Match Thread - Sporting v Aberdeen

[royal deeside cowie]

Where did you watch the game, brother? I almost made the journey up but wasn't sure if the Mountain Dew were showing the game. 

[Chris Frae Killie]

12 hours ago, LA-Don said:

Too many calm heads here. I’m raging to be honest. They had their entire preparation shot to fuck! We made that perfectly easy for them. One of the biggest disappointments for me tonight in our return to Europe over the last few years. They were there for the taking. Biggest fuck up was benching Scotty Wright, much of our good attacking play has come from him this season. As I said, stopped watching, did we even lay a finger on them? Saw hedges miss at the end but was that our only real chance? This is the type of performance, not too different to old firm games, where I think the managers negative attitude and tactics kill us. We’re better than we showed tonight but the manager doesn’t let us play.

And if we are that concerned about Logan and Taylor, try to play at the other end of the park where they get least exposed. Easier said than done I know but sitting back only puts pressure on them and eventually highlights our weaknesses.

We had a few decent chances but non to trouble their keeper. I think we did well. It is easy to judge after the match and say we were to defensive and weren't brave enough but the thing that we will never know is, would they have picked us off and ended up hammering us, if we had gone for it? The way they were passing the ball about..  probably. I think we did the right thing, perhaps could've had Wright on a bit sooner may 60 mins rather than 70.

[Chris Frae Killie]

BTW, I don't know if anyone has noticed but year on year, our coefficient has gone up. And with this it is more likely that we will be seeded in the 3rd qualifying round. If we keep doing what we are doing, I.e. getting to the 3rd round each year then we will, soon enough, be seeded and then have a far greater chance of qualifying for the play off round. If you look at a lot of the seeded teams in the 3rd qualifying round, they haven't done much in Europe just been steady qualifiers year on year and had the odd play off round and maybe getting to the group stages. Patience is the game.

[RicoS321]

41 minutes ago, Chris Frae Killie said:

We had a few decent chances but non to trouble their keeper. I think we did well. It is easy to judge after the match and say we were to defensive and weren't brave enough but the thing that we will never know is, would they have picked us off and ended up hammering us, if we had gone for it? The way they were passing the ball about..  probably. I think we did the right thing, perhaps could've had Wright on a bit sooner may 60 mins rather than 70.

Nobody is judging after the match, most would have said it during the game. I mentioned it on here as a prediction of our approach and suggested the changes at halftime. It's the manager's responsibility to act within the game too, not after.

I completely agree that they could have picked us off, but that's exactly the risk that you have to take when you're one behind in an all or nothing game. That's the whole point in football. 1 or 3 for them produces exactly the same outcome. There's no could about it, a manager reading that game effectively would have had Wright on sooner, it was obvious and is an error. It significantly reduced our chances of getting a result, as we prioritised attacking for one third less time. It's quite straight forward.

For me, it's a flaw in McInnes' management and one he should address as we see it repeatedly. It's the managerial equivalent of a keeper not being good with crosses and it should be identified and addressed in exactly the same fashion.

[Panda]

1 hour ago, Chris Frae Killie said:

BTW, I don't know if anyone has noticed but year on year, our coefficient has gone up. And with this it is more likely that we will be seeded in the 3rd qualifying round. If we keep doing what we are doing, I.e. getting to the 3rd round each year then we will, soon enough, be seeded and then have a far greater chance of qualifying for the play off round. If you look at a lot of the seeded teams in the 3rd qualifying round, they haven't done much in Europe just been steady qualifiers year on year and had the odd play off round and maybe getting to the group stages. Patience is the game.

Third/Scottish cup winners this season go straight into the Europa League playoff round (unless something mental happens like the winners of the champions league don't qualify for Europe or something).

Win and we're into the EL group stages. Lose and we're into the Conference League group stages.

So third/winning the cup is massive this season. 

[SeeBass]

If Dundalk beat Faroese friends KI Klaksvik next week and make Group Stage for second time in four years I might cry and stop supporting Aberdeen.  I know they've only got decent results in Iceland, Belarus in 2016, then Andorra, Moldova, over a one legged format 2020 but still it is very embarrassing whichever team in this tie makes it.  Surely KI would be first side from their country to make promised land and yes they got a lucky break when Slovan Bratislava were kicked out for a Covid-19 breach but they've given themselves a chance in Ireland no matter what.   

[BigAl]

1 hour ago, SeeBass said:

If Dundalk beat Faroese friends KI Klaksvik next week and make Group Stage for second time in four years I might cry and stop supporting Aberdeen.  I know they've only got decent results in Iceland, Belarus in 2016, then Andorra, Moldova, over a one legged format 2020 but still it is very embarrassing whichever team in this tie makes it.  Surely KI would be first side from their country to make promised land and yes they got a lucky break when Slovan Bratislava were kicked out for a Covid-19 breach but they've given themselves a chance in Ireland no matter what.   

Not sure why that would drive you to stop supporting Aberdeen.

Personally I think it would be magical for the Faroese team to make it and just goes to show that it's not impossible given the luck of the draw.

Maybe we should be looking at their manager as a successor to McInnes given he would have experience of a higher level European football 

[DantheDon]

5 hours ago, Chris Frae Killie said:

BTW, I don't know if anyone has noticed but year on year, our coefficient has gone up. And with this it is more likely that we will be seeded in the 3rd qualifying round. If we keep doing what we are doing, I.e. getting to the 3rd round each year then we will, soon enough, be seeded and then have a far greater chance of qualifying for the play off round. If you look at a lot of the seeded teams in the 3rd qualifying round, they haven't done much in Europe just been steady qualifiers year on year and had the odd play off round and maybe getting to the group stages. Patience is the game.

Its all changing from next season with the introduction of the Europa League 2. I believe this is meant to cut down on qualifying ties. I havent looked at the format yet, but I presume if we didn't make the Europa league 1 we would cascade into the second one.

[tup1]

The whole thing is a loser's charter. Lose in one, you drop into the other.

Celtic should be out of Europe having lost to Ferencvaros. But no, you get rewarded for losing these days. What a fix. Total crap and not in the spirit of cup football at all.

Edited September 25, 2020 by tup1

[Panda]

37 minutes ago, tup1 said:

The whole thing is a loser's charter. Lose in one, you drop into the other.

Celtic should be out of Europe having lost to Ferencvaros. But no, you get rewarded for losing these days. What a fix. Total crap and not in the spirit of cup football at all.

But then you essentially get punished for being successful. Can just imagine us winning the cup and getting beat in the EL qualifiers, only for the side who finished fourth getting European football until Christmas because they had easier opponents.

Think the new European competition will be great for clubs like Aberdeen. One that qualifies for the EL qualifiers each season but struggle to make much headway. 

I've argued for years though there shouldn't be qualifiers. Make it a group stage from the off. Inverness qualified for Europe for the first time in their history after winning the cup, they got two games v Cluj and then were out, and that was it, may never qualify again.

[tup1]

11 minutes ago, Panda said:

But then you essentially get punished for being successful. Can just imagine us winning the cup and getting beat in the EL qualifiers, only for the side who finished fourth getting European football until Christmas because they had easier opponents.

Think the new European competition will be great for clubs like Aberdeen. One that qualifies for the EL qualifiers each season but struggle to make much headway. 

I've argued for years though there shouldn't be qualifiers. Make it a group stage from the off. Inverness qualified for Europe for the first time in their history after winning the cup, they got two games v Cluj and then were out, and that was it, may never qualify again.

I much preferred the old system which was home and away ties, winner takes all, with no seedings. Groups diluted the competitive element, and this dilutes it further.

Everyone needs to be guaranteed the income to pay their OTT player salaries is the reality.

[royal deeside cowie]

Tuppington brother, just a wee bit of advice. When someone asks you a question its a basic courtesy to answer. You weren't dragged up, pal. Just something to keep in mind. 

[tup1]

27 minutes ago, royal deeside cowie said:

Tuppington brother, just a wee bit of advice. When someone asks you a question its a basic courtesy to answer. You weren't dragged up, pal. Just something to keep in mind. 

Thanks for the advice.

If I thought what you were saying was worth replying to, I'd reply, 'brother'. 

 

[royal deeside cowie]

You need all the friends you can right now, brother. You're out in the cold. After Rocket abandoned you you're out in the cold. Stuck in a goldfish bowl with the Sultans looking in waiting for you to slip up. Rocket is out of control now. A racist, homophobic mutant. The worst of the worst. I need him to come back to you as he is dragging everyone down. You belong together. 

[LA-Don]

6 minutes ago, royal deeside cowie said:

You need all the friends you can right now, brother. You're out in the cold. After Rocket abandoned you you're out in the cold. Stuck in a goldfish bowl with the Sultans looking in waiting for you to slip up. Rocket is out of control now. A racist, homophobic mutant. The worst of the worst. I need him to come back to you as he is dragging everyone down. You belong together. 

Can we stop with the personal attacks before this even goes anywhere? I thought we got rid of that a few weeks ago. I really appreciate the chat and banter here, and certainly appreciate differences of opinions. I talk shite much of the time, and I acknowledge that! But it doesn't need to get personal, not necessary. Take that elsewhere.

[tup1]

Correct LA Don, thank you. This guy has nothing to say about the Dons so I’ll continue to ignore him.

[manc_don]

2 hours ago, tup1 said:

Correct LA Don, thank you. This guy has nothing to say about the Dons so I’ll continue to ignore him.

Thanks for not rising. matter has been dealt with 

[SeeBass]

I was looking at Derek's away record in Europe and from seventeen ties he's only won SEVEN!!  I'd say only Groningen and HNK Rijeka first time around are worth mentioning.  Losing in Cyprus was unforgivable and despite getting through against Luxembourg lot defeat very cringeworthy.   Maribor were there for taking too.      Can just about live where a narrow loss in Kazakhstan concerned given travel squad had to do.  San Sebastian masterclass probably expected.  Burnley doing us in extra-time possibly better than anyone thought.  

 

Fundamentally is our lack of positivity on one's travels where problem ultimately lies?  Lost by a goal to Kairat Almaty, Maribor, Apollon Limassol, Sporting Lisbon and given said issues with latter team all winnable ties for me.  We should have had four shots at Play-Off Round.  We got none.            

[ayrshire_don74]

Linsk pumping them seem to be able to punch above their weight

[SeeBass]

Dundalk have qualified for the Group Stages tonight for second time in four years.  We should be embarrassed my fellow Dandies.  

[LA-Don]

1 minute ago, SeeBass said:

Dundalk have qualified for the Group Stages tonight for second time in four years.  We should be embarrassed my fellow Dandies.  

I don't really agree. Think Sporting who got pumped today would have beaten Dundalk, or the Faroes team, as would we. It's just a fucked up system of the draw and seedings, I think.

[wee toon red]

Dundalk and all the other "diddies" who get near the group stages all benefit from being Champions League dropouts and don't face nearly the standard of team who put us out so it's unrealistic to compare their situation to ours, far less being embarrassed about it.

[tup1]

They scraped a win against a Faroes team. We hammered the Faroes mob 6-0.

So we are miles better than Dundalk is my conclusion.

[DantheDon]

It looks like dundalk got a really lucky draw. However I think the Lask result shows what happens when you have a go. I know lask are probably considered a better team than us, but if we had made the playoff round I would have given us a good chance against them. They put 4 past sporting where as we barely troubled them.

 

[Madbadteacher]

37 minutes ago, DantheDon said:

It looks like dundalk got a really lucky draw. However I think the Lask result shows what happens when you have a go. I know lask are probably considered a better team than us, but if we had made the playoff round I would have given us a good chance against them. They put 4 past sporting where as we barely troubled them.

 

Maybe because their manager isn't quite as spineless when playing "better" sides?