LA-Don

I thought he'd gone a little stale and needed a challenge, possibly away from Pittodrie. However, maybe the addition of May is what he needed, a bit of a kick up the arse, and he recognizes he has a good thing here and wants to be part of it.

Also worth pointing out it's max points against teams we should be beating, while not playing overly well. The character of the team is strong, going down 2-1 and then pegged back at 3-3, heads never went down, sign of a good team. Hopefully we train hard, bonus not losing players over the international break, then we face tougher 'top 6' type teams. Will we see any more signings before the window closes??

I think Tansey is proving to be a good signing for us, a total upgrade from jack in my eyes. Does a lot of unselfish graft but is an excellent passer and definite quality from set pieces. Central defense is definitely a concern. We were vulnerable in the air today and have a 6'3'' internation defender on the bench - was he signed as back up? Have his legs gone?? From what I saw Shinnie was poor at left back, not quite sure what was positive about the defense today. Think the balance of our midfield and attack is good, May is more than capable of playing wide and usually drifts out the middle anyway so playing him and Rooney together will happen at times. Competition up top is good if you ask me, May and Rooney both capable of getting goals.

Certainly a curious line up. DM praises our defense this week then immediately changes it? Reynolds not fully fit perhaps? No pace in the middle of defense is a worry. Shinnie has been outstanding in midfield, will he be left back, line up suggests so. Interested how Tansey and McLean boss the midfield. Would also like to see Christie wide and Stewart central.

Well, Apollon drew 1-1 so advance to the group stage 4-3. What an opportunity missed.

That's a big no for me, if OConnor and Considine are in the middle together we'd better be playing on sand as anyone with any sort of pace will leave us for dead through the middle. I'd only take Shinnie back at left back if we signed a quality central midfielder. Shinnie is the engine in there, passion, bite, and pace too, he'd be hugely missed in there.

Rooney scored goals cos he got a shit load of chances, plus he also scored penalties. People tend to forget that he missed way more than he scored. I think his numbers are as much credit to Hayes, McGinn, and co for setting him up. Don't recall him ever scoring a goal like the one May scored yesterday and I think in May we've got a guy who'll score the Rooney goals and more. If he did score such goals, it didn't happen too often. Rooney is a poacher, he did well for us. Now we've upgraded. I'd keep him as back up for now, plus I'd keep fans favorite Stockley. He's a big physical fucker than can come in handy sometimes. The odd man out for me is Maynard, he's yet to prove he can do more than Rooney. If he does then I'd punt Rooney. Rooney banged in the goals for us but no bigger club came in for him because he's limited. If he moves it will only be to a lesser club, maybe a Hibs or Hearts, which is why he may be happy with a role off the bench.

I still think he can do a job for us, particularly now with May at the club. Based on what I've seen so far this season I'd play Stewart in the #10 position. Think that's where he played at Dundee. He doesn't have the pace to play the wide role that McInnes requires. May plays high, can run in behind, and can also hold up play, Stewart plays in the hole behind him. Also thinking Christie may be more suited to the wide role anyway, can easily track back as needed. However, means fuck all when McInnes is married to McLean. Not sure what he does to merit the start now. I'd like to see Shinnie and Tansey holding, GMS and Christie providing the pace wide, Stewart behind May. Think this might get the best out of Stewart. I don't see him as a wide player any more. He'll also get more goals and assists than KM. May, Christie, and GMS all have pace, Stewart has craft to play in amongst them. Don't think DM knows his best line up yet, not sure he sees Christie wide or central, and now we're fitting May into the starting line up. Hope he recognizes that Stewart doesn't have the pace or athleticism to replace McGinn and that he's not the wide guy he's tried to create. DM fucked around until almost xmas with the experimenting last year, hope he listens to me sooner this time around. We're juggling a line up with multiple guys new to the team, I'm willing to give Stewart (and co) the benefit of the doubt. For now.

Bad grammar and poor spelling on texts, emails, social media etc. Write in sentences and learn how to spell good

APollon scored at the death to win the first leg at home 3-2.

We can always debate his tactics, team selection etc., but I have always been very impressed with his level of professionalism. He's a very modern coach when it comes to preparation, sports science, video analysis etc, plus as far as I'm aware he's instilled a much more professional approach to the players - which is maybe why we've seen what has happened to Storey and Storie. I think it was Arneson that said this too when he returned. I does sound like the only thing unprofessional DM has to deal with is facilities. I had no idea of what he explained in regards to sharing rented facilities, an absolute joke. I fully agree we'll lose management and players/potential players if we don't fix this issue.

I notice Hayes not even on the bench. If Robert arrives why exactly did they sign him??

It's definitely a crazy country. I'm 44, moved here full time when I was 22 and been coming here since 19. I also studied philosophy of education in college and am a firm believer that too much freedom creates problems, plus it's a capatilist nation that doesn't overly promote morals and ethics. It's definitely the land of opportunity here that I've been lucky to live in and I've met amazing and wonderful people here, but you certainly get from one very end of the spectrum to the other. I'm not a citizen and can't vote but couldn't have voted for Clinton or Trump. Politics are terrible here and both parties are really messed up, just in different ways. You also don't get news here, just biased opinion and reporting and I don't know what's true and who to believe. Don't see how things improve unless something really bad happens and change is pretty much forced. The left gets more left and the right is moving further to the right, and there's no common sense happy medium in the middle. After 9/11 you saw a change for the better but things are back to the way they were, if not more so. That's my opinion anyway......

Pretty sure I saw an angle where Jack did headbutt, just couldn't tell if much/any contact occurred.

How can you appeal a head butt? Tv shows that he did. Not sure he made contact or much at all but it's obvious. No way should this even be appealed, never mind overturned.

I think that's the key, the team needs to gel and we can't expect perfect free flowing football. Both accies and county away are banana skin games and places we've dropped points recently, good wins and over time performances will improve!

Sad to lose Hayes but I do think the squad needed a bit of refreshing and don't know if we could have done it without the Hayes cash. I think we lost two real quality players but we've added potentially 4 strong starting players in GMS, Stewart, Arnie, and May. Obviously Christie was here but I see a different role for him this year and he's a better player now. Haven't seen much said of him but I think Tansey has looked solid in the last two games too, plus I think adding May will hopefully give Rooney a bit of a kick up the backside. Not a new signing, but Wright now gets more of a chance to shine as well. Overall, we're now a much deeper squad with more competition for places which can only be a good thing.

Well, purely on the playing side of things, I have to give the club credit for their work this summer. We've signed internationalists (maybe a stretch I know) in Arnason, GMS, and Stevie May, plus Tansey and Stewart have stood out on previous SPL teams. Christie returning is a good signing too. While loan signings aren't great I'm good with those two, plus we have to recognize we paid fees for 2 players, can't remember the last player before Kenny McLean that we paid a fee, never mind 2 in a season. Obviously players have to find form but on paper, if that means anything, we've picked up good players. Add to the fact the management were convinced to stay and extended contracts, plus Logan and Lewis extended, very busy and productive summer. It will take time to gel but I'm positive and encouraged by the business done this summer!

Wow, Stevie May on a 4 year deal. Didn't see that coming!

This. Europe came too early. In the past it's been the same squad, this year we tried to compete in Europe with new players who lack fitness, form, and familiarity. We need time to gel. It took DM until December last year to figure shit out and find a consistent team, hope it doesn't take that long this season. Saying the above, I think Maynard being compared to Goodwillie is fair. He was a player, just may not have it any more. I really think, based on DMs comments after Saturday, Storey will be on his way and I have to think (and certainly hope!) another forward will come in. Good domestic start despite performances, 2 games, two wins, no goals conceded (beating last years bogie team twice) all immediately after a very disappointing and exhausting European exit. In total, 6 competitive games and a 4-1-1 record is not too shabby. Performances will improve over time.

We're in the instant gratification generation remember, and I think the 'criticism' of Maynard is fair game. Maybe I'm missing it but I don't hear that much criticism of Tansey, GMS, or Stewart because I think people are inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt - they're somewhat name players who have proven they can hack it at SPL level. Virtually none of us had heard of Maynard and questioned his ability from day 1 - we've seen the average or worse players come up from the English lower leagues before and I don't want another of those. He's ultimately a forward who is paid to get goals and assists, and to date what have we seen? Adding based on Bobby's match report. I also think we'd be inclined to support Maynard more if it looked like he was working his hardest. We don't really know what the fuck has happened to Miles Storey over the last year or so but he still appears to really try when he comes on despite clearly not being in the managers long term plans. You'd think Maynard would be trying his best to impress but I just don't see that based on games I've seen, but it also seems the other way around with Storey being the one trying to impress. Maynard doesn't appear to do much more (if more) than Rooney and we don't need another one - not a knock on Rooney, we just don't need another Rooney type......although Rooney scores, yet to see Maynard do that.

Hibs vs Livingston Motherwell/Ross County vs Aberdeen Dundee vs Celtic Partick Thistle vs Rangers Glad to avoid Celtic, Rangers, or Hibs, still need to find true form before we face a solid team....

I've lived in the US for over 22 years and still refuse to say overtime. How dare you!

More likely we travel to Hibs and both Glasgow teams get home draws....

Sounds like Storey did more than Maynard. Pretty dire game by the sound of it but a win is a win, draw to follow soon.