14Fosters

Even worse for Ajax was that they scored twice while 1-0 down and had both ruled out for offside when both were clearly onside. Would be quite unhappy if I was Ajax...

Frankie, you making it this week?

I went for January, but that may change after this weekend. In our next 5 games we have St Mirren (H), St Johnstone (A), Hibs (H), ICT (A) and Hearts (H). Any kind of decent result on the weekend, and we go in to a run of winnable fixtures with our tails up a bit at least. Lose or draw, and it can just continue a bad run. Brown has disappointed me. After identifying the major weaknesses in our team early last season, he fell in to the same trap as McGhee. Foster and Jack are both capable full backs in my opinion, but to have them as your first two and no back-ups of note was a woeful decision. Same with overloading our midfield with central midfielders if we are unwilling to move from 4-4-2. That said, who is to replace him? Can only be someone out of work in my opinion. Who in a comfortable job would be stupid enough to take on the poisoned chalice. Umpteen managers leaving Aberdeen with their career in tatters is surely something to take note of. I would question the sanity of anyone who comes in here under Milne's stewardship as they will achieve fuck all. The managers who have achieved what could be described as relative success in the last 15 years have had what reputation they had (if any) ruined. What are tools is a new manager going to have? Does Milne increase the budget in January again to help ensure safety, just to reduce it again next summer? Does paying off another management team reduce any funds available in January (if there are any at all)? Punting Brown is part of any long term solution. He was a short term solution that was meant to provide a sound base for his successor to build on. Obviously he is not succeeding in this and he is not going to turn that round in the 18 months he has left, before he'd surely be looking to retiring. I am just rambling now, but it is indicative of the state Aberdeen FC is in. A War and Peace sized effort could be written on what has gone wrong at Aberdeen over the last 15-20 years and the current mess it is in. In short though, I have Brown getting a handful of games to prove that the comments/excuses he is making week after week are in fact true and that he is capable of making something out of this season. Or it will be jotters for him (definitely by AGM time)...

In/oot: In. Even having a mate "benefitting" from the fiver deal. Prematcher: Pitt Bar Probably Match seat: RDU Postmatcher: Pitt Bar Definitely Prediction: The cold being the only thing keeping me from falling asleep. Edgy 1-0 one way or the other Crowd: 6,800

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000%E2%80%9301_Scottish_Premier_League#Promotion_and_relegation_from_1999.E2.80.9300 Wikipedia is not the most reliable source, but can't really find anything else to support it. SPL website doesn't get it right on any level... http://www.scotprem.com/content/default.asp?page=s2&newsid=10246

Pretty sure bottom of the league were always going to go in to a play-off with third place in the first division that season. Or some variation on that anyways (maybe a wee playoff league). EDIT: So we were saved from relegation by league reconstruction, and saved from a play-off by Brockville nae being up to scratch.

Going to sit in the Main Stand tonight for shits and giggles. Never been there before. Hope we win, and would quite like an Inverness win too...

In/Oot: In Pre-Match: Fighting hangover Match: RDU Post-Match: Out for a few Prediction: 2-1 Dons - Zaliukas is due a red card so going Hartley pen (think he will be restored) and Maguire

Got round to watching Scott Pilgrim vs the World the other night. Fantastic, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Aluko was very good. Still a few bad touches here and there, but was causing their full back no end of problems. Great all round team performance, a lot happier afternoon than I anticipated...

I was at the same auction, and safe to say I was not bidding. Bad enough having to go with my season ticket just now...

Part of me hopes he does pick up and bang them in (as long as they concede plenty too), just to make Liverpool fans' glum... Sorry Tyrant, but it a glum Liverpool fan is one of my favourite things in football...

Torres looked alright till he got in to a position to shoot, then awful... More a worry for Chelsea must be how rarely that position was created. The front 3 were all woeful, and Lampard completely anonymous. Horrific game to watch, think Fulham could have caused more problems if they had given it a go a bit earlier in the game.

Yip. Not enough comedy. Not enough action. Not enough story. No twists (though without an intriguing plot, how can you have a twist). No ending. No point.

Micky Flanagan?

I saw it in the cinema, thought what a load of non-sensical rubbish. Watched it again on a flight last year and I thought the same again. Couple of funny bits but was lacking enough of anything to make it worthwhile watching it again but between that and some shite romcom, I watched it again...

I don't know, Stranraer are quite a team to follow....

If he also had a liking for Stranraer, would people take such issue?!

I actually caved in after a few enjoyable sober weekends and ended up on the booze till stupid o'clock on Friday. Being hungover to buggery in the car down and not much better sitting at Hampden did not help matters. Back on the no booze wagon for the time being, part of me is putting yesterday down to karma...

The system cost us early on, no-one looked like they knew where they were meant to be playing and it invited pressure on to us. Although the goals were largely down to individual mistakes, the possession and territory was stacked against us at the beginning and that was a large part down to the system and definitely contributed to the game being over in 20 minutes. Now, I am not too bothered if Brown comes out and says he got it wrong, the best he can do going forward is not to try out stuff like that for the first time in such occasions. I don't think anyone is saying Brown is not the man to take us forward, and maybe a few of us got ahead of our stations because of the general pick up since he took over. The point still stands though that a lot of people (as far as recent attendances go) made a fair effort to get down to Hampden. They are obviously disappointed that the occasion was ruined within 20 minutes. I don't think coming on and telling people to chill out is quite right. I think most people went to the game believing we had a chance of winning it, and hoped that the performance would at least be something to be proud of if we didn't. 11 years since a cup final, 15 since a cup win is not something to be happy about as a Dons fan and I am not even one who saw our glory days, which I can only imagine yesterday is all the more shocking to. I can only echo the rest of your sentiments though. The summer was always the time that the major changes were going to happen. January is too expensive a month for wholesale long term changes, there is a lot of the squad who are out of contract or loan periods will be up at the club and there will be a lot of players in similar situations at the club. I assume that as soon as Tuesday comes around, Brown and Miller will be starting thinking about the 2011/12 season immediately. Good times will hopefully be ahead, Brown I believe can do something with this club. Doesn't make yesterday any more or less galling an experience.

I stayed till the end as well. Not sure why, probably because we had spent a substantial time driving down and the pub wasn't really a viable alternative. Another thing was that at 14,000 there was more Aberdeen fans there than there had probably been at any home game this season. It was a chance for the team to prove that the more "good times" fans to come and yet again many will have been put off. Tis amazing how often Aberdeen do that. I had bought six tickets. Myself and one other are a season ticket holder. Two of the others were season ticket holders but aren't now. One because last season took it out of him, so he picks and chooses. The other works a lot of Saturdays, so does the same. The other two go to a handful of games a season. 4 of the 6 could be coming through the doors through the next few weeks if they had seen sufficient improvement from the past games they had gone too (think 3 of them hadn't been since McGhee left) and that is what is put on show. I know this is a different element of discussing the support, but there were a lot of people there who were maybe giving Aberdeen their first go in a while. They are hardly going to be full of singing at 4-0 down. I don't see how anyone at 4-0 down apart from the blindly drunk could really be...

Can't believe anyone can have the audacity to come out and criticise the support yesterday. We were there, in good voice and let down by the manager and team. If the team doesn't show up it is no surprise that we are going to get a bit shell-shocked and furthermore it picked up again when the team showed a bit more fight.

Right now first choice midfield would be: Aluko, Jack/Folly, Milsom, Pawlett if everyone was fit. Milsom offers so much more attacking than Hartley nowadays. Think Folly and Jack offer more defensively too...

This. After the 1-0 game last week, it seemed that the 10 minutes he was on caused Celtic more problems than the rest of the team had in the prior 80 minutes. His physicality is more difficult to deal with than Vernon, even if the all round player is not to the same standard. As for the game as a whole. Where to start, think I will go person by person... Brown: What the fuck was that starting line up? Some saw it as a 5-3-2 but I though it was a lop-sided 4-4-2. McNamee right midfield? Why? Where was the creativity in midfield? Milsom seems ok but this is a game that was gagging for some proper wingers. Why is Pawlett still benched week in week out. Langfield: First goal. Despite being classed as a great chipped shot from the one match report I stomached reading, I thought it was a cross. Langfield's feet were planted though, far too slow in realising the danger. Second goal, maybe should have come and claimed the corner, defending was a shambles though. Third was just ridiculous, seemed easy to save but almost liked he withdrew from the save. Really really bad performance. Considine: Poor, but still suffering from being played out of position. Also severely exposed for the first 30 minutes with no person ahead of him to protect him. Who started off left midfield? Didn't seem to be anyone, just Milsom or Young were expected to go out and cover there. Another performance that shows a real requirement for a left back which Brown seems to think Considine can suffice for just now. Vuja: Terrible. Not sure if there is a reason for this. Was he carrying an injury of some kind? Lacked composure, couldn't complete simple passes or control the ball or win a header and constantly for caught out of position. Diamond: Almost as terrible as Vuja. Managed to show no strength against Hooper on various occasions. Reverting to type, think the reasonably good form under Brown so far has been a purple patch more than anything else. McArdle: We became so much more solid when he went to centreback. Pretty much everything Vuja was failing at doing, McArdle did much more capably. It could be in part due to Celtic taking their foot off the pedal at 4 goals though. Probably one of the players that might have approaced passmarks. McNamee: I thought he had a shocker, not sure how much training he had managed to fit in before the game. Right midfield made no sense for him to start and then at right back he suffered from Derek Young being the player to attempt to protect him. Young: The handball for the penalty was plain retarded. Why he is starting a game like this before Jack, who has shown to be a more capable player, I do not understand. Experience? I'd prefer actual talent. Hartley: Game largely passed him by. Used the ball well enough when he got it, often finding Jack in space. Just did not seem to have any real influence on the game. Milsom: My personal man of the match for Aberdeen. Always trying to get involved, passed well, found space, covered a lot of ground and was let down by the performances of some of his fellow players. Maguire: Tried hard and appeared to want it more than some other players. Couldn't seem to be able to get a free-kick either, despite consistently being fouled. Unfortunately, his play let him down at times, tried to do things that he couldn't do or were daft. Corners were absolutely woeful too, why was Hartley not taking them? Vernon: If he had scored at 2-0, we had a chance. Unlucky that it hit the post. Spent a fair amount of the game isolated, which largely makes him ineffective. One of the players closer to pass marks again. Jack: Left midfield and then right back is not really fair on him. Still did well enough in both and did cause Wilson and then Juarez a few problems when playing left midfield. Should have started. Pawlett: No time to get involved in the game. Barely had a touch that I can remember. Magennis: His energy caused problems getting in to good positions beyond their backline and creating a few half chances. As mentioned earlier, should have started to get in and around Mulgrew. Now, I don't know what I want to happen on Tuesday. I guess I always want us to win, but if Brown puts out a sensible formation and everyone plays well it is just going to make Saturday hurt all that bit more. I fucking hate Hampden.

Wish he had just told us ffs...