RicoS321

I agree with your last point, but I also think that we have the personnel this season that helps in that regard. McInnes has had us playing great football in the past, but when he doesn't trust his team, he reverts to stuffy shite, and I don't think he's trusted his team - probably correctly - for a few seasons now (since Hayes left). Defend higher up the park and we possibly get caught for pace at the back, but I sort of agree with your point. The problem with it, as I mentioned, is that we don't have the fitness or concentration levels to do that for 90 minutes, which is why I would rather we took the game to them at various points of the game. That's what we did when we beat them a few seasons back and got close in the final and the games where we've beaten the hun too (large spells of all those games they were given plenty of possession in front of a very organised dons). Whether that be the opening 20 minutes or whatever, I don't really care. You could see guys like Wright and Watkins slowing down in the last 30 minutes against Hamilton, I see no reason that wouldn't happen against a better team. I just don't think it's realistic or fair to expect us to press or hold a high line for 90 minutes. You're right, the subs need to be used, used earlier and used more effectively. It's a real weakness in McInnes' game (although Clarke for Scotland seems to have taken it to a whole new level of procrastination). He has his 65-70 minute sub where he takes off Wright and then his 80-85th minute and it's all very championship manager. Two easy victories.

Not this season, no. We lost one goal from game management this weekend, and one whilst being on the attack. We've had many clean sheets, and game management has probably been applied in the closing stages of all those games suggesting it has been succesful. Livingston was the only other game we lost a goal from being a couple up and then we managed the game through to the end. Also, I wouldn't describe the Hamilton game at the weekend as game management, it was more about trying out a formation before the weekend and giving guys like Ojo a run out in the unlikely event he might be needed and probably to keep the squad happy.

Fourteen goals in fourteen minutes in the semi will ensure his 97th minute winner versus Hearts in the final at Hampden brings home the trophy for dons' legend Niall McGinn, at the same time reaching 100 goals for the club. He'll be rested between the ties.

I don't think that's entirely true. We've got a decent squad of 16 or so. Even Woods is probably a half decent sub goalie. Defence and left wing back would be the only weak spots on the bench, although that could be slightly mitigated by Leigh and Devlin returning. For the Tims games, barring injury, we shouldn't be down to the dregs of Ojo. The midfield three of McGeouch, McRorie and Ferguson will pick themselves and if we need to attack, then we bring on Wright, McGinn, McLennan, Kennedy etc. Lewis/Woods Logan/Hoban/Devlin/Taylor/Considine/Leigh McLennan/Kennedy/Ferguson/McRorie/McGeouch/Hayes/Hedges McGinn/Edmondson/Wright/Watkins/Cosgrove There's 20 good enough for a starting place against the Tim (I'm being generous with Devlin because he's nearly as good as Taylor depending on which Taylor turns up. Thinning that out to allow for 3-5 subs and you'd have a pretty capable 16

Hate the fact that we've got two games in succession against them, it always seems to cause a tactical dilemma. I think we need to go for two entirely different approaches in these games, but I don't know which order I'd do it in! The bottom line is, they're a better team than us, so we need to get it spot on tactically and work out the best way to beat them. We showed in the last two games that we can go all at teams for 20-30 minutes, so we'll need to time that to perfection and hope that we get a goal out of it. Back that up with extreme discipline, slowing the game down, making it difficult, fouling etc and we could get a victory. I disagree that we don't need to worry about their strengths, I think that would be "Brian Rice" niave. They have a good team with some very good players who we simply need to cater for. That approach is fine for most games where we can expect to be the better team for 60-70 minutes of a game, but I just don't think that's fair or realistic against the Tim. It's all about picking the right time to have a go at them and taking our chances, whether it be a concerted 25 minutes or, more likely, three 10 minute spells where we press them and try and turn them over and grab a goal. As Hamilton showed, pressing a team that's better at fitba than you can lead to you being overrun and chasing the game. Hayes will be a massive miss if he's not fit. I'm not sure about Edmondson still, but a player of his style might be beneficial. I'd go 3-5-2, with Ferguson, McGeouch and McRorie providing the solid midfield. Watkins and Edmondson or Wright and Hedges and Hayes/McLennan on the left.

I bow to your got

And Considine

It won't be those players, but it will be similar tactics. McGeouch will be in for Wright to make a three in midfield. Possibly two up front if Edmondson is fine to play. They play a back three, I think McInnes will match up, so no change at the back. We might just see our wing backs becoming more defensive, perhaps even see Logan at right of a back five. If Leigh is fit, we might see him if Hayes is out, otherwise I think McLennan probably did enough to get in despite not being great on his left. If Logan plays, then we'll likely see Watkins and Hedges slightly behind. It'll be stuffy. We'll save the all out attack for the semi.

I think it was an airse injury. Struggled a lot with injury basically. Perfect for us. I actually mean that genuinely, there are a lot of young players get regular injuries and then go on to have few later on.

Do you think it's a fear of missing out thing? He's 21, so it's not like he can sit in our reserves. I'm guessing he's decent though and that's why we're considering him, making sure that nobody else can sign him. There's competition for places, then there's a breeding ground for discontent. We simply can't afford to have Ferguson, McRorie, McGeouch, Ojo, Campbell, Gallagher and another player going for two places that are going to be taken most weeks by two players. Unless two of those leave in January, which is unlikely at present, then we'll have a lot of dissatisfied players. The only thing would be if we signed him and then immediately loaned him out for the rest of the season, but I don't think that is even possible just now? Hopefully it's just a favour to an agent or something, to give the lad some training opportunity.

I think we might see Ferguson, McRorie and McGeouch against the Tim, hence why Ojo maybe got a run out too, to give him some minutes as he'll be first sub (he can leave now as far as I'm concerned, but I understand the inclusion). For the others, they were probably only on the bench because you can have forty subs these days so you might as well get them back involved. Cosgrove might only have been an option if we'd been down a goal. Would have been harsh to put Kennedy in ahead of a fully fit McLennan too, who had a decent game against utd.

Just saw their first. That's awful defending fae Taylor. Anyway, good result and some great goals, Ferguson especially - some hit. I'm guessing the second half was trying out a different setup ahead of the tims. Switching in am extra midfielder made sense as that is what will happen against them. Ojo getting some minutes in case we get an injury to one of the three over the next two games also probably makes sense (he was worse than what went before him, but I've seen him play much worse too). Cosgrove obviously not quite there yet, so best to keep him well away, save him for a hattrick in the semi.

I should miss an entire half because I thought it was a 19:45 kick off more often

That was bad, but also quite easy to deflect and pass blame onto a handful of nutters that all support has (or it could have been connections of torbett or whatever), which is likely the case. It takes the heat off the missing millions (billions?) of Celtic fans who are handing their money to a club that's deliberately shirking its responsibility to the victims with the use of an organisational technicality. They're the ones that are morally wrong here, they're the ones that allow this type of shite to happen with their look the other way, it was somebody else, attitude. Unless they are doing something, and I'm not aware of it, which wouldn't surprise me!

I read that this morning, fucking horrendous. I don't believe that there was some overarching Tim conspiracy that provided a haven for predators, but there was clearly an attitude at the time that they could brush it all under the carpet, which led to others being victims. A Savileseque tragedy like. In many ways, the reaction to it all is as humiliating as the act. The extent to which a private company will go to protect its profits - because that is what this is now about - is obscene. It'd be interesting to see how many players went through the Celtic boys club system in those days and how integrated with the club it was. It was allowed to use their name, their strips, their facilities etc etc, but was retained as a separate entity for whatever reason. Does that mean that the boys club was recompensed every time they brought a player through and that they were part of a competing marketplace whereby they supplied players to all clubs - to the highest bidder? Or are Celtic free to credit themselves for every single player that came through the system, apart from those that were abused? If it were the dons in this situation, I'd hand back my season ticket and be on here arguing that everyone should do similar. I'd expect a big campaign from supporters to force the club to do the right thing. Are Celtic fans doing this at scale? Why not? Two cheeks indeed. Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe I'd be in the minority of dons' fans. The partisan relationship supporters have for their clubs is irrational at best, so perhaps most would justify it by taking the club's line or arguing that it was a long time ago.

Hope we start with the same side. Create some chances, and get some goals. If Cosgrove's fit, I can imagine he might step in for Wright, which would be disappointing. Having Wright and Hedges' movement close to Watkins is what has given us the better style of play. I think Watkins has been decent, but he's not going to ghost past players like Wright does or offer as much movement to our midfield. It must be fairly demoralising [for Wright] being the goto 65th minute sub every week too, but that's the best he can hope for tomorrow with the others returning. I think we'll see our style of play forfeited for Watkins and Cosgrove together. McLennan had a great first half against Utd and probably earned it. Taylor definitely keeps his place ahead of Leigh (and Considine shifting in one) as he had a very good game against Utd, with some non-Tayloresque passing.

There's no reason the ref wouldn't have awarded the pen if he'd seen it, it wasn't even slightly controversial or a difficult decision. That said, it didn't deny a clear goal scoring opportunity, it'd have been a save by the keeper at best, and we can't rely on getting penalties ahead of actually scoring from open play. Our final ball was lacking on numerous occasions, and our big chances were all made harder by poor layoffs that should have been better. Hedges playing it too far in front of Wright, then Wright playing the ball behind Hayes for their decent opportunities. Our passing and movement was excellent in the main yesterday, but when the simple final slide pass into a player's path was on, we made an arse of it every time. Hayes was accused of poor crossing yesterday, but the number of times he had to check his run due to an under hit pass was frustrating, it was like we thought we were playing with a right footer out there. We didn't need Edmondson from the moment we signed Watkins, we should have terminated the loan when he got injured. He'd probably be alright getting a start and playing 60 minutes or so, but he's exactly the opposite of what we need when we're wanting a goal to win. He completely changed the pace of our attack for the worse. Anderson would have been far more likely to get on the end of something in that closing period, it was that finisher we were looking for. Annoyingly, the period where he might have seen some minutes is when we choose to improve someone else's young player again. It's frustrating, because we're really close to having a great team, but we're going to sacrifice part of that when Cosgrove returns, and it won't be because we'll start hoofing it, it'll be because we try and accommodate our signings and lose the movement and pace that makes us watchable.

Shame, didn't work out for us. Some nice fitba, and completely dominated them for most of the game. Subs didn't work out, not convinced at all by Edmondson and Wright's movement way better than his or Watkins. Missed Cosgrove, but I don't think him and Watkins up front will be the answer either, as I think you need that movement of Wright or Hedges between midfield and forward line. Again, massively better than last season. McLennan had a very good first half.

Good stuff. Nae Cosgrove yet, thought he might have made the bench. Fa's Ngwenya?

He looked decent. It was good to see our cup final opponents in action. Should beat them.

Youthful looking Dundee midfield, I'm surprised they're not covering more ground. Some goal fae Adam, been shite otherwise and about a stone overweight. And a fucking Hun, of course.

A good summation, totally agree. Especially the last bit. Since Strachan left, there seems to be a concerted effort to get Scottish based players involved. I wonder if they recognise that folk were losing interest in the Scottish granny championship no marks were getting a bit tiring. Good to see. The nation's league actually seems to have helped us in that regard. Also, it's good to see at least one or two stepping up directly from the u21s. It's never really been a route to the first team in the past.

Never an accident, just a little petulant. You could tell by his reaction. Yellow card correct though, as he didn't put his weight on the boy. It wasn't dangerous.

McLennan makes it six

Nae Ferguson? McInnes taken him back to keep him away from any Tims in case he catches the covaids?