RicoS321

I think that it is bad luck for this to have its own thread. Especially as we don't have a round two thread yet.

Decent enough performance in spells. We should have scored 4 or 5. Cosgrove poor (although improved in the second) - he's just nae very bright. Gallagher looked good, will be a handful for quite a few teams with that pace - looks a bit weak on finishing. After a good game, Logan gave away a stupid pass, but Ferguson was very poor defensively the whole game and gave the guy too much pace to make what was an excellent pass. Definitely need another midfielder. Some pretty nice stuff from us times though and moving the ball quickly, which was nice to see. Wasn't convinced by Hedges, he was okay in parts, but didn't seem to understand the defensive side of the game at all, it was like watching Stewart. We need to just deal with them over there, we're a far better team than them. The back four looked decent, but little protection from midfield. Campbell could do with a loan move to get used to the pace of the game at first team level. Good to see Wilson wearing number 8, which should mean Gleeson hasn't been given a strip.

That's more like it: A foreigner, palindromic surname. Can't get better than that.

Aye, yer right. Sunderland and der hun would easily match what we're paying him obviously, but his options are indeed limited. It's a bit of a rock and a hard place for any prospective AFC manager I suppose. It'd be a huge jump to get anywhere close to the Hun or Tim in spending power (to the point of bankruptcy) and so the base target for any manager is third with a high of 3rd and a cup (in terms of the realistic targets that could be placed on a manager). If he got to the Europa League then I expect a few might take note. That's what the club will be aiming to do. The notion that we wouldn't be is ridiculous - we try and win every game, but we quite quickly lose points to the point it becomes mathematically impossible quite early (generally speaking). However, if the club produced an equivalent to their recent strategy document that said the aim was to be winning the league, what benefit would that produce? Would it make it more likely that we would win the league? Would we make McInnes and the players' bonuses contingent on winning the treble? Or would that just sow division and make the players perform worse? What exactly would the point be of setting a target of first place in front of the wider public?

This'll set the cat up the hoops of the pigeons. I suppose it is deserved. Milne trying desperately to avoid having to choose another manager in case he fucks it up like every other appointment. Despite his detractors in this regard - and regardless of whether ye think he's worth it - McInnes has fairly shown a decent amount of commitment to the dons. He clearly enjoys being here.

What a bizarre/irrational attitude. Why would any player or manager who doesn't support the club think of us as anything other than a finite part of their career? The only issue with surrounding McGhee's appointment was the fact that he said it to the press instead of just saying he was sorting out his family situation or some such. But it's a fairly unique example and one that isn't really applicable to a manager. Logan didn't want to come to Aberdeen, GMS's form wasn't affected by him not wanting to be here, Shinnie knew he wasn't staying beyond the end of the season and many other examples - in fact the overwhelming majority of dons players. Stewart wanted to be here last season and turned out to be pish. The only relevance is whether a player wants to give his all when he's here and I don't doubt McGeouch - with his work ethic - will be an issue in that regard. If he joins any other team, then he can go and fuck himself obviously.

Do we really need players to be absolutely committed to the dons as their number one choice without looking at any other options or assessing their personal situation? If it takes a few weeks, then it takes a few weeks. It's quite a big decision to move town, especially if there is family involved, so a few extra days isn't the end of the world.

My team would be: ---------------Lewis--------------- Logan---Devlin--McKenna---NewGuyWho'sNameICan'tBeArsedLookingUp --------Ferguson--Bryson-------- Wilson-----Hedgeees-----McGinn ------------Cosgrove-------------- I think Wilson makes for as shite a winger as Stewart, but we might as well gie him a shottie.

I'm intrigued more than excited. My expectations based on last season's signings at the start of that season were low, and I'm in that same mindset this season. I'm with you in that I think we're a few signings short and the ones that we have made are fairly average. A lot will hinge on two signings for me. If Wilson turns out to be good at fitba then that would be a massive bonus and if the left back is anywhere near as good as Lowe then that'll be a boost too. I'm not seeing any other areas in which we've strengthened so I expect us to be worse.

You did not.

Ach, there's no harm in setting yer stall out on individuals before the start of the season. It's fine to be wrong now and again too. I think Main will be largely used as an impact sub to charge around and upset defenders and that's fine - hopefully we won't need that for most of the season. I think he might be cheaper than May too, which is why/how we've managed to add Wilson. May was an expensive backup like. I'm a bit concerned that we haven't shipped out May and Gleeson yet. I don't like to see us with a massive squad at this stage and we need to use the next couple of games to figure out where we're still lacking. I think Wilson might be a wide player this season, and so I expect and attacking midfielder to come in. I'm not convinced by the signings I'll be honest, I think that we're worse off than last season. I'd take a good midfielder and a good wide player before the end of the window, but I think we could still struggle for goals as ayrshire suggests.

It don't think he did, I think that he was "ordered to pay" and he was prosecuted. Would you prefer that everyone got sent to jail for everything?

I think that when you see something that flammable-looking too, the curiosity is just there. Setting on fire wid be fucking sair though.

Been unlucky with injury, but I don't think Frank Ross will make it like, he's nae quite got enough pace and I think that'll do it for a player in his position. Similar level to Cammy Smith in my opinion. Ethan Ross has the attributes to make it I reckon. If Frank could trick Ethan into going to Ayr instead of him, then he might get some game time before McInnes notices.

You guys clearly weren't at the Skonto Riga game. Absolute classic. Torino was a good game. Don't remember any other decent ones in the 90s.

It would have to be a hell of an improvement to see him anywhere near our first team. The reverse is that if he goes somewhere and does nothing (which is currently the most likely scenario given the last 4 years of his career) then even fewer clubs will be willing to take a punt on him, thus we only get 10% of his salary covered, as opposed to the 20-40% we might get by getting rid now. He's not been unprofessional in any way whilst here, just nae been good enough. Offload him and reduce the numbers in the squad thus giving Anderson a chance.

Nine times out of ten, that "technique" ended in him launching a shot 6 miles over the crossbar because he clearly hadn't perfected it in any match setting. He tried to do the modern style kicking under the ball technique on numerous occasions and was only succesful once (he had a great connection against Killie in the final game against them but it was too close to the keeper). It's really not that useful unless it's consistent and isn't done at the expense of all other parts of his game (which it was). Goodwillie also had great technique. Ferguson is just as good, technically, as Wilson in my opinion but backs it up by playing the game with his teammates in mind.

Given that we generally play a 4-2-3-1 and we only have Hedges, McGinn, Wright and McLennan to fill the wide areas (and at least two of those are actually better through the middle) I think that you could be right. I don't think we need May and Main, so I would get rid of May. That'd leave Cosgrove and Wilson fighting for the main striker role and Main to do the May position of filling in just behind/alongside dependent on the opposition. With Anderson as the first sub with a view to him getting more game time and hopefully more goals. Not necessarily true. Some strikers thrive on being a sub and some have useful attributes that can see them changing a game when they come on. Guys like Magennis for instance generally confused the shite out of defenders with his battering ram style. I could see Main being useful in that regard. In terms of Wilson though, I agree, he doesn't really have anything worth bringing off a bench. He's neither clever enough to fit straight in to an attack (Cosgrove is, because he has a very defined role) nor relentless enough to force a tired opponent to make mistakes.

It's a reasonable argument, but I'm not sure that Shankland v Wilson is a useful comparison. That's like saying that you don't like Boris Johnson so Jeremy Hunt would be a useful prime minister. In reality, both aren't good enough based on their current showings and attributes. I'd argue that Wilson has more untapped potential than Shankland - who I think has little room for improvement - but that doesn't mean that anyone will ever see it.

Is he not just another in the long line of Dennis Wyness's? That's the impression I've always had. Nae quite good enough in the top league, but ace in the second.

He was very shite for most of last season. Disinterested and unable to play as part of a team. "He could turn out to be amazing/there's a player in there somewhere" is a very risky strategy for what would be a high earner in such a vital position for us. It might work, but I have a feeling that it won't. In the two half decent - and that's all they were - games he had for us toward the end of the season, he still very much looked like a player that didn't know his position and didn't know his teammates. That could just be through lack of game time towards the end of the season, but it didn't look that way - he just didn't look like a particularly intelligent footballer. The biggest problem is that even with Cosgrove and Main, I still think we're short of a good striker. We've already got wastage in that area with May, we really can't afford more. I'd have been far happier we took a punt on someone else as I don't think Wilson improves our first 11 - at best he'll be a useful addition from the bench in 1 in 5 games. He got a lot of game time last season and was generally less useful than Stevie May. Imagine we'd just had Stevie May on loan last season and we were now trying to get him on a permanent deal. That's about the right level of underwhelming.

It was a shite penalty decision. Cheating cunts.

The Yanks are piling into our game. What's the deal? Be interesting to see the short term moves. Certainly, they've got a great infrastructure and a very good city centre ground, so they should - in theory - be way ahead of us now that their debt is cleared.

Don't worry, the plucky little English will put everyone in their place. From the Americas, to India, to Africa and the Middle East they're known for their sympathetic treatment of the little guy. If there was ever a team that deserved succes, it's England.

The dinked ball for the jap equaliser was sublime. Difficult not to overhit that type of pass. The winning pen was a farce and another example of how dicking about with the rules is ruining things. In this case the handball rule.