Dons vs. Helen mirren

[LA-Don]

it’s been a positive first game for kamberi so far, tries to play football. 

im thinking it’s a back 3 with mccrory and Kennedy as wing backs/wide mids. Mccrory is wasted there. Square peg round hole. I’d take Ferguson off and move mccrory central based on what we’ve seen so far, and put a proper winger wide. We know that won’t happen.

[ayrshire_don74]

Why did Hornby take that free kick WTAF

[LA-Don]

Haven’t seen all of the second half but it does look we are getting absolutely zero from the right. Yes conditions are shit but still too much long ball, and surely in the wind that’s harder. Painful watch.

[LA-Don]

Yet to see Kennedy have a good game for us, no where near a quality replacement for mcginn or Hayes. Is mcginn even playing today??

[redordead]

Just get the ball on the dammed floor. It's the easy way to take the wind factor out of the game. Sadly I don't think we capable on the floor.

[LA-Don]

Boring as fuck. Ethan Ross for Kennedy please, McLennan for mcginn. I don’t blame our forwards, service and creativity in the team is shit as usual.

Edited February 13, 2021 by LA-Don

[BigAl]

Hayes has been fucking rank today

[redordead]

Utter shit. Red TV making up bright spots. We were crap. Created nowt, controlled nowt. Yet again failed to score. Really, really not good enough again.

[LA-Don]

9 minutes ago, BigAl said:

Hayes has been fucking rank today

Beat me to it. Had 2-3 times to go wide but doesn’t have the pace any more. Plus saw a st mirren attack where the guy appeared to have him for pace. Without his pace he’s limited, especially in the position he’s being played.

mccrory was a waste in whatever position he was playing. Mcginn anonymous. Ferguson did little today. Kennedy is shit.

I don’t blame our forwards, our midfield is really unimaginative and really lacks flair.....and ability. Did we have an real chances today?

I’d say Campbell and kamberi get pass marks today. That’s it.

as for DM putting Ross on is the 86th minute, go fuck yourself. What do you expect from him at that point??

[Jute]

That was eye bleeding stuff. Why did we punt long balls in to a wind like that. Ball should not have left the ground for 90 minutes. Agree with LA that Kamberi and Campbell get pass marks. Rest were awful today. Kennedy on the left is not working. We need to get him on to right side. As for Red TV guys they were clearly under instruction to talk the game up at all costs. 

[ayrshire_don74]

well that was shite

[RicoS321]

2 hours ago, Jute said:

That was eye bleeding stuff. Why did we punt long balls in to a wind like that. Ball should not have left the ground for 90 minutes. Agree with LA that Kamberi and Campbell get pass marks. Rest were awful today. Kennedy on the left is not working. We need to get him on to right side. As for Red TV guys they were clearly under instruction to talk the game up at all costs. 

There are very few teams who'd have been able to keep the ball on the ground in those conditions today, even the passes along the ground were zipping past or falling short for both sides. You can't just will people to keep the ball on the ground. We'd have lost the game through mistakes trying to play through the midfield as everything needed another touch and a second longer in possession. Going over the top like Campbell did for McGinn in the first half was the way to go, as well as long into the channels. That's why it's inexplicable that Hornby was on the pitch for 77 minutes. Regardless of whether you think he's dogshit or not, that game just wasn't suited to him. You needed Hendry nipping at people and running the channels, not a guy who take six minutes to change direction. The subs epitomised McInnes for me, he just can't do them. Hendry spent 44% as much time waiting to come on as he did on the park. It's staggeringly incompetent management. Really bad. Goodwin had made three subs before we made one. Not because he thought he was being outplayed, but because he thought he could see a way to win. McGinn had a good first half, but it was obvious he was only going to last 55-60 minutes, so get Hendry on at half time so McGinn can feed off the scraps that might come his way. If he doesn't look likely to, then take him off after an hour and bring on McLennan. Kennedy was poor, so there was literally no possible net loss bringing him off (aye...) at the same time. That's how you properly use the extra sub, not as some sort of championship manager fashion on 77 minutes when you're never going to use the other two (McInnes has just started making later subs so he can do the double sub). 

It's his massive procrastination that has not won us so many points over the years. It's like he can't accept that his original selection hasn't worked or that he's frightened his sub might not work or have an adverse effect. Either way, it's not managing a football team. Nobody in the world was watching that game thinking: "if you just keep doing the same, the goal's coming". There's not a person on earth outside of Alex Miller's living room that would have waited until the 77th minute to change things. 

Again, this is where the club should be producing metrics that show when McInnes has successfully changed things in a game and holding him to account. It's not even an AFC thing, any club that's on a run of not scoring, if held to the 60th minute, are likely to not score again. It's a basic logic and confidence thing. You make the changes nice and early and give them plenty of chance to work.

[LA-Don]

I agree with much of that but I think you’re first point is totally wrong. I’ve coached in gale force winds into the face, behind you, swirling wind, frozen pitches etc and you adjust your tactics to the conditions. That doesn’t mean fuck it, go long the full game. Mcinnes is a way better and smarter coach than me (I hope) with much better talent. Today was a day for two things, you play behind them, but also underneath them. You go long as you reference with Campbell, but you also play short combinations in front of the defense to go through them. Going long stretches them out but also creates space in midfield in front of their defense. Add to that our width was really poor which allowed them to be more compact which didn’t help us. Kamberi, mcginn, Kennedy, Hayes, Ferguson, and mccrory are all skilled enough to play short passes and combinations in the middle and final third, plus we needed our wingers higher up to stretch them.
 

Mcinnes didn’t coach this game. His line up and formation was also poor, even confusing, and I’m still not certain what we played. Your point is excellent, Goodwin appeared to make changes to influence the game, possibly win it. Hendry for Hornby is like putting on main for cosgrove, minimal change in tactics and doesn’t really make the opponents have to figure out or adjust to a change. Likewise McLennan for mcginn to an extent. Both lazy and unimaginative subs if you ask me. As for Ross, that’s just a desperate cunt hoping for the best throwing in a young guy who will no doubt be nervous with little or no time to warm up or get into the game.

I don’t think st mirren caused us major trouble and we could have subbed more creatively. Although I’m certainly speculating what instructions and tactics went with our subbing. I’d say after an hour stick McLennan on for Kennedy. Move mcginn left, McLennan right. There was space on the left, Kennedy just got nothing from it and is shit. Tell McLennan and mcginn to play higher up the field than Kennedy, Hayes and mccrory had the space behind. While I don’t particularly rate McLennan he has the beating of defenders with his pace, mcginn wide or cutting inside has been effective for us before and even though he’s a lesser player, he could have caused damage there.

I’d also have thrown Logan on for Ferguson around that time too. He’s not the player he once was but gives us better width and positional play than mccrory in that position. Put mccrory back in his better position, driving forward from midfield. He influences games there and Ferguson was having little impact. 

Lastly, be brave and try to win the game. Put Ross on for hornby at that time too and push kamberi right up. Ross and mcginn play wide left and #10 and interchange. Both can play with the ball at feet and are capable wide. It’s no wonder mcginn lost his way in the second half, long ball shite is not his game. With kamberi, our attacking players now have a #9 who has skill to combine with. 

it’s certainly easy being an unpaid armchair fan. I just think our manager has run out of ideas.