RicoS321

Very interesting. It looks like they haven't pursued legal action, just asked the EPL to investigate. Would be very interesting to see if that brought up anything untoward, but I imagine that if it did it would be months and months in the future. I can't see a quick investigation taking place, say in time to save Leeds or Burnley from relegation. It'd be interesting to see if they pursued compensation if an investigation does find something, or legal action if the EPL refuse to investigate. Everton's losses do seem to be suspiciously high. In terms of the Huns, the financial fair play rules will be easy for them to get round I expect. I actually don't know what they're set at in terms of losses in this country, but it's likely to be significantly weighted in their favour allowing them losses that will exceed the combined turnover of all other clubs.

Yep, but unless it's an issue that the club are willing to tackle then the problem will still exist. I'm guessing that the hatred may even be profitable for them. I mean it's fairly difficult to turn off, even for the most sensible of fans. I'm correctly expected to hate the Huns in every single way until the brief period that one of them joins us, then he's ours. I'm expected to hate Jack and Wright for doing the opposite of McRorie. I was very happy when they lost in Europe, but should I rethink that position? Because, let's be honest, the whole partisan thing is total bollocks that should have been left in the playground, but it's also why we're Aberdeen fans. It's really difficult.

Looks and sounds like a bellend. Classic Hibs.

Fucking ban them. It's only old cunts that post on here anyway.

No, that's all it was, plus his brother still plays for them. McGinn was regularly abused by the Dons support for being a Tim, culminating in the "he disnae try against them" nonsense. I agree with you, there should be no issue, but there will be. Who are these kids that want other Scottish teams do well? That doesn't sound like a thing.

If you think it through properly, you don't go. Although, I've not seen any verification of the only photo I've seen I should add. It'd just be nice to sit at pittodrie and not have many of the support hating a current player for who he supports and constantly questioning their loyalty. The problem for McRorie is that he's not good enough at fitba to be doing things like this. Any doubts about his ability will just get magnified now and supporters will be even quicker to turn on him. I'd like to see the club address it if he is there. Either to force an apology from the player or to back him and tell fans to get over it. We either expect our players to be absolutely loyal on and off the pitch while they're here, or we want to get rid of the tiring toxicity surrounding every single player who once played or supported the scum.

I was frightened to look at the internet all night. Safe to breathe again. Unless you're in Seville of course, although I've a feeling that they'll be too hot and tired for angry violence.

I agree, but I've kind of already consigned myself to the fact that they're favourites and it's a game that they will likely win. The most annoying part is that there's nothing particularly jammy or cheatery about their run. It's not like when Smith shitfested them to a final in 2008, they've played some really good teams and deserved to beat them. If it wasn't for who they are, and how they got to their current position, I'd say that they deserve... I can't bring myself to say it. In case of any doubt I might just have raised, I really hope that they lose. With Jack and Wright getting injured. Their fans to get taught a lesson by the Portuguese authorities.

The population of Seville?

You're right, I can't deny that if we were better in midfield and forward there would be less defending and less pressure. That's why I've said so in every reply. You're initial point was that you think that Bates and Gallagher would be a fine pairing for next season (that's the point I've been arguing against until now for avoidance of doubt). I'm saying that there are fundamental issues with that pairing that would suggest otherwise; and lots of them. Putting better midfielders (which I've suggested we might struggle to get better than Ferguson, Brown, McRorie and Barron) might paper over a few cracks. If we get a good front line, we might even score more than we concede. The evidence is fairly overwhelming that they've been terrible as a partnership though, you're definitely the one with the controversial opinion here, in case you're in any doubt! Lastly, I doubt anyone would accuse me, ever, of not digging deeper to make a point!

What about the other 30?

Three windows I'd say. If there's no sign of progress at the start of the season after next then let him go. You're right, one season isn't enough, but we should know past January if we're getting a good return on our signings and then another dig at it in the summer. I've got a feeling we'll keep Kennedy, and he'll be Goodwin's Ojo type project (and maybe a little bit of pragmatism). I'd still like to see Campbell here, because he just seems to have so much unfulfilled potential, and not in a Craig Storie kind of way, he actually looks like he could be very good.

Okay. You're probably in a minority of one who believes that there is nothing wrong with the pairing of Bates and Gallagher. I'm not for a minute suggesting that others haven't collaborated in our downfall (I specifically said otherwise), and I was purely using Considine and the percentages as an illustrative example - I thought that was fairly obvious. I think I've been fairly diplomatic about it, if you sat near me and heard the abuse that the pair get at pittodrie you'd think I was being too conservative! "Bring back Ifil and Bus" was shouted at one point. That's the level people see these two at, and it's not surprising given our worst finish in 18 years. I think the biggest problem for fans in the ground is that they're just so passive whilst they're fucking things up. It's certainly the worst pairing we've had since McGhee was here. Diamond and Ifil perhaps?

Considine, McGeouch, Ojo and Ruth on their way. Jenks and Montgomery return to parent clubs. No mention of anyone still in contract yet.

Yep, he did, that's why I added the bit about sticking with it. What I mean is that he'll pick a system and stick with it. He'll likely have learned that 3 at the back can have its weaknesses in the SPFL, and I think he'll not try it again for a while (unfortunately).

You're maybe thinking McNaughton? Considine is definitely left footed.

It's not that it's hard, it's just that it makes them 10-20% (or whatever) weaker as a player because they're playing on their weaker side (just like any professional sports player, like a boxer). Very few players in world football are equally comfortable on both sides. It's like playing a player only 80% fit. Is an 80% Bates really worth it? The evidence says no. It all depends on how the player plays the game though. Bates wants to come forward with the ball every time, and he does it on his strong side. McRorie was exactly the same and he was even worse when he played left centre (credit to Glass who spotted it and switched Gallagher there). Considine played right centre back for a while alongside McKenna and was absolutely fine because he could just come out with his body shape reversed on his wrong foot because he was going to take the conservative option of the short pass or the chip down the line (the percentage game) anyway. Watch Considine play against the Huns down at Ibrox at right centre half against Morelos and you wouldn't have known he was on his wrong side because 95% of his game was unaffected.The aggressive marking, strength in the air and strong tackling. He already knows not to let the player down the line as he's getting beaten for pace regardless of which side! I would have said that Gallagher is similar in that regard and should have been the one to switch sides. The reason he didn't was because when Bates joined the club he had to play alongside McRorie who was fucking honking on his wrong foot. When Gallagher came back in, nobody saw fit to change it. There'd have been very little affect on Gallagher's game on his wrong foot. It's not specific to Aberdeen either, clubs all over the world do exactly the same thing. Far bigger and better than Aberdeen. It's not sad in any way either, football is about the fine margins. If there's anything that weakens your team you fix it, unless the player is already 20% better than everyone else! There's probably not too many players playing on their weak side in top level football, who's strengths rely on ball play. I'd prefer a 3 too, I'm not sure Goodwin will though. I think he's like McInnes in that regard and has his preferred style and won't change unless forced (and then he'll stick with that change long after its stopped working!). I'd expect a 4-2-3-1, but maybe not. That said, you'd likely be changing at the expense of McRorie too, as I don't see him playing right wing back, and if we've not got a good replacement for Ferguson then we're screwed either way! I'd rather have McRorie in a back three and just ditch Gallagher. Other than a short spell in his career, he's not been good enough to merit changing the team around. Good as he was for Scotland, he doesn't add that much for a club side aiming to dominate possession and attack from the back. We're explaining the deficiencies of this season, not next. Barron, Ferguson and Brown (the Brown of earlier this season) would probably all have started next season had they still been available. We've had a reasonably strong midfield two most of the season. Even McRorie will do a good job in there without troubling his own defence. I agree with you though when you move further forward. The shit stems from that attacking midfield (non existent for us, as you have mentioned on countless occasions!) onwards. The defence is being asked to not make a mistake for longer and longer in games because we've got zero creativity. They're then taking positional risks and dicking about on the ball causing the errors. I would say that most of our individual errors have stemmed from within the defence itself (Bates prominently) as opposed to from midfield, but a big portion of that is because they're trying to get involved in areas where they don't need to because of deficiencies further forward. That didn't happen often under McInnes because we were solid at the back first before risking anything further forward, hence our excellent clean sheet record (and boring 1-0 game management wins!).

Worth a look?

I wish I had your confidence. I don't think you're completely right about the "shit ahead of them", but I do agree that the lack of scoring has heaped extra pressure on the defence to get everything right, and their lack of confidence has led to a spiralling mess. It's more than that though. The defence was so much better in the first half yesterday with a recognised left centre half and Bates on his right foot. Considine did something I expected Gallagher to be really good at (and something both Taylor and McKenna were great at too), in that he attacked everything and defended on the front foot. He was aggressive and in the face of the attacker, who hated it. That brought us further up the pitch, and Polvara was able to pick up the inevitable loose balls that the attacker was pressured into giving away. It was genuinely night and day. When Gallagher came on, we defended deeper and waited on the second balls. Bates became shakey again on his wrong side, culminating on his atrocious attempt at a challenge resulting in his booking. I'm mystified why Gallagher wasn't taken on as left centre half in a direct replacement, but perhaps it's not as obvious an issue when you're looking side on to the game. From behind the goals, you could see the difference between Bates' first half body position and his second half one, where his body becomes flat to the play, the ball in between his feet ready to switch to his good side at the first opportunity (hence an extra touch every time), rather than comfortably strolling out with it on his right foot as was the case in the first half. I'd go as far as to say that Bates looked decent in that first half, which is the first time I could say that since Goodwin arrived. This isn't an advert for Andy Considine, just that an aggressive left sided centre half is an absolute priority (I have a feeling it might be Joe Shug, which I'd be happy with). The pairing of Gallagher and Bates has without question failed in my mind, and it goes deeper than confidence. Personally, I wouldn't like to see someone like Gallagher sitting on our bench for a whole season, as I think (probably harshly) that he's the type that would happily pick up a wage, but if it's the pragmatic thing to do with the turnover in the summer then fair enough. It would be an absolute mistake to have those two as first choice centre backs next season (although I realise that you're not actually suggesting that). I think that if we have Gallagher on the bench, we'll actually need another cover for left centre half too, which adds further to the recruitment process.

He's had a bad start. However, no manager should be having to get rid of more than ten players in a window, that's entirely the fault of the previous two managers. One of Glass' biggest problems was that he didn't do a clear out. Instead he pretended he'd turned shite players into passable ones (Ojo), when the evidence didn't really back it up. Ojo, Kennedy, Devlin, McLennan, McGeouch should all have been binned in the summer or January. It would have given a bit of breathing space in the squad and perhaps allowed a couple more signings in too. Instead he kept all those players and also brought in a shit tonne of crap to spread on top (recruitment was way worse than McInnes' worst, which is impressive). McInnes left Glass a rebuilding job which he never really undertook and now Goodwin has a bigger one. That is a failure at club level in my opinion and should never have been allowed to happen. There is no way Goodwin is turning it around in the summer. In reality, a manager is only a small part of the whole and the impact he'll be able to have is negligible beyond the recruitment.

I don't think there was a shove, it's a still photo too so no idea about his body moving, I was merely offering an explanation. I believe that what happened was that the ref gave the penalty for handball. On speaking to the linesman, he overturns it because the linesman says it hasn't hit his hand it's hit his head. Now, obviously the linesman has that completely wrong, but it's the only explanation that would disallow the pen, but also result in no free kick. However, the dons should at the very least have been challenging the drop ball, as had the ball deflected off the player's head then it would have just as likely landed at one of our player's feet. The referee clearly screwed up in his handling of it after the linesman had made his airse of it.

So it was definitely a hand ball. There's maybe a shove on the player, but then no free kick was given and the game was restarted with a drop ball. Mental.

That was fairly terrible, as expected. Good for Considine to get 50 minutes, we were far better with him at the back, more aggressive and a better shape, atrocious decision to let him go. We'd better be ditching Gallagher too, he's way worse. Just the same as always, nothing in attack, limp in midfield and shakey in defence. Our worst season in two decades. A huge turnaround required. Special mention to the weird penalty overturning. What the fuck happened? Why was there a drop ball after?

Exactly this. The expectations for next season should be low. There are no teams in the world getting 100% recruitment success, and were short 6 first team players. That will mean at least ten signings (remember Ferguson was third choice after gleeson and Forrester). Ideally it would be 12+ to get 6 players, but that's not a manageable turnover in a single window. It'll also mean filling out squad with another 4-5 largely unusable players again. I think if we can target 4 low risk good signings then that would be a good start. Add in youngsters returning and a couple of loans and keep a thin squad until January. Obviously, those four signings have to want to come to us and have to be a perfect fit, but if we can get them in early enough then there'll be time towards the end of the window for correcting. We're miles away in reality, it'll be relying on luck and others being crap to get us close to the European spots.

Pish. Bobby Clark would have caught all of those.