Dons v Celtic

[OxfordDon]

Well, that was a wierd experience.

 

79 minutes of that game were an absolute pleasure to watch if only for the amount of fight we showed, if that is how we approach the final then we have a chance. 

 

On the other hand, the first 11 minutes were fecking horrendous and utterly inexcusable.

 

One thing very clear from tonight though, Shay Logan is loving playing for us, and absolutely, 100%, wholeheartedly despises Celtic

[donsdaft]

We need to kick fuck out of them in the first half hour.

 

They don't like it if you face up to them.

[irnbru1903]

 

Nope rolling over in the first ten minutes was typical of us and unforgivable.

[BobbyBiscuit]

We didn't learn anything new tonight.  We can be exceptionally meek against the OF... that's 6 goals conceded in just 14 minutes against them in the last two meetings at home.  Every one of them was avoidable.

Taylor is utter horseshit.  Again, nothing new.  It's been glaringly obvious for 3 years now.

 

Stockley... people will say he led the line well etc, all of that is useless if he misses a header like he did a minute after Hayes had scored. Coupled with the header at the Bronx that he missed at 0-0... it matters not a jot if he leads the line well if he misses clear cut chances like that.  Say what you like about Rooney, but I would have bet my right arm on him scoring on both occasions.

 

McLean... playing well, dominating midfields... absolutely no end product. Rarely assists, even rarer he scores. In fact, it's rare the cunt even troubles the goalkeeper. Two chances tonight, no one near him, from at most 16 yards out, didn't even come close to making the goalkeeper work. We can't afford that against a team like Celtic. Both times was just piss poor technique, which, for a player who is so obviously blessed with good technique in terms of passing, positional play etc, is just mind boggling.

 

We had the chances to win it tonight, but as long as we defend as we did, we're never giving ourselves a chance. We looked terrified from the kick off. The ball inside Considine in the first minute which led to the corner for the first has been played a thousand times by Celtic against Consi in that position... that he is still unable to defend against this, that we are still unable to defend against that is ridiculous.  Could be another long afternoon at Hampden for Consi I fear.

[baggy89]

We didn't learn anything new tonight.  We can be exceptionally meek against the OF... that's 6 goals conceded in just 14 minutes against them in the last two meetings at home.  Every one of them was avoidable.

Taylor is utter horseshit.  Again, nothing new.  It's been glaringly obvious for 3 years now.

 

McLean... playing well, dominating midfields... absolutely no end product. Rarely assists, even rarer he scores. In fact, it's rare the cunt even troubles the goalkeeper. Two chances tonight, no one near him, from at most 16 yards out, didn't even come close to making the goalkeeper work. We can't afford that against a team like Celtic. Both times was just piss poor technique, which, for a player who is so obviously blessed with good technique in terms of passing, positional play etc, is just mind boggling.

 

We had the chances to win it tonight, but as long as we defend as we did, we're never giving ourselves a chance. We looked terrified from the kick off. The ball inside Considine in the first minute which led to the corner for the first has been played a thousand times by Celtic against Consi in that position... that he is still unable to defend against this, that we are still unable to defend against that is ridiculous.  Could be another long afternoon at Hampden for Consi I fear.

 

The best thing about Shinnie is the Tims are scared of him. They're not scared of Considine. Considine would hurt them, and get punished. Shinne, well... lets just say he hurts them but no one sees it. THAT is how good he is.

 

Stockley... people will say he led the line well etc, all of that is useless if he misses a header like he did a minute after Hayes had scored. Coupled with the header at the Bronx that he missed at 0-0... it matters not a jot if he leads the line well if he misses clear cut chances like that.  Say what you like about Rooney, but I would have bet my right arm on him scoring on both occasions.

Is that not the confidence of a striker playing week in week out?

[BobbyBiscuit]

The best thing about Shinnie is the Tims are scared of him. They're not scared of Considine. Considine would hurt them, and get punished. Shinne, well... lets just say he hurts them but no one sees it. THAT is how good he is.

 

Genuinely no idea what that's in reference to. But, aye, cool.

 

Is that not the confidence of a striker playing week in week out?

 

Possibly. Is that not more reason to start the cunt against the best team in the league?

 

Just a thought, like....

[tlg1903]

Say what you like about Stockley but the Celtic cb's really did not like playing against him.

Goal one was Taylor being Taylor, he has to go.

Goals 2 and 3 had elements of freak about both of them. Logan's clearance could have gone anywhere and 999 times out of 1000 Lewis puts that shot by the post.

Rodgers attempt at mind games after was fairly pathetic

[jess]

Stockley... people will say he led the line well etc, all of that is useless if he misses a header like he did a minute after Hayes had scored. Coupled with the header at the Bronx that he missed at 0-0... it matters not a jot if he leads the line well if he misses clear cut chances like that.  Say what you like about Rooney, but I would have bet my right arm on him scoring on both occasions.

 

McLean... playing well, dominating midfields... absolutely no end product. Rarely assists, even rarer he scores. In fact, it's rare the cunt even troubles the goalkeeper. Two chances tonight, no one near him, from at most 16 yards out, didn't even come close to making the goalkeeper work. We can't afford that against a team like Celtic. Both times was just piss poor technique, which, for a player who is so obviously blessed with good technique in terms of passing, positional play etc, is just mind boggling.

 

Compared to Rooney who came on and did nothing again. Nothing. He also misses chances and isn't scrutinised anything like anyone else is when he does. It's a missed chance forgotten about straight away.

 

Agree completely on McLean and said this during the game. Hardly contributes. The odd Hollywood pass... so what?

[Nips_and_Tatties]

Well i absolutely loved that game (apart from the result of course)

 

Superb entertainment!

 

I tbought mclean was great tbh.

His bringing down balls is superb.he pkayed some great passes too.was one of our best pkayers i thought.

Terrible miss from indide the box near the end.

 

Mcginns missed volley was by far a worse miss.he had a clear shot at goal and typically of him..blows it over the bar!!!!

How many corners will he sky to the back post.some pretty shocking overhit crosses and corners by him i thought.

 

reynolds- stop collecting the ball and thumping it up to the edge of their box for 3 defenders to head back to celtic players when you have plenty space and time ffs.

 

Absolute stonewall penalty.

How the ref didnt see it is passable.how the linesman on the right unblinded side didnt see it is extraordinary.

 

Lewis- terrible goalkeeping for their griffiths' goal.

 

Celtic demolished us in 11 minutes.we looked utter shite and clueless in defence.

 

After that i have no fucking idea how they won tbh.

 

We were the better side and got stuck right into them.

Have to put chances away though.

I thought stockley was very good.he holds up a ball and can dribble a bit too.good to see him on i thought and was very effective.u lucky with missed headed but there were far worse offenders as said above.

 

Oconnor should still always start.played very well.

 

Considine is very good but he was getting taken apart down the left.

 

Great to see the young lads come on.

 

They are are very good side with great talent it has to be said.

 

Its hopefully going to be a similar game in the final apart from the first 11 minutes.

 

Great fight lads and unlucky.

 

 

[donsdaft]

That's a very well but those first 11 minutes did exist.

 

It's likely that I will be back in my car at 3.15 if we have the same start in the cup final.

 

Better we have the weegie press up in arms about our "disgraceful" tactics.

 

 

 

Kick the bastards lads or you'll end up losers.

[manc_don]

That's a very well but those first 11 minutes did exist.

 

It's likely that I will be back in my car at 3.15 if we have the same start in the cup final.

 

Better we have the weegie press up in arms about our "disgraceful" tactics.

 

Kick the bastards lads or you'll end up losers.

 

Missed the game last night so watching it back now.  First 11 was frankly embarrassing, regardless of the following 79 which was entertaining, it was dead. Consi returned to his shite old self against them.  Someone needs to find all the shinnies and Hayes' in the world. We'd be fine.

 

What a goal by Hayes, McInnes, the team, need to wake the fuck up and realise they need to start like they did from the kick off after the third from the start. It's not fucking difficult.

 

Oh and Stockley, fuck me, what a shitey miss for that header before their third.

 

Can't say I'm sad i'm missing the cup final, if that's the standard fare we're seeing against the cheeks. McInnes needs to stop shitting the bed against them, team included.

[RicoS321]

It was actually quite an enjoyable game in the end I thought. Agree with most of what was said, just a shambles from the start. Most of the team then settled down and stopped dicking about. However, Reynolds and Taylor just didn't settle at all. Considine had a poor start, but quickly got back on it and had an alright game. The nutmeg on Reynolds was just embarrassing, and that seemed to rattle him a little. He can normally be relied on positionally, but he was all over the place last night. Taylor was just his usual. Was pretty close to the Shinnie penalty call, and I think the ref got it right. Football's a contact sport and just because you get touched doesn't make it a foul.

 

I think we need to go with that back four for the next couple of games, get them working together with a view to the final - no fucking about with the shape. I think we did enough in the game last night to give the players confidence ahead of the final. We were good for large spells of that game and showed that when we press them high up they panic. We'll have to wing it a little in defence as they're very good on the break. Good to hear McInnes bemoaning the penalty decision though, we need every bit of positive anger we can get. Shay will have done wonders in that regard to, loved his reaction. What was really interesting was their second half tactics. They sensed they were on the ropes a little and slowed the game down at every opportunity (Gordon especially). They were really negative for a team winning the league at a canter. That should give us a lot of confidence. Overall we showed the fight and battle that gives us a little hope for the final. A good win against the huns will give us a bit of confidence too.

[TheDeeDon]

Well after the shock of the opening 10 minutes, which I will not comment on as enough has been said already, I actually quite enjoyed that and thought we played very well. I actually believe we were the better team after the opening 12 minutes and should have scored more, but we need to be more clinical in front of goal and stop dithering trying to make that extra pass which is just not required. Strange though it seems and although I thought Stockley played well enough I though Rooney may have suited the game after we started having a go at them, as we created chances in the box just nobody in the right place. Stockley also appears to be a marked man now, refs give him nothing.

 

PLayer wise, SHinnie was my MOTM, his sheer drive and determination are exemplary and we need many more like him to make us a real force. I thought O'Connor done well in the middle and covered a lot back in defence in the second half also. Johnny scored a peach of a goal and fought like fuck for the cause, even Niall played well enough against them and that is something I have not said about him previously in these games. McLean was very wasteful at time and probably should have scored, if we could just add more goals to his game it would be a bonus, why does he always seems to slip on the pitch? I know the pitch isn't good but he seems to suffer more than most??

 

The introduction of the two young lads was McInnes at his worst. SOrry, but these lads will have taken nothing from their brief introductions and highlights, for me, the major blemish on his record.

 

I thought the ref was poor, you don't expect much when you play these cunts, but I am of the opinion they do get a huge helping hand from our officials and have the audacity to complain whenever something never goes their way. SHinnie got a back challenge on him near the end of the game and their player feigned injury and got away with what I believe should have been a booking. WOuldn't have been so bad, but he was not the only one guilty of that last night in a hooped jersey.

 

What I learned from the night was...

 

They are very much beatable, but we have to play like we did after the opening 12 minutes to stand a chance in the final. Our defence is a huge concern though.

 

Did they guy at half time say we still had 9000 tickets to sell for the final or was I hearing things?  The tannoy at the Merkland end sometimes isn't the greatest.

 

We really need a new defence pairing in the summer badly.

 

The boy Roberts who plays for Celtic on loan looks very much like a weegie tink.

 

I really hate Celtic Football Club with a passion and their fans. As my 10 year old said, they don't sing much when they are being outplayed.

[tom_widdows]

In terms of yon tic fans the bit tgat summed them up for me was in the 92nd minute when they refused to give the ball back. The cynic in me says this may have been partly down to Logan being the player who was going to take the throw in.

I really did enjoy logan chucking the ball off the back of griffiths head too

 

[TheDeeDon]

In terms of yon tic fans the bit tgat summed them up for me was in the 92nd minute when they refused to give the ball back. The cynic in me says this may have been partly down to Logan being the player who was going to take the throw in.

I really did enjoy logan chucking the ball off the back of griffiths head too

TYpical theiving weegie minks with the ball towards the end. Logan is ace, a superb attitude and a player I really like having in our team.

[Nips_and_Tatties]

Mclean backtracked quite a number of times too and defended as did Shinnie.

Obviously trying to impress Strachan me thinks.

 

I think Stockley isn't getting enough credit here.

 

He is far more effective than Rooney in these games.

 

Someone mentioned it may have been a good idea to put Storey on to inject more pace and space. Agree with this.

Around the 70 minute mark and take McGinn off.

 

It's going to be a long 90 minutes in the cup.

 

We may even play better if they score early on again.

 

We shouldn't need to concede a goal to give us a boot up the erse though.

[manc_don]

Stockley's miss was unforgivable, however his other play was generally pretty good and I actually agree with Sutton, he gave the celtic back line a torrid time.  Problem is, we need a striker that scores...

[Dunty]

I watched it with a Celtic fan, and at 3-0 he was laughing his head off and saying "this will just be like Tynecastle and Ibrox, we'll go on and hit five here".

 

The fact that from that point on we were the better team gives us some credit. It's easy to say Celtic had the game won and took their foot off the gas, but Celtic have been relentless this season and, the Celtic fan again, admitted we'd caused them more problems than he'd seen any team do for a while. Celtic were timewasting with 20 minutes to go and a two-goal lead. They were trying to take the sting out of the game because we were giving them an uncomfortable night.

 

Despite losing it gives me some hope for the final. Play like that and we'll give them a game, but what worries me is Taylor and Reynolds - they are not good enough. Unfortunately at least one of them has to play in the final.

[OxfordDon]

The introduction of the two young lads was McInnes at his worst. SOrry, but these lads will have taken nothing from their brief introductions and highlights, for me, the major blemish on his record.

 

Bit harsh min, this was our last game at home this season, and in the case of the the 16yrold lad, it was probably his reward for how he has performed in the youth team. 

 

I think he at least will have taken loads from the experience of running out in front of a full Pittodrie for the first time, even for only 5 minutes.

 

Thank christ that's the last we'll see of that pitch though, we lost so many chances from slips.

[Elgindon]

 

As long as we show that attitude,from the start,theres hope.Can only wish Taylor and Reynolds have learned what not to do ahead of the final  Could be interesting....

[RicoS321]

Mclean backtracked quite a number of times too and defended as did Shinnie.

Obviously trying to impress Strachan me thinks.

 

I think Stockley isn't getting enough credit here.

 

He is far more effective than Rooney in these games.

 

Someone mentioned it may have been a good idea to put Storey on to inject more pace and space. Agree with this.

Around the 70 minute mark and take McGinn off.

 

It's going to be a long 90 minutes in the cup.

 

We may even play better if they score early on again.

 

We shouldn't need to concede a goal to give us a boot up the erse though.

 

The problem with that tactic though is that Storey is pish. If he'd been better at football then I agree it would have been the best option. We don't have that faster option to bring on unfortunately, hopefully we address in the summer. Agree about McLean, I thought he covered a hell of a lot of ground. So much so he was fucked by around 70 minutes and we'd have been better without him from that point on if we'd had a decent sub. Stockley wasn't bad, but was also a little bit fucked and it was the right decision to take him off. Strength in depth was an issue for us last night. We've suffered from being 3-4 years without bringing through capable youngsters, which leaves us with little option on the bench.

 

Regarding our youth, does anyone believe that the 4 on the bench will be good enough to fill our squad by the start of next season? I'm not convinced. We need these guys to be at least as good Storey by now, as we need to get at least a dozen games out of them.

[TheDeeDon]

The problem with that tactic though is that Storey is pish. If he'd been better at football then I agree it would have been the best option. We don't have that faster option to bring on unfortunately, hopefully we address in the summer. Agree about McLean, I thought he covered a hell of a lot of ground. So much so he was fucked by around 70 minutes and we'd have been better without him from that point on if we'd had a decent sub. Stockley wasn't bad, but was also a little bit fucked and it was the right decision to take him off. Strength in depth was an issue for us last night. We've suffered from being 3-4 years without bringing through capable youngsters, which leaves us with little option on the bench.

 

Regarding our youth, does anyone believe that the 4 on the bench will be good enough to fill our squad by the start of next season? I'm not convinced. We need these guys to be at least as good Storey by now, as we need to get at least a dozen games out of them.

 

I do quite like the look of Wright and Ross, but hard to tell how well they would get on if they don't get any meaningful game time. We got rid of Tangoman citing lack of youth development as one of the reasons and all these years later we still haven't really produced any real players of note and our development system appears to benefit the lower leagues more than it does us.  I don't know what the issue is, but it is something which does worry me as a club with our meagre resources should be ensuring every penny we get is spent wisely, but youth development just appears to be a waste of time, effort and money at the money.

 

Like you state in your post Rico, the youth system should be giving the manager options to dwell on instead of basically making up numbers on the bench.

[BobbyBiscuit]

Compared to Rooney who came on and did nothing again. Nothing. He also misses chances and isn't scrutinised anything like anyone else is when he does. It's a missed chance forgotten about straight away.

 

 

Because he has credit in the bank - he is a proven goalscorer. If you genuinely think Rooney would have missed the header Stockley did then fair enough, but to me that was an awful miss and if Rooney was on the park we were right back in that game at 3-2.  But Stockley missed it, 6 yards out, no one near him and pretty much the whole goal to aim at. He missed the fucking target. Just as he did at Ibronx.  Dress it up how you like, but the game is about scoring goals. In two big matches now he has been presented with easy chances which could really have changed the course of the games.  He missed both of them, and missed by miles in relative terms.

 

Rooney isn't a brilliant footballer, but he is, in Aberdeen and SPFL terms, a brilliant striker. By his standard, I would agree he has had a disappointing season, but i would still play him.  A disappointing season which has still yielded 20 goals.

 

If we get the ball into the box for him, he will get us goals.  I see nothing in Stockley which would prompt me to say the same.

 

Stockley will cause teams problems and on the law of averages will get a few goals, and I would love it if one was the winner on the 27th, but i don't think we're giving ourselves the best chance of winning matches with him in there instead of Rooney.

[Chris Frae Killie]

Because he has credit in the bank - he is a proven goalscorer. If you genuinely think Rooney would have missed the header Stockley did then fair enough, but to me that was an awful miss and if Rooney was on the park we were right back in that game at 3-2.  But Stockley missed it, 6 yards out, no one near him and pretty much the whole goal to aim at. He missed the fucking target. Just as he did at Ibronx.  Dress it up how you like, but the game is about scoring goals. In two big matches now he has been presented with easy chances which could really have changed the course of the games.  He missed both of them, and missed by miles in relative terms.

 

Rooney isn't a brilliant footballer, but he is, in Aberdeen and SPFL terms, a brilliant striker. By his standard, I would agree he has had a disappointing season, but i would still play him.  A disappointing season which has still yielded 20 goals.

 

If we get the ball into the box for him, he will get us goals.  I see nothing in Stockley which would prompt me to say the same.

 

Stockley will cause teams problems and on the law of averages will get a few goals, and I would love it if one was the winner on the 27th, but i don't think we're giving ourselves the best chance of winning matches with him in there instead of Rooney.

 

^^ Agree with this entirely. Rooney has had a poor season by his standards and has missed a lot of good chances but has still scored 20. He has just looked low in confidence, he has been getting himself in the right place at the right time but has lacked the confidence to make the killer touch. Stockley seems to be better at making a nuisance of himself but is nowhere near the quality of Rooney when it come to scoring or being in the right place at the right time.

[Tyrant]

The first 11 minutes were an embarrassment. Folk were leaving and it was hard to blame them. The thought crossed my mind myself. I'm glad I didn't in the end. But ffs the players need to play for 90 minutes. We played well against Celtic for almost 80 minutes and we played well against Rangers for almost 80 minutes yet we lost those games 6-1 in total. That is a fucking disgrace. Just because we showed fight when the pressure and fear had subsided doesn't make me particularly hopeful for the final.

 

The other disgraceful thing is the behaviour of the fucking fans towards each other. We're getting pumped and we're all pissed off- I get that. But how fucking dare you take it out on your fellow Dons fans. Fucking cretins behind us having a go at my mate for standing up. But if the folk in front of you are standing up then why should you not stand up so that you can keep following the game? "You're a big lad" doesn't mean you can see through folk's fucking torsos. "If you don't stand up then they won't stand up" is terrific logic if you're talking about folk behind you but not the folk in front of you. Then we were told to "stop greeting about it" when we pointed this out. Thick cunts. Surrounded by them. Infuriating at times. If you're too fat/lazy/old/disabled/injured to deal with standing up and sitting down then fuck off and sit elsewhere.