County vs Dons

[DantheDon]

Consi's next match for us will be his 500th club appearance. Over the years he's had his detractors.....but his service can not be questioned and seems to have improved with age. I'm not sure we will ever see another player reach this milestone.

 

I don't think its impossible for a player to do it again, it just depends on the circumstances. Considine has managed it partly because of his loyalty, but also because he never stood out and therefore probably hasn't had that many options to go elsewhere. I think the less hes played at left back the better as he doesn't have the pace to play there and that's one of the main reasons hes doing much better these days. He has always been a relatively consistent performer but even now hes not one of our better players.

[LA-Don]

I don't think its impossible for a player to do it again, it just depends on the circumstances. Considine has managed it partly because of his loyalty, but also because he never stood out and therefore probably hasn't had that many options to go elsewhere. I think the less hes played at left back the better as he doesn't have the pace to play there and that's one of the main reasons hes doing much better these days. He has always been a relatively consistent performer but even now hes not one of our better players.

 

Had this debate the other day, Considine isn’t good enough for our starting 11, or shouldn’t be. And this has been the case for years. He was gash at left back 2-3 seasons ago and we were all crying out for a proper left back. Shinnie had been moved to center mid so we signed Lowe. Now we have Leigh. If it had gone to plan Devlin and McKenna would be our two in the middle, but injuries and loss of form have affected that. I can’t fault Andy’s commitment and loyalty but he almost plays by default, injuries, loss of form to the recognized starters, or poor transfers and us not having a left back. He’s so slow and gets killed at left back and in central defense has to be so tight or he gets burned for pace, and when the forward gets the ball and is able to go at him he usually dives in and it’s a foul.

 

Pre Lowe, Shinnie was moved to center mid mainly because we were shite in there and we hadn’t effectively replaced Jack Flood Robson etc. Had it gone to plan Shinnie would have been left back and Reynolds (injury fucked him) and Taylor/OConnor is the middle. As mentioned, Andy’s not that great so we never really got offers for him but he’s not been intended to be a regular starter for years. 500 games now, funny old game.

[TheDeeDon]

At centre half I don't think Considine is that bad a player and don't see him as any worse at centre half than Devlin or McKenna. I would say for the vast majority of his near 500 games he has hardly let us down in the grand scheme of things.

 

Playing at LB is not his fault, that is where the managers played him a lot of the time and against lesser teams he does fine, put a bit of pace against him and we are screwed, but that is a management failing, fair enough as a stop gap and injuries dictate, but otherwise poor management.

 

We have had a lot of shyte playing for us over the years, but for me Considine, at centre half, is not near that list.

[RicoS321]

Considine is ace. A proper Dandy. He's also good at fitba. I mean, he can actually control and pass a ball and not panic and hoof it out unlike the majority of other defenders we've had in his time here (I'm including Devlin in that, and definitely Reynolds). He'd get into any of the teams below us in the league and he's shown that he's good enough for our first team over a sustained period. Every year he's been here, there have always been far more pressing issues than replacing Considine, and he's been in the top 5 or 6 performers every season since Brown turned up. He started getting better as soon as he learned he needed to be aggressive and play to his strengths and that in turn helped his confidence in the tackle and on the ball after an early career of getting knocked about by much smaller players. He had a couple of great seasons at left back, which allowed Shinnie to fill a massive hole in our midfield. It was becoming obvious by the season before Lowe arrived that we could improve the team by getting Considine back to central defence, but I'd argue that was really only for games against the Huns and Tims, as Considine was more than good enough against the rest. The problems against the scum usually occurred because of a change in tactic (justified or otherwise), where Considine would be added to the left of a back three rather than a fullback, thus increasing the distance between him and the wide player or leaving a huge gap behind. Anyone that's ever played football knows that doing that to a player who's weakness is pace will end in disaster. Games that we challenged the scum or beat them were when Considine played as part of a normal back four unsurprisingly.

 

The problem that we have now is that McKenna is a better player and Leigh is a better left back. Considine is okay as cover for left back, but we're not nearly the team we were a few seasons back where we can comfortably support that from the rest of the pitch so Leigh needs to be there every week barring injury. I think Considine has been better than Devlin this season (and I'd say our most consistent performer this season), but I don't think Considine on his wrong foot is better than Devlin so I don't think he should start there barring injury either. I think we have him on the bench when everyone is fit knowing that we're covered for every position across the back apart from right back.

[LA-Don]

Considine is ace. A proper Dandy. He's also good at fitba. I mean, he can actually control and pass a ball and not panic and hoof it out unlike the majority of other defenders we've had in his time here (I'm including Devlin in that, and definitely Reynolds). He'd get into any of the teams below us in the league and he's shown that he's good enough for our first team over a sustained period. Every year he's been here, there have always been far more pressing issues than replacing Considine, and he's been in the top 5 or 6 performers every season since Brown turned up. He started getting better as soon as he learned he needed to be aggressive and play to his strengths and that in turn helped his confidence in the tackle and on the ball after an early career of getting knocked about by much smaller players. He had a couple of great seasons at left back, which allowed Shinnie to fill a massive hole in our midfield. It was becoming obvious by the season before Lowe arrived that we could improve the team by getting Considine back to central defence, but I'd argue that was really only for games against the Huns and Tims, as Considine was more than good enough against the rest. The problems against the scum usually occurred because of a change in tactic (justified or otherwise), where Considine would be added to the left of a back three rather than a fullback, thus increasing the distance between him and the wide player or leaving a huge gap behind. Anyone that's ever played football knows that doing that to a player who's weakness is pace will end in disaster. Games that we challenged the scum or beat them were when Considine played as part of a normal back four unsurprisingly.

 

The problem that we have now is that McKenna is a better player and Leigh is a better left back. Considine is okay as cover for left back, but we're not nearly the team we were a few seasons back where we can comfortably support that from the rest of the pitch so Leigh needs to be there every week barring injury. I think Considine has been better than Devlin this season (and I'd say our most consistent performer this season), but I don't think Considine on his wrong foot is better than Devlin so I don't think he should start there barring injury either. I think we have him on the bench when everyone is fit knowing that we're covered for every position across the back apart from right back.

 

The joys of football and opinion, I don't really see Andy this way. Yes he's a diehard don and fully committed, but in my opinion he's a very limited footballer. To say he's good/ace at football is vague, not quite sure what he excels at other than effort. He's slow and gets exposed, and fouls his marker almost every time. He has to be aggressive because if he gives his man space he gets torched, so ends up being stupid and overly aggressive giving away so many needless fouls. When we give away penalties and I don't watch the game I tend to assume it's an Andy fuck up.

 

He'd probably get into the teams below us but mainly because we are in a shit league and the standard of player is possibly at an all time low (see the national team and it's lack of central defenders, it's a really weak position too.) I'd expect him to get exposed even more with weaker players around him. He's playing because of McKenna/Devlin being injured or off form, prior to that played left back because Shinnie got moved to help our shit midfield (he had great seasons at left back, I never saw that, quite the opposite but Hayes and McGinn helped his weaknesses IMHO). Lowe was signed to bench Andy and Devlin signed to partner McKenna. Prior to filling in for Shinnie he took over from an injured Reynolds. He's a back up that has stepped in when needed. He tries really hard but he's limited and your last line is spot on - he should be a bench player who fills in only when needed.

 

Modern day Brian Irvine?? Loads of heart and effort, fans favorite, a few goals, but plenty of mistakes and very limited.

[rocket_scientist]

Some opinions on Considine haven't changed since the start... because they were spot on to begin with. This was from almost 12 years ago: -

 

When he plays well I think it's fair to say that he's a better player/prospect than Anderson was at that stage of his career. Of course that doesn't mean he'll turn into a similar player Russell became, but I think the potential is there. However, how long can we go with the guy making some horrendous errors?  I think he should be played as a centre half and a centre half only. He's getting shifted about the defence and it's not fair on the guy.

 

He is what he is. You don't win leagues with guys like him in the team.