Dons - Hertz

[manc_don]

Last game before the winter break, hopefully get a great crowd for this one. Decent record against them and I’d imagine they’ll set up similarly to Partick and try to frustrate us except they’ll be better on the break. Think Stewart more then deserves to keep his place, as did gms. Has there been any news on consi? Hopefully none of those that appeared to struggle towards the end have anything serious

 

Lewis

Logan arnie McKenna Shinnie

Aoc

Stewart McLean christie gms

Rooney

[LA-Don]

I may get pelters for this and I hate the endless juggling of line ups and formations but if Considine is injured I’d be tempted to go 3-5-2. Think this is a game that requires Shinnie in midfield, plus we’re better with him in there anyway. Hearts will be physical/aggressive and I’d not blood Harvie for this one.

 

Either -

 

Lewis

Logan Arnie McKenna considine

AOC Shinnie

Christie Stewart GMS

Rooney

 

Noted it won’t happen as McLean won’t be dropped.

 

Or

 

Lewis

Arnie Reynolds McKenna

Logan McLean AOC Shinnie GMS

Christie

Rooney

 

The 3-5-2 is harsh on Stewart being man of the match against thistle but he can’t be a wing back with his mobility, and Christie doesn’t track back as well as GMS.

 

Regardless, 2-1 us, Christie and Rooney.

[Ten Caat]

Reynolds?? Did you get a bottle of mega strength absinthe for Xmas?

 

Fartz are the most physical team in the league bar none and really should be plying their trade in rugby union. Reynolds should be plying his trade in Swan Lake.....

[LA-Don]

Reynolds?? Did you get a bottle of mega strength absinthe for Xmas?

 

Fartz are the most physical team in the league bar none and really should be plying their trade in rugby union. Reynolds should be plying his trade in Swan Lake.....

 

 

So if Considine is out what is your solution? Totally agree about your Hearts physicality comment which is why we need Shinnie in midfield. A midfield of GMS Christie Stewart McLean will get blown away by the north wind and O'Connor looks like he's running in sand. Shinnie is huge for us in there. If we dominate in midfield Reynolds is less of an issue.

 

Obviously adding a new left back and a strong central midfielder this window would be huge...

[manc_don]

 

So if Considine is out what is your solution? Totally agree about your Hearts physicality comment which is why we need Shinnie in midfield. A midfield of GMS Christie Stewart McLean will get blown away by the north wind and O'Connor looks like he's running in sand. Shinnie is huge for us in there. If we dominate in midfield Reynolds is less of an issue.

 

Obviously adding a new left back and a strong central midfielder this window would be huge...

 

I disagree, we need Shinnie to be able to play at Left Back, he gets booked far too often in the middle of the park. I love his passion but a booked Shinnie just doesn't provide the same level of tenacity.  We need to find a midfielder that will provide us with his drive though, which is sort of what you're saying.

 

Doesn't Reynolds get absolutely bullied by Hearts?  I'm sure that happened last season?

[LA-Don]

I disagree, we need Shinnie to be able to play at Left Back, he gets booked far too often in the middle of the park. I love his passion but a booked Shinnie just doesn't provide the same level of tenacity.  We need to find a midfielder that will provide us with his drive though, which is sort of what you're saying.

 

Doesn't Reynolds get absolutely bullied by Hearts?  I'm sure that happened last season?

 

In an ideal world Shinnie is our left back but then, in my eyes, we need two new central midfielders. For the hearts game though Shinnie has to be in midfield or we’ll get over run from the start.

[manc_don]

In an ideal world Shinnie is our left back but then, in my eyes, we need two new central midfielders. For the hearts game though Shinnie has to be in midfield or we’ll get over run from the start.

 

Absolutely, but that would depend if we were getting rid of mclean in the summer or in jan. if the summer, I’d be happy with a central mid signed to allow shinnie back. But I get your point re this game. Suppose in previous games (this season aside) we had jack fulfilling that role. I hope consi is fit. Rather him than Reynolds play imo.

 

Flag day this Saturday too,  club looking to confiscate a few are they? 

[Garlogie_Granite]

Boring fuckers hearts, no goals against in 5 games, should be 0-0

 

Dons 4-0 (McLean 4)

[donsdaft]

We need to stick to a back four.

 

Reynolds in the middle.

 

https://youtu.be/-gApOfm4qd0

[donsdaft]

Actually, you need to be pretty tough to do that properly.

[TheDeeDon]

ANother tough game coming up. Apparently Considine will be OK for the match today, happy enough with that as wasn't happy with the thought of Reynolds starting, although knowing DM he might still do.

 

Be great to finish off the year with 3 points against this mob, a club I really detest.

 

Looking forward to some good displays from our attacking players who should really be wanting to keep McGinn out of the team with his imminent arrival with some good displays.

2-1 us. Rooney x2

 

COYR

[Jute]

Going by how busy the pub is looks like it will be a decent crowd today. Hopefully Considine is fit to play as think we will need Shinnie's energy in midfield against Hearts. Expect the maroon spoon burners to sit in and try to shitfest their way to 0-0 so we will need to try and get service from wide which has been lacking this season. Shame McGinn cannot play today as he would have made it easier. As long as we are better than we were at Murrayfield.

 

In

Pub

Y

Pub

1-0 Rooney

[BigAl]

Out

In the hoose

Online chat

Battening down the hatches ahead of storm

2-0 (McLean & Rooney)

[Elgindon]

In for this one. Not sure what to expect from Hearts, a bit hot and cold. On our day should be too strong for them if we press them like we can.

 

3 - 1 Dons GMS x2, Rooney x1.

[BigAl]

http://chat.donstalk.co.uk/example/default.html

 

C'mon o'er folks

[manc_don]

Frustrating, especially with the dhims dropping points. How’s we play? Only caught the last 20 mins, Jambo’s were as dirty as ever

[BigAl]

Frustrating, especially with the dhims dropping points. How’s we play? Only caught the last 20 mins, Jambo’s were as dirty as ever

 

Listened on Radio Scotland. They came with a game plan to hit us on the break and it almost worked by the sounds of it. Think they probably had the better chances and on another day we might have lost that game. As in keeping with Hearts teams of old, once the kitchen sink started getting thrown at them they resorted to type and kicked out at anything and everything. Think it was five bookings and a red for them. Dirty hammer throwing Gorgie minky bastards.

Really disappointing outcome with the gruesome twosome both dropping two points.

[donsdaft]

Just saw the second half, typical Hearts game.

 

They missed a couple of sitters on the break.

It would have been a real sickner to lose that.

 

Hopefully McLeans last game, so we can start playing with 11 men.

[LA-Don]

Watched the whole game on red tv. Rooney should have scored and McKenna should have scored a header. Hearts keeper had a couple of big saves, but, as mentioned, Hearts had better chances despite our superior possession.

 

Thought today showed how shit Rooney is. Other than in and around the 6 yard box he provides little or no threat. To get space wide it really helps to have a threatening center forward who makes a defense stay more compact. I hate to beat a dead horse but the difference between Rooney and Moult for example is night and day.

 

Our attacking play is predictable, but having no serious threat from a center forward other than his poaching hurts us. As a result we go sideways and backwards a lot, or have penetrating midfield runs, but because we have no serious direct threat we allow teams to get back and get organized. We didn’t threaten Hearts that much as a result and had few serious scoring chances.

[TheDeeDon]

A little bit more compsure in the box and we take the 3 points simple plenaty of effort today by the team and the consistent fouling by Hearts was frustrating.  Would have been a huge injustice if Hearts stole the 3 points, they did create some chances through hitting us on the break, but their finishing was woeful and a great save from Joe in the first half kept it even when it looked easier to score.

 

Hearts are a fucking horrible footballing team and should have lost more than 1 man, but they were fortunate the incompetent Beaton was the man in charge today and he played the incompetent part well.

 

Felt a bit sorry for Greg Stewart not starting today, he didn't deserve to be benched after such a good shift on Wednesday night.  I would have dropped O'COnnor instead.

 

I thought Logan was honking today in the first half.

 

Great to see Niall on the pitch before the game started

 

for 2018 I really hope we can get Christie signed up on a deal, he really is a fantastic player I love his drive and determination and willingness to try things, sometimes he tries to hard, but you have to remember he is only a youngster and will only get better with age.

[Ten Caat]

Agree we should do our utmost regarding signing up Christie permanently

 

However he is 22, turning 23 in under 2 months. On no account should he be considered a youngster now.

 

In '83 we had Black, Simmie, Cooper and Hewitt all considerably younger winning European trophies....

[Elgindon]

We were a wee bit unlucky not to take more from the game. Hard going when there's 10 men behind the ball. Final ball could have been better, and we needed to be more inventive with our runs and build up a play, which was too predictable/obvious as mentioned.

Defence was pretty solid, Logan moments aside, hope fully a fit May and Mcginn can help  unlock the stuffy defences

[A llad insane]

Hard to play against sides like that,whos only objective is to stop you playing, although they had 2 good chances we had enough of our own to win that game.  Good crowd,only 1,000 from them though.

Really surprised Soutar wasnt red carded for persistant fouling. Levein doesnt think Laffalot should've been sent off (what planet is he on )?

Top dons for me, Lewis,Shinnie,Arnason,Christie & McKenna.

I thought young Scott McKenna was totally solid & my m.o.t.m.

Think Niall might have made a difference to us today.

[LA-Don]

Hard to play against sides like that,whos only objective is to stop you playing, although they had 2 good chances we had enough of our own to win that game.  Good crowd,only 1,000 from them though.

Really surprised Soutar wasnt red carded for persistant fouling. Levein doesnt think Laffalot should've been sent off (what planet is he on )?

Top dons for me, Lewis,Shinnie,Arnason,Christie & McKenna.

I thought young Scott McKenna was totally solid & my m.o.t.m.

Think Niall might have made a difference to us today.

 

Totally agree with you regarding McKenna, played very well and I thought was clearly MOTM, plus there was a point where the camera focused in on him barking out instructions. Confident and vocal, long may his play and progress continue.

 

We relied on the counter attacking pace in recent years with Hayes and McGinn. GMS gives that but isn't as consistent, hopefully that will come. Stewart does not and we've really struggled to break down teams this year yet DM doesn't appear to have altered tactics. Certainly think McGinn and GMS will give us that greater threat, plus a healthy May up top will stretch defenses. McGinn and May can certainly switch roles too so I'm intrigued to see how that front 3 plays out.

 

For what it's worth, I thought the Lafferty foul was a booking, not a straight red. A clear foul but didn't injure the guy, not the last man, and I was surprised he went. I know if it was a don that was red carded for that we'd feel agrieved.

[Jute]

Watched the whole game on red tv. Rooney should have scored and McKenna should have scored a header. Hearts keeper had a couple of big saves, but, as mentioned, Hearts had better chances despite our superior possession.

 

Thought today showed how shit Rooney is. Other than in and around the 6 yard box he provides little or no threat. To get space wide it really helps to have a threatening center forward who makes a defense stay more compact. I hate to beat a dead horse but the difference between Rooney and Moult for example is night and day.

 

Our attacking play is predictable, but having no serious threat from a center forward other than his poaching hurts us. As a result we go sideways and backwards a lot, or have penetrating midfield runs, but because we have no serious direct threat we allow teams to get back and get organized. We didn’t threaten Hearts that much as a result and had few serious scoring chances.

 

Being very unfair on Rooney. He was again played on the wing today with McLean through the the middle. Never been his game. We need to get back to playing him as the central striker. When we play himthrough the middle he scores goals. We should be looking at others in the team for lack of creation.