RicoS321

No idea what will happen today. The team looked knackered at the end on Thursday. Midfield is the conundrum, I've got no idea what the best three is. Clarkson was completely spent by the end of the game, so I'd be inclined to play him in the number ten position where he'll not use as much energy. I think we're at real risk of injuries in midfield with the continued setup and expectation. If McGrath is fit enough, maybe try him alongside Shinnie again or let Polvara step in, or play McGrath in number ten and give Clarkson a rest. Personally, I'd switch to a 4-2-3-1 and let the wide players play as wide players. Conserve energy by the letting the two sit in front.

No he isn't. Taylor under McInnes (especially second spell) was better than anything we've seen from Rubezic to date. He is very similar to Taylor in his first few games for us so far. Positionally suspect, meaning he dives in when he shouldn't and terrible with the ball. We turned Taylor into a very serviceable SPFL defender. We will more than likely do the same with a Rubezic once he's in a settled position. He has enough attributes to make him a decent player. I didn't get a good view of the penalty, but he was too far off the man initially and allowed him to run at him. It looked to me like he dived in to prevent the player getting a shot and I'm surprised he wasn't sent off. In his defence, it was late in a game that we were chasing and everyone was out of position, so I wouldn't read much into the incident - I don't think it'll be indicative of him as a player either way.

Looks familiar....

You think we should ask him accomodation advice or which bars are cheapest?

Definitely this. I think Rubezic will be fine if played correctly and consistently, I'm just a little concerned that Robson doesn't see it. He's moved Rubezic central a few times this season already. The point about him only being 23 is an interesting one. I guess our signings, in defence, are usually expected to be up to speed when we get them (Scales wasn't quite last season, although that might have just been a Goodwin thing). If experience was an issue, and I think you and Panda are right, then it's all the more bewildering that Rubezic hasn't been given a consistent run. It's really frustrating that we get pumped in Europe when seemingly not playing out best setup. Anyway, the new guy doesn't really solve the problem unless he can either play centrally, or we're intending resting Rubezic regularly. In my mind, him being here makes it even more likely that we persist with Rubezic centrally! It could work if Robson allows Rubezic to be ahead of the other two , but I don't think he will. Rubezic's biggest issue is that his peripheral awareness is pish (which is why he also seems best at kicking it the way he's facing) and he doesn't cover left and right very well. Anyway, it was an interesting window. I've heard numerous people suggest that it was a good window because we got thirteen players in. Certainly there is credit due to the recruitment staff for an impressive quantity. However, by only having one number eight (and Robson wedded to one formation), all the good work risks being completely undone. No matter how good the other signings are, they won't make up for a missing midfield. We tried bypassing it the other night and that didn't work. I'm struggling to think how we get round the issue in a 3-5-2. I guess we play 3-4-1-2 with two sitting. I always think that's better in a back four (4-2-3-1). The question is who the two sitting are. Out of the options, I'd probably try and play Barron into some form there. He's been good in a two before, I'm not convinced that the others ever have. There's no way on earth that we're competing successfully in three competitions with that midfield though unless we move a player from another position or we intend killing Shinnie through exhaustion.

That was a fairly stupid thing for Goodwin to say. I hope Robson doesn't repeat those words. Everything points to us having to do a fair bit in January in order not to have to do the same again next summer. If we can get seven out of the thirteen to be decent, that'd be an achievement.

With only Rubezic, MacDonald, Williams, Dadia, Milne and Devlin that could play there, I was concerned we were a bit light in the right centre defence role.

This is worth its own response, as I think we heavily differ here. Their early goal was coming way before it happened. I mentioned to the lad next to me that Robson needed to change something before we lose a goal. Our approach was niave in the extreme and Robson couldn't see it. The reason I said it "was Goodwin last night" was because we saw this exact same thing in our match against the Huns at Ibrox under him. We went a goal up from Miovski, and he continued to play 3-1-4-2 football with Ramadani in front of the defence. He called it attacking football when everyone could see it was just stupid tactics that left us too exposed, with no view to changing it. It was playing to the luck of the gods, and that was what was on display last night. We weren't exposed after the goal, we were exposed throughout the entire game. That we created some great chances was only to be expected, yet it took a dive in the box from a player that was going nowhere to even get us a goal. After that, we didn't calmly take possession of the game and work them around waiting for an opening as we did over there, we just went kamikaze and deservedly lost another. If we'd taken our chances last night, it would have papered over the cracks of an extremely naïve performance. On another day it might have gone for us, but that's because some days you get a lot of luck, it wasn't earned last night. Not through lack of effort on the part of the players.

I didn't say that I didn't want us in Europe, I said the conference. I like a European run, but it should be earned. The runs under McInnes and calderwood to an extent, were earned on merit and it was easy to see where we were and where we needed to improve. Had we qualified under McInnes it would have been merited and we'd have had a squad capable of being there by default. Had hearts beaten paok, which they didn't because they weren't good enough, it'd have been a good barometer of whether or not they were ready. That's what the qualifying rounds give you, and there's good reason for them. Those are the rounds that we have the squad to compete in and where we are as a club right now. We are completely overstretching ourselves by being in a tournament we don't have the squad for (unless the new big lad is fucking amazing) yet, and I think that will have a knock on effect well into next season. It's simply a question of timing. When we're ready to compete in the conference then we should, otherwise I believe there's a strong chance it'll lead to the undeserved sacking of our young manager and the slaughtering of his young team. Essentially we're coming at it from the same angle. I sit at pittodrie every week and I know the current expectations of the fans, and I think that we're on a hiding to nothing. In terms of criticism of Robson, it's all constructive. Nobody is "eating themselves" or any other such thing. Nor is anyone calling for the manager to be sacked. There is no hysteria or overreaction from anyone on here, I'm confused as to why you think there is, just simple pointing out of flaws in the setup and approach to games. All constructive (apart from my criticism of Morris with respect to him being removed from the planet) and balanced. All heavily caveated with the fact that there is significant turnover and lack of fitness. It's like your projecting things you've heard elsewhere, or perhaps you're misreading the tone of my comments. Which is fine, that's what forums are for.

Frankfurt easy to get to though. Helsinki would be amazing.

That bit in bold is only really applicable if you're not on a fitba forum discussing fitba. I didn't think I needed to explicitly say "but these guys are just in the door", because it's fairly obvious. The whole point in first impressions, or predictions, are that they'll be proved wrong. It's a way to look back and say "Jesus, I got that one wrong". If you look back to last season I did similar, and got a few wrong (most notably Duk and I think I also complained about us giving a Liverpool loanee time ahead of Barron!). There's very little point in me writing it once we can all see how good or shite the team is, it kind of defeats the purpose. You're obviously reading my post(s) as if they're some sort of criticism of individuals, rather than just a quick assessment Other than Dadia - where I was being flippant - most of the criticism surrounds the type of player they are and the role that they're being asked to play. It should be fairly obvious to everyone that Rubezic is a beast that's going to fly into challenges for example. I don't think I'm at risk of him turning into Eoin Jess overnight. How does McGrath fit in our team, where is Jensen going to play, what the fuck is a Shayden Morris anyway? That sort of thing.

That was Goodwin last night, that's why there was concern. He left us completely exposed and had no clue how to change it, or any suggestion he realised anything was wrong. He might dress it up as attacking football, but that's not at all what last night was, it was just disorganised (with plenty of mitigating factors as you stress). Playing a system with at least four players playing in roles not suited to them was classic Goodwin. Robson immediately recognised that Ramadani couldn't screen the defence and quickly recognised Duk couldn't play on the wing, yet he can't see that Morris isn't a wing back, McGrath isn't a number eight, Rubezic can't play centre of a three and McGarry didn't yet have the fitness to play the wing back in front of a guy in his first start. These are management criticisms of course, not players. Nobody is "not giving people time", they're just passing judgement on what they've seen so far and the state of the squad if no more additions happen today. Everyone criticising is doing so well aware of the fact that players have just come in the door, and others are struggling for fitness, but that doesn't stop us from being able to see the type of player we've got (or not got) and how they fit in. It's not a direct criticism of the players, simply a current state of play for healthy debate. By saying "come on, give them a chance" or whatever, it doesn't really add to that debate, because nobody on here is heading down to pittodrie to scream abuse at them, or sending them hate mail or train tickets to England. Yep, MacDonald missing was a big loss, that's why putting Rubezic in there was inexplicable. Play Rubezic in the role he'll take when MacDonald returns, because he clearly doesn't have the ability to play in the centre. Jensen looked like he might manage the central role, and take McKenzie in. As soon as you see how badly we were defending, at least make the change (McKenzie for Morris). If you're concerned Jensen is only just in, then play Devlin centre, and Rubezic right. Devlin has the awareness and ability to actually come across and cover when the fast guy skins Rubezic, where Rubezic just stood in a position. Personally, this season, I think we'd be better off being out of Europe after last night. I think we need the time to build a squad that can play twice a week and I think that being in the conference will significantly hinder our league and likely even cost the manager his job. Like last season, I expect our first eleven will be good, but this season we've got a huge volume of fixtures that will be too much for them. I'm a pragmatic person who's sat through the McGhee and Paterson years, and I know that the expectations that come with that conference league qualification will be high among those that didn't sit through those and are now attending pittodrie. The impatience will grow and it'll affect the team and there'll be zero understanding shown (see Robbie neilson for hearts) - we're just not ready for the extra games. Hacken were an average side, typical of the weaker sides in the conference. Even with the new guys getting up to fitness, our squad is weak and our manager is inflexible. If we got Baccus - who would fit perfectly into the Ramadani role - I'd be much happier because he'd allow Shinnie some breath, and give Clarkson the space to do what he does, with McGrath filling in on Sundays. I don't see that happening today to be honest and we may end up with some unknown quantity instead, which isn't really good enough - we need as close to certainty as possible (see Devlin). In short, I'm very happy to give Robson time and space, but I know everyone around me at pittodrie won't. I think it's best to give honest critique now to set expectations!

I think he looked poorer than McKenzie. Of course, he's just in the door, so it's not a fair assessment, just an initial one. The one thing that struck me though, was that he doesn't seem to have any stand out attributes. He's not particularly strong, not particularly fast, decent on the ball but not great, not particularly strong in the air and I wasn't totally convinced about his positioning and reading of the game (this is one area that it's extremely unfair to judge after one game of course). With Pollock last season and Rubezic this, it's fairly clear where they excel and anything else is a bonus, Macdonald's game intelligence stood out immediately, like Hoban and Anderson before him. In a back three, Scales was beginning to get the perfect blend of aggression and ability to bring the ball out, which really suited that setup. To me, Jensen appears to be more alike with MacDonald, which is probably not something we need if MacDonald is fit (it's good to have options, of course, but it would leave us one cog short). At the moment, he looks a little bit like McKenzie, just not really fitting into our setup by being a Jack (McKenzie) of all trades and not particularly strong in any one area. Which would be fine if either of them were 6ft4.

Speaking of our squad, we should really be looking at loaning our third keeper out. He seems to have been around the place for years.

We're not better off, other than financially (temporarily). I don't really see group stage European football as a good thing for Scottish football at all to be honest. You've got chairman with trigger fingers, teams trying to build large squads in single windows, and unearned money going to one or two teams in an attempt to create another financial gap to make our league even less competitive. It's just a really shit way of creating tournaments (league cup aside I suppose, whose purpose isn't money). Despite the good atmosphere, I didn't really enjoy last night, and it's a really shite feeling to be that team that wins the ridiculously lucrative runner up prize. I'm used to it being the scum getting knocked out of Europe 18 times a season, it's just weird when it's us. It's like those shitey "plate" rounds you used to get at tournaments as kids, where all the losers from the first round created a mirror tournament to the real thing. It's desperate stuff.

He has done that when chasing games this season, with Duncan shifting awkwardly into left back. The main reason we don't do that is because you need two very fit guys in midfield to pull it off, and we don't have that. A 4-2-3-1 would be the best setup in my opinion, but Duk proved an absolute liability out wide in a similar setup last season, and it's undoubted that Robson would try to shoehorn him in there. I think he'll persist with the 3-5-2 (or variation), and everything about the new big lad signing backs that up. If we got Baccus in, that would make me feel a bit better. As is stands, we're way too light in midfield to play 3-5-2.

Always good to put together first impressions for the new signings early doors. I'm assuming there'll be no further business, maybe one in (hopefully). Overall, we look weaker than last season and the best signings have been re-signings, so I'll not include them in this list. Doohan - amazing. Everything we need in a backup goalie McGarry - jury's out. Looked positionally and defensively poor last night and had to be taken off due to lack of fitness. Ran into trouble a couple of times with poor decision making. I'm going to say that he'll be okay but nothing great. Jensen - jury's out. Looked weak in the air, generally timid, good on the ball but prone to putting us in danger because of that. Looks like the centre of a three rather than left of a three. I don't think he'll make it in the SPFL unless we change the setup (either to a four, or play him in the centre of a three), he doesn't have the physical presence required. Rubezic - jury's out. Looked great against Livingston despite some dubious passing. He's clearly not a guy that can play in the centre of a three and needs the man in behind him to organise him. He's positionally suspect and is terrible with the ball but solid. I think he'll be fine in the SPFL if Robson plays him correctly, he's basically Ash Taylor, which we can work with. He'll struggle in Europe. Devlin - success. Obviously. A leader, an organiser and will throw himself into everything. He needs to be playing wingback or right back in a four. So far, the best of our signings. Dadia - fail. This season's "why has he never been given a chance?". Because he's pish. That's why. Williams - fail. If he's not good enough to get into that back line then he's not likely to be good enough. Plenty of rumours around his attitude, but we'll assume that's just him being a young lad, and Robson will sort him out. Probably one of the many wasted EPL loans. Although we may need him if Rubezic doesn't get his shite together soon. McGrath - jury's out. Technically good player with some nice touches and good use of the ball. Doesn't fit into our midfield at all, and doesn't appear to be any better than Barron in that he has less work rate. We'll get regularly overrun in midfield with him and Clarkson in there, especially in Europe, and Shinnie can't be doing forty games at full tilt to make up for them. I think he'll be fine if used correctly. I originally thought he might be able to do the number 8 thing like Ramadani, but last night dispelled that hope. I don't trust Robson not to persist with him out of position and he ends up being a scapegoat. Sokler - jury's out. Looks exactly like Miovski in every single way. But slightly shitter. Not getting enough minutes to get the required striker's sharpness. Plays on the shoulder and makes intelligent runs. I think he'll be okay and will score goals. Gueye - success. He's big, and we kick the ball high. He'll be amazing. Probably our best signing. Think that's everyone. This summer was always going to be difficult with such a massive turnover and with European football. As a squad, we're miles away from one that can finish third whilst playing every Thursday. Our fringe players aren't good enough to win against likes of St Mirren, Motherwell, Livi and Killie away. Without a change to the system (or another signing), we're going to struggle with the players we've got. Robson has to decide whether playing Duk into form is worthwhile, especially at the expense of the entire formation (it's why we play three at the back). I think Robson needs some assistance with tactics in the background, he's clearly fairly clueless about how to change things if he doesn't settle on a good strategy from the outset. Think it could be a long season, with top six being a difficult target. I expect we'll have signings ready to go in January that could be the difference like they were last season, so it'll be a season of two halves again.

Absolutely, but that doesn't excuse basic organisational errors and a complete inability to change them. Unless we get Baccus (or similar) in too, we simply don't have a midfield that fits the system that Robson wants to play, which he seems not to have noticed.

Stonewaller in the modern game, yes. He's not in control of the football, he just kicks it and throws himself over the leg of the guy. It's as bullshit as the handballs that are given every week. There was very clearly contact, but football is a contact sport. Duk isn't impeded, because to be impeded you have to actually be going somewhere, with the intent to play football. Duk went solely into that situation to try and win a penalty. The ref was right there and saw what happened and chose not to give it. He saw the contact, hence why he didn't book the player, he just deemed it not worthy of a penalty. In my opinion he was completely correct. You take that incident out of context with VAR and television replays and you end up with a penalty. That's how he game works now. It's pathetic, and it's a shite and cowardly way to win a penalty, which was typical of Duk's overall performance tonight.

Wouldn't mind a trip to Luhansk. Better than pittodrie tonight.

That was a fucking disaster from start to finish. Rijeka was the last time I remember such a disorganised mess at pittodrie, and that was against a much better side and down to ten men. Gaping holes all over the pitch tonight and a manager incapable of changing it. Rubezic cannot play centre of a three, he's a garbage footballer, the Serbian Ash Taylor. That should be obvious to anyone, and if he hadn't got it into his head before tonight, after five minutes it was lasered into everyone's retinas (apart from Robson it seems). Jensen was a downgrade on McKenzie. If MacDonald wasn't fit, then move Jensen infield and have McKenzie on the left, get Devlin where he belongs and fire Morris into Jupiter. Those basic organisational changes just might have made a difference, however the midfield was way off it. You can't play Clarkson deep with McGrath in the team, and it's likely you can't play both of them at the same time at all, unless chasing the game or up against poor opposition. Shinnie was playing the part of three men in there at times. We're wedded to the 3-5-2, or variation of it, because we need to play Duk and Miovski. But Duk has been absolutely gash all season and is constantly losing the ball in our half. Just drop him and then you've got the option of multiple new setups. The guy was honking tonight and didn't put in the work at all (Miovski gets pass marks for his huge effort, despite his miss). His penalty dive was just typical of the anti football shite that plagues the modern game. Makes no attempt to take control of the ball, just simply touch it before the defender and throw yourself at him, safe in the knowledge that slow motion var will pick up "contact". The ref saw exactly what happened in real time in the context of the incident (as I did from very close up) and made the right call. Tell the guy to get up and play on. The problem is that folk will say that it justifies his inclusion, but he was an absolute liability who happened to get a lucky pen tonight. If that had been Hibs or someone tonight, we'd have lost. They were half decent, but we made them look far better. Robson is nowhere near getting his best eleven, and some of the new signings appear dubious at best (to be expected). He's decided on a system but has signed players that don't really fit it.

This time last season I'd have happily see him moved on. Hopefully it's his thing to start seasons slow!

Just saw the hacken lads hanging around the Union terrace gardens. Looked like they were ready for the conference in my opinion.

Unfortunately you can't play a team from your own country. I don't really care who we get. Money is such a distortion in the game these days, I don't really see the glamour in facing your English, Italian and the like sides. Burnley was good a few years back because they never really seemed a manufactured product of premiershipism. I'm far from convinced that Roma could hack it on a cold Thursday night in the north east, so I'd reluctantly take them, although I'd probably prefer Atalanta. We went toe to toe with Villarreal in the Darren Mackie testimonial, so I expect we'd beat them too, maybe by three or four. I've been to Rennes I think, so we should beat them too. In short, anything less than sixteen points from the six games should see Robson removed from his role.

The prize funds in all competitions essentially go to the nation's FA* to be split between the teams in those tournaments. If the Huns had made the champions league they'd have got half (or maybe less than half for not being the automatic qualifier - I assume there must be some form of inherent bias added in for the biggest teams as always) of that tournament's pot. Now that the Huns are in Europa, it's probably more lucrative for us to be in the conference despite its lesser pot (assuming hearts don't turn their game around, and villa don't die prior to their game). I expect Dave has picked himself in the lineup tonight just to be sure. *I have always assumed that it goes to the FA, which would make sense given the split. The goal should be for that unearned money to be intercepted at that point and be evenly distributed amongst the clubs.