Hayes

[manc_don]

Wee article in the EE about him today.  Pretty much backing up what Jack said last week.  Personally I expect to see a lot more of it appearing as the club try to show a united front.  If we get results like we did on Saturday, fine by me.

 

As side note, we need to see a few more goals from Hayes.  The guy clearly has a good shot on him and is one of the key players in that team.  If Hayes has a good game, we have a good game.  Wouldn't have thought that the Oirish have many others that could perform like he can on his day.  Surprised he's not in the squad (not this time around as he as rubbish for a few weeks).

 

Article below:

 

FIRED-UP Jonny Hayes today warned rumours and criticism directed towards Pittodrie will only unify the Reds in the bid for glory.

 

Aberdeen finally halted a horror six-game winless slump with a 2-0 New Firm derby victory.

 

In the build-up to that Dundee United clash, skipper Ryan Jack rubbished rumours of dressing-room disharmony and bust-ups.

 

Hayes reckons those attacks come from people “ trying to take down” Aberdeen who, having topped the Premiership table after eight straight wins, are now a target to be shot at.

 

Instead of derailing the Reds, who are now back to winning ways, Hayes insisted it will make an already tight dressing-room even stronger.

 

The 28-year-old winger said: “Some people are against us and trying to take us down.

 

“A few weeks ago the manager told us that we are now targets and people might want to say some bad things about us but we cannot let it affect us.

 

“I talked to a good friend of mine who is a life-long Aberdeen fan about it a few days ago.

 

“He talked about the amount of rubbish and rumours he has heard. Some of it is so unbelievable especially when I know how close that dressing-room is and how well we all get on.

 

“For things to come out like that, you don’t know where it comes from.”

 

Hayes added: “It is a brilliant dressing-room with good boys and really good friends.

 

“You don’t really get that in dressing-rooms as you maybe get a couple of friends here and there. But at Aberdeen you can go for a coffee or a pint with every one of the boys and it would be a good laugh.

 

“Being around a footballing dressing-room you know what to believe, and what not to believe, what to take with a pinch of salt and what is utterly ridiculous.

 

“Most boys are experienced enough to know it’s those who don’t want us to do well that are saying things about us.”

[ayrshire_don74]

Hayes is a good SPL player, however his decision making, occasional poor technique and poor football brain often lets him down. If he had those two elements he would be an international class player. Too often we see shit crossing , poor decisions in terms of passing and woeful shooting. On his day he is our best player.

[RicoS321]

Hayes is a good SPL player, however his decision making, occasional poor technique and poor football brain often lets him down. If he had those two elements he would be an international class player. Too often we see shit crossing , poor decisions in terms of passing and woeful shooting. On his day he is our best player.

 

Totally disagree. His ability to play in several different positions would suggest he has a good understanding of the game. His excellent runs off the ball, and the way he drops in to cover for other players shows a pretty good team player. His crossing has vastly improved since he first arrived, to the point his crosses more often than not hit the man (or the area where the player should be). Decision making and the occasional poor technique happen when you play the game at the pace that Hayes does. There's not a better left sided player in the SPL in my opinion.

[rocket_scientist]

What I don't get is why Hayes feels compelled to quash rumours, particularly those of the ridiculous type.

 

Where are these rumours still circulating? I don't tune in to any other AFC webchatspeaksites - one through my choice, the other through their admin's choice - so I can't believe the manager shagging Taylor's missus and training room bust ups etc. are still being discussed?

 

It must be leading questions from the journo that stoked it up, raking up stuff from weeks ago and putting words into his mouth. Now that Jack and now Hayes have publicly, within a week of one another come out with denials, I think it must be bastard pig journalists trying to "have a laff" and praying for a slip-up.

 

The best way to deal with the ridiculous is to ignore it. Or it used to be. Maybe in this internet age, shite grows legs and doesn't seem to abate.

 

Whatever the motives of a journo or two and whatever is being said on social media etc., I would still like to know why AFC performed like shit for six straight games, before beating shit on Saturday in a pretty shit quality game?

 

I can't work it out. There is no reasonable or acceptable explanation that I can imagine other than we're not very good but that doesn't wash when there was so much evidence that we could be good until Easter Road.

 

[rocket_scientist]

Totally disagree. His ability to play in several different positions would suggest he has a good understanding of the game. His excellent runs off the ball, and the way he drops in to cover for other players shows a pretty good team player. His crossing has vastly improved since he first arrived, to the point his crosses more often than not hit the man (or the area where the player should be). Decision making and the occasional poor technique happen when you play the game at the pace that Hayes does. There's not a better left sided player in the SPL in my opinion.

 

Agree with you. Hayes was the only spark in the first half at Tannadice first game of the season and consistently delivers danger into the box. He has speed and skill. Put desire and determination and a good mindset on top of that, I don't think we can ask for much more from any footballer.

[manc_don]

Sounds like he'll be out for at least 6-8 weeks given that it's a tear to his hamstring. Massive, massive blow to any chances of finishing top or even in touching distance with the tims. Depth of squad is really going to called into question now. Peepaw did heehaw last night.

[Edinburghdon]

Sounds like he'll be out for at least 6-8 weeks given that it's a tear to his hamstring. Massive, massive blow to any chances of finishing top or even in touching distance with the tims. Depth of squad is really going to called into question now. Peepaw did heehaw last night.

 

you spent a while thinking up that didn't you?... 

[manc_don]

you spent a while thinking up that didn't you?... 

 

I was quite proud of that

 

It was surprisingly easy to think of a word befitting of a player that contributes nothing.

[Tyrant]

Pish. But Pawlett did well last night. Drew a lot of free kicks and fouls and if we had a fucking clue about taking a decent set piece we could have done Caley some damage.

[manc_don]

Pish. But Pawlett did well last night. Drew a lot of free kicks and fouls and if we had a fucking clue about taking a decent set piece we could have done Caley some damage.

 

Kinda defies the reason for drawing fouls on a serious note, I didn't think he did much, the same as he's done for the past couple of seasons. He was hardly the worst or only offender. It's probably unlucky for him that he has to come on for Hayes who is generally superb. Really hope his injury isn't as bad as we fear. But agree, our set pieces are woeful.

[Reidzer 1314]

It worries me that Pawlett will most lilely be the replacement for Hayes.

[Tyrant]

I can see him finding a bit of form again with getting a run of games and him propelling us to league glory. 

[ayrshire_don74]

Pawlett beta release run about a lot, fall over, get out muscled no end product.

[RicoS321]

I didn't think he did run about a lot against ICT, I think that's why we missed Hayes so much. It'd be interesting to see the stats regarding metres covered as I thought Pawlett's must have been poor on Monday. Whilst McGinn had a shite game, he was at least tracking back (something he rarely gets credit for, but his position requires a lot of). Interesting to see Church's stats too, as I thought he was laboured and didn't do enough work.

 

In Pawlett's defence, he made some great runs into the box and only on one occasion was it spotted and McLean over-hit the pass slightly. I think he has a lot to offer in that department, but McInnes needs to spend the time on him individually to explain what he wants him to do during a game. He looked devoid of instruction on Monday night. Perhaps he just didn't do as he was told of course, but I think he needs a basic set of instructions drummed into him to get the most out of his obvious attributes. One thing he does well, is plays the pass in front of the player so that they can run on to it as he would expect himself. He's a fantastic player to have on the break, which is possibly why he struggles when teams sit in a bit as seems to be the fashion in football these days.

[ayrshire_don74]

I think he is too thick to take anything on board his decision making substantiates this , rabbit in headlights stuff

[RicoS321]

I think he is too thick to take anything on board his decision making substantiates this , rabbit in headlights stuff

 

Yep, possibly, although he does make some very good runs into space in the box, and off the ball generally. It's mainly when he's got the ball that his head goes down and he charges. That's why I suggested a few simple instructions for him during the game and focus on doing a couple of things consistently and well would be a good start for him. Play him high enough up the pitch so that any mistakes should mean plenty of cover.

[ayrshire_don74]

Hayes out for a month....thats it over and due to Mcinnes insnae recruitment policy we have no cover

[RicoS321]

Hayes out for a month....thats it over and due to Mcinnes insnae recruitment policy we have no cover

 

It would have taken a very good signing in January to replace Hayes. Put another way, we didn't lose anyone (outfield) of any note in January that wasn't replaced. I think the damage was done in the summer with the failure of Parker, McLauchlan, Quinn (relatively) and the prior re-signing of Goodwillie. In January, you're really only expecting a couple of signings maximum due to contract situations. The Tansey thing fucked us over on making two signings. However, I don't think Church was a good enough target. He strikes me as a slightly better Parker, taken in on a whim because he was available rather than because we scouted regularly and identified him. It was obvious a few months ago that Goodwillie wasn't the answer, and I really think we should have had 4-5 replacement targets ready, with a budget available for a fee if required. Perhaps we did, but couldn't secure any of them. I suspect even Tansey was 4th or 5th on our list, and probably only came up after others were ruled out as unavailable.

 

In short, January is probably a difficult window to bring players in, despite our previous successes signing known quantities in Reynolds and Rooney. I reckon Logan was a lucky signing if I'm honest - a punt, like Church, that actually went right for us. I think we were right just to focus on a single midfielder and a striker - we only have limited scouting resource - and take a risk on both defence and goalkeeper. I think we were a touch unlucky not to get our preferred targets. I think that perhaps we need to be ruthless in the summer with regard to Smith and Pawlett and bring in a player that really challenges our first 11 (if neither performs when Hayes is out), something I suspect we didn't have the time or inclination to do in January.

 

 

[manc_don]

It would have taken a very good signing in January to replace Hayes. Put another way, we didn't lose anyone (outfield) of any note in January that wasn't replaced. I think the damage was done in the summer with the failure of Parker, McLauchlan, Quinn (relatively) and the prior re-signing of Goodwillie. In January, you're really only expecting a couple of signings maximum due to contract situations. The Tansey thing fucked us over on making two signings. However, I don't think Church was a good enough target. He strikes me as a slightly better Parker, taken in on a whim because he was available rather than because we scouted regularly and identified him. It was obvious a few months ago that Goodwillie wasn't the answer, and I really think we should have had 4-5 replacement targets ready, with a budget available for a fee if required. Perhaps we did, but couldn't secure any of them. I suspect even Tansey was 4th or 5th on our list, and probably only came up after others were ruled out as unavailable.

 

In short, January is probably a difficult window to bring players in, despite our previous successes signing known quantities in Reynolds and Rooney. I reckon Logan was a lucky signing if I'm honest - a punt, like Church, that actually went right for us. I think we were right just to focus on a single midfielder and a striker - we only have limited scouting resource - and take a risk on both defence and goalkeeper. I think we were a touch unlucky not to get our preferred targets. I think that perhaps we need to be ruthless in the summer with regard to Smith and Pawlett and bring in a player that really challenges our first 11 (if neither performs when Hayes is out), something I suspect we didn't have the time or inclination to do in January.

 

Excellent summary and pretty much my thoughts on the matter. You never get value for money in January, we've been fortunate with both Logan and McLean. But obviously with McLean we had to part with substantial cash (for us) to secure one of Scotland's best prospects.

[ayrshire_don74]

I said at time we should have enquried about David Templeton he has outstanding with Hearts and a far superior to Pawlett, also a proper loan signing may have helped , I fail to see why we couldnt have unearthed someone

[RicoS321]

I said at time we should have enquried about David Templeton he has outstanding with Hearts and a far superior to Pawlett, also a proper loan signing may have helped , I fail to see why we couldnt have unearthed someone

 

Templeton was just like Pawlett and every other young player (Fraser, Gauld etc). Storms on to the scene and catches the eye, but once defenders work out how to play them quickly fade into obscurity. Doesn't even get a game for der hun, and certainly isn't superior to Pawlett - pretty much the same I'd say. Also, I'm not convinced that a player who moved down to the bottom tier of Scottish fitba to further his career is someone we should have anywhere near our club.

[manc_don]

According to the EE he is likely to return next tuesday!

 

Aberdeen FC were today handed a fitness boost with winger Jonny Hayes set to return to action ahead of schedule.

 

Hayes is on course to return from a hamstring tear in next Tuesday’s Premiership clash against Partick Thistle in Glasgow.

 

The 28-year-old sustained the injury in the 3-1 defeat to Inverness Caley Thistle  two weeks ago.

 

It was initially feared Hayes would be out for a month but Dons boss Derek McInnes today confirmed the play-maker is closing in an earlier than expected return.

 

The winger will still miss tomorrow’s New Firm derby clash at Dundee United, the Premiership’s bottom club.

 

Hayes imminent return is a welcome boost with star striker Adam Rooney ruled out for six weeks with a torn thigh muscle.

 

Rooney has netted 19 goals for the Dons this season.

 

McInnes said: “Jonny is really improving and hopefully we will get him for the next game against Partick Thistle.

 

“He is not back training yet but is running with the physios and coming along nicely.

 

“It is looking likely that he could be back against Partick.

 

“Jonny still has a bit of work to do and we need to make sure we get him back training first before we can be totally confident on that.

 

“But he is certainly going the right way and the physio John Sharp has done a great job with him.”

 

Midfielder Craig Storie, 20, who recently signed a two-year contract extension until summer 2018 has also returned having missed the 1-1 draw with St Johnstone through injury.

 

Right back Shaleum Logan returns having served a one game suspension against Saints.

[Tyrant]

Odds of him pulling up against Partick? Short. Let's not rush him back, eh.

[Stewart]

Odds of him pulling up against Partick? Short. Let's not rush him back, eh.

 

Celtic away around 12 months ago springs to mind.

[manc_don]

Celtic away around 12 months ago springs to mind.

 

If he's fit, great, but I don't think we're going to be doing much further in the league, we've fucked it too many times. Hardly seems worth the risk.