Helen Mirren vs Lesser depleted Dons

[RicoS321]

44 minutes ago, LA-Don said:

Haven't been able to watch much of the last few games, but based on what I have seen and read, maybe harsh to say but we've been pretty much poor since Cosgrove came back into the team. I do feel our style of play has changed and, as you say, looks more like the shit of last year again. You can add the injuries to Watkins, Wright, the Covid players out have hurt, but the style of play has gone backwards.

Can't believe DM didn't sub Ferguson at half time. He pretty much had to play a whole game on a yellow and he's not capable of that. Add to the fact it's his first game back and we've been shit, he's probably a little too anxious for success and not quite match sharp. Poor management here in my eyes.

Down to 10 and playing with Main and Ojo. Sad day. Holding on for a 1-1 against a bottom of the league team. Not inspiring stuff.

Cosgrove has been pap, but we haven't changed our style of play, we've simply lost the connection between Wright and Hedges that was generating a lot of our good play. Cosgrove's return has coincided with the injuries and covid fuck up, coupled with the fact he doesn't look close to being fit. Our style of play was equally as shite with Main and Edmondson on the park and would have been with Watkins. 

The problem, for me, is that McInnes just keeps dicking about with the up front combinations throughout the game as of we're fucking Brazil. Cosgrove hasn't had the same player alongside him for a single ten minute period since he returned. Hayes should have been on the wing to get the most out of Cosgrove, with Hedges close to Cosgrove dropping short and bringing him into play. Kennedy should have been on the bench behind McLennan.

That said, we'd have won that game with eleven men.

[tup1]

55 minutes ago, Jute said:

But it was a penalty. 

I disagree that it was a penalty or a red card.

At 0-1 we were in control. The referee intervened.

[LA-Don]

10 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

Cosgrove has been pap, but we haven't changed our style of play, we've simply lost the connection between Wright and Hedges that was generating a lot of our good play. Cosgrove's return has coincided with the injuries and covid fuck up, coupled with the fact he doesn't look close to being fit. Our style of play was equally as shite with Main and Edmondson on the park and would have been with Watkins. 

The problem, for me, is that McInnes just keeps dicking about with the up front combinations throughout the game as of we're fucking Brazil. Cosgrove hasn't had the same player alongside him for a single ten minute period since he returned. Hayes should have been on the wing to get the most out of Cosgrove, with Hedges close to Cosgrove dropping short and bringing him into play. Kennedy should have been on the bench behind McLennan.

That said, we'd have won that game with eleven men.

I disagree, from what I’ve seen, which is limited so i could be wrong, is that we are much more direct again. Coincides with players out too.

[RicoS321]

Just now, tup1 said:

I disagree that it was a penalty or a red card.

At 0-1 we were in control. The referee intervened.

I'd have given both. They certainly weren't horrendous decisions. The penalty is the result of a shite rule, but it's very much the rule and the ref was right. Ferguson came tanking through the back of his man and my immediate thought was: I hope the ref lets him off the hook here. He didn't. I'd have been raging if one of their players stayed on the park with that shite challenge.

[DantheDon]

Pretty poor form we are in at the moment. Hamilton and St Mirren twice and we come away with two draws and a defeat. I know we are struggling with injurys a bit at the moment but the early season optimism I was feeling has definitely waned. Hopefully just a blip but I could easily see our season turning into a battle from here on in.

[RicoS321]

1 minute ago, LA-Don said:

I disagree, from what I’ve seen, which is limited so i could be wrong, is that we are much more direct again. Coincides with players out too.

We're more direct because the players in front aren't making the same runs. We barely made the quick pass to Cosgrove today, it was always at the end of a laboured left to right and back again passage, and the pass was generally awful. Similar to when Main was on. I mentioned last season (or two seasons ago?) when Wright had a few great games ahead of another injury that his movement was the best part of his game and offered so much more to the players around him than the tricks and pace. It's noticeable that Hedges has played almost exclusively wide since Cosgrove returned too, taking him away from the central partnership with Wright that was working so well. 

It's frustrating, McInnes does this so often. When Anderson was coming off the bench, you thought he could work well with Cosgrove, but he'd take Cosgrove off two minutes later for Main, allowing Anderson to work up a partnership with a fucking rugby player. Hedges and Wright regularly moved apart, similarly Hayes was always going to give Cosgrove his best chance with his runs down the line, as he did with Rooney, but he gets moved up front where he is ineffective. Then he changes it every three minutes thereafter.

Our good performances came with a settled team and not too much dicking about during the game. Hayes, McLennan/Kennedy on their favoured foot wings, with Wright and Hedges close to Watkins was a great setup. Slot a fit Cosgrove into that and it should be an improvement because of Cosgrove's finishing, but he hasn't had that opportunity. He's been pap too, of course, and Watkins would be first choice at present if fit. But I think we'd still struggle to score, because we're not creating.

[dons8321]

53 minutes ago, manc_don said:

Ffs, what truly awful turn of form. It certainly doesn’t help not having some of the creative players out, but that team should be more than capable of putting a few past st. Mirren. We will finish fourth at this rate. Which, given the state of two of the teams above us, is unacceptable.

Ever the optimist!

[BigAl]

3 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

I thought it was a yellow. Deliberate foul from behind when they were on the break. Soft, but a stupid challenge to put in. 

Main on now though, that'll help...

Is correct

 

Incredibly stupid from a young inexperienced player putting the referee ( corrupt bastard) in a position where he has to make a decision

[manc_don]

I hope Cormack has some fucking harsh words planned with the management team. Any of the last three matches alone should have resulted in them already. Wholly unacceptable.

cruising at 1-0, this is what’s wrong with him. We should t be cruising. We should be turning the screw and going for the jugular. 

[BigAl]

27 minutes ago, manc_don said:

I hope Cormack has some fucking harsh words planned with the management team. Any of the last three matches alone should have resulted in them already. Wholly unacceptable.

cruising at 1-0, this is what’s wrong with him. We should t be cruising. We should be turning the screw and going for the jugular. 

In fairness and making no excuses we were never cruising at any point during that game.

We might have got our noses in front and been ahead in terms of possession stats but we were never at any point comfortable in that game

Watched the game on a stream of St Mirren TV ( which was totally shite quality) and they totally bossed the game. Unless I am wrong I believe that they had 24 or 25 attempts at goal

[tom_widdows]

14 minutes ago, BigAl said:

In fairness and making no excuses we were never cruising at any point during that game.

We might have got our noses in front and been ahead in terms of possession stats but we were never at any point comfortable in that game

Watched the game on a stream of St Mirren TV ( which was totally shite quality) and they totally bossed the game. Unless I am wrong I believe that they had 24 or 25 attempts at goal

25 (12 on target) according to the BBC

Dons managed 9 (2 on target) 

[BigAl]

22 minutes ago, tom_widdows said:

25 (12 on target) according to the BBC

Dons managed 9 (2 on target) 

I rest my case young man

Thanks Tom

[RicoS321]

11 hours ago, tom_widdows said:

25 (12 on target) according to the BBC

Dons managed 9 (2 on target) 

Perhaps slightly distorted by going down to ten men? Would be interesting to see those stats at 11 v 11. 

I'm surprised St Mirren are where they are though, they're streets ahead of Hamilton, county etc. They've actually got some decent players. I don't know if they've been suffering with a lot of injuries but they should be higher than they are, easily pushing utd for top six.

[wee toon red]

I've just caught the highlights and there's no way that's a second yellow for Ferguson. The St Mirren guy steps across him and catches him in the face with his elbow as the initial contact so should've been a free kick to us.

[RicoS321]

33 minutes ago, wee toon red said:

I've just caught the highlights and there's no way that's a second yellow for Ferguson. The St Mirren guy steps across him and catches him in the face with his elbow as the initial contact so should've been a free kick to us.

It looks a lot less of a yellow on the BBC coverage than it did watching originally on Red TV it has to be said. The fact that they were on the break, and he wraps his arms around the player suggests a yellow isn't unreasonable, but the player does step back into Ferguson too (something Ferguson does all the time). Given that Ferguson had 3 or 4 fouls after his initial yellow, I immediately expected the ref to book him. If it had have been the other way round, I think we'd have accused the ref of bottling it. To me, if you give the foul, you give the booking as it was to prevent a breakaway. I thought Ferguson looked a little off the pace at the weekend, and I think it showed in the way he approached that challenge (after a shocking pass fae Shay). He ran directly toward the back of Obika instead of aiming to get back in play and approach the player from the front. Ferguson is easily faster than Obika and could comfortably have got back in and faced him up, but it looked to me like he was either concerned by the breakaway (in which case he deserves the booking) or he was too tired to make the extra five yards to cut Obika off further up the park. In doing so, he allowed himself to be had in the way that he does to his opponents on a regular basis.