SC Dons vs Queen’s Park 08/03/2025

[manc_don]

Queen’s had a good confidence boosting win against Raith at the weekend. Play like we did in the second half of the second half of the game at the weekend and we won’t have anything to worry about. We’ve got the fire power to do it, but I’d like us to go for the jugular first. They’re going to make it hard for us and I don’t want to see the game goalless for too long. I know it’s not the Thelin way but we’ve just got to get the job done and we got given one of the best possible ties. I’d like to see Gueye and okkels dropped and arguable let Shinnie stay at left back. We know Nilsen won’t be dropped and it was actually nice to see him back at left back. Interesting that Willie also doesn’t rate Okkels yet either.

out

bed

bed

recovery

2-0 Dons, keskinen and Nisbet

[DantheDon]

Assuming the option to buy Okkels is for a significant six figure fee I can’t see us bringing him in. His form would really have to take off in the remaining games. He just hasn’t done enough, I would rather give one of our young guys an opportunity next season based on what I’ve seen so far. 
Out

3-1 Nisbet Hatrick

[Jute]

Would like to think we won’t see Okkels and Gueye after Sunday poor performances but didn’t think either had done enough to start that game either so who knows. If Devlin is fit would be tempted to play him and move Jensen further forward on the right. Should have enough to beat Queens Park especially at home. Not sure if heading up yet. Shoulder improving slowly but not sure if I will risk it yet. 
 

Oot but maybe in

Train Or flat

Y or Couch

Flat or train back to capital. 
 

3-0 Nisbet Dabbagh and Boyd.

[Panda]

Get that apostrophe to fu... never mind.

Shinnie has to play. The "Morris can't start games", well this would be the one to give him his chance.

[OrlandoDon]

1 hour ago, Panda said:

Get that apostrophe to fu... never mind.

Shinnie has to play. The "Morris can't start games", well this would be the one to give him his chance.

No thanks, morris has had plenty of opportunity. The fact that he consistently produces as a second half sub, I would not change that. We lose that boost when he starts, and his mediocre at best starts don’t make up for him gone in the second half.

I would start shinnie, at left back. Possibly a game to give Dabbagh a start instead of gueye, and maybe clarkson ahead of palaversa.

[tlg1903]

This has banana skin written all over it.  Callum Davidsons stock in trade as a player and a manager has largely been to get crosses into the box and we are not dealing very well with those at the moment.  If we score first we should be fine but I REALLY don't want to have to go through the hand wringing of trying to find an equaliser against what has already been shown to be a very solid defence.  

fingers crossed, 3-1 dons. Nisbet, Dabbagh and Jensen

[manc_don]

6 hours ago, tlg1903 said:

This has banana skin written all over it.  Callum Davidsons stock in trade as a player and a manager has largely been to get crosses into the box and we are not dealing very well with those at the moment.  If we score first we should be fine but I REALLY don't want to have to go through the hand wringing of trying to find an equaliser against what has already been shown to be a very solid defence.  

fingers crossed, 3-1 dons. Nisbet, Dabbagh and Jensen

This is very much why I want us to go for it from the outset. We can’t afford to fanny about and go down. Only bit of solace is they’re playing midweek so may be a bit leggy.

[Panda]

16 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

No thanks, morris has had plenty of opportunity. The fact that he consistently produces as a second half sub, I would not change that. We lose that boost when he starts, and his mediocre at best starts don’t make up for him gone in the second half.

There is no bigger critic of Morris on this forum than me, but you can't just decide he can't be trusted to start games anymore - not now, not ever - when he's clearly working his socks off and there is obvious improvement in him, and he's made an impact in recent games.

Okkels isn't offering anything, I don't think you start Gueye on the left as likely him and Dabbagh replace each other at one stage as not sure they can go 90 minutes yet, and after that we're running out of options.

16 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

I would start shinnie, at left back. Possibly a game to give Dabbagh a start instead of gueye, and maybe clarkson ahead of palaversa.

If you do that you've lost energy from the midfield. I'd say Nilsen and Clarkson probably swap about, and Palaversa and Shinnie do the same. If you play Nilsen and Clarkson together, the pace would be quite pedestrian.

Plus, would be odd if we have Mackenzie fit, Jensen who we appear to have signed to play as a left back, and then ignored both to play Shinnie who hasn't regularly played that position since he was at Caley Thistle.

[wee toon red]

I'd like to see Keskinen on the left to see if that helps his game but I'm a bit torn about that meaning Morris needs to play on the right as beyond his pace I really don't think there's an actual footballer there. However, Okkels isn't up to much either so I'd be inclined to go with someone else's suggestion of Devlin back in at right back and Jensen playing in front of him.

Always suspected Gueye's run at the start of the season was nothing more than a Cosgrove-esque purple patch and it's looking that way, so I'd have Dabbagh back in ahead of him.

And I still don't see "it" with Palaversa so get him out and Shinnie back in.

[Reekie_Red]

Queens Park have nothing to lose in this game. I reckon they'll score the opener in the first 20 minutes,  then we will take control and go on to win 5-1

Press will still headline with "Dons progress despite scare"

Nisbet x2, Gueye, Jensen, Shinnie 

[tlg1903]

6 hours ago, Reekie_Red said:

Queens Park have nothing to lose in this game. I reckon they'll score the opener in the first 20 minutes,  then we will take control and go on to win 5-1

Press will still headline with "Dons progress despite scare"

Nisbet x2, Gueye, Jensen, Shinnie 

If we go behind in this one early on I think we are in for a loooooong afternoon

[JessianK]

Wanted a laugh, and decided to use my wealth of experience on football manager. Don't laugh too much, but this game if we want this cup. Straight out and go get it. With Morris, given instructions to go to 442 when ball lost. 

[Panda]

Thumbs up for the graphics.

Thumbs down for the line-up and tactics.

 

Keskinen deep? Nisbet out wide? Shinnie presumably a sitting midfielder? 

Explain yourself.

[Elgindon]

^^

 

 In - Y

Pre - veg seed

 Prediction - Signs of recent improvement,but I dont trust us enough to be confident. 2 - 1 AET  Morris x2

Edited Thursday at 20:59 by Elgindon

[Reekie_Red]

14 hours ago, Panda said:

Thumbs up for the graphics.

Thumbs down for the line-up and tactics.

 

Keskinen deep? Nisbet out wide? Shinnie presumably a sitting midfielder? 

Explain yourself.

You totally missed Dorrington being anywhere near the matchday squad 

[Panda]

4 hours ago, Reekie_Red said:

You totally missed Dorrington being anywhere near the matchday squad 

Tobers is out to be fair, Thelin confirming today he won't make it, so Dorrington will probably play.

Sokler, Milne and Polvara all fit enough to be in the squad though, but the way he spoke suggested none of them will start.

[Reekie_Red]

Polvara is the one of those id like to see on the field. He's solid, decent, has developed heeeeeaps since he arrived. Sokler is okay, has spectacular goals under his belt, but they're all to scarce - he's basically what you get when you order a Miovski from Wish 

[OrlandoDon]

On 03/03/2025 at 15:54, DantheDon said:

Assuming the option to buy Okkels is for a significant six figure fee I can’t see us bringing him in. His form would really have to take off in the remaining games. He just hasn’t done enough, I would rather give one of our young guys an opportunity next season based on what I’ve seen so far. 
Out

3-1 Nisbet Hatrick

Wrong thread for this discussion, but we don’t have any young wingers good enough. Topi is young and inconsistent, Morris isn’t good enough, vinnie average. From what I think I heard, it’s 1M for okkels and I’d like to think we can get better for less. Unless he’s an absolute stud until the end of the season we’d be crazy to buy him.

[OrlandoDon]

1 hour ago, Reekie_Red said:

Polvara is the one of those id like to see on the field. He's solid, decent, has developed heeeeeaps since he arrived. Sokler is okay, has spectacular goals under his belt, but they're all to scarce - he's basically what you get when you order a Miovski from Wish 

What’s polvara’s best position? He looked tidy towards the end of last year but that was more as an attacking midfielder, and he grabbed a goal or two. I’d honestly like to see him tried in sivert’s role. While sivert can play well, it’s all when we have the ball. I think he’s a liability defensively, and I think polvara is younger, more athletic and mobile, and more technical. Would polvara and palaversa work in the middle for us?

[RicoS321]

4 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

What’s polvara’s best position? He looked tidy towards the end of last year but that was more as an attacking midfielder, and he grabbed a goal or two. I’d honestly like to see him tried in sivert’s role. While sivert can play well, it’s all when we have the ball. I think he’s a liability defensively, and I think polvara is younger, more athletic and mobile, and more technical. Would polvara and palaversa work in the middle for us?

Polvara is a very good passer of the ball, especially long pings from one side to the other. His long legs seem to offer a fairly effortless drilling of the ball, which is nice to watch. Nilsen is far better at using his body and taking the ball in tight spots and still coming out with it. It's funny, because Palaversa was absolutely terrible in the second half last week, Polvara is regularly injured, Shinnie and Nilsen are getting on a bit and Clarkson only has 70 minutes in him. I initially thought we were overloaded in midfield, but actually we should just play them all turn about. They'll all get plenty of minutes. I think that Shinnie and Nilsen are our best combination, but I don't think there's a huge difference between any of them. Clarkson on his day is the most talented, and is certainly the one that could still be very good. The others are all more than good enough for our first eleven assuming they're fit and on form. I'd like to have seen both Clarkson and Polvara as number 10 earlier in the season, but with Nisbet and - to a lesser extent - Gueye now offering something in there, I think we should maybe persist with both in rotation with the others. If we are in Europe next season, then it's ready made for all five getting plenty of game time. They can probably cover other roles too as required. Two older heads, and three young players reaching the age where they really start to blossom is a good thing. Based on our other signings, I think we could go out in the summer and try and replace either of these players, and end up with something much worse. In fact, I think that's exactly what would happen. Give Polvara plenty of sub time over the next few weeks and get him back up to speed. Get Milne in ahead of Dorrington (Dorrington was fine in the last game, and significantly better on the right, but Milne is our future). I don't think there's much of a future in Sokler, but I'd like to see if he can work up a partnership with Nisbet too. Dabbagh, I'm not convinced is any better than Sokler, both industrious and show good movement. 

[RicoS321]

Didn't realise it was on the BBC today. They're determined to witness us in another cup upset. Car broken, so just about to get on the train. Thankfully I checked this morning as the later train has broken down. Expect a punch up with some queens on the train like. 

4-0 the Dons. Topi, Nisbet, Dorrington and Nilsen with a misplaced pass that trickles beyond the keeper (he's unlikely to actually shoot).

[Panda]

1 minute ago, RicoS321 said:

Didn't realise it was on the BBC today. They're determined to witness us in another cup upset.

All the quarter finals are on TV, so you should be thankful it's the OGs covering it and not Premier Sports. And you get to watch Andrew Considine as a pundit.

They all wish for cup upsets until they realise they're essentially hoping for Queen's Park v Livingston at Hampden, a game no-one wants to watch.

 

 

[RicoS321]

26 minutes ago, Panda said:

All the quarter finals are on TV, so you should be thankful it's the OGs covering it and not Premier Sports. And you get to watch Andrew Considine as a pundit.

They all wish for cup upsets until they realise they're essentially hoping for Queen's Park v Livingston at Hampden, a game no-one wants to watch.

 

 

If I'd known it was Considine, I'd have stayed at home to watch it. 

Queens v Livi would be a great final. Although I'd grudgingly settle for us versus Livi.

[Panda]

Shinnie at left back, Clarkson and Palaversa the midfield pairing, Morris gets his deserved start, and by the looks of it no Nilsen or Devlin in the squad.

Edited Saturday at 11:18 by Panda

[RicoS321]

Very interesting lineup. The good thing about Shinnie left back, is that you can move him central if required, and potentially make a more attacking sub. I reckon he'll get a goal from left back today though.