Dons vs livi

[Elgindon]

Been a bit laboured in our build up,though Livi goal came out of the blue. Woke us up and increased the tempo,unlucky to not have another,Shinnie hit the post earlier too.Unconvincing though...

   

[OxfordDon]

[Slim]

Why the fuck does McGarry keep coming infield both with and without the ball?

[OrlandoDon]

Mcgarry and gartenmann have been poor. Sorry, but bring on morris for gartenmann and Hayes wide, play higher wide and we’ll win.

[BigAl]

McGarry needs replaced.

Problem is it will be Hayes

[BigAl]

Bojan

Assist from Duk

[OrlandoDon]

Another few hundred k added to his price tag. Hat trick on the way!

[OrlandoDon]

Not a duk fan but that’s a forced and bizarre sub, think duk has been playing well. Doesn’t look tired. Leave duk and miovski, why change it??? Ok clarkson for McGrath, other than gartenmann looking ropey I wouldn’t change it.

[OrlandoDon]

Morris is pish, a decent right mid/winger in his positions and we’d have scored a few more. Please learn from this and stick with 4 at the back and play with legit wingers, got January to find some too.

thought mcgarry and gartenmann were our poorest two tonight, on the flip side saw more of polvara tonight, thought he played well. He’s very tidy on the ball and I think will only get better with playing time. I also think we’re better balanced in center mid with clarkson or McGrath alongside shinnie and clarkson.

[Jute]

Not a great game but two brilliant finishes by Miovski won the game. We did play better in second half once we went to a back 4 but overall made heavy going of beating a shite Livingston side who look doomed on this evidence which is no bad thing. 

[BigAl]

MOTM obviously Miovski but have to say that Polvara wasn't far behind. Our best midfielder tonight.

[Elgindon]

Better second half,quite a watchable game,the hoofball seemed to be ditched.Polvara was pretty anonymous first half,but grew into it,sprayed some smart passes second half. Duk was a menace,bad decisions more than made up for by the good,looking more like his old self.Good for Bojan getting the goals,pity it wasnt the hat trick.Also thought Morris looked lively when he came on??

    Horrible fixture,good result. Crowd wasnt as hostile as I thought it might be,also fair play the Red shed for kepping it going

Edited December 20, 2023 by Elgindon

[RicoS321]

Just back. Good result in the end. As predicted, Clarkson sitting behind Shinnie and Polvara. Polvara is not, and never will be, Ramadani. A decent team would have torn that to shreds. Robson completely unable to learn a lesson. Anyway, the change to a 4-3-3 worked well in an attacking sense, but not defensively. McGurry was absolutely honking, he needs binned, he's nowhere near good enough. Hopefully Mackenzie returns soon. Polvara neat and tidy on the ball, just not particularly dynamic, doesn't drive forward and doesn't get back quick enough, but a good squad player and if he can become more aggressive then he can add something. McGrath coming on showed what a good midfielder looks like, so that's what Polvara needs to aim for. Duk played well tonight, especially out wide in the 4-3-3 (where he wasn't required to track back), great assist for Miovski's second. I understood why he was taken off, they were starting to throw players forward and shifting back to a back three and getting Sokler in behind made sense. Miovski just absolutely class. His movement is just brilliant. Two steps and he's free of his man. Hope he stays until summer.

[OrlandoDon]

11 minutes ago, Elgindon said:

Better second half,quite a watchable game,the hoofball seemed to be ditched.Polvara was pretty anonymous first half,but grew into it,sprayed some smart passes second half. Duk was a menace,bad decisions more than made up for by the good,looking more like his old self.Good for Bojan getting the goals,pity it wasnt the hat trick.Also thought Morris looked lively when he came on??

    Horrible fixture,good result. Crowd wasnt as hostile as I thought it might be,also fair play the Red shed for kepping it going

It’s hard to play as a center mid when you have no right and left mid, the play tends to get queezed, narrow and we will go long more often when wide is not really an option. Saying that I felt long ball wasn’t that much evident either half but as I texted during the game, giving a center mid a right and left mid will help the center mid. Stretches the opponents mids so creates space plus gives the center mid more passing options. I thought polvara did well both halves, best I’ve seen him play by far, good technical player and kore involved than in previous games I’ve seen him. Still would like to see him even more involved plus smash a few people and win tackles, a bit lightweight for a big lad.

[RicoS321]

13 minutes ago, Elgindon said:

Also thought Morris looked lively when he came on??

He wasn't terrible. He hides a lot and isn't nearly good enough, but he was also unlucky with a couple of things he did, and there were a few moans at him from folk who have already decided he's going to make an arse of things before he even gets the ball. I'd like to see him moved on in the summer.

[OrlandoDon]

21 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

Just back. Good result in the end. As predicted, Clarkson sitting behind Shinnie and Polvara. Polvara is not, and never will be, Ramadani. A decent team would have torn that to shreds. Robson completely unable to learn a lesson. Anyway, the change to a 4-3-3 worked well in an attacking sense, but not defensively. McGurry was absolutely honking, he needs binned, he's nowhere near good enough. Hopefully Mackenzie returns soon. Polvara neat and tidy on the ball, just not particularly dynamic, doesn't drive forward and doesn't get back quick enough, but a good squad player and if he can become more aggressive then he can add something. McGrath coming on showed what a good midfielder looks like, so that's what Polvara needs to aim for. Duk played well tonight, especially out wide in the 4-3-3 (where he wasn't required to track back), great assist for Miovski's second. I understood why he was taken off, they were starting to throw players forward and shifting back to a back three and getting Sokler in behind made sense. Miovski just absolutely class. His movement is just brilliant. Two steps and he's free of his man. Hope he stays until summer.

But did it make sense? If they were a back 3 and duk was getting forward from wide then it would stretch their back 3 and give miovski space. Throwing another center forward made it easier for them since, for some reason, we weren’t going long (thankfully!!!). Theyd be able to stay compact. Morris wide helped us, I felt we should have stuck with duk and Morris wide, that would really have stretched them. I’d have stuck McGrath behind miovski and infront of shinnie and polvara, duk and morris were more than capable with their speed of getting back as well as forward, and they were both getting some success from wide areas.
his subbing was poor and he continues to make things harder than they need to be. Will he learn that we actually do have personnel to successfully play 4 at the back and have a semi decent midfield?
Tonight also showed me that gartenmann is not a central defender, a right back forced to play in the middle. He looked shaky, worst I’ve seen him play. When jack comes back I’d really like to see a back 4 of devlin Macdonald Jensen and Mackenzie.

[RicoS321]

11 minutes ago, OrlandoDon said:

But did it make sense? If they were a back 3 and duk was getting forward from wide then it would stretch their back 3 and give miovski space. Throwing another center forward made it easier for them since, for some reason, we weren’t going long (thankfully!!!). Theyd be able to stay compact. Morris wide helped us, I felt we should have stuck with duk and Morris wide, that would really have stretched them. I’d have stuck McGrath behind miovski and infront of shinnie and polvara, duk and morris were more than capable with their speed of getting back as well as forward, and they were both getting some success from wide areas.
his subbing was poor and he continues to make things harder than they need to be. Will he learn that we actually do have personnel to successfully play 4 at the back and have a semi decent midfield?
Tonight also showed me that gartenmann is not a central defender, a right back forced to play in the middle. He looked shaky, worst I’ve seen him play. When jack comes back I’d really like to see a back 4 of devlin Macdonald Jensen and Mackenzie.

Gartenmann was poor tonight, but has generally been solid. He's suited to the right of the three, but MacDonald sits deeper than Rubezic and forces Gartenmann (and Jensen) to play hard up against the attackers. Gartenmann seems to struggle against big units too. 

The subs made sense, yes. I'm not saying I'd have done the same, but from the perspective of a manager who wants to minimise risk, they were definitely the right call. We were very open with the 4-3-3, and I think after the Anderson chance (which he deliberately missed because he's a top red) he probably thought it wasn't worth riding his luck. I completely understand the changes, and with Sokler and Miovski over the top, we still created a few good opportunities, so I don't think we were particularly blunted by that. 

Personally, I don't think the 4-3-3 will work against many teams, and I don't think he'll use it from the start of any game, but it's good to know it's an option. A 4-2-3-1 is what I'd go with, with a sitting two and McGrath in front. It's frustrating, as Duk is arguably better out wide running at defenders, but he's also a complete liability going back the way, and also regularly loses the ball in dangerous areas when playing there. Definitely worth the risk at pittodrie though, although I see no harm in just introducing slowly in parts of games first. The biggest problem with the back threw, is insisting on the shitey number six role and not having a left wing back.