RicoS321

Doohan was good again last night. However, he does struggle with the ball at his feet. I don't think it can be overstated how important that is to the way Thelin plays. Doohan is good at coming off his line, but he's very slow to distribute the ball, and that has a cumulative effect going upfield and has a lot to do with us having nothing on when we reach the final third. In terms of it being his team, I don't really think that'll be the case for a good year. Six players is still only half a team, and that would assume that we had 100% success in any window. On the flip side, there are players already there who I'm certain Thelin would want to keep too. Overall, I'm not seeing anything we didn't understand Glass. Both try the playing out from the back at all cost, with zero pragmatism thrown in. The biggest difference is that Thelin has already earned the right to give it significantly longer to try and get right than Glass did. It remains to be seen whether it's possible to get a team capable of playing that way on our budget, despite its increase. I'm not convinced it is. It just takes one or two in the team who can't use the ball well, or they can when fully fit but not when at 90%, and we lose careless goals. I think we're going to have to see some pragmatism at some point. Maybe when Gueye is back, that'll offer us the option of mixing it up a little.

I'd like to see evidence of this bandwagon.

Aye, it didn't flatter them. Very comfortable. Not many positives to take. Tobers looked good again (I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on the last goal, he wasn't expecting Dorrington to get shot and never had his position nailed to push the attacker wide). Jensen looked decent too. All the attacking players were poor, with Clarkson probably doing the most to make something happen. My Hibee mate asked if Okkels has something on Thelin, and I'd tend to agree - he just didn't involve himself at all, and I don't think we should be playing him into fitness. Biggest issue at the back was Nilsen on his wrong side. I mentioned it at the weekend, it was so obvious it would lead to error. It appears we've signed another right sided player to replace him, who looks no more able to carry the ball out without making a cunt of it (just the body shape, again). There must have been an available left footed defender somewhere in the world? Obviously we've now got a right footed left back if McGarry is injured just to compound things. Anyway, Gueye's back soon.

Because Okkels has been shite, and is probably now tired.

McGarry played well.

I've got the world's worst stream in fawa. Any decent ones out there? Okkels still on the pitch. Mental.

Not a strong side. No McGrath on the bench either. Could be a doing.

@OrlandoDon

Good luck to the lad, he's done well for us in the last couple of seasons and deserves a move. Those fans that spread vicious rumours about him joining the scum should apologise immediately, and send a letter to his family thanking them for instilling self respect into their loon.

He's also a winger, striker and midfielder apparently.

Jimmy been on this forum it seems. He's been expressing the need to have a Scottish core to the team as a Scottish side. He's not been in Aberdeen long enough IMO, should be emphasising the need for players born North of Stonehaven.

Didn't Wright leave while McInnes was here? Swap for McRorie.

I think that the McKenna thing was overplayed to criticise him to be honest. McKenna got in because we were shite at the back and he continued with him after he performed. McKenna himself was very complimentary on McInnes' input and the confidence he showed in him.

Big Alfie on board. Not many nineteen year olds come in and manage at centre half, so it'll be interesting. I'm hoping he could be the next Rhys Williams.

Aye, it was more from the point of view of having someone who can win the ball higher up. He played at 10 and out left. I had a glimmer of hope that he might be able to bring something out in Nisbet. I have a feeling that because the other strikers have been shite, that he might just try and shoehorn him into number 9, like has been done with Duk (with some justification).

We don't want to bring him down to our level, we could still make money off the lad if he resurrects his career! To be honest, if we're looking at a right back, I think it needs to be one that we might get permanently rather than a loanee. I'd hate to think we were giving Ramsay game time ahead of Devlin for him to fuck off back down South at the end of the season. That wouldn't sit right for me given Devlin's form and effort this season. I don't think it's a priority area that we need to rock the boat in during this window. I wonder if Tobers will be seen as cover for right back if Devlin needs rested until Milne returns (with Polvara going into centre back)? I'd like to see a couple more: a striker and a left centre back. Nilsen was okay yesterday, but he was surprisingly uncomfortable with playing the ball out on his left foot. He hesitated so many times, and missed one or two easy opportunities to give it to Okkels, as if he didn't have the confidence to make the slide ball between two players on his wrong side. Polvara looked far more comfortable on his left side against Motherwell. I'd certainly be looking for a permanent left centre half. I have a feeling that Nilsen will get absolutely rinsed by the Hun if he plays there in that fixture. Whilst Okkels was poor, he did help out defensively, and his overall positioning was good. It would have been really nice to have had Gueye back a couple of weeks ago so we could assess in this window before bulking the squad up with another striker.

Aye, Hegarty had a shite record, but I remember thinking some of the fitba we played under him was okay and I was surprised that he didn't do much in management beyond that. McInnes talked about Ramsay on a few occasions as Dons manager, he was clearly very aware of him but had [justified] loyalty to Logan. I think he would have featured in the Dumbarton game at least if McInnes had stayed on, but he was fairly conservative with the young lads for the Dons more generally, which was frustrating at times. Did we only have two young players (Wright and McKenna) come through under McInnes (obviously Ferguson was young, but was bought in)? I'm struggling to think of another. I guess Campbell got plenty of minutes, but I always felt that we clogged our squad with average journeymen that required placating before the youngsters. I'd say that even Wright was given a fairly raw deal under McInnes.

Aye, only around quarter of a century out with the caretaker manager. Not too bad.

I think that might have been a different black player.

That's the wrong type of fitba. Non-yank studies show opposite results: Proper fitba Although I think there's no significant differences either way. Badly maintained AG pitches are likely worse, but then a heavy grass pitch would likely be terrible on the hamstrings too.

That's certainly an area of his game that could improve with a bit of coaching. You're right, he definitely got forward more, but it was almost always after a little stutter of uncertainty, that both allowed the marker to get back, and confused our own players as to whether he was coming or going. A little injection of confidence from the manager and more game time would likely solve this. We'll just have to cope with the switching off until we get a replacement for MacKenzie.

There's no evidence that plastic pitches are worse for injury than grass. Would be fitting if McInnes resurrected his career and bagged us a few million sell on.

Bit harsh on McGarry. He played okay for a guy who hasn't had a lot of minutes. MacKenzie has been poor of late, he'll occasionally let folk in behind him and is poor in the air, however he doesn't switch off the way McGarry did a couple of times today. There was one in the first half where he forgot to track his man completely, and then once in the second where their fullback had the ball and the winger was in behind McGarry. It wasn't his fault that he was out of position as the move had broken down, but instead of going full belt into the winger to take man and ball, he just froze and they played the simple triangle round him and set up a very good chance. He was miles from being the worst player today, but it's those things that make it fairly clear he doesn't have what it takes. We were the better team today and earlier in the season we'd have scored either the one from the corner (which looked like a phenomenal save from Gordon) or one of Keskinen's. Fantastic save from Doohan, preventing what would have been an undeserved loss (they didn't do anything of note in the game). I'm still not convinced by Morris, despite his purple patch, but we do need to be giving him more time if he's expected to impact the game. How on earth Okkels got as long as he did, I've no idea. He basically waited for him to collapse. I don't think I've seen a guy have so little impact on a game and remain on the pitch. I'm sure he'll improve, but we don't need to be giving him anymore than a half to work on his fitness and sharpness. I liked the look of Tobers, think he'll be good for us. I really hope someone signs Duk this window, I hate that I've still got a flicker of expectation every time he comes on, and I still get completely frustrated when he puts in another shite performance. That bollocks towards the end where he was given an easy pass to collect, and he let the defender come and get it and threw himself to the ground to try and get a freekick nearly made my head explode. He's gone from hero to useless diving cunt. Nisbet made a few nice passes in the first half, especially that beautiful through ball for Keskinen, but just seems to lack any energy. It's like he doesn't want to be there. We need a number nine ASAP.

Fuck sake, we've just got rid of two Alfies.