RicoS321

I'd add Karlsson to that list.

We're not a well organised football club, we're a well organised commercial entity. The summer transfer window was staggeringly incompetent and showed the ineptitude of the footballing department.

It's a bizarre tactic to go from a back three to a 4-2-4 within a few days of your last match without a huge amount of time on the training pitch. We showed in the second half (a little bit, anyway) that the 4-2-3-1 was a more balanced setup, and at least one that the players seemed a little familiar with. It seemed a little bit like a final punt by Thelin. Back to day zero for the three year project.

Mental amount of space. Never a foul. Good header.

I didn't say he was a good option, I said that in a 4-2-4, when the other midfielder is Armstrong, he's the best option. Which he is. Hence why Thelin has properly addressed it at half time by bringing on Polvara alongside him and pushing Armstrong further forward. Of course, if he'd done that very obvious tactic in the first place, we wouldn't have had to bring on Nilsen at all.

No, the answer is to change to a 4-2-3-1. But, if you're replacing Aouchiche and you only have Armstrong, then Nilsen is the best option. Clarkson would be extremely high risk, and Polvara is a bit of a fanny, who's been poor of late.

Kjartansson looked a little bit off it against Hibs, not a risk worth taking. We were losing the game in the midfield, so as you say, Nilsen the best shout. Realistically, none of the midfielders (apart from Aouchiche, who does the running required), can really do the job required in a 4-2-4. I'm all for attacking against teams like Falkirk, but we're losing so much in midfield, the extra attacking options just aren't getting brought into play. Karlsson has worked hard, but it's interesting how a player of his calibre (based on transfer values rather than reality it seems) reads the game so badly. Both Keskinen and Bilalovic went beyond him on occasion, and he just stayed central when they lost the ball. Both times, he had to sprint to get back in to cover, when he should have been in position ready to hold up the fullback ages before.

A 4-2-4 with Nilsen and Armstrong is absolutely mental.

Nilsen.

It really was a wild setup. That midfield of Aouchiche and Armstrong is winning nothing unsurprisingly.

I'm guessing a very attacking 4-2-3-1 Shinnie at left back. Sitting two of Aouchiche and Armstrong with Karlsson, Nisbet and Keskinen in behind Bilalovic.

Cancelled at 14:55 the most likely outcome.

Or he was upset at Aberdeenshire being at the top of the BBC news.

Supposed to be fine down there. Would only be off for the away fans travel, so I'd expect it to be on.

"To be fair to us, at the time we awarded him the FIFA peace prize.... who could have known?"

Gie it a chance, it only started yesterday.

I wonder if we will now, with Kjartansson breaking through. I don't think we have room for two 19 year olds in the midfield (I thought Kjartansson was okay against Hibs, but clearly isn't ready for a run of games). For me, the priority with any of the young lads has to be their own game time, and I think that might be difficult at Pittodrie because of both Kjartansson and the formation. I expect Marshall would probably play further forward, but it's not really a position we have available, with Armstrong filling in across the front area and almost always being replaced by a winger when we're inevitably chasing a game.

That's nae fitba.

Must be a difficult day for you without fitba. Do you just sit all day staring at the unplugged TV, saying nothing?

Hadn't realised it was that type of show.

Not with our players he wouldn't. McInnes isn't exactly a purist, and..... you might have a point.

Motherwell seem to manage it fine.

We're keeping him. Forever.

It's not just the three year project shite though, it's that the previous three managers have been fucking awful too (I'm not including the trauma of Warnock), and nobody wants another sacking and another search for a new guy. Tonight is definitely on Thelin though. Why Armstrong wasn't off at the same time as Kjartansson, I've nae idea. We needed something to stem the flow of the game, and a double sub would have given them something to think about. Also, the coaching is going wrong on the back three somewhere. Devlin is screaming for help getting back in on Youan, but Milne sits right in the middle rather than come across. He should be reading that one-two and helping out his other defender. Hanley would have up the other end. The reason it's a coaching thing is because even I mentioned this issue before the game, where the back three seem to hold their positions when one goes up, and we constantly lose goals to it. It's on Milne really, but he's a young lad who could have that positioning coached into him. Obviously, there is no mitigating the second. Normally the part of Mitov's game that is reliable. Jensen should have booted him harder. Anyway, a very poor second half. Hopefully he'll start to throw caution to the wind from now on and just play the team that finished from the start every week.

We're having a great last two minutes