Dons vs Huns - 13/04/25 -12pm

[redordead]

Pathetic. Thought it was in the bag. Too many subs.

[OrlandoDon]

8 minutes ago, redordead said:

Pathetic. Thought it was in the bag. Too many subs.

And too early. Yes I’ve been a critic but another game I feel morris goes off too early, arguably topi too. Thought okkels was decent but subs were not overly helpful. Sokler did nothing, dabbagh poor.  

[OrlandoDon]

Maybe an excuse too but perhaps a lack of experience there. Lots of young players. See the game out. Fucking annoyed!!!

[DantheDon]

I think it was that conceding the first goal. It was such a poor goal to concede. I actually thought they had damage limitation in mind for the second half, wanting to conserve energy for their European game midweek. So to concede two goals against a team that barely posed any attacking threat is especially poor. 

[Panda]

Dorrington had a really poor second half. I don't know if he's necessarily to blame for the equaliser, but he gave Rangers constant encouragement that they could get something.

It's one thing I've felt all season with Aberdeen though is that we rarely look comfortable with a lead.

[OrlandoDon]

39 minutes ago, Panda said:

Dorrington had a really poor second half. I don't know if he's necessarily to blame for the equaliser, but he gave Rangers constant encouragement that they could get something.

It's one thing I've felt all season with Aberdeen though is that we rarely look comfortable with a lead.

Yeah. We score and almost get stage fright, instead of kicking on. I honestly think we could have got a third before half time instead of letting them push on and score, even though disallowed.

[RicoS321]

Aye, what everyone else said. Dorrington a young lad, decent enough with the ball at his feet, but was bossed too easily by their striker. The subs, though, were a joke. What was Thelin thinking? Palaversa once again starts a second half like he's never played football before, but take on Polvara and leave it at that. Sokler for Gueye and leave him up front alongside Nisbet as a straight replacement. Jensen to left back? Fucking hell, no need. He was fine at right back and Shinnie excellent on the left. Just fucking about with it for the sake of fucking about with it. Our squad is not good enough to make four changes and see out a game against a team making strengthening changes. Dabbagh is pish and doesn't need to be tried out in a game so important. We certainly don't need to be changing both fullbacks when we're so dominant, and we definitely didn't need to narrow the game down with the wingers when they had ten men. I fucking hate five subs, I have to say, it should have been ditched after COVID. It's almost like managers feel like they have to make changes for the sake of it. 

Anyway, we completely destroyed them in the first half for the second time this season. Some brilliant football, with Keskinen and Morris absolutely battering them. Keskinen's best game for us I'd say, and unlucky not to score one of the opportunities he created. Nisbet was linking things nicely and Gueye was working hard with one in four of his touches working. Shinnie and Jensen working their arses off to allow the wingers to play and Clarkson picking all the right passes and defending well too. 

The manager fucked it, basically. 

[RicoS321]

Also, it's a fucking terrible way to be going into a semi final. Go ahead in that game, and we'll basically be shitting it that we might lose a goal. It basically feels like a loss today, and might as well have been. 

[DantheDon]

With Hibs battering Dundee that’s the race for third looking a tough ask. Effectively a four point gap with them having an insurmountably better goal difference. They also don’t look like slowing down and while we have been better, I’m not convinced we will pick up a heap more points post split. 

[RicoS321]

20 minutes ago, DantheDon said:

With Hibs battering Dundee that’s the race for third looking a tough ask. Effectively a four point gap with them having an insurmountably better goal difference. They also don’t look like slowing down and while we have been better, I’m not convinced we will pick up a heap more points post split. 

Aye, today probably lost it for us. We could have beaten them at Pittodrie and been a point ahead. 

It'll be interesting to see the post split fixtures. No doubt we'll play the Tims here on the final day of the season, so that if we do get to the final then we have to play them twice in a week.

[Jute]

That was a real game of two halves. First half we were excellent playing some great stuff with only our finishing letting us down. Should have been further ahead. Second half was a complete clusterfuck from beginning to end. No idea what Thelin said to them at half time but for some reason we sat off off them and slowed play right down. Then came the subs. No idea what Thelin was trying to do with them. Massive opportunity to put pressure on Hibs and go into semi final on a high lost. 

[dons8321]

4 minutes ago, Jute said:

That was a real game of two halves. First half we were excellent playing some great stuff with only our finishing letting us down. Should have been further ahead. Second half was a complete clusterfuck from beginning to end. No idea what Thelin said to them at half time but for some reason we sat off off them and slowed play right down. Then came the subs. No idea what Thelin was trying to do with them. Massive opportunity to put pressure on Hibs and go into semi final on a high lost. 

Similar to the earlier game at home...should have had the game wrapped by half time as we were totally dominant and we let them back into the game by being too passive. Great free-kick from Clarkson (similar to Maddison's) and terrific play by Morris to set up Gueye. But like most posters can't understand Thelin's substitutions - we were playing 4-2-4 by the end!  Also why are the majority of our corners completely crap...Palaversa overhitting in the first half and Clarkson chipping it into the 6-yard area in the 2nd?

[Elgindon]

Mentions how passive we were second half in the post match interview - 

 

[manc_don]

Needs to take responsibility for it though.

[Goldie03]

Rico and Jute you are both spot on!!

To not batter them and go all out for 3  or 4 goals was so annoying and the Devlin sub defo did not work and how bad was Dabbagh 

Thelin got his subs v wrong today!! 

[Panda]

Subs: I think what Thelin wanted to do was get Shinnie into midfield because we weren't aggressive enough. He didn't have many other options (if he wanted Shinnie in midfield) because Mackenzie wasn't in the squad, so Devlin in and Jensen to left-back was the obvious move. I've read the argument for Polvara, but he doesn't scrap the way Shinnie does.

It should have been just one of Sokler or Dabbagh going on, but both. Had Morris and/or Keskinen ran their race? I think both still had another 20 minutes in them at least. 

But, meh. A lot of criticism going Thelin's way for the second half, some of which is merited, but you also have to credit him for another very good first half performance against them. Remember when we used to be crying out for our team to have a go v the Old Firm at home? He had us on the front foot and  was seconds away from 6 points from 9 v Rangers. 

Play like we did in the first half at Hampden, we'll be miles better than Hearts. Play like we did in the second half and, well, let's hope we don't.

 

[Panda]

A word for Graeme Shinnie.

In all the opposition's faces at the end. Souttar, Diomande, Raskin (who, along with Curtis, appeared to get involved with a fan at the goal), and Barry Ferguson. Didn't take a step back from any of them.

He was also arguably man of the match. I was despairing on this very forum not that long ago at suggestions from some his legs had gone or that he was no longer a leader.

My fucking captain.

 

[RicoS321]

8 hours ago, Panda said:

Subs: I think what Thelin wanted to do was get Shinnie into midfield because we weren't aggressive enough. He didn't have many other options (if he wanted Shinnie in midfield) because Mackenzie wasn't in the squad, so Devlin in and Jensen to left-back was the obvious move. I've read the argument for Polvara, but he doesn't scrap the way Shinnie does.

Aye, it was clear what he was doing, but it was still the wrong call. Shinnie did get stuck in when moved to midfield, but I'm not convinced it was the real problem. Palaversa just stopped retaining possession and looked confused at being on a football pitch. Polvara is capable enough to put his foot on the ball and try to play the game. I'd say he's quite similar to Palaversa. The biggest problem about the change was the change to the winning formula on left and right though. Jensen isn't a left back (I'd rather see Devlin there, at least he'd keep things simple and be aggressive) at all, and we just had a gaping hole where Shinnie had been, as well as disrupting our back four. A positive improvement in midfield, outweighed by a negative at fullbacks. When you're 2-1 up, you probably shouldn't be fucking about too much with the back line. 

It's a big problem in the coming fixtures though. Clarkson seems to have found his feet, and is now able to play ninety minutes at the tempo Thelin wants, but Palaversa is still a good bit short. With Nilsen out, we're going to need someone capable of playing that last thirty minutes, as it's a hell of a lot to ask of Shinnie after running up and down the line for an hour. I can only assume that he thinks Polvara doesn't have the work rate required to play there. 

[Goldie03]

Shinnie was tremendous it's a pity we can't clone him cause mucking about with our full back positions was what undid us.

I would rather Polvara had come on.

I like Palaversa but sometimes you wonder what he is thinking  with his passes!! 

Our corners are woeful aren't they. Twice in 2nd half Clarkson did exact same cross straight to Kelly.

What a peach of a goal from him though so pleased he has got his form back 

Edited April 14 by Goldie03

[tlg1903]

I dunno about anyone else but I'm still raging we bottled this game. 

[RicoS321]

1 hour ago, tlg1903 said:

I dunno about anyone else but I'm still raging we bottled this game. 

Aye, I think it could have a huge effect on tomorrow. However, I'm wouldn't say we bottled it all. The frustrating thing was that they didn't do anything to us the entire game. We didn't sit in, and they didn't pressure us at all, it was just complete slackness at the back. Dorrington was probably the only player that looked slightly jittery, but even then they were still riding their luck with plenty of good chances for us, and a goal correctly disallowed by an incorrect rule. It was just unadulterated slackness, which I think that, if dwelled upon, could lead to plenty of bottling in the coming weeks. Clarkson, for example, who miss controlled for their equaliser, was still looking for intricate passes and making runs with the ball well into stoppage time (I actually think he fucked it because he was already looking for the pass before he'd got it under control). There were no nerves, just slackness, but that will lead to nerves if the manager doesn't get on top of it. But aye, raging at how complacent we were.