LA-Don

Not a good performance but I predicted 1-1, although it’s 80 minutes against 10 men so disappointed. Injuries to Hoban, McKenna, possibly Devlin, a little worrying. Thought Forrester was disappointing, I expected more from him. Players who played at Burnley looked pretty knackered. Hopefully we get a solid and accomplished striker this week. We are minimal threat going forward and cosgrove and May, it’s been said too many times.

Awful so far. 65 mins in and no shot on goal. Painful to watch us become more or less a long ball team.

Let’s put Moult to bed. Given the number 9 shirt and started their first game of the season. Not the behavior of a club wanting to ship him out and, since he’s not out of favour, I don’t think we can afford him, loan or buying.

Been impressed with Dyche the entire time. Blue collar honest guy, is take him as manager, here or for Scotland.

I think Sam Vokes was the big difference. As soon as he came on in the first leg and all yesterday McKenna and Devlin were really unsettled. At least we don’t see that type and ability of player every week. Up until his introduction in the first leg I thought they both were excellent.

Rangers are not better than Burnley and if the players apply that kind of effort we'll be fine. HOWEVER, few things - We are pretty poor in attack with no forward - we are expected to attack more against the huns, or are we going to be a sit in and counter attack team this year. Not pretty to watch. DM always seems to fuck up tactics against the huns, same on Sunday? How much are the players drained from Europe? Extra time too, that was a tough game. I know it's early season but we have a small squad, I expect to see Gleeson and Forrester start. 1-1 - Stevie May!

Agree with the previous post. What we are doing with May is the equivalent of sticking Adam Rooney wide left and expecting him to be McGinn or Hayes. Our tactics do not suit May at all. Against Burnley we were a long high ball team and that doesn’t suit May at all. He has zero confidence being expected to do something he’s not good at doing. Imagine going to work and your boss continually asking you to do stuff that doesn’t suit your strengths, your qualities, and you can’t really do. What would it do to you? I feel for May. It would be like playing GMS in central defense. May has been a bad signing and a total waste of money since we are not allowing him to play his game, not playing him in a role he can do or has had success, and continue to do this with no success. What is DM thinking???

Valiant effort but long ball tactics concern me. Cosgrove is a big lad but offer so little scoring threat. He did give defenders grief though and is a handful. After he went off May offered zero. Tactics don’t suit him whatsoever. The striker will dictate our tactics, will be really interesting to see who we get. Tactics don’t suit Forrester either but I suspect these tactics were deployed to play a much more highly regarded opponent. Don’t expect quite the same thing in the league. I hope not anyway. The two legs showed McKenna should stay here and develop. Whatever we pay for Ferguson, he is a steal. Modern day Dougie Bell with a touch of Frank Lampard.

Mother fucker!!!!!!! Come on!!!

Considine, noooooooooo!!!! Their danger man plays on the right, lets put our slowest guy in there. Why change things?

I think taking that 15 million would be fair. In all seriousness, 5-10 million IF given to DM for signings would be massive for a club like us, even though I'd hate to lose McKenna and feel he's worth more. In Hoban it looks like we have a replacement. If we choose to sell, we better demand the right fee, much like I hope Hibs and Hearts don't sell McGinn or Lafferty on the cheap.

I thought Paul Wright was a solid player!

We don’t need Stewart. GMS McGinn wright Ross, even Shinnie and forrester can and have played wide, forrester McGinn Ferguson Ross and May can play the #10 behind the main striker. Don’t know what Stewart brings. I’d only take another wide player is it was a star man who walks into the starting 11.....and has pace. Stewart would be a total waste of money and won’t be particularly cheap. I hope he’s not the striker brought in before the rangers game, he’s not a striker, plus imagine us lumping high balls up to him, will be worse than may.

Taking a different direction, what will increase golf interest? Had this discussion with a bunch of friends over a few pints the other day, many of the friends being American. They compared this debate to tennis, where the USA has pretty much dropped off the world map in men’s tennis. They were talking about team tennis and golf, tiebreaker sets in tennis, par 3 tournaments, etc. I recall the golf World Cup being two players, but would having europena tournaments be more interesting, 3-5 man teams, Scotland playing England Ireland etc?? In the generation of zero attention span the games need to be livelier, more exciting, and shorter. Sadly instant gratification attracts this generation. Totally goes against the purists obviously.

I think shankland would have done well in a reserve league against seasoned pros, and would, as a result, have grown up, developed his game, and still be here. Never given a chance. All the 5-10 minutes at the end of the games were close to pointless. Don’t know why he wasn’t given a chance other than DM thought he wasn’t good enough.

If we play rangers and Celtics with the same mentality as Burnley then I think we’re in a good place. However, Burnley is Burnley and nothing really to fear. Does DM fear the Huns?? Hope not but they’ve intimidated us far too much. Time will tell but how we approach and perform against the Huns will play a factor in Gerard’s tenure.

My opinion is basically that of a kid, Davis Lyle Faldo MacEnroe etc were all athletes I knew of in my childhood. Although as an adult I thought Woods was a prick and I’ve seen enough of MacEnroe over here that he’s a bit of a tool too. As kids I think we go by likeability, as adults some of us form opinions based on personality, likeability, ability, respect etc. Wanting people to lose is a trait most Scots have I think, wanting England to lose, the old firm etc. we’re a miserable lot really. I’d relate it to wanting the underdog to win, so you do want the favorites, in turn, to lose.

I think this brings us back to Tiger. Never liked the guy, always thought he was a cunt, always wanted him to lose, much like my feelings towards England and the old firm. All came down to disliking him, no other reason than I though he was a prick. Super player though. Same with Steve Davis and Nick Faldo, but in later years I’ve totally flipped on them and like them both. Much like Andy Murray, both put the effort in to be more likeable and saw the value in that. I’d say I’m a typical fan who values likeability, it is ‘entertainment’ after all and most people like the guys they want to win. Funnily, my tennis childhood hero was MacEnroe, another cunt!

Yup, very poor defending. But it’s half time and I’m sure we’ve learned our lesson. Vokes changed the game for Burnley, we’ll be prepared for him. Feeling strangely optimistic this morning. Think most see us as plucky Aberdeen hung on for a credible draw but the tie is over. Not necessarily what is being said, we’re getting compliments, but most feel it’s over. I even think, deep down, Dyche believes this. He was respectful post match but I think he and many think they saw the best from us. While Burnley are more highly regarded than Groningen and Rijeka, for some reason I think another shock could be on the cards. Better go for a lie down...

Agree Burnley will be fitter, but we died in the second half. Don’t see that happening on Thursday. Over the years we’ve seen the dons improve fitness in Europe by the game, expecting the same. The Turks will see this from us in the next round too. Think you also commented in another post about Burnley underachieveing when favorites. Got a sneaky feeling that will be Thursday.

Started this because as much as yesterday was positive, we didn’t win and have a big task ahead. Much like last year against Siroki, I expect us to be fitter, stronger, and better next Thursday. While we played well I still think we were somewhat timid against the reputation of a premier league team. Yes they were good but they’re not that good and while we put in a good performance I truly believe we can be considerably better. We were praised for effort, defensive shape and organization, but we’ll be a week fitter and can certainly move the ball better. If everyone is fit I’d like to see Hoban retain his place at left back. Lennon gave him a tough time but he’s an upgrade on Considine, certainly in terms of pace, plus a week of training and familiarity I’d expect improvement. Initially wanted Shinnie there but I think we fell off the pace a little when Shinnie moved to the left yesterday. The only changes I’d make are Forrester replacing Ferguson, and Gleeson replacing Ball. From what I’ve seen I’ve been impressed with Forrester’s flair and we were too much long ball and lacked central creativity yesterday. I also feel that while Ball was solid yesterday, Gleeson gives us more. Head says 2-0 Burnley, but heart says 2-1 us, Shinnie and Cosgrove.

While I was in my teens at the time I don’t recall Lyle having much of a personality at all. Came up in recent years if I recall when overlooked for Ryder cup captaincy, his ability to connect with people. I was a Lyle fan, my golf childhood hero, but I always felt Sam was favored by fans because he appeared ‘more Scottish’ and was a more likeable guy.

I was always a fan of Monty, but he did come across as an immature sore loser bellend at times, especially didn’t help him that he was a Scot who didn’t sound particularly Scottish. Similar to Sam Torrance and Sandy Lyle, Lyle the better player but big Sam always a fans favorite.

I thought one of the biggest positives last night, despite their goal, was the partnership between Devlin and McKenna. Looks like we have two good central defenders, when could we last say that. Last night was a game I was delighted OConnor wasn’t playing, and am glad we ended up keeping Ball - by no means a star man but a better midfielder than OConnor. Devlin also looks a real hard cunt and leader. Agree on the creativity, as I’ve said before, think we may see forrester instead of Ferguson next week. Can’t remember which euro round it was in previous years where we had a poor first leg home game in terms of fitness then really improved away in the second. Hoping this is the case again.

So he was fined a mill and a half for walking out on his Egyptian club? Maybe he’s strapped for cash and will be delighted to come! One can only hope....