Panda

Holy shit, we actually did it. With about 15 minutes to go I accepted we weren't going to win it. Couldn't see a goal coming, but was weirdly calm about it. Team had defended well apart from the goal, hadn't been embarrassed like everyone expected, but I just thought we didn't have enough to topple Celtic. And then we only went and fucking equalised, looked like we might even sneak a late winner, had huge chances in extra-time and looked a different team. The moment Maeda was one-on-one and Mitov saved, you felt the luck we never seem to have at Hampden against Celtic had finally arrived. Maybe luck the wrong word - more that you need the big moments to go your way and that was a sliding doors moment right there. Even penalties, I kept thinking it's the same end (different stadium I know) that we beat Caley and it'd go well for us. I fully expected that first penalty to be saved, was such an odd feeling, was like I was watching the 2014 League Cup final again. I went past Celtic Park on my way home, couldn't resist it. They were dismantling the stage they had built to welcome back the treble winners. Party cancelled, and strangely just pockets of Celtic fans wandering about, almost like they were unable to accept they had lost. Stayed sober today but I certainly won't be finishing it in that state.

It's absolutely pishing it down in Glasgow tonight so my fear is it ruins all the cards not under the roof, but hopefully they survive.

Thelin now the fourth longest serving manager in the top flight.

Michael Wimmer has left Motherwell. That's five clubs starting next season with a new manager.

I think Shinnie will stay at left-back, I don't see Thelin making drastic changes and playing a somewhat unfamiliar team. If Tobers is 100% fit he'll start, otherwise will be Dorrington. Other than that, I expect it'll be the same team that started the semi-final, which means Morris and Keskinen, Gueye and Nisbet, Clarkson and Palaversa, Jensen preferred over Devlin. Maybe McGrath starts over Gueye or Morris. Many asking for Dante Polvara to start, but he made an interesting comment this week. Said he's not had enough minutes to build up his fitness since his injury. Said something along the lines of "I played 35 minutes, then the next I played 80 minutes at Ibrox and my body was broken". Said he basically needs a proper injury free pre-season to get up to full speed.

I'm actually the Aberdeen fan in this that Big Dunc is bantering away with. He's actually a lovely bloke. The full interview - when it gets published on Iplayer - will be a fascinating listen. Hope another club give him a chance in management. Forest Green and Inverness CT were both uphill battles that a somewhat rookie manager (I'd still class him as that) shouldn't have taken on, and he pretty much admitted that.

He has had constant criticism recently, from the media and from sections of the Aberdeen support. The same people criticising him are some of the same ones telling us we had to give him time. I wanted Skovdahl gone quite early on. At the time I wrote the Aberdeen teletext column (oh yes, heady days) and I called for him to be sacked after the second of his 7-0 defeats to Celtic. That was when I found out how many people actually read that page because I got blasted for it by a lot of angry punters. I didn't think Ebbe's heart was really in it. I think he could have improved us long term, but wasn't going to get the backing he needed from the board, and it was probably a relief to him to head home. With Thelin though, it's a different feeling (as he might say). He's a year in, knows the team and league, and despite his calmness I sense a real hunger there. I truly believe, even if it doesn't happen this weekend (it will though), that he'll be a successful Aberdeen manager. I all honesty, I couldn't give a shit that we finished fifth. It was his first season, he has qualified for Europe, he has improved us (maybe not as much as people want), he's leading us into a cup final on Saturday. This "be prepared for some pain along the way", that was it, yet we were still better than four teams we finished below last season, including Hearts. And we'll be much better next season.

McInnes is taking over a side that finished seventh and made it to the Scottish Cup semi-final, and have had a relatively positive end to the season under their caretaker head coach. He will likely lose his top striker, if not in summer then early on into the season. He has no European football to contend with so does have a chance to build some momentum and get to know his players through the League Cup group stage. Sound familiar? If this time next year, Hearts have qualified for Europe and have a Scottish Cup final to look forward to, I wonder if the Scottish media* will give him the same stick they're giving Jimmy Thelin. *Yes, I know. He has less work to do on the squad than Thelin had this season. When you look at the Aberdeen team that finished 23-24, the goalkeepers and centre halves needed changed. In midfield, Barron was leaving, and up front Hoilett and Miovski were going. So five starters at a minimum needed and only three of them adequately replaced). Looking at Hearts, they need probably two new full backs (presuming Penrice leaves), and a striker, but they have the guts of a decent squad there and I think they've already signed a right back. This is actually more like the situation when McInnes arrived at Aberdeen. I think Hibs and especially Dundee United will be weaker next season, and Aberdeen & Hearts will be top four.

41 years ago today.

Some comparisons with last season. Both overall, and up until the split (considering last season we played five bottom six opponents compared to top six this season). Points (up until split in brackets) 23/24: 48 (35) 24/25: 53 (50) Five more points overall, 15 more up until the split. Goals scored 23/24: 48 (35) 24/25: 48 (44) Goals conceded 23/24: 52 (49) 24/25: 61 (49) Up until the split had conceded the same, but post split this season there were hammerings by Celtic and Rangers in particular. Wins 23/24: 12 (8) 24/25: 15 (14) Stats were skewed a little last season by the bottom six split, but likewise a lot of our goals and wins this season were at the beginning. So, how about February 1st (after transfer window closed) to the split? Games played 23-24: 12 24-25: 9 Points 23/24: 11 24-25: 15 Four more points despite three fewer games played. Goals scored 23-24 11 24-25 13 Goals conceded 23/24: 16 24/25: 13 Wins 23/24: 2 24/25: 4 Conclusion: Stats are like miniskirts...

He has done it on occasion. Today was an example of it; moving Clarkson to the left of a back three, which looked unorthodox but meant he received the ball in space and could pick passes. It meant Shinnie and Jensen could push forward and we doubled up on their full-backs. Individually our players didn't take advantage, but I think Thelin does show more tactical awareness than previous managers.

Just to add, John Beaton was woeful today. Absolutely woeful.

I'd give him a B for the league season. Had we finished third it would have been a very good season. To have finished below a Hibs side with a rookie manager in place, and a newly promoted Dundee United, that's disappointing. But I do give Thelin leeway because it's his first season and no-one on here was saying he'd sort us out in one season. The proof will be who makes the most improvement out of those three teams next season (and Hearts). Pros: * You can see the game plan as opposed to wondering what Robson's long ball football was trying to achieve. * Has improved a few players. Clarkson mainly, Morris too. I would add Mackenzie to that although he did drop off. Moving Nisbet to 10 got him going when others would have given up on him. * Perhaps to his detriment, wants to attack, even against the Old Firm. The game at Parkhead (5-1) was one of those games where we took the game to them, created chances, but our marshmallow defence melted. Cons * None. Just a bit unlucky. * Okay, if you want to attack, sort your defence out. Even when we're ahead we always look vulnerable. * Indecision over a few positions. Keskinen looks better on the left but often been played on the right to accommodate other players. Same situation with Jensen. * There are clearly quite a few deficiencies with the team, but let's see how much he can fix in summer and see how we look next season. I don't buy the "if we start next season poorly he's under pressure" stuff. I think the club are backing him, even if we finish fifth next season again. Only a terrible season would make Cormack wobble.

The game I'm going to play devil's advocate here and say I didn't think we played that bad. I just don't think this team is capable of much better away from home. We can't kill teams off. Hibs would have got a second before half-time today, and that's why they're deservedly in third. We don't have a single player in our team able to win headers, either defensively or offensively. The goals, as they normally are, were soft. But we did create good chances. Thelin's subs questionable, but the changes he made to a three after going behind allowed Clarkson to always be in space, we doubled up on their full backs, had bodies in the box. It "worked" to an extent. But we just don't have enough goal scorers in the team. Nisbet has 11 league goals, which is as many as the next two (Gueye & Keskinen) combined. And the three of them combined have scored just four fewer than the rest of the team put together. Hibs 'success' this season is they have an athletic team. Not particularly physical, just athletic. Pacey, can beat opponents down the wing, can get from box to box quickly, win headers, and they've not all ran their race by 70 mins. Gueye started okay, was good at putting himself about and was winning challenges in their half. But he went on a run with the ball, lost it, we nearly conceded, and afterwards Shinnie in particular (but also Mitov) unloaded a volley of abuse his way. His head dropped and after that he was a man down. Ambrose offered nothing in his place. But who else does Thelin throw on? A pish finish to the league season, but it's coming at a good time for us. Get the cup final done and then bring on the summer overhaul.

I was at the game. Seat throwing I was in the fair play lower and wasn't far from where Mackenzie got hit. He was in a bad way, was down for a long time. Keskinen also got hit by the same seat but Mackenzie took the full brunt of it. He was wheeled past us. Was a lot of blood and I wouldn't be surprised if one of our fans has just put one of our own players out of the cup final. As soon as fans saw how bad it there were a lot of anger towards those in the upper deck above us. You could hear the seats getting broken above us, and had the first one not hit Mackenzie, I reckon a lot more were about to be thrown, and only his injury stopped folk. In the first half where was a lot of drinks getting thrown down on fans in the lower deck too. What that was about I don't know, but we have an element of bloody idiots in our support. We can expect the tickets for this fixture to rise significantly next season (was £28 today) because they'll probably have to make it a category A fixture now, and put on more police and stewards, and it'll be us paying for it.

Edit: I went on a big chin stroker about supporters clubs etc, when I should have just gone on Twitter first.

Is this everyone handing back their cup final tickets after last night? There are currently 1,139 tickets available.

Your second quote is you after the Hibs game just two and a half weeks ago. I could probably go find another one after the Motherwell game. It's been three really poor defensive performances, but I don't think there's a single board member who is considering their position on Thelin.

That's fair. There's still a place for Shinnie and Nilsen, but we need more pace at left-back and midfield as starters. Milanovic hopefully is the real deal. Nisbet hopefully stays. What I would give for Miovski's return.

I think people forget how poor we were at times last season. Miovski's 26 goals saved the season from being even worse. I also think this squad is a lot worse than people thought in October. Thelin has made his fair share of mistakes recently, but he's the first manager we've had in a long time that I have any faith in. Some shite results recently, but fourth and a cup final is improvement, yes. No. Fourth (providing we don't win the cup) gives us two cracks at Europe, as we begin in the Europa league, and if we get knocked out in the qualifiers we have another crack at the Conference. But, we'll be unseeded for the play-off rounds and it'll take a huge effort to reach the groups.

Celtic have scored five goals or more against 10 different teams this season. They're too good for Scottish football at the moment. Yes we can play much better than tonight, but they're spanking everyone. We would probably have had more chance tonight had they played their strongest team. Instead they played a side desperate to impress, and for a "reserve" side I think nine of them would be starters for us. If we beat United then win the cup, the job he has on his hands is still the same. We started the season with arguably a worse squad than last season following the loss of Miovski and Barron. Whether you rated Barron or not, his departure still weakened our midfield, we haven't replaced him, and we certainly haven't found another Miovski yet. People say Thelin has thrown money at the squad, but he's had to because cheap signings were not going to improve us, but it doesn't necessarily mean all the problems would be fixed in one season. He's spent most of that money on the defence. It was poor tonight and at Ibrox, but I think most can see that Tobers-Knoester are an improvement on Rubezic-Molloy. Nilsen's loss is hitting us harder than expected. The other two big money signings - Jensen and Keskinen - I think will eventually do well for us. But we need a left back, a Barron replacement, a McGrath replacement (hopefully Milanovic is it) probably two strikers if Nisbet doesn't stay and an attacking midfielder. Basically half a team. Change the manager if you like. Jump in at the 11th hour and get McInnes, go get Stephen Robinson, fuck it offer Kjell Knutsen the universe. But they'll all need at least another two transfer windows.

Dorrington and Jensen back. Also noticed Vinnie in the training pics, maybe a wee place on the bench. Thelin hinting at changes to give players a rest.

You're the only one who made a big deal out of it. We wouldn't have had days of discussion over it without you mentioning it in every post.

For those that believe third is still doable, then only a win will do. Even a draw likely won't be enough unless St Mirren beat Hibs, and I'm not even sure we want that because if we do lose to Celtic all off a sudden fourth place is shaky. I would just like a morale boosting performance ahead of the big one next Saturday. And no injuries to key players. Hopefully it doesn't sell out so that it annoys all the right people.