manc_don

Finally made it out on the mountain bike after probably nearly a year and a bit. All the stars aligned which meant I could make it to Makara which is west of Wellington. Good gruelling 1hr long ride up and then a good few decent down hills. Didn’t fall off this time (hadn’t done this track for 4 years). second pic is looking north east towards Wellington harbour.

Absolutely critical game for our quest of legitimately challenging hearts for third, and to a degree hibs of course. Really tight from 3rd-7th. our record against them down there isn’t bad, and we’ve already beaten them a couple of times this season. Given the turnaround that Robson et al appear to have made (still time to go on Rico’s 15 game bounce), we should go into this with full confidence. Would be nice if killie and Motherwell could do us a favour, with saints and livi drawing. hopefully no one has managed to get any knocks on international duty. Would we change much from the way we set up against hearts? Not sure, seemed to work pretty well last time out and nice to see the best of Clarkson again. out bed bed a lie in? 2-0 dons , Clarkson and miovski

Had a look at the table, Valencia, wtf is going on there?!?

I’ve been pretty much having similar thoughts the last few days and fuck it, you’ve just convinced me. If he continues to improve the team the way he’s doing, he’s more than earned it.

Really enjoyed watching the first half back (haven't had time for the second yet), but what a difference to the last few weeks let alone rest of the season. Aggression and drive was there for all to see. As others have said, really liked seeing the midfield trio working really well and hard for each other. Thought it was a bit harsh on Gorter but Roos seemed to be fine and he is actually our no.1. Always great to get one over them. Crowd sounded good too.

stunning second photo there mate!

wow, how the hell are they justifying that?!? It's not like it's even a winning team.

That's the hope eh. I can't see past anyone but the Irish or the French winning the next WC. We'll see though. As someone else has said elsewhere, this would be the biggest waste of talent we've had in many a year if they weren't able to achieve something. The 6 nations this year was that chance, given we finally beat the leeky bastards, along with continuing our ownership of England. Providing we beat Italy, finishing 3rd is very underwhelming.

It's certainly an interesting one for the board. Ideally you give a manager plenty of time (like we did with Goodwin) and they can assess the squad in a competitive environment ahead of the summer. However, if the team are performing, why wouldn't you want to finish as high as you can? Especially Europe is actually still to play for.

He did have MacArthur playing decent football and seemed to have a good balance of youth and experience. They won a trophy and their form has nose dived since (made worse with Uli getting injured too). Agree though, Robson would probably be a better option.

Managed to get most of the game this morning, felt like we were definitely riding Lady Luck in the first half. They should have been streets ahead but somehow, they weren’t. That goal from Duk was sublime, given where we were possession and intensity wise. The team dug deep, subs were well timed and all had positive impacts on the result overall. Happy fucking days! Dons and and nix wins don’t happen very often. If he continues to make the positive progress, would be hard to argue with him (Robson) being given the job permanently. Re: stuff being chucked at Goodwin? Ffs, we’re not huns. Not acceptable behaviour. love that video of Gorter, Tom! What a shitebag

As long as we get the snow loadings on the roof right

I think it’ll now be 1-0 United with mulgrew scoring the winner. Nothing else for it now.

I see there was a fan zone on Saturday, did anyone on here go? Was it any good? Can imagine it being geared for families, but was it any good? Always thought the club would try and buy the broadhill, which was demolished last week I think?

Really had hoped that they’d be keeping fox and seeing what he’d do for this game. Their fall has been dramatic to say the least, didn’t expect them to be where they are but none of that matters unless we get the three points. Last weekend was a good start, albeit a nervous one. Hopefully it’s given them a degree of confidence, despite this fixture being away. same defensive line up as last weekend? No reason to bring scales back in just yet, is there? out bed hopefully watching but likely prepping for boys’ 3rd birthday park or play centre (oh life). 2-1 dons, miovski and clarkson

ffs, wanted him to get the dunt post “derby”.

Seeing a lot of plaudits for our new centre back pairing, justified? A few folk on Twitter saying what if we’d had them from the start?

Last season it was fairly dominated by Ramirez (skewed by early form) and Fergie (who was fairly consistent through the season). So hopefully see a bit more of a spread this season. Still not sure where our goals are going to come from, really need to get another striker in, regardless of whether Ramirez stays or goes. forwards: Duk - 18 Miovski - 18 Ramirez - 3 Watkins - 1 midfielders: Barron - 1 Besuijen - 7 Clarkson - 6 Duncan - 2 Kennedy - 4 McCrorie - 5 Ramadani - 1 Shinniesta - 2 defenders: Hayes - 2 Pollock - 2 Stewart - 1 scales - 1 Coulson - 1 OG: Blair (but actually McCrorie) -1 Holt - 1 matthews - 1

Was definitely the voice of English football for me. Very sad news.

Guess with scales out, do we have the players for it? Just worried, yes, it worked against a truly shite Motherwell side, but livi are by far, better than them. Was also raising the question to start some more chat on the thread

Can’t see this being a good one, but as others have said, interesting to see what Robson is made of. Certainly be a good test. Not his players (granted) but they very rarely are until after a few seasons. all he needs to do is steady the ship and it’d be nice for him to be manager of us one day. Presume we won’t be playing 3-5-2 again?

https://medium.com/@martincrawfordsbhs/from-the-diamonds-to-the-dandies-ricardo-rodriguez-could-be-pittodries-answer-to-pep-e9f351189592

Cook strait in something special, but water where we is, is fine. Apart from the rip, but you learn about that quickly.

Tim mate, who was at the game and a very level headed kinda guy, said that was one of our worst performances there in some time. Offered nothing and if we don’t get our manager right, we should be worried. Which we all know. But I found it quite disturbing that other fans know this too. wont be watching the lowlights, onwards to a much more important game against livi. Hope we have our shit together by then.

Excuse the thumb on the second, but finally managed to get out on the board today after the weeks’ crazy weather and events. You can see the top of the South Island in the background. Proper nice still day with very little swell gotta take them when they come in Wellington. Not much to see in the water today, though I did see a massive jelly fish. Was enough to put me off from falling in.