Apollon (Away)

[February1971]

Thought Maynard did ok when he came on and Wright was lively.

Stockley is fuckin awful.

 

Terrible performance against a pretty shite team tbh.

 

 

[Slim]

Video of the fighting at the end:

[RicoS321]

Annoyingly spot on. I disagree with you Rico that Maynard did nothing, he did far more than Stockley did all game. When we actually started playing balls up top he won a few headers and free kicks. Blame has to fall with DM on that one as every man and their dog knew Stockley shouldn't start, let alone stay on as long as he did.

 

Stockley did the same as Maynard for his first 15 minutes on the pitch. Won a few headers, took a few balls down and then did fuck all with it. Maynard was gash, and no way on earth could he have started, because he simply isn't fit enough to play 90 minutes, as was shown by his "effort" in the home game. I suspect that was why Stockley got so long, Maynard is a mile off the pace. Nice ball through to McLean though admittedly. It fairly backs up my suggestion of not playing either of them however, which I thought was pretty fucking obvious.

[LA-Don]

Maynard GMS and Stewart were all thrown in at the deep end. Need time to settle and get fully match sharp with the rest of the boys. We're a fit team, they're not at that standard. Thought Maynard did better than Stockley but neither appear the answer. Harsh on Maynard, time will tell.

[Ten Caat]

Thought Maynard was ok far better than Stockley was. Stewart was honking. I didn't want him before he signed and I don't want him now. He has had one decent season with Dundee...that's his level. First goal root cause was him not even attempting to track back...

 

GMS the jury is out on. Had a few nice touches but end product was pretty poor. I think he will be an ok addition tho.

 

Anyway I'm laying the blame directly at Deek's door. Just think he picked the wrong starting 11...

[BobbyBiscuit]

Stockley did the same as Maynard for his first 15 minutes on the pitch. Won a few headers, took a few balls down and then did fuck all with it. Maynard was gash, and no way on earth could he have started, because he simply isn't fit enough to play 90 minutes, as was shown by his "effort" in the home game. I suspect that was why Stockley got so long, Maynard is a mile off the pace. Nice ball through to McLean though admittedly. It fairly backs up my suggestion of not playing either of them however, which I thought was pretty fucking obvious.

 

Great through ball from Maynard to McLean... I would have expected Maynard to be busting a gut to get on the end of the return, or potential return, but he was nowhere to be seen. Obviously I'm only seeing it on TV, but Maynard certainly wasn't one of the two Dons players in the box.  I think he looks lazy, and that's not just based on that instance there.

 

GMS - has done a lot better for us than I had anticipated but he has a touch of the Joe Millers about him... does the hard part and then crosses to the ballboy at the back post behind the goal.

 

I thought we would have started with Tansey tonight to keep a hold of the ball and try to anchor our midfield.  Even though Tansey wasn't great when he came on i think that's what we needed from the start.

Stockley is absolute shite. He brings us fuck all.

McLean is having as good a start to this season as he did last season.  Let's hope it doesn't take until December for him to get his finger out his arse this time.

 

TV commentators lazily blamed Stewart at the first and while he wasn't great, there is no way Logan should have been tucked in as much as he was. Not sure why we were so tight, especially when we know Stewart's fitness isn't quite there yet and that he isn't the best defensively, there is no way Logan should be leaving that amount of space behind Stewart.  I would lay the blame at Logan's door as much as Stewart's, if not more so.

[donsdaft]

Arnason came on last week and just oozed class.

 

We could certainly have done with his distribution out if defence.

 

 

 

 

The blame though has to rest with with the other Scottish teams who don't give us a real challenge throughout the season.

[manc_don]

Anyway I'm laying the blame directly at Deek's door. Just think he picked the wrong starting 11...

 

Absolutely.  He can't blame anyone but himself. I am also glad that someone else daw Maynard was better than Stockley. We'll agree to disagree Rico. Stockley wad a complete waste of play, Maynard did far more (it wasn't difficult). 

 

Onward and upwards for the league campaigna now. But fuck me. We blew that.

 

P.s. Stewart was awful. There was a moment within the first fee minutes that he tried the same trick he used last week and they sussed it . I said to someone we needed to sub him there and then. It wouldn't work. Annoyingly. It didn't.

[Nips_and_Tatties]

Fucking gutted.

 

 

Get them kicked out for flares

[RicoS321]

Absolutely.  He can't blame anyone but himself. I am also glad that someone else daw Maynard was better than Stockley. We'll agree to disagree Rico. Stockley wad a complete waste of play, Maynard did far more (it wasn't difficult).

 

Nah, yer probably right. Being slightly less pish isn't the answer though. But you and Ten Caat didn't address the fact that there's no way on earth that Maynard would have lasted 90 minutes, or even 45. Basically, I don't think McInnes starting with Stockley over Maynard was really the issue; between a rock and a hard place I'd say. Maynard starting wouldn't have got us through, I'd be surprised if you or Ten Caat believed that.

 

The problem lies with McInnes identifying a target and the board not backing him. We haggled over £100K or some shite, to the point that we're missing out on £100K by not getting through.

[SeeBass]

Has anybody seen or heard about this claim I saw online that the lads were 'out on the drink' last Friday stating tie was finished??

[LA-Don]

Has anybody seen or heard about this claim I saw online that the lads were 'out on the drink' last Friday stating tie was finished??

 

I would highly doubt it. DM is a very professional guy who has implemented a real professionalism around the team as far as I'm aware. We just played shit.

[Nips_and_Tatties]

Just saw the goals.

 

 

Lazy fucking pricks.!!!

 

Shinnie was atrocious at marking both goals.

 

Is he such a superstar now in the team that he can't read the game and defend.too good.

 

They all thought they were good enough to go through IMO.

 

Treated like a semi final?.

 

Bullshit.

 

Apathetic fuckwits.

 

Don't blame the heat..that's shit.

 

Lazy defending fuckers.

 

This is a sore one and going to take a long time to get over.

[TheDeeDon]

I'll be in the minority of 1 who is happy that we are out of Europe. Far too big a distraction for such a small squad as ours with a manager who doesn't like to rotate his players.

 

As for the suggestion above that the heat wouldn't have affected our players, that is just wrong. I came to work this morning it was dull and raining, the sort of conditions our players are used to, playing in that heat last night wouldn't have helped our cause any.

 

We tried last night, but it just wasn't to be. We have to concentrate on the the domestic season now and see if we can go one step further than last season in any of the three trophies left to play for.

 

COYR

[manc_don]

Nah, yer probably right. Being slightly less pish isn't the answer though. But you and Ten Caat didn't address the fact that there's no way on earth that Maynard would have lasted 90 minutes, or even 45. Basically, I don't think McInnes starting with Stockley over Maynard was really the issue; between a rock and a hard place I'd say. Maynard starting wouldn't have got us through, I'd be surprised if you or Ten Caat believed that.

 

The problem lies with McInnes identifying a target and the board not backing him. We haggled over £100K or some shite, to the point that we're missing out on £100K by not getting through.

 

Oh aye, I'd argue at the very least, why not start the way we started last week? Stockley was not the answer when he came on last week and didn't do anything to warrant a start. If you're gonna try something mental, try Storey. As what became apparent, the centre forward position was clearly the weak link against siroki, DM had already identified it, we should have got our man. Absolutely gutted.

[ayrshire_don74]

another managerial clusterfuck from mcinnes

 

1. far too loyal to gutless underachievers ---> Mclean

 

2. Leaves subs too late - wright looked very lively when he came on

 

3. Get Jayden stockley to fuck

 

4. tansey/arnason why buy these guys and not even play them

 

pish

[baggy89]

The blame though has to rest with with the other Scottish teams who don't give us a real challenge throughout the season.

 

^^THIS^^

 

Think McInnes tried to exploit the obvious aerial weakness from last week. Unfortunately that weakness had been worked on and didn't seam a particular weakness last night.

 

We should have started as we finished last week. with Arnason and Reynolds at the back and O'Connor sitting in the holding roll. Let them attack us and exploit the gaps with pace. Instead we seemed to be playing an attacking game based on high balls, against a team we were 2-1 up on. They sat in and hit on the break.

 

Fitness levels also seemed an issue in the humidity. When they broke they did so at full pelt, too often we seemed to track back at 80% only pegging it when we saw their player overtake.

 

Cannot believe we lost to a team whose coach was wearing jeans on the touchline. A shite state of affairs.

[Slim]

If the weather was an issue, then we should have been flying out there a lot earlier than the day before the game to ensure we get a couple of intensive training sessions in that climate under our belt.

 

Considering Arnason has just spent 6 months playing in the Cypriot league with experience of the climate and the atmosphere in the stadiums, and the playing style of the opposition, he should have been starting (assuming he is match fit).

[Nips_and_Tatties]

Why are we playing teams like Abroath etc in the pre match fixtures.

 

We should be playing decent teams from the English leagues.

 

We had won everything up til the game last night.

 

The lads had rested at the hotel and were complacent.

 

So bad!

 

Diddums..it was a bit hot for the poor babies.

 

What was the actual temp last night ?and the percentage of humidity?

 

Theyre playing football for 90 minutes with a break in between and liquids.these guys are athletes.

 

Theyre not shovelling concrete or lifting weights for an hour.

 

We needed just 1 fucking goal.

 

 

[KennyFuckinPowers]

I think in regards to the heat being an issue argument, it only really effects our pressing game. No way could we have played that tactic for the majority of the game, their full backs, but more noticeably, the Left Back Jander, was up and down that flank all evening, whereas Considine got to roughly half way, and played 9 times out of 10 what looked like a rather poor pass.

 

In any case, I am in no way saying he'd have made the difference in getting us through last night, but for me, it shows how much we already miss Hayes. He covered every blade of grass and was so direct it terrified the full backs, their right back was barely beaten last night, I think Stewart & GMS will be good additions, but they are too far off the pace just now and hopefully doesn't take them too long to speed up, Stewart in particular.

[Madbadteacher]

I wasn't there and did not see the game either, but I feel like there's a tad overreaction from some on here maybe?

I'll agree we haven't strengthened to team/squad as much as was needed (for Europe certainly, probably ok for most games in Scotland though) and there are areas that need improvement (or at least more competition for places).

did we fuck up by not splashing out on Moult? I don't know how much of a bunch of canunts Motherwell were being over price (maybe it's the "we don't sell to competition unless you're selikrangers) but we do need to give Maynard (and the other new signings) a chance at least. Didn't help our recruitment was slowed down by the Sunderland saga.

McInnes at fault for not playing Tansey/Arnason? Maybe. I do believe he is too rigid with his selections at times, but there may have been tactical reasons for all I know. As for making MacLean a scapegoat? Again I wasn't there but there does seem to be a certain "agenda" from some of our support (always has been, remember Connor and others before that)

Anyway, Europe is over for another season (and it's not likely to be any better in the near future with UEFA's policy of wanting "big teams" only) so let's get on with the PL now (and hump those Hamilton wankers)

[KennyFuckinPowers]

I wasn't there and did not see the game either, but I feel like there's a tad overreaction from some on here maybe?

I'll agree we haven't strengthened to team/squad as much as was needed (for Europe certainly, probably ok for most games in Scotland though) and there are areas that need improvement (or at least more competition for places).

did we fuck up by not splashing out on Moult? I don't know how much of a bunch of canunts Motherwell were being over price (maybe it's the "we don't sell to competition unless you're selikrangers) but we do need to give Maynard (and the other new signings) a chance at least. Didn't help our recruitment was slowed down by the Sunderland saga.

McInnes at fault for not playing Tansey/Arnason? Maybe. I do believe he is too rigid with his selections at times, but there may have been tactical reasons for all I know. As for making MacLean a scapegoat? Again I wasn't there but there does seem to be a certain "agenda" from some of our support (always has been, remember Connor and others before that)

Anyway, Europe is over for another season (and it's not likely to be any better in the near future with UEFA's policy of wanting "big teams" only) so let's get on with the PL now (and hump those Hamilton wankers)

 

The " overreaction " on here has been far more subtle if non-existent, compared to what I have read on Facebook & Twitter. I love a good to & fro with anyone who I disagree with, but the stuff they were saying was so bad and literally embarrassing, I didn't have it in me to reply to them.

 

Stewart & GMS are pish and never our standard

McInnes still gutted he rejected the Sunderland job his hearts not here anymore

Nicky Maynard better not get back on the flight makes Mackie look decent ( The guy has started one match FFS )

 

Blood was boiling to be honest, however, they are entitled to an opinion as much as I am, even if it's fucking ridiculous.

[donsdaft]

I hope Maynard come good , I really do.

 

But he looks like one of these players who make all the runs, but just a little late.

Who look like they are going to put the tackle in but just miss out.

It could be fitness but it could also be laziness.

 

McLean of course is a complete waste of space and should never be allowed to swan around in a red shirt again.

[KennyFuckinPowers]

I hope Maynard come good , I really do.

 

But he looks like one of these players who make all the runs, but just a little late.

Who look like they are going to put the tackle in but just miss out.

It could be fitness but it could also be laziness.

 

McLean of course is a complete waste of space and should never be allowed to swan around in a red shirt again.

 

Hemmin DD, was it you on Twitter last night with the Maynard comment?  I ken it wasn't min, just jesting. 

[donsdaft]

Nae twits in my family (apart from my brother)

 

Donsdaft is also a facebook free zone.

 

 

Nothing would please me more than Maynard ( or anyone for that matter) scoring freely for the Dons

 

McLean I've never liked although I accept he's just not my favorite type of player.

 

I've nothing against Christie but I do have severe reservations about allowing Celtic to loan out players to other teams in the same division.

The fact that we went and borrowed one of their players is an embarrassment.

But I have I think mentioned this before.