THFN1983

Yeah I was thinking McIntyre may get the nod but I'm just mindful of the game at the weekend and that's why I think he may come on later just to get some game time and closer to match sharpish. Lets be honest the league is a write off, I still hold out hope we can finish top 6 but the Euro places are gone and the Scottish Cup is basically all we have to play for. If McIntyre were to play then I'd imagine he'd take the place of Nilsen in that line-up but the rest of it would be my pick for Leven's picks

No idea how Leven will line up but wouldn't be at all surprised if we go with a back 5 tonight. I'm Guessing.... Bratveit Jensen Devlin Nilsen Morrison Frame Olusanya Cameron Armstrong Keskinen Nisbet Doubt that Aremu, McIntyre, Geiger are fit to start but would imagine they'll all come on at some point to get minutes due to the important game at the weekend. Add Mitov, Lobban, Lazetic, Bilalovic, Milanovic & Kjartansson to make the full sub allocation of 9

I've no idea why but I'm holding out hope that the appointment will be a WOW (in a good way) signing that'll have the impact required to get this once great club off it's knees. If it's not and it's just a sticking plaster approach then I really do fear being left behind Hearts and Hibs nevermind the gruesome twosome moving forward.

Totally understand your viewpoint and agree in parts to some of what you're saying, I just feel that through the years there has almost been a "happy to take part" kind of attitude within our club. This was exemplified by going close to 20 years since winning the League cup in 1995 until winning it again in 2014 and 35 years between reclaiming the Scottish Cup. I'm not suggesting in any way that we should be winning cups every season but for the size of club we are in such a small country then we should be doing a hell of a lot better when you think that teams such as St Johnstone, Ross County, Killie, Livingston, St Mirren, Hibs, Dundee Utd & Hearts have won a trophy, if not more than 1, this century. Then you add in our record at Ibrox that lasted god knows how many years and our current record against Celtic both home and away. It's incredible and embarrassing that a club with the resources to be the 3rd biggest in the league has such a poor record against their 2 main challengers. Yes you could argue that Sevco and Celtic raise their game against us but aren't we meant to raise our game against them also? I genuinely believe that if AFC played Celtic 20 times in the league then we'd be fortunate to win once and very unlikely to have a clean sheet in any of the games, I'd wager that teams in the Championship or even lower league than that would put up more of a fight against them and that is pure and simply down to belief. I hope come Wednesday I'm wrong but the general consensus seems to be that we'll get hammered by at least 4/5 goals. Of course there'll be players coming out after the game and stating how it's unacceptable AGAIN but come the next fixture we'll line up most likely with the same 11 and it'll be an absolute lottery which players decide to try. You can also add in the seemingly endless stream of the run of games played and no goals scored which I believe started with McInnes not long before he got his jotters. Yes we were crap before him but I don't recall previous AFC squads going on these types of horror runs. These seem to almost be happening every season now and again we are meant to be the 3rd biggest team in the country but we serve up these records on an annual basis. This all stems from there being no accountability or pressure to perform because win, lose or draw we all know, within reason, who will be starting (even though the fanbase would call for certain players to be dropped). And I do understand that we can't drop 11 players every game but there has to be a level of "management" coming from within that showcases to the supporters what performances will be tolerated and which wont, words aren't enough for some things.

Shinnie is a Raul type in the respect of what you're saying and should've been club captain but for match days we require a stronger spirit on the field. You only had to remember the days when it was Brown at Celtic against Shinnie and it was embarrassing to watch Shinnie get rag-dolled every match he played against him. You only had to watch the game recently where Shinnie was basically eating his armband because the referee was turning him away even although he was the captain on the park. Would that happen to Brown, McGregor, Tavernier, Shankland?? Not a chance and it's not just because he plays for Aberdeen but also because of how he is perceived by referees and opposition players on the pitch in my opinion. That's a major priority the new manager has to sign for the club, a player that deserves to wear the armband for the talent, ability, leadership, fear factor they'll instil etc.

The difference between Ronaldo and Bruno compared to Shinnie, well there's obviously a long list of things, but the most apparent is if you are a player coming into Man Utd or Portugal or wherever and you see Ronaldo or Bruno in your changing room then their standing in football inspires you to perform better, again most likely because you want to be on their level, you want to be seen to be trying to be their equal. This is a more modern day captain which is effective in it's own way but only really when you're in a winning team that's performing well and the support are happy. When their respective teams aren't doing so well the knives come out for them being the captain for their perceived lack of intensity and not being an old fashioned captain. With Shinnie as our captain then I hardly expect any players to be overawed by Shinnie's talent, ability, winners medals etc. and feel they have to up their game to reach his level. That's no dig at Shinnie because I think he has been a good signing for us though I'd have preferred him to have left last summer as he isn't the Shinnie that we signed anymore and simply being tenacious isn't anywhere near what we require in the positions he gets deployed in.

Shinnie in no way is a Captain for me, yes he is one of a very few bunch that actually seems to care and tries his darndest to get AFC winning games but as I posted earlier, sometimes players can try too hard and it actually detracts from the dynamic of the team. Devlin being captain in Shinnie's absence is equally laughable as there is nothing he has shown that would inspire me to pull my socks up and tear into the opposition. I agree there is not one stand out player that you look at in our team that you fear letting down, that you know will rip you to shreds if your standards drop, not one! That is another horrendous indictment of our recruitment and promotion from within. And I totally agree that players go backwards in double quick time once they pull on the famous red. This for me is a culture problem and has never been stamped out by various managers and "captains"

All jokes aside, if you're in an environment where you can consistently fail and find yourself back in the fold after every fuck up then it suggests to me that there's no real consequences. Has there been pressure on Mitov to perform for the past countless weeks? No Has there been pressure on Nisbet or Lazetic to score when they were going through their barren spell? No Has there been pressure on Topi or Karlsson or Milanovic or Bilalovic to create chances for the aforementioned 2? No Has there been pressure on the defence when we're conceding from set pieces every game and hardly keeping clean sheets? No There has been an acceptance for far too long that 3/10, 4/10, 5/0 performances don't matter as they'll be playing the next game. This has been an ongoing issue for a very long time, going back further than Jimmy or Robson or even Glass and for that to be the case then it has to be a culture problem within the walls of AFC that has been allowed to continue and get worse.

Think you need to go for a wee calm down period perhaps? Or are you one of these posters that HAS to be correct and for any naysayers who have a different opinion to bow to your apparent superior insights?? As I said previously, let's just agree to disagree eh? The fact that others have liked my post suggests there's some validity to what I'm suggesting and that it's my opinion and no matter of sweary words typed by you will dissuade me of that. I genuinely feel that there isn't enough pressure put on the players by those above them and as such they have been allowed to put in performances like Killie time and time again with no apparent consequences. You don't subscribe to that and that's fine but take a chill pill before posting as it may stand you in a better stead to sway those you are trying to convince.

I think if the pressure is really on then you can be guilty of trying too hard which is actually detrimental to the overall impact. Leven and others have said that players have been guilty of turning away from the ball and hiding, that doesn't suggest that the players have increased their intensity to match up to the pressure in my opinion. Let's just agree to disagree eh? I feel the players haven't realised the expectations of the supporters of playing for a club such as AFC for a very long time now, they've been great with soundbites but for delivering on the pitch they've been found wanting time and time again. That a lot of these very same players have been kept on and in some cases had their contracts extended speaks volumes about what the expectations of the management and above are.

When there's no pressure to improve in any job then you'll find yourself going through the motions and not applying yourself as hard as you can do. I think that can be levelled against our current crop and certainly some past players also.

To add, if it was as easy to pay off players as it is with managers then do you honestly believe that a large amount of these current players wouldn't have got their jotters before Jimmy did? Jimmy ultimately went because it is far simpler to bin him than 6 players who Jimmy most likely identified as being shirkers but couldn't do much about.

Lets look at it this way. How many players over the years have we signed that actually improved since they came to us and how many have regressed? I'd wager there's far more that went backwards than progressed. You only have to look at the amount of players that we literally paid off to get them off our books. Of course you'll get players like Ferguson, Miovski etc. but they are more outliers than the rule. We've had several managers come out now and say that players were actively avoiding the ball and turning away from receiving a pass and I'm pretty sure that wasn't their mentality when they signed for us. It can't all be down to the coaching as different coaching teams have had these players to work with but still the same problems arise with application, work rate, accountability on the park. You can state as fact how professional players feel and scoff at my suggestion but we can only gauge them on what we see and frankly what we are seeing and have been watching for many years now are a core group of players that sign for us with big words coming from their mouths but when the going gets tough they are nowhere to be found and they remain with us further for a couple of years until they sign for a lower level team than ourselves.

Said it before and it bears repeating, there is absolutely zero pressure on the players to succeed at AFC. They just meander through their contract with us knowing that there is no real hunger to bring home silverware. We, the fanbase, believe our team should be challenging for trophies but it appears that isn't the culture within the walls at Aberdeen which seems to be more about any victories being a happy accident than through hard graft and determination. Lets be honest, the media certainly doesn't help our case as any time a supporter pipes up about where we should be as a club then we're labelled as being stuck in the 80's etc. There needs to be a complete overhaul of the ecosystem starting with shipping out players that have been named consistently by supporters over the years. Regardless of how these players perform and the results that accompany those performances they remain with the club and are selected time after time after time. Hopefully when this new manager comes in it will signal an end to this dire situation we're in and we can actually look forward to players really caring about the club, demanding success and driving the teams performances through their own.

I kinda look at it the other way. We're miles ahead of Livvy so automatic relegation isn't going to happen and we should be far enough ahead of the other teams that finishing 11th shouldn't be a concern either. Let a new manager come in, drop the previously undroppable players, and set his stall out early doors that he's calling the shots. We can't, regardless of manager, we seriously CAN'T rely on the likes of Mitov, Shinnie, Nilsen, Devlin and others that have been mentioned by other posters to save anything from this season.