OrlandoDon

I made a comment the other day and I’ll ask again, what is our recruitment policy? We restructured recruitment but what exactly are the roles? Does Gunn identify and sign players, and the manager is ultimately the coach who coaches the team? How much say does the manager have in signings? Are the poor signings goodwin’s fault? I’ll say it again, it did sound like we paid good money for morris and Richardson! Wtf. You say 50% return on recruitment, we signed 11 - roos, Stewart, duk, scales, clarkson, coulson, ramadani, miovski, Roberts, morris, and Richardson, and out of those I think so far scales, miovski, ramadani, clarkson, and duk appear squad upgrades. I’ll also assume we’ll not keep scales or clarkson so that leaves 3 players that will be here next year. But I also wonder if we get decent money offers for duk and or miovski. A lot of pressure on recruitment for January and the summer. I like cormack and I can’t see him canning goodwin given his 2-3 window comments recently, plus it doesn’t look good for cormack if he were to can a second manager in a row in less than a season. The manager was very disappointed in our fight today, we were outworked all game by killie. i seem to recall squad leadership grit and determination were repeatedly highlighted and praised early season. Where has that gone? Something is clearly wrong and goodwin’s interview tone and concern was a first tonight.

Interesting post match interview from goodwin. Does he have the support of the players for them to respond? 3 losses in a row and then produce the worst performance of the season that lacked effort. Suggests all is not well.

Hahaha! That’s a word omission that slightly changes the sentence. Correct, insert ‘not.’

Don’t see him sacked any time soon. Cormack himself said it will take 2-3 windows. Sadly I think goodwin will be given time which isn’t really unfair, even though all signs show he’s good enough for the job.

Shambles. What did we do during the World Cup break, when we had an entire squad to work with? We’ve come back worse and now we’re seeing what goodwin is made of. Not much by the looks of things.

My issue, as always, is midfield. Win the midfield battle and dominate there, and you attack. We have no midfield, Barron and Duncan are young and inexperienced, how do we expect them to be successful? Barron is young and showing his age, low in confidence and virtually non existent. Getting tired of duk and his u12 mentality of get the ball and dribble. So predictable. we are awful.

You are correct re those 3, McInnes was 2013 and not 2014. But my argument is still valid, he inherited a much stronger squad than Goodwin. And yes, winning on penalties is winning a trophy. But penalties still has an element of luck, that's fact too. But yes, he won one trophy, and of course I'd take winning the semi on penalties. My point is that in the time he was here that's all he won, and while the league was piss we were a steady second, fact too. I think McInnes underachieved with a good squad for 3-4 years at least. Then we got worse and the rest got better, we were no longer second, and eventually McInnes got punted. I just don't see DM as a great manager, he had circumstances in his favor, Goodwin definitely has not. The league is better, we cannot get second. Apart from that I'd agree, the rest of the teams, like us, are bang average at present. If we had the 2013-2016 dons squad we would romp 3rd and be pushing the huns for second. Go on a run now and third is ours, but another 3 losses and we're 8th or so. We're as piss now as we were in the latter years of McInnes and I stick by my initial email. McInnes was no god, and Goodwin isn't showing anything to suggest we're in better hands than Glass.

That’s what’s interesting about this situation. We’re still third after a shit week. If we find form (not sure how though) and results go our way we can strengthen third. At the same time though, and very realistic, a shit run and we drop to 8th or 9th very quickly.

Wrong chain for the debate but McInnes was just as average as Goodwin appears to be. McInnes joined us with more experience than Goodwin having been in England, but he had two major factors going for him - he inherited a good squad with Anderson, Considine, Hayes, McGinn, Flood, Jack, Rooney, Reynolds, Robson, and Logan, Goodwin is starting with very little and a complete overhaul. McInnes joined us when Rangers weren't in the league, and Hibs Hearts and Utd had/were all relegated at some point. The league was piss and we were best of the rest. When Rangers, Hearts Hibs and Utd were decent in McInness' latter years we struggled and truly saw McInnes' limitations. McInnes won one trophy on penalties, he underachieved to me when we clearly had the second best squad in the league. I truly feel we'd have won the league with a good manager when we pushed Celtic that one year but McInnes shat it. I'd argue Goodwin would have been just as successful, if not more, in those years. Goodwin isn't experienced enough for our rebuild and we're seeing that. Case and point appointing Stewart as club captain. I honesty see very little between the two managers, average SPL managers.

I actually asked that question a month or two ago, is Stewart an upgrade on ash Taylor? And what’s Michael hector up to these days??

Our style of play is utter garbage, a lot of the time it’s belt it long and hope or give it to duk and hope he creates something. While miovski could move more and get open, it’s no surprise that we’ve seen so little of him in three games. I didn’t see much of today but it tough to be harsh on him as what I have seen this week we give him little chance of success. Earlier in the season we seemed to pass more and create and he was more involved. goodwin said we were tired or tired against rangers. Only one change today? That doesn’t add up to me, freshness may have helped if we were tired. Or tired was a lame excuse/deflection. Roos is no better than Lewis. He’s better with his feet but it doesn’t seem like he is comfortable off his line, one of what I’d consider Lewis’s strengths. I think Lewis lost confidence last year and I don’t see a keeper change helping us at present, defense is honking and no confidence there. Our center mid is so weak and with Stewart now suspended mccrorie stays at the back. We don’t seem to play through midfield and it really hurts us. We aren’t strong in midfield defensively either and that only puts more pressure on the back 3/4/5. it almost seems like we changed to 3 at the back to accommodate duk and two up top but in the bigger picture I think it’s made us worse. don’t see personnel or formation changes making a significant difference right now based on our current squad. Think goodwin is rather fucked to be honest, he doesn’t have quality depth to make changes and if the squad isn’t happy or confident, it doesn’t look like much improvement can occur. We had a World Cup break where none of our squad were away, loads of time to work and improve, week back and we’re a total mess. Not good.

We have absolutely no style of play, little desire, no leadership, and no midfield. See nothing to suggest we’ll get anything here.

Could this week get any worse??

Who has possessed matty kennedy today? Looks decent

We’re saying the same thing. Kennedy may be the best of a bad lot, and I’m not fussed if any or all of those guys leave. Just sad that kennedy couldn’t get a look in and now looks potentially the best option on the right for now.

I’d really like to see Roberts given a chance, but I think duk has totally changed the managers thinking so hard to see how he gets an extended run. duk’s emergence resulted in us going 2 up top, and combined with our defensive weaknesses, 3 or 5 at the back depending on how you look at it. This means no midfield width, but utilizing wingbacks. On the left I think Hayes coulson and Mackenzie are decent, but we’ve got piss all on the right. Don’t see how we really go 4 at the back without a quality defender signed, ideally 2. That’s highly unlikely in January plus as I said before, Stewart won’t be dropped. Sad that we are now supporting an extended Kennedy stay when he’s shit. While different players with different qualities, he’s no better than Connor McLennan. And Morris appears worse. Just thought I’d throw that in. Vinny showed potential, young and inconsistent but worth keeping to see if he can kick on. the emergence of duk certainly influenced a formation change and Vinny lost out.

Really curious to see how January plays out. Most don’t rate Richardson, and many don’t seem overly keen on Stewart. Scales isn’t guaranteed to be back, correct? Assuming scales returns seems like a central defender who can also play right back is needed. Regardless of opinions on Stewart and Richardson, an injury to mccrorie or Stewart and we don’t have a back up. We have no depth there. I suggested playing Milne tomorrow, curious to see if he can play as that’s really all we have to step in. Come summer we always address a potential replacement for Stewart/Richardson, but in Stewart’s case, he isn’t going anywhere or getting dropped right now. I’ll be really surprised is we sign a pure right back in January. We’ve got mccrorie Richardson Kennedy Morris Watkins Vinny even Duncan who can play back there if needed. While none are ideal, that’s a lot to simply now add more players and I have to assume finances come in to play. Seems like we should be punting one or two before adding, and there will be more options in the summer. we have no central midfield depth, and this is my priority signing. Add a legit player in there to partner Barron or clarkson and it becomes a different game. May also allow ramadani to be purely holding mid and that also protects/strengthens that central defensive area. Comments made that Barron is on his way out suggests we’d then need two central midfielders. Tough window to find that. we’ve got a big squad and do need to move players on. Can’t see us just adding more.

I agree with some of what you are saying, but I wouldn’t call Goodwin a bad manager. He’s average from what see so far, did reasonably well at alloa and st mirren given their limitations, but the demands at Aberdeen are obviously higher. I think mcinnes lucked out joining us with a lot of good work done prior to his arrival, mainly having Anderson, flood, Rooney, mcginn, Hayes, Logan and jack to build around. Goodwin is starting from scratch and a number of folks here said law of averages suggests we’ll sign players who hit and a number who miss. I think we have miovski, duk, Barron, ramadani, mccrorie, Hayes, scales, clarkson, and Ramirez. The rest of our squad are young, average, or below average, but we still have a squad that are very capable of third. If we don’t get third it’s a failed season. He really needs 3-4 windows to build a squad, but this past week has certainly turned a lot off Goodwin and I don’t know if he will get that time. Tactically he had a bad week and that certainly creates concern and do you allow him to build a squad…even though I don’t actually know who ultimately signs players. We paid money for Richardson and Morris, decent money at that. Worrying.

We don’t play Richardson or kennedy, and we put mccrorie in midfield. You’ve surely heard me express my frustrations with Barron and clarkson together, I feel we are a better team with mccrorie’s drive, workrate, and presence in midfield. While it has been rangers and Celtic, nothing this week has told me our defense has become better, and all I’m hearing is the negativity about multiple areas of our team. Why not give Milne a shot?

Definitely a big game now. Lose this and what a shit week. given goodwin said we were tired yesterday, surely things will be freshened up. roos Milne Stewart scales Ramadani vinny mccrorie clarkson hayes ramirez duk please. 2-1 us, mccrorie and duk

It has absolutely everything to do with goodwin. We were fine until the 65th minute or so when he subbed, went with no forwards, and changed tactics. That changed the game and it was his doing. Who else can you blame?? after the second goal we should have gone with our strength, which is more attack than defend. Be brave. The Huns were there for the taking at that point. Going with no forwards and sitting back suited them perfectly and just like the Celtic game, it was only a matter of time before they scored. last night was also a game where experience was needed. Bring on Ramirez who would have offered so much more than morris and put wadkins wide. That’s a no brainer to me. Again, Goodwin’s call.

Someone please explain the subs? Mackenzie for coulson I get. Why morris instead of Vinny or Duncan? Seen nothing to suggest, defensively or in attack, that morris can do more. In fact, we’ve all seen morris is total shite and has nothing to offer. I’m not wrong here. surely to defend for 30 mins you do need a forward. Why not Ramirez for miovski, at least to give some sort of attacking threat?? This is up there with levein and his 4-6-0 game. I can understand Watkins for duk, speed and physical play to support the attack. But there was no attack to support and he had nowhere to go when he got the ball. lastly, maybe it’s just me, but bringing on 3 subs at once, especially with a tactical change. That’s tough to adapt with new tactics and personnel changes all at once. I’m sober and totally stunned with our subs and tactical changes when the game for the most part had gone well up until that point. I cannot understand what explanation goodwin can say??? Baffled that he fucked this up so badly. Really badly on the back of a huge embarrassment against Celtic.

I’m not disappointed or gutted. Just angry. Saw it coming on Saturday and again tonight. We’re weak defensively and sit back against the best two teams in the league we’ll lose. seriously looks like over the winter break goodwin has become mcinnes. And there’s a reason we sacked him. ideal game to bring Ramirez on, but how do you counter attack with no forward for 30 mins? We looked like a kids team in attack, dribble or kick ball for the last 30 mins, both resulting in us losing the ball. Criminal the Morris run that finished with a cross to nobody when we desperately needed to keep the ball upfield and Morris easily could have done. Right before their second goal too. ramadani was good tonight, but needs help. Can’t get over it though, managers subs and tactics cost us. Morris should never play, Watkins isn’t a center or attacking mid. The lack of depth at center mid killed us today too.

Very quiet today. Fuck Jim Goodwin. Tactics shit against Celtic and his subbing and tactics cost us that game. All season we’ve been shit defensively so let’s sit back and defend. At 2-1 kick on against a very average rangers. Awful to play with no forward for almost 30 mins. Criminal.