of missing out on a guy rather than accept we don't need someone in that position. We see it quite a lot to be honest. That's where I'd have hoped that the sporting director would step in and at least play devil's advocate. Maybe they're under the impression that we are good enough to play two attack minded midfielders against teams (especially at home). I don't think it's possible in the SPFL. Or it at least requires a very good Shinnie type player in his prime, which are hard to come by. We certainly don't have one.

Even then, Armstrong is clearly better as a number ten (I mean he plays better there than at eight, not that he's better than Cameron, which is difficult to say), so we've basically had to play him further back to accommodate Cameron, who is a Hun who'll only play for us if it turns out he's pish. Clarkson has been sidelined for Cameron too, and I'm completely convinced that he's a better player than Cameron by a distance.

Yep, it's been a disaster. Again, it's the balance. I mentioned in his very first game at Pittodrie that Aouchiche wasn't a number ten but looked decent deeper. He'd clearly been bought to play further forward. We then bought Armstrong, the perfect replacement for McGrath (who should never have been let go for a quibble over a year), who has since been played deeper, where he's a liability defensively. Clarkson spent the whole time on the bench, save for a few European outings on the right wing. We've since loaned a Hun who plays number ten, but has to come deep to involve himself because he doesn't have the strength or pace to play in the hole, meaning that there's no room for Clarkson and Armstrong still has to be played in the wrong place. A good manager would immediately have played Shinnie alongside Aouchiche with either Clarkson behind or Armstrong in front, with a view to getting a Shinnie replacement in asap. I'm concerned that Aouchiche was not in the team the last few weeks because Leven didn't understand his role. I'm also concerned that if that isn't the case that the only reason we signed the Nigerian lad is because Aouchiche is leaving, rather than because it was absolutely imperative that we signed such a player since before the summer window opened. I can just about understand the loan of Morrison, with Tobers still on the books. But the fact that we decided to bring in an inexperienced youth is just awful squad building once again. If we genuinely believed Milne or Knoester was an issue, then what would a youngster solve?

You have to keep things moving in windows, it's a disaster not to. Whilst quality has clearly been an issue, imbalance is the real problem. Why on earth it's taken us until January to recognise the need for a strong midfielder is beyond me. We should have been getting much more from guys like Aouchiche, and Clarkson by just playing them correctly and understanding the roles they can play in. The idiocy of signing Cameron when we've got Armstrong and Clarkson was on full display today. Even Shinnie has been hung out to dry this season by still expecting him to do the work of two midfielders. We've offered zero platform for any of the signings - shite as many may be - to give their best.

That's exactly the sub I'd have made if Aouchiche had been an option. Jensen could have been okay, but that would have been a huge gamble. I think Leven is getting too much hassle for keeping Shinnie on without acknowledging the fact that his options were extremely limited. Shinnie is probably on about 60 bookings in his Dons career and had perhaps three reds, maybe four? He's had at least two early bookings this season and not been sent off. It wasn't a black and white call for Leven, he was between a rock and a hard place. Especially with Knoester off and having a lad playing his first game at the back.

Aye, the Tims game will be a disaster. I'm not sure the purpose in Morrison as a signing. We needed an experienced defender on loan and we've got another Dorrington (but worse), young lad still learning. The fact that we'll have to play him on his wrong foot too is disastrous. Our midfield might have the new lad, but Armstrong and Cameron are not going to make up the legs and strength in there. Out wide, Bilalovic or Olusanya aren't disciplined defensively. The recipe for a doing. I'd probably keep Leven in post just to take the hit!

It's not defeatist. Shinnie is very, very good at playing on a booking. Your suggestion is a decent one, but Nilsen would have left us very short in midfield too. Leven took a calculated gamble that didn't pay off. Given the options, and past evidence of Shinnie's ability to avoid reds, I don't think it was a ridiculous decision.

Again, I've probably said that a dozen times when Shinnie has been concerned and been wrong each time. It's easy to criticise Leven, but Shinnie was the only midfielder on that pitch pulling his weight and there's not a single midfielder on the bench that could replace him unfortunately. Where I think Leven made the error was (as @OrlandoDon suggests) not taking off any of the other midfielders to give Shinnie some help in there.

Nothing in that challenge met the threshold for a red, and I'm not convinced at all they met the threshold for a yellow. There was absolutely zero force in an accidental collision. He's actively trying to pull out of the way of the player. The only thing it could be a yellow for is repeated fouling, but I'm fairly certain he only had one innocuous foul after his booking. A red is a fucking terrible decision. Really bad refereeing.

Shinnie has had hundreds of those chats in his career though. It's actually quite rare for him to get sent off, and not unusual for him to get an early booking and last ninety minutes.

On what grounds? He barely touched the player.

There was nothing predictable about a straight red.

That's the worst decision I've ever seen

That's never a red. It's not even a yellow, but they'll feel they have to give one.

You wouldn't agree if you ignore the point I'm actually making.

He has been much worse than the others. The others are doing nothing to create chances (although Keskinen has been okay), whereas Bilalovic is actively giving them chances as he's completely unable to hold his position and press his man. Whilst Keskinen isn't playing brilliantly, he's covering his fullback every time and showing discipline. It's an indisciplined display by Bilalovic that's the issue. I agree, we could take off any of the others for their performances too.