RicoS321

Standing? At a football game? Are we animals?

Never have I seen a case of a manager not reading the room as much as when Goodwin punted him (in fairness to Goodwin, he did admit his error). Given the absolute dross we replaced Considine with, he'd have easily had another 30-40 games under his belt. Instead, we chose to develop a Tim. A complete professional throughout his career, and massively underrated by our own fans - many were never able to let go his performances as a youngster in his first few years, despite defenders almost always taking longer to mature. His work ethic and fitness were top notch, he covered a lot of ground in games (especially at left back), which was never really recognised. Also more than happy with the ball at his feet. Hopefully Molloy, Milne, MacKenzie etc can emulate him in the coming seasons.

Not a great game. Like a lot of these, tired and cagey seems to be the order of the day. Didn't think the Swiss would hold on. What is it with professional managers watching their team play absolute dross and then wait until a goal is scored before making subs? Is it taught?

Some game like. The Germans better team, but the Spaniards great on the break. Olmo some player. Could probably do it on a Tuesday night in Dundee if Thelin wants to take a punt.

Spain v Germany a great game so far. Spain dominated, then dropped off after the subs. The Germans going full tilt and got the deserved goal. Germany probably favourite.

Yep, a proper football match, with a ref that didn't give freekicks every time someone fell down. Great game. Turks deserved winners.

Are Spain the only team that isn't absolutely fucked in this tournament? Everyone seems to be out on their arses. Maybe reduce the games to eighty minutes for the remainder of the tournament.

Yamal's a mattress

VAR needs those decisions though. If it didn't have the make believe handballs and the offsides to a tenth of a millimetre then it'd be in the same boat as goal-line technology, in that it'd only be affecting five decisions a season so nobody would buy it outside the big leagues. There are very few clear and obvious errors. The Porteous decision is the only one I can think of so far in the tournament. Previously there would have been a red administered after the game for that - not the end of the world.

Shame it didn't take out VAR.

Deal as good as done.

Bayley is one of the best strikers in the league, and the Dons aren't a proper full time team yet. Hearts are probably 2-3 seasons ahead of where the Dons are, so definitely a better club for progressing. The jambo scum were allowing her time to finish her studies, while being full time. She'll end up playing for Scotland in time I expect. Eilidh Shore is also a good player, still young and needs a full time club to progress. I expect it'll be the way of things until they establish themselves as a full time team if that's what they want to do. Other than loanees and a small number of signings, pretty much every Dons player comes through their youth setup, and the quality seems to be better each year. They'll probably struggle this season with those two gone though, it'll be interesting to see how they cope, or if other players might look elsewhere too.

They've got that Barron lad in midfield, might be worth taking a look at when they go bust.

I'd be surprised if we take anything less than maximum points from those first 8 games

Christ, two six figure sum goalies on the books? Bit extravagant IMO.

Hopefully the tribunal will agree a fee of £500K, and the Dons will insist it is paid up front. The Huns will be completely outraged, refer to him as their player, play him in a friendly where he picks up a serious injury. The SFA then refuses to register him as a player until the Huns pay up. They scrape together the money and pay us in early August. Spooked by them refusing to pay a seemingly trivial sum to Aberdeen, the crane company refuses to engage in any further work on their stand until funds are delivered. As creditors continue to call their bluff, the Huns are pulled towards administration. Work on the ground stops, and their fixtures are moved behind closed doors at Airdrie's ground (with murrayfield refusing to host them without up front payment). Over the remainder of the season, things go from bad to worse as they're forced to sell any remaining football assets at way below value in order to fund the shortfall from having no crowd revenue. Hun fans request refunds for their season tickets, refusing to help their club in its time of need, as always. Eventually, the plug is pulled and they head into administration again. With the cost to complete Ibrox deemed too expensive, they are forced to sell it to Aldi, with a view to turning it into an LGBTQ+ sanctuary, refugee outreach centre and petrol station. Several thousand Huns spontaneously combust upon announcement.

It's more akin to the Wright transfer than the Ferguson one in terms of games played and time spent at the club. Sure that was in the region of £400K, with McRorie the payment.

Football saturation is starting to get the better of me, after a long Dons' season. I have managed to watch quite a few, but interest is waning. What I have noticed though, is the number of teams with several players that look absolutely knackered (Scotland very much included). Other than Spain, who pass their opponents to death, and can change their entire team at the drop of a hat, the rest all look like they've had a hard season. Is there too much football these days, given a large proportion of these guys will be playing European groups too? Obviously, we can talk about guys in the sixties playing 463 games without a day off their work, but I'm talking about the modern game, where uber-fitness is the defining feature.

We were always going through with four points. Slovenia have already qualified on three, having a better goal difference than Albania and with Croatia on two points. Last night's results means Croatia are out, and they finished on two points with a better goal difference than us, so that will be used to suggest that Clarke's Calderwoodesque finish to the match was justified, ignoring the previous thirty minutes where he refused to make a sub to attempt to win the game.

Cash up front or do one.

That started off sounding like morning after stuff, but quickly descended into "not yet over it" territory! I think there were two forms of loyalty on show. One in the picking of the squad, and the second once they got there. We peaked a year too early, in qualifying, and Clarke just continued to play the same team. He has to start viewing the national team as a continual project in constant transition. Every few games, we need to be bringing in a few new faces, and always be on the look out for options in every position. Despite the goals in Oslo, it was clear that McLean and Armstrong (among others) were past their best before date, and needed to be transitioned out, but that never happened. Morgan could have been in several squads before now, for example, and I'm sure there are others of around that age. It seemed to be that because our first eleven were doing well - and I have no doubt that we'd have qualifyed with Dykes, Hickey and Ferguson - he let the wider squad ability slip. He'll now have to ditch them all at once for the next campaign. It's not great management, but again, it's not just a one man show. There have to be people in and around playing devil's advocate, asking him the difficult questions and helping him to question himself and justify his decisions. A bit like McInnes with us, it seems that we've just handed him the keys and fucked off. It's not a healthy situation, and will almost always lead to the eventual sacking.

One of the things I like (and still like) about Clarke, is that he has a lot of respect for, and understanding of, our league. I don't think Moyes has that at all. The reason he was doing punditry on our games is because he's a recognisable face for the English audience (see Souness, also). For all intents and purposes, he is a foreign manager, albeit one with a Scottish surface. I have no issues with us employing a foreign manager, so I'd slot Moyes into that category, but I think we could maybe do better if we're opening up the process to foreign managers. For me, someone like McInnes would be a much better choice (although perhaps a bit early in his career for him, personally?). That said, Clarke has earned the right to give qualifying for the next tournament a go, and if he really believes he can re-generate the squad and get us to the World Cup, then let him try it. I think he's shown a stubbornness that will affect his decision making in most regards so far, whilst paradoxically, over time, learning from mistakes on the park. I hope he considers his future without recourse to his stubbornness, and with a view to recognising the mistakes he has made over the last year.

That was the worst Scotland performance I've seen in over a week. Absolutely honking. We were always on a hiding to nothing with that depth of squad, and no plan beyond the basic first eleven. Adams hasn't been the answer for some time, and should have been off just after halftime. Armstrong should have been at home watching on the telly, so as not to tempt Clarke to play him. Like half the squad, it's maybe time for Clarke to move on. He's done well for Scotland and if he resigns now, it's better than him being fired halfway through the next qualifying.

I wouldn't mind a four, but I don't think Clarke will want to fuck about too much, especially after a half decent performance the other night. I'm not convinced that McRorie is better at right back than right wing back either, but I think your suggested team would be better than including likes of Hendry for the sake of it, he's been average at best. Forrest I remain to be convinced by, but we have other options in Armstrong and Morgan that might be worth a try.

He wouldn't have started. He'd have come on for McGregor probably. Clarke likes to play him deep.