RicoS321

Aye, in conditions like these you need folk that are piling in to the challenges. It's what the spectators come to see. Not Clarkson fairying around with his fancy passing.

Or have the manager understand that playing him alongside Clarkson in a two, or further forward, will require him to use twice as much energy, so don't do it.

Has pittodrie ever had a game cancelled due to rain? Storms maybe, and snow/ice obviously, but I can't remember a rain cancellation. Usually pretty good for drainage.

You mean like he did at Ibrox? It was a lot to ask to be as intense in two consecutive games, and when your manager doesn't recognise that and plays two number tens alongside you, it really doesn't help. He's been asked to do far too much this season already, and it was the same last night. Shinnie is meant to break the game up, be aggressive I'm the tackle, win the ball back and generally spur the team on. Someone else has to do the pretty stuff, as Barron did when he came on. If you're expecting more from Shinnie then it's no surprise that you don't get the hype. Next you'll be questioning the fuss around Devlin, despite the fact that he's not completed a single seventy yard cross field pass or even connected with a bicycle kick.

That was honking tonight. Looked very tired and the game was crying out for subs (multiple, early). They dominated for about twenty minutes before they got their goal. Robson is so frustrating. There was simply no need to be playing Clarkson in that two behind McGrath, he's wasted there, as evidenced every single time it's been tried (fine as part of a four in a 5-4-1 before anyone mentions). Barron didn't play a huge role against the Hun, so get him in and let McGrath (best I've seen him tonight probably) and Clarkson be interchangeable for the ten role. It's criminal that he can't see it. Ironically, as soon as we took Barron on we preceded to push both Shinnie and McGrath forward and let Barron play the number six role that Clarkson thrives in. Duk was terrible tonight and I can't believe he lasted ninety minutes. Lazy, reactive football and offering zero outlet whatsoever. Probably one of his worst games for us and should have been hooked at the same time as Clarkson. Throwing himself to the ground constantly wore thin about six months ago. He takes so much from the team when he's not on it just by being there - his unpredictability is more of a hindrance for his teammates than it is the opposition. Of course, the fans will see the times that he tanks back to make a challenge (usually quite reckless and usually a result of him losing the ball) and think that he's putting in a shift, but then the next three time he just lets the player go, so the others have to have a constant eye on him. It's clear when he's off it, so just remove in and keep him fresh for the weekend game. Miovski and McGrath probably the two that performed well tonight and Barron when he came on. Fantastic finish from Miovski after a lovely flick on from their player (the only way we were scoring).

I got to the pub in nae time. Through denburn, avoided market street which was horrendous for some reason.

Just heading off shortly. Those Finnish lads won't know what's hit them in these conditions.

Tims lose in Europe again. 95th minute goal too. Excellent.

John's loon?

No Elliott Anderson? Disappointing.

I think that there are still question marks over his ability to play wing back - in a three - against opposition that sit in. However, he's more than proved that he's good enough in a squad to work as left back in a four or five, and he can even provide cover for Jensen if/when he's unavailable. That's absolutely invaluable over the course of a season, and I'd expect to see him get at least 20 games by the end of it. His limitations are clear, as are his strengths, so it should be easy to work around those. It's clear that Polvara also has squad stengths too that we can make something of. Keeping things simple and playing to the players' strengths is key for us with the volume of games we've got, and I think Robson is perhaps beginning to see that. Thursday will be what it is, the squad test will be the subsequent stuffy games against lower opposition in the league that come after. Gartenmann coming in has really taken the guesswork out of the defensive setup, and - dare I say it - Morris getting injured has been a blessing in that we're not dicking about trying to shoehorn him in unnecessarily (I'm sure he can play a role when he returns, it's just that I felt that Robson was trying to play him into being a footballer).

I was just being facetious. I see the Scales thing as a failure on our part. Right from the minute he joined in fact. We got rid of Considine on the promise of a signing that all the fans would be excited about, and we got a rough-around-the-edges loanee from the Tims. We had an entire window to iron out a deal with them that would ensure we had an agreement to buy in place, but we didn't get one and we didn't walk away. Instead, we played a transformational role in his development before being dicked around for another window. Much as I despise the Huns, and us getting Huns, the loan of McRorie with pre-agreed fee was a significantly better way to do business - and probably the only acceptable way to business with a rival in our league. With Scales doing well, and Christie before him, it's probably now seen as a viable route for up and coming young Celtic players. I'm not convinced that's a good thing for us.

Fantastic. I don't remember the last time we got a manager fired (that wasn't our own).

Robson for king.

Yep, he's much better in the two than Clarkson.

I disagree with this

Hopefully Anthony Stewart left him the recipe for nailing a Hun in the last minute of the ninety. It'd have been so perfect had the cheating SFA not insisted on extra time instead of the replay Stewart had planned for when he went careering into the challenge. That won't be an issue in a league match, and there's a strong chance that Wright will have taken to the field by that point too.

As agreed, could we keep all league cup correspondence to one thread. Can't go glory hunting with separate threads just because we made it to a quarter final.

Shite time, as always. Oh well.

Hibs. Take that like.

Good win. Some good performances and an all round comfortable victory..... until Rubezic decided to Rubezic. Really bad defending, completely inexcusable. It was backs to the wall from that point, and it's very difficult to change from cruising to then trying to hold onto the ball for dear life. We got there though. Shinnie motm. Good setup and plenty of changes to keep things fresh, which was good to see. Rubezic is a problem though, we really can't afford that type of error in games. I don't think MacDonald is a like for like replacement and is probably too similar to the two next to him. I'm assuming Williams is just pish? Oh well, get stuck into the Hun.

Aye, maybe leave Rubezic on the bus.

Sokler!!!! Lovely goal. Game was starting to get scrappy, they'd thrown on the subs and we had literally just changed back to the 3-5-2. Hampden bound.

Think it's a 4-3-3, with Hayes on the right, Duk on the left.

Seem to have changed the setup a bit in the last few minutes. Difficult to see what to. Almost like a 4-4-2, but Duk out wide.