WeegieRed

Doncaster really is not fit for purpose. The Motherwell chairman got it spot on the other day when he said the SPFL have better communication with the TV companies and sponsors than they do the clubs. That's all Doncaster is interested in, keeping sky, bt and ladbrokes happy. The clubs are secondary and I doubt the fans are even an after thought with him. Any league set up proposed will always have four old firm games in it. It's fucking ridiculous. That said, I'd probably accept the 14-team plan he proposes ONLY because it's marginally better than the current set-up, with the top 6 split routinely turning into a mess. However, I've never been a fan of any split because it doesn't encourage teams to be brave and try out youngsters. People say an 18-team league means a lot of meaningless games. I say it gives some clubs an opportunity to spend 2/3 years building an exciting team that can then go and do something up at the top end, which in turn will help the national team. Besides, weren't Dortmund in a relegation fight last season, and recovered to make the Europa League. Had Germany adopted a league split, they'd have been denied the chance, so don't tell me a split is essential to keeping the league interesting.

I don't think Hearts will sit in at all. Any time I've watched Hearts this season they've tried to roll over the opposition early. Robbie Neilson clearly makes a big deal about getting the first goal. I've yet to see them start cautious and trying to figure out their opponents. At home to Dundee and Ross County they dominated, but didn't really work the opposition goalkeeper that much. They got away with it against Hamilton, but Dundee punished them and got a draw. Against Aberdeen they were the same. Tried to dominate but were picked off. They have this weird knack of thinking they're better than they actually are and trying to take in defenders or pass it around them, rather than do the easy thing of taking a shot when they've space at the edge of the box. So many times against Aberdeen I felt they let opportunities slip because they wanted to play it wide then play a cross into the box, and each time we did we dealt with the threat. I think Neilson will look at our recent sticky patch and our defending over the past month or so and fancy they can get at Aberdeen and get goals, so for the first time in a very, very long time, an Aberdeen-Hearts game at Pittodrie might be an open one. And, I think it'll all play into our hands. They've got some dangerous players - Djoum has been excellent and Sam Nicholson really is a terrific player - but we're a far better team on our day than they are and if we recreate the performances of the past 135 minutes, we'll beat them.

Can anyone remember all the proposed locations for the new stadium the club were considering. Loirston (obviously). There was talk of Kingswells. Where else?

Was looking good until they said the final is still in March. The group stage will bring in more cash for lower league teams, gives prem teams a competitive pre-season, and also gives fans a chance to go to a ground they don't see all that often. All they had to do was make it a November/December final, even January, and it'd be superb. A March final again means this ridiculous theee month wait between the quarters and semis. Winter break I like. All managers and players say they like a break and that tends to tell me it's a good thing. Bonus points - I'll wait and see how it goes before forming an opinion.

I just hope it doesn't turn out to be a car crash as I'd like to see more Saturday evening kick-offs (anything is preferable to lunchtime KOs). If it is just a cracking atmosphere, good game of football under the lights, and a Dons win, we'll all be happy. Hopefully not spoiled by, as someone aptly put it, the nugget element.

Re-Jack coming back. I think it should be Jack/Flood in midfield with Shinnie at LB, because it means Shinnie can always move into midfield if we're finding ourself short there without the need to make subs. The problem though is where does Considine fit into the team in that case? Does he play LCB ahead of Reynolds, or does he play RCB where I'm not sure he's comfortable. Personally I think even a Considine out of position is better than Taylor or Quinn. However. To throw a curve ball into the mix. How about Jack/Shinnie midfield, Considine LB, and once Logan goes trying Flood out at RB?

I like the Adam Rooney song and I'm sure he does too. Plus it's unique to him rather than rehashing an old song about another player. "It's a goal..." will always be associated with Big Dunc for me. The child abuse chants are not only cringeworthy but puts us on the level of Rangers fans. How any Aberdeen fan can wish to stoop to their level is beyond me. I think we've actually had a few decent chants emerge in the past year or two though, was hearing a lot coming from the RDS singing section. However strangely in a big away support they struggle to catch on and it ends up being the same old chants. Some old chants that you don't actually that often anymore that I liked are "we're red, you're dead, we're bouncing on your head" and, in the Scottish Cup, "when the dons, go up, to life the Scottish Cup, we'll be there, we'll be there." Would be good to hear that one at Tynecastle next month.

Quinn isn't in the squad at all it seems, so Taylor had to start. Hopefully being dropped last week has given him a kick up the arse. Jack on the bench. With Celtic and Hearts having their games called off and facing midweek fixtures, three points for us would make things interesting at the top. Update: Quinn has a virus according to the wireless.

One of the big stumbling blocks was the nursery school that is across the road from Tynecastle. Romanov wanted to buy and flatten it. However Budge wants it to be part of the new main stand - I don't know if that means knocking it down and rebuilding it or building round it.

A Finnish sport journalist on Twitter is suggesting Aberdeen are looking at Sebastian Dolivo, who is a 19 year old right sided centre back. Apparently impressed against Celtic in the UEFA youth league, and is out of contract on December 31 (though some sort of development fee would be due I presume). To train with the Dons next week he says. McLaughlin - Jurgen Klopp invited all Liverpool's loanees down to Anfield during the international break to meet them. It's likely McLaughlin has told him he's not getting a game, probably not learning a huge deal on our training pitch compared to theirs, so no surprise they've called him back.

They seem to be well down that road that, purchasing land around the stadium and improving their footprint. They're confident it'll be built with 18 months and I don't see them struggling to do that. Obviously building a new stadium completely is something else, even a new training ground, but I really hope by summer we (the fans) have a lot more information than we currently do.

Hearts announce at their AGM they expect to be building their new main stand within the next 12 months. It'd be nice to hear at least some progress in that time from Aberdeen on either the stadium or training ground.

Every year I start off each cup campaign saying I fancy a Hearts v Aberdeen final, or at least a semi against them, so a bit pish we're meeting this early. Huge game though. We should get the whole of the Roseburn for this, so 3500 tickets, so should be some away support in the ground. last time we played Hearts at Tynecastle in the Cup we lost 3-0 and the Jambos went on to beat Gretna in the final. Last time we played them in the cup was 2009/10, won 2-0 (and beat them 3-0 about 10 days later in the league at Tynecastle) but went on to lose to Raith Rovers.

Was reading a thread on a St Mirren forum where they have been raving about Shankland, and attribute it to one of the many reasons that Ian Murray is useless that he doesn't give the boy more game time. Comments were suggesting he does more in 20 minutes than the other strikers at the club. Link here: http://www.blackandwhitearmy.com/forums/index.php/topic/40642-shankland-must-start/

There's quite a lot we could have done to prevent it. First, Logan has space and time to take the ball down. He heads it aimlessly forward and concedes possession. Then, McGinn slides in and gets no-where near ball or man. It was a challenge that didn't need to be made because it was near the halfway line. He therefore leaves Tierney wide and unmarked in space. He should be cleverer there and realise by sliding in he leaves the left hand side free. There are two centre backs covering Griffiths, but neither of them take responsibility and go challenge him. As Willie Miller commented on the radio, Griffiths should be picking himself up off the ground because Taylor or Quinn should be challenging him for the ball. Instead he gets between the two of them and jumps unchallenged and wins a free header. Three mistakes that led to the goal. So no, I don't agree it was not preventable.

I don't rate Quinn or Taylor. Between the pair of them I'd pick Taylor though. In an ideal world Reynolds-Considine would work as partnership. If we can get a tough tackling midfielder then Shinnie can play permanently at LB. Until then he's better off in midfield and defence should be Logan-Taylor-Reynolds-Considine. Not seen McLaughlin kick a ball for Aberdeen so no idea if he's useless or not.

I'm saying if our ambitions are to be better than everyone else in the division bar Celtic, then that's where we are. Yes, the league table currently says we're third, but I don't believe Hearts are better than us, just like I didn't believe we were better than Celtic when we were five points clear of them. McInnes was capable of turning us from a bottom six side into cup winners and title challengers. I'd say he's more than capable of turning the current form around. We are essentially where we should be on paper. Close to the league leaders, and an decent gap between ourselves and the rest of the league bar Hearts. If we win the league or even run Celtic right to the wire than we would, in truth, have overachieved. I want Aberdeen to move up a level, but I'm not exactly distraught looking at the league table.

There's a danger of sounding disrespectful about the opposition, but you can look at Aberdeen's record against Partick Thistle, Kilmarnock, Dundee United and Hamilton and praise the defence, be happy at the goals scored, and be happy at the side. If Aberdeen simply want to be better than the rest of the division, then there is no discussion to be had. This side has already comfortably finished above them all last season and let's be honest this poor form isn't going to last forever. Results will pick up and though Hearts and maybe St Johnstone will give us a good run, we'll be comfortably top 4 and very likely 2nd. Generally, I'm quite happy with where we are. I'll take second, European football, and (generally) getting to the latter stages of the cups as a decent minimum achievement each season. Yesterday was a strange one in many ways. On one hand I heard people suggesting we bottled it and asking what's happened to Aberdeen. I get on the defensive when I hear that. How come when Aberdeen lose to Celtic we've "bottled it", yet any other side in the country loses a game they have simply, you know, "lost". Did anyone accuse Celtic of bottling it when they chucked a one goal lead and a man advantage to lose at Pittodrie? Really, Aberdeen lost at Celtic Park. It's something the vast majority of teams do. They haven't lost at home since March. On the other hand, there's a frustration there because Celtic are not miles away from us. I looked at the two starting line-ups and didn't see a huge gap, so we shouldn't be outplayed like that. It would also hurt massively if Rangers were promoted and finished above us, reestablishing the Old Firm status quo when I think it's still within our grasp to get the better of both of them. McInnes deserves huge praise for what he's done, but he has to accept the criticism at this stage and accept he can't get lazy and sit in his record or simply play the same team/tactics each week. Otherwise there's a danger of him being accused of taking us as far as he can. Do I believe he has - no, I don't, but we have to see McInnes doing something different now. This is his most difficult and testing period as manager. Logan - I disagree about the cup final proving he's a big game player. Firstly, Russell Anderson was the MOTM that day by the length of Union Street. Secondly, I think Logan - and Quinn and Taylor for that matter too - have the mentality for the big game; I don't have that fear over anyone in the team really. However his frailties are exposed all too often, not just against Celtic. He's a stop gap defender - someone who has filled a bit of a problem position for us and given us some consistency in team selection there, but we need to find better and I'd be quite happy to accept a fee for him in January. His replacement is key. We have to replace him with better. Likewise I don't think Anderson was replaced by better. Ward is only here in loan and although we'll struggle to sign better than him, we need better than Langfield and Brown. Like I say we're not a million miles away from a team capable of mixing it with Celtic and what I presume will be a resurgent Rangers next year, but McInnes has a lot of work to do.

They say when someone is losing weight they should not look at the scales for a month. Instead they should stick to their fitness and healthy eating plan and don't let the scales dishearten them. For Aberdeen, they should ignore the league table. Forget about the points gap with Celtic and even falling to third. They are battles for another day. For now, the battle is within themselves to rediscover their form. Aberdeen are still the same team that won 8 in a row. It's the same group of players and same manager. However, have the team simply hit a bad run of form that will improve once they get a break or two? Perhaps, but the defeats have exposed Aberdeen in a way the wins did not, and showed that we've a long way to go before we can proclaim ourselves as the best in Scotland. Defence - this is Aberdeen's main problem. We don't have one problem position, we have four. Shay Logan's pace and ability in the opposing half masks his very obvious defensive flaws. He's a good player, but he's not a good defender. Celtic at times looked like they were targeting the left hand side. Their main outlet was an inexperienced 18 year old who looks good, but should not be giving Aberdeen's defence the runaround like that. Quinn/Taylor - both can clearly handle the Premiership and will have their good days which can give others an inflated belief about them, but are they Aberdeen standard? They will perform against your Partick Thistles and Kilmarnocks. They even pop up with a goal now and again. But the Dons need better than them at the back if they want to put a gap between them and the rest and be seen as challengers. They need better than them if they want to mix it with Celtic and, from next season, Rangers. You have to ask does our team have big game players. I don't think either of them, or Logan, can be classed as big game players. Reynolds and Considine arguably are better than them, but they're not a defensive partnership. A right sided CB is a must, if not January then the summer. Shinnie - where is he playing? He is either given the left back position or is allowed to form a partnership with Jack in midfield. The chopping and changing does not help. Against Celtic it felt as if the two were strangers. Individually both are good players, but they need to develop a partnership. Going forward I felt the Dons did okay. The passing at times was good, Hayes in particular but also McGinn in the first half put in good crosses, and Rooney on another day bags a hat-trick. He wasn't at his best at Parkhead but I couldn't fault him because he made all the right runs and met every ball. That's all you can ask your striker to do and his late goal showed that if he keeps doing the right things he'll eventually score. Criticisms of McInnes? I think after one point in five you have to make changes. I'm not there in training and maybe the fringe players aren't doing enough, but Cammy Smith and Ryan McLaughlin are two who should maybe be given a chance, especially against a struggling Dundee United. We're not a bad team. There's no need to be depressed. Hey, the title might allude us this year but who is to say we won't be stronger next season? We've still got plenty to play for this year - Hearts and St Johnstone look like they're up for a fight for second and winning the Scottish Cup is always a huge goal. Celtic gave us a doing, but we've taken worse from them before and come back and beat them another day. We'll bounce back from this too.

True, but Jack-Shinnie together can win the midfield battle.I worry Shinnie is sometimes wasted at LB. We need to have a go at their defence. And someone nailing Griffiths early (and I mean nailing him, not letting him run into the box before gently shoving him over). How many tickets we sold for this? I know it's a sell out, but what was our allocation?

Fouled one of their players outside the box. Was a booking and free-kick to be fair, no complaints.

Because it would give a false impression that there are 4,000 tickets left, when there might only be 2,000 left?

After they announced that I went and had a look at the online ticket sales, and I still worked out 18,500 sold. So either that number doesn't include away fans, or there's 2,000 seats not released for sale online.

For the Celtic game South Stand 1259 Merkland 317 Main Stand - No Data Available RDL - No Data Available RDU 709 Total availability 2285 Tickets

I now work out that it's 17,700 sold for Celtic (and I've included the RDS tickets not yet released for sale) but would have thought the club would have announced it had sales got to that high, so I'm sure I'm missing something.