DantheDon

10 hours ago, Jute said:

Hearts win appeal on red card given to Haring so he is now available for Saturday.

To be fair it would have been harsh to uphold as it was never a Red. Just a shame this will be the match Shinnie misses due to his extra game ban.  

2 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

I think that there's more to the Barron situation than just injury, it's almost like he's being phased out for not signing a new contract. Either way, he doesn't fit into a midfield with Clarkson as number six, and I don't see Robson shifting Clarkson further forward to accommodate Barron as number six, or in a two with Ramadani (the latter, in my opinion, is the only option if Barron is playing). If he signs a new deal on Friday, he'll be straight in! Otherwise it'll be the same team.

Regards to Barron think this is fair enough. I think his problem is he isn't much better than the other players we have in his position, although he does have the potential to be better one day. He's indicated he doesn't want to be here, add in the fact he's not fit and on that basis there isn't really much incentive for us to get him in the team.

Put my thoughts in the other thread. I'm definately happy with this. If we win our two games at home I think we will be there even if we lose the other three. Good that Celtic are going to Tynecastle in the first fixture aswell. It Means Hearts have to play them while they still have something to play for, whereas we get them in the last game when things could already be settled. 

I don't think this looks too bad for us. Two winnable home fixtures against Hibs and St Mirren which could well be all we need for 3rd. If we can come away from tynecastle with a draw that would clinch it for sure. Also Celtic going to tynecastle with the chance to win the title in the first fixture hopefully means they ate up for it. 

Good to see Hayes staying on another year. Van Veen doesn't excite me and doesn't really fit with our strategy. Miovski although off the boil at the moment with regards to goalscoring has a lot more potential. One of the best finishers I've seen at the club for a while. Hopefully he bags a few more goals soon and gets his confidence up again. 

7 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

I actually thought the Morelos one was the correct decision in the end. Nobody seemed to realise that the rules had been changed a while prior to that (including the ref), to allow for a little petulance.

I have disagree, maybe the rules allow a little petulance but Morelos kicked Mckenna with no intent to play the ball. If the rules say that's OK it's no wonder the referees can't consistently make decisions. I that just overcomplicates things. But I think the main reason I object to it so much is that if it had been Mckenna booting Morelos there's no way it would have been rescinded. I distinctly remember there was a massive backlash in the west coast media and I really felt that swayed the outcome in that case. 

You are right it's not frivolous, but I just couldn't see them letting us get away with questioning their authority. I think much like the Red itself the question of whether it is a frivolous appeal is subjective to whoever is making the decision. That's why I just couldn't see any outcome but what has happened. It also probably doesn't help that I don't think I've ever seen us successfully get a red card overturned. I'm always careful about calling out bias but I can't help but feel that the appeal process is so obviously biased its laughable. I just can't forget that Morelos red that got rescinded after booting Scott McKenna.

Honestly I think its one of these really borderline ones where you can make a case either way. I'm not sure that VAR should have got involved got as it definately is not a clear mistake. I think had shinnie had his other foot firmly on the ground there would be no question of it being a red. He's been dismissed as he's deemed not to be in control and in those circumstances it's the potential damage that could be done they take into account. It was a silly challenge in all honestly and I'm not sure we are being wise in challenging it. I think we risk that they throw the book at him and he gets a 3-4 match ban, and we really could be using him for the run in. 

Did he not get stuck on the bench last time he was loaned to the championship? I know that some teams like to rotate where they loan players to but surely at this stage of his career playing regularily and in Europe is good for him.

That was the result that was needed. As I expected it was a nervy finish, but it's the points that are needed at this stage of the season. 

Regarding Clarkson if we were to get third place and guaranteed european Football till Xmas surely that would help in terms of getting him back next year.

Really hoping we can pull away from the rest this weekend. It would be really regrettable if it did come down to goal difference. Just that Hearts game alone if we had lost by a more reasonable margin of two goals we would be level on GD with them right now. I also see this one as a must win. Hopefully Hibs turn up at Easter Road on Saturday aswell, they really need to win otherwise Livi could take there place in the top six. 

I would love to think we could go out and pump them at least 0-3. But I have a feeling this one will be a 0-1 shredding nerves affair. 

0-1 The Duk

Oot

15 hours ago, Reekie_Red said:

Hearts and their fans really showing their colours right now. Fans graffitiing a mural funded by their fellow fans. And now players blaming "enduring European football exploits" for their tiredness that has led to their downfall. 

Boo fucking hoo!

That excuse about playing in Europe is particularly laughable considering they've had a long mid season break for the world cup since they last kicked a ball in Europe. 

Hearts Sack Neilson. Not sure if I'm surprised or not. I guess it's a bit like us and McInnes he has done OK, but you can tell they aren't going anywhere under him. To be fair to McInnes I think he's a better manager than Neilson. Just hope they don't get a new manager bounce. 

I know the new manager bounce can be a thing but it didnt happen under Goodwin or Glass. Tend to think we are doing better though because Robson has abandoned the bogus strategy in the first place. Looks like we are still playing good enough football but now we are getting results. 

On 14/03/2023 at 15:57, tom_widdows said:

Yeah because the rounds were already organised and the actual draw is for entertainment value.
A similar logic could be 'Mad that Scotland could have qualified for South Africa if Iwelumo had scored against Norway'

Well in theory the ball representing Darvel/Falkirk would just represent Aberdeen if we got through. That said its hard to argue with rico on whether we could actually have beaten Falkirk.

I suppose rather than mad maybe I should just say frustrating, I think that fits the Iwelumo miss aswell.

Mad that we could have got a run to the final without encountering another premiership team if we had just beaten Darvel. 

I think your spot on Rico. Only thing I would add is that if your opponents are going to sit in and play defensively its very hard to play attractive football as there just isn't the space in the final third. You could argue this was our problem under glass we had 80% possession but weren't able to break teams down. It's nice to aspire to play attractive football but it's not always practical.

Dwight Yorke the latest name to be mentioned. Had a decent record with Macarthur in Australia, but only managed them for 18 games. Interesting but pretty risky option. 

https://www.afc.co.uk/2023/01/31/vinnie-heads-out-on-loan/

Honestly a bit surprised about this I thought he was a decent enough player and one to keep.

We lacked fight tonight. Poor defending lost us the goal and from then on Darvel were just more up for it. Surely that's it for Goodwin.

That was never offside.

3 minutes ago, OxfordDon said:

I can only presume Cormack has lumped the new stadium funds on a Darvel win.

Any idea what the odds were before the game. Wish I'd taken that bet.

Apparently being linked with Jay Idzes of Go Ahead Eagles. A central defender no idea where this came from or if there is any substance to it. I seen it on the BBC gossip column.

I think Ramirez did fine when the team was playing well. 60 appearances and 18 goals. He was scoring every other game under Glass. If we had the players to compliment him I think he could have been a great signing.

7 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

The money doesn't come into it. No manager replaces an entire team successfully, regardless of money. Look at our bench versus hearts and it's abundantly clear that we don't have a squad (nor was it possible to have one). Goodwin needs to be judged on his tactics, substitutions etc. and he's failing, and that is extremely worrying. However, it is extremely difficult to legislate for some of the defending tonight too. Hearts scored four goals by just hitting it towards our defence and waiting for mistakes. 

I don't wholly disagree with anything your saying, but I honestly think we have bought in some real quality players in the attacking third. So I suppose what I'm thinking is this is ultimately that the team has improved but is being badly managed. We do lack depth in defence but it raises questions of why Jack Milne was allowed to go out on loan earlier this week, and for me it makes me think how stupid we were to let Considine go.