North Tonight....

[Montana]

TY to A1 on the suicide board for the heads up.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/scotland/article3379230.ece

 

Will the real Aberdeen please stand up. That will be Jimmy Calderwood’s demand as he gathers his players in the Easter Road dressing-room before tomorrow’s Clydesdale Bank Premier League game against Hibernian.

 

For, despite Aberdeen’s sparkling performance during their “in-your-face†approach to Thursday night’s Uefa Cup draw with Bayern Munich at Pittodrie, the manager was still at a loss yesterday to explain their inconsistency on the domestic front.

 

Their failure to string together a run of results was, he conceded, as frustrating a part of his or any other manager’s job, and while the smile was back on his face following a memorable 2-2 draw with the stars of Bayern, his thoughts were firmly on climbing the league table in order to once more finish third and compete in next season’s Uefa Cup competition.

 

“We have had no consistency whatsoever in our team selections and none in our game,†he said. “It’s very frustrating because we have always been consistent since I came here. It drives you mad, although much of it has to do with the injury situation. We haven’t had a settled side all season.â€

 

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It was teenagers Josh Walker and Sone Aluko, Aberdeen’s goalscorers on Thursday, who grabbed the headlines in a gritty and thrilling display. Yet, they are players on loan only until the end of the season, from Middlesborough and Birmingham City, respectively, and while Calderwood would love to have the England youth players at Pittodrie much longer, he accepted the unlikelihood of that.

 

“The Premiership is a league of big, physical players,†he added, “and they are not ready for that at the moment. Football-wise they are but it is perhaps too physical for them.

 

“Some people think you are on a jolly when you travel to England in midweek to watch all these games but you don’t get back until the middle of the night and you drive through all kinds of weather through The Shap and Kendal and all those kind of places, all in your search for new players. But when you get two jewels like Josh and Sone then it’s worthwhile, and there will be a few more.

 

“That kind of market is good. John Hughes has used it at Falkirk and picked of Anthony Stokes from Arsenal and he was later sold by Arsène Wenger for £2 million.

 

“Josh and Sone will go back down the road as better players and it is ideal for Scottish clubs at our level and ideal for their own clubs.â€

 

Aluko, used sparingly since his arrival, was the man of the match against Bayern and has proved hugely popular with the Aberdeen fans as a winger who can run at defenders and put them on the back foot.

 

The deal with Aberdeen was brokered by Eric Black, a hero of the Pittodrie side that won the Cup Winners’ Cup 25 years ago, who was the Birmingham assistant manager and had Aoluko under his wing.

 

“Eric was a little bit worried about Sone’s strength,†Calerwood added, “though not about his football ability. I spoke to a few people in the England set-up about him and everyone was very positive about him so we decided to bring him here and he’s not done too badly.

 

“The atmosphere in the ground on Thursday night was fantastic and you can’t fail when it’s like that. We had nothing to lose but points to prove to ourselves and to others.â€

 

 

Possibly the most sensible chat Jc has ever spewed out with hints of more class acts to come north fingers crossed...

 

[Cowie]

“The Premiership is a league of big, physical players,†he added, “and they are not ready for that at the moment. Football-wise they are but it is perhaps too physical for them.

 

“Some people think you are on a jolly when you travel to England in midweek to watch all these games but you don’t get back until the middle of the night and you drive through all kinds of weather through The Shap and Kendal and all those kind of places, all in your search for new players. But when you get two jewels like Josh and Sone then it’s worthwhile, and there will be a few more.

 

“That kind of market is good. John Hughes has used it at Falkirk and picked of Anthony Stokes from Arsenal and he was later sold by Arsène Wenger for £2 million.

 

“Josh and Sone will go back down the road as better players and it is ideal for Scottish clubs at our level and ideal for their own clubs.â€

 

 

The deal with Aberdeen was brokered by Eric Black, a hero of the Pittodrie side that won the Cup Winners’ Cup 25 years ago, who was the Birmingham assistant manager and had Aoluko under his wing.

 

“Eric was a little bit worried about Sone’s strength,†Calerwood added, “though not about his football ability. I spoke to a few people in the England set-up about him and everyone was very positive about him so we decided to bring him here and he’s not done too badly.

 

 

 

fully agree with what you said but the quoted paragraph could have been written any time(s)

I think being in europe has helped us getting players like walker - from the prem club view point, playing in a 1st 11 every week with euro games is a very good from their perspective.