Panda

Yeah, cracks which were there long before Thelin arrived, and that no-one expected Thelin to fix in one season. That he won a cup regardless of that was pretty good management. Okay we're just ignoring Celtic's fortunate goal, that Celtic had shown what they were capable of at Hampden when they blew St Johnstone away in the semis, they hadn't lost a Scottish Cup game at Hampden under Rodgers, that mere months before that game that same Celtic team went very close to knocking Bayern Munich out of the Champions League, that after our goal we actually had four very good chances to win the game before penalties, and are just describing a very good defensive performance as "barely got a kick" because it doesn't suit the agenda? We beat a treble chasing Celtic team at Hampden. That we didn't dominate the game doesn't make it any less of an achievement. Since you know so much about last season, can you post how many times Celtic:- a) conceded at home in the Premiership b) dropped points at home in the Premiership? It won't take you long, it's a short list. I wasn't celebrating it. You asked for reasons why I didn't agree Thelin was "inept". Going and achieving things very few managers did last season, or even in previous seasons, is a strong argument against that. We also were not the only team to lose heavily to them last season. Is going out of the Europa League seemed a failure? We lost to the Romanian champions, who last week won away from home against the Dutch Cup winners. Are we just finding every single negative we can think of here, while dismissing any positives? I didn't actually say that. Perhaps a better example of being mental would be seeing and replying to things that aren't actually there...

The Scottish Cup win. The eleven league games without defeat and sitting top of the table, having beaten Rangers, and coming back from 2-0 down to draw at Parkhead. Surely though you didn't need me to remind you of that? Or are we just saying everything good he did was a fluke? I'd say calling a guy who took a team that finished seventh in the previous season to the brink of third place is clearly not inept. He's made mistakes, by fuck is he getting punished for them, but this is where we'll see what he's really made of.

It'd be a horrible time to replace the manager. Now, Hearts made the wrong choice in appointing Neil Critchley anyway, but he arrived on 15 October last year and then had what any new Aberdeen manager would have - no chance to make new signings for three months, and two games a week so little time to work with them on the training pitch and implement his way of playing. Chances are, we would all be having to say that it's really difficult for the new man and we can't really judge him until after the January transfer window / next season while we struggle for any sort of consistency. Unless the current incumbent is so inept that you have to change them, I'd say stick with him for now.

We tried to keep McGrath and Mackenzie. Morris wanted to go. I doubt we could have offered Gueye* the wages he'll have been offered to go to Turkey. You're talking about being given chances - Sokler and Rubezic were both given more than enough time to show if they were good enough. *Would Gueye not be classed as a success of Thelin's reign? Got the best out of a guy a lot of people had written off. Same with Morris too.

I dunno, I'd say someone being in control of the ball then being put on their arse by someone just blatantly knocking them over isn't an equal battle or a fair attempt to win the ball. Especially if he was to use his foot to knock him over it's a foul. It might be in the rules. But if it is, I'm saying it's a shite rule.

I agree with Rico here. Aouchiche should be at the very least getting a shot on goal there. And I agree with TLG here, I don't think he's making an attempt to win the ball there, just charging into him and knocking him over. At no point is that a 50/50 challenge.

My mate's loon plays for Deveronvale - both good Dons men - so good to see them beating Darvel.

Just like the good old days of the European Cup Winners Cup (remember that? We played in it a few times I think) this game brings together the Scottish and Ukrainian cup winners. Shakhtar Donetsk beat the Ukrainian champions on penalties in the final. A great way to win it. They changed manager in summer and so far he's unbeaten over 90 minutes. Their only loss was on penalties to Panathinaikos. They've won away from home this season at Besiktas and Servette, and drew away to Panathinaikos. So fair to say we're massive underdogs for this. Do we rest players for Dundee? Every game gets billed as a "must-win" just now only for it not to be, but I think failure to win that one might be a defeat too far for the board. Dorrington, Bilalovic and Ambrose all definitely can't play anyway as they're not in the squad. Would like Bilalovic at least to get a run out v Dundee. Personally, I'd stick with a similar team that started at Fir Park and the 5-2-3, get some familiarity into it. Just three changes: Nisbet, Aouchiche, Palaversa out; Lazetic, Armstrong, Clarkson in. Even if we lose, a big performance at least (and whisper it, maybe even a goal) would give us a badly needed lift.

What's Neil Warnock doing these days?

It's easy to throw more mud at Thelin. However, the criticisms that he's too stubborn or sticks with his favourites wasn't evident tonight. He changed formation, and made six changes to the line-up. We've gifted them the game at the end there (human errors), and yes there's obviously still criticisms (should Aouchiche stayed on for as long, should Lazetic been on earlier, etc). But in the main he got most things right tonight. If the strikers take their chances we win the game, and at worst it looked like we would at least walk away with a draw. We should be saying it was far from a perfect performance but there was positives to take. At no point tonight did I think we had a team who weren't playing for the manager, or a manager with no clue what to do. Instead it's rock bottom minus three. I think he gets the next two games and if we lose both the outside noise will be too much and the board - not wanting to take any responsibility themselves - will sack him, move for Stephen Robinson, and that'll be the three-year plan binned until another manager announces one.

Thought Thelin came across quite passionate in this, at least by his standards. For the first time I think we just began to see a bit of frustration and an insight into what he's been trying to tell the players.

Sounds like @RicoS321 was causing trouble again. He's the Keith Jackson of the forum. Bloody tabloid posters.

Has he? Where you getting this?

Almost same team that finished the United game, with a few changes. If Clarkson fit, him in for Nilsen, simply because he's a better player. If not, I would give the nod to Palaversa, more just because I don't think Nilsen's histrionics are helpful. Karlsson central (where he looked okay at Tannadice), another chance for Milanovic, Lazetic (if fit) to see if he can be more involved than Nisbet. The good news is there are options here for Thelin and so many other things to try before we give up.

Nilsen was 'marking' him, but fell on his arse, lost him, then spent two minutes demanding the ball because he was convinced it was a free-kick. Watched the replay. It's never a free-kick.