KennyFuckinPowers

Wouldn't mind a Severin & Nicholson ( In their primes ) partnership in the CDM roles today.

As has been stated, on numerous occasions, for a long time now, the only area that really needs strengthened is central midfield. We are fine in the GK department, we have 2 superb full backs ( If only 1 of them would be played there consistently ) out wide we have Hayes/McGinn and up front we have Rooney, Storey & Stockley, all capable of doing whatever is required, admittedly though, I would like to see us play 2 up front, be it Rooney/Storey or Stockley/Storey, I still believe we should not be playing with 2 sitting midfielders, especially at home. I am still relatively happy with O'Connor & Considine as our CB pairing, so really, that just leaves midfield. We definitely need a Draper type player, McLean will move into the Maddison role when he inevitably leaves, and that is where he should be, Ryan Jack is not capable of providing that combativeness that we need in there, he's not a bad player, he's just not got the ingredients to be our captain and make that role his own. What's Rostyn Griffiths up too? Over 6ft, plays in that role and has been linked with us a few times in the past few windows. May just be what we need.

Are we now SEVEN points behind the tribute act, with only one game in hand?

??? Fuck sake Jonny, I hope you are not insinuating that we are maybe being a bit harsh being disappointed with only an absolutely bore fest of a fucking goalless draw, at home, where we scored 5 only 4 days earlier, are you? On the other hand, at least he's not accepting that Sevco are favourites for 2nd

I stand corrected, Jonny Hayes is actually playing at Left Back, despite us having a natural Left Back in Shinnie and a Centre Back in Considine, who can play Left Back. Absolutely fucking perplexing.

I think it's going to be Lewis Logan O'Connor Considine Shinnie Pawlett McLean McGinn Maddison Hayes Rooney

McGinn, Pawlett & Rooney all starting tonight.

On Considine, I would argue he's worked extremely hard on his game and is a vastly improved defender. I like him. On Morris, we won't know unless he's given an opportunity

Creating this thread due to some debating as to what our best back 4 is and what it should be. Freeing the Killie match thread. Would I be correct in saying our strongest back 4 is RB. Logan CB. O'Connor CB. Considine LB. Shinnie Can't see much argument for anything else really? Is there anyone who feels Considine should be LB with Shinnie in midfield? Or is there anyone who'd replace O'Connor or Considine for either Taylor or Reynolds?

I don't think there's much debate, I think everyone agrees that our back 4, let alone the CB pairing, should be Logan, O'Connor, Considine, Shinnie I only suggested tonight's line up due to Jack being suspended, or he'd be in the sitting CDM role with O'Connor replacing Taylor. And I maintain that we should never have 2 CDM's, we are good enough to allow for 1, be it Jack, Storie or O'Connor. Possibly on a bigger pitch it makes sense to have 2 ( Parkhead, Ibrox, Hampden ) But in all our home games, and majority of Away games, excluding above mentioned venues, we should not be set up as defensive as we are.

I did, but that was him just arrived at the club, was it not? And I think it was a European game also? Could be wrong, but the point I make with him playing in there is, that he's now probably found his feet, and would be ideal in there for a game like tonight's. Just my opinion, but more to the point, we don't really need 2 sitting midfielders for a game such as tonight's.

Correct, and in my opinion, it's clearly rubbing off on the players, they look rather disappointed and genuinely uninterested. They know we are better than we are showing, but they are only following the managers instructions, he is 100% to blame for this past weeks pish.

Michael O'Neill would be my choice also, and I believe he'd jump at the chance. The reality is though, we won't sack McInnes, and at the moment, he doesn't deserve to be sacked, but for me, if we finish any less than 2nd place and don't reach Scottish Cup final, there should be big question marks over his future. I do not care what anyone says about Rangers, or Hearts, we have been, outwith the tims, the dominant team in Scotland, he only lets himself down in the sort of Must Win games. And I don't believe he is getting the best out of our best players. Kenny McLean is a better player than he's showing, Jonny Hayes has all of a sudden became pish, Niall McGinn, what the fuck has happened there? And big Rooney, looks unfit, cumbersome and uninterested. A manager that can get the best out of them, we'd be a very strong team who'd finish 2nd easily, I honestly believe that.

We are at home against a lower placed side, McInnes has to show us he has the balls to attack rather than worry about opposition for me! Do we need 2 sitting midfielders? No, we do not. Lewis Logan Taylor Considine Shinnie O'Connor Burns Maddison Hayes Stockley Storey Still plump for Stockley, purely because I do believe his all round game is stronger than Rooney's at the moment, plus despite that miss on Saturday, he's still capable of scoring. Let Taylor remain at the back and let Shinnie play LB so that leaves O'Connor protecting the back 4 in the absence of Jack. A job I am sure he'd cope with no worries at all. For me, Reynolds is no longer a starter, decent enough back up, but no longer a starter. That is an 11 capable of being solid at the back whilst also capable of having a proper go. Come on McInnes, show some testicles my son!

Spot on, Charlie Nicholas said in his interview midweek that in the Cup Final, Hayes looked uncomfortable when he had the ball as he was clearly too worried about his defensive duties. I have never seen Hayes perform as bad as he did last week in a Dons jersey, even when he's not at his best, like today, he still whips in crosses and beats a man or 2. McInnes is an absolute shitebag and he's cost us dearly this past week in 2 games now. We will continue to regress if he continues to worry about the opposition rather than letting them worry about us.

First of all, I am in no way saying we should sack him, but by fuck is he making my blood pressure rise! IF he was to leave or get sacked within this week, who, realistically, do we replace him with? First cunt to say Paul Hartley, is a fucking fat, baldy, weearrapeepo hun. Seriously though, let's get a list of realistic names ( Including Hartley ) should this situation arise.

You know what, it's easy to over-react after a bad result/performance, but I am in your camp with this one. The guy has obviously adopted JC's tombola, and to be honest, I am still livid at his changing of the team when we'd won 2 difficult(ish) away fixtures on the bounce. Time for the likes of Burns/Storey to get a run in the team. I would still persevere with Stockley despite his abysmal miss early 2nd half.

Yet again, McInnes has several questions to fucking answer. The man has not got the bottle for this and you can clearly see the players and their body language agree.

IF we only get to HT 1-0 down.

As a side note though, you have to admit, the bench is as strong as we have seen in a long time.

I am actually pleased that Stockley is starting, but why the fuck has O'Connor been dropped, clearly our most calm, level headed and best passing defender we have, yes, he was shocking against the Tims, but who wasn't? Negative pish yet again, sending out negative impressions on the team in my opinion. Everyone who is anyone can see we are at our best when we obviously play our own game, this defensive shite only delays the inevitable I am afraid, in that we will look to contain them 60-70 minutes then make a positive change and hope to win 1-0 ( Which obviously I would take ) but it's not the way we should go about this.

Another defensive 11 for us today, with O'Connor & Rooney dropping out and Reynolds & Stockley coming in. Shinnie AGAIN at CDM > Can anyone please offer a logical explanation as to why we have changed an 11 that won 2 consecutive away games in a row for this defensive nonsense??? ( Cup final & again today )

I have to agree with Nips here, I think that's a rather disappointing interview. I'd just like it if the manager said " You know what, they may be able to pay more wages than us, but we've shown over the past few seasons we are Celtic's main challengers and we aim to continue to be just that " Short and sweet, not saying we're going to Iprix to win ( In fear of egg on face ) or not conceding defeat before we're even there, just pure and simple over the course of the season, we aim to continue to be Celtic's main challenger.

Regarding Storey though, has he been given an opportunity? Any player needs a run of games to prove themselves as such, and Storey hit double figures playing the lone striker role for ICT. He is completely different to Rooney & Stockley, he gives us more pace, more directness and would do a hell of a better job at closing down etc.... Look at Hearts result tonight, they out-possession-ed Sevco, created more chances and were the better team throughout the 90 minutes apparantly, I was working so didn't watch it, just going by BBC Sport updates. I bet you any money that Neilsen didn't change his tactics or personnel just because who the opposition was, they played their own game and won comfortably, 2 up front! Why can't we do that, with Rooney/Storey or Stockley/Storey?

Okay, so another inept performance from our main Striker Adam Rooney yesterday, albeit he was far from alone, but I feel it was extremely harsh on Jayden Stockley being dropped. Rooney remains our best option up front for me, he can be so ineffective for a large part of a game but still score a goal, or two, and we all know goals win games, but I just feel this season, for whatever reason, he's been a lot less like himself. The reason for this topic is, I feel McInnes has been correct in his decision to drop McGinn, he's also been below par, down to a few things probably, but mainly the lack of a break, and it's maybe catching up with him physically? Anyway, the point I am trying to make is, is it maybe time that Rooney sits out the team for a while to allow Stockley a good run of games? I think he's done reasonably okay whenever he's been involved, and looks like a player that needs to play week in week out. I think he's also chipped in with 4 or 5 goals as well? Not too bad a return. Am I being harsh or Rooney? Not by any mean saying we should get rid etc.... He's still our main goal threat for me, but I just feel he could use a bit of time on the bench and who knows, Stockley could score goals and make Rooney work extremely hard to regain his spot in the starting 11.