Sonoftherock

Starts at 3pm I think. It'll be hot, very hot.

Don't see that myself. Djokovic is playing at a far higher level than Murray. Murray has won the last two matches through sheer bloody-mindedness. Courier has just been talking about how clutch Murrays serve has been on the big points.... just as well, because apart from the big points, he's been struggling. I'll take Djokovic in 3 or 4. The only thing I hold in Murrays favour at the moment, is the weather forecast on Sunday. It's forecast to be 38C and the match is played during the day. Djokovic has struggled in the past when its been hot and the ball moves faster through the air and bounces higher on the court when it's hot. This will play right into Murrays favour.

Djokovic was brilliant today. On that form noone would have beaten him. Immense. The standard of mens tennis is just unbelievable these days. It's a glorious era for the sport.

Not sure if your on the wind-up, but again this is just nonsense. I watch plenty of Andy Murray and it's years since he's had a mental breakdown. However, his teenage years, the tantrums, petulance and huff - will always stick in the mind of those who don't watch much tennis. He's a different person these days - he's grown up. How many of us weren't huffy and tempremental when we were in our teams? I actually believe that mentally he's one of the strongest players on tour these days. Not since he was 20, have I seen Murray beaten by himself.... only ever by a better tennis player on the day. In the majors, he's just not been good enough. Yet. Simple as that. I don't know much about golf, but as I understand Montgomerie had the game to win a major... you simply cannot say the same about Andy Murray. He has never been world number one and there have always been better players than him. He hasn't been worthy. Federer and Nadal have always been better. It's not correct to say he's bottled the majors - that suggests he's thrown it away. Which is incorrect and disrespectful to probably the greatest player who's ever lived. If Murray is good enough, he'll win one of these - I'm not convinced he is, but I live in hope. I think Federer has been on another level. I've watched both, in the flesh, at Melbourne park this week and Federer is a long way better than Murray right now. If he does beat Ferrer on Friday, he'll have to bring his game to a new level and play better than he ever has in his life to beat Federer in the final. Murrays serve was poor today and if he serves like that on Friday, and Ferrer returns the way he did to today, Andy Murray will be out. Nothing to do with a bloody nose.

This is Nadals first proper test. We'll find out tonight if he's completely over his virus. Cilic is a good player who has the weapons to beat the top guys. Cilic beat Del Potro as last years Australian Open while he was reigning US Open Champ and he beat Murray in the 2009 US Open. I like him a lot and if he can be more consistent he'll make the top 5 one day.

That's unfair. He was simply beaten by a better player in the US Open and Australian Open finals. If Federer plays anything like his best he will always blow Murray away... which is exactly what he did. I watched those matches and Federer was absolutely breath-taking. The tears at the end of the match in Australia I feel were born out of frustration. In the US Open I'm not sure he believed he'd beat Federer. However, his game reached a new level last year - he was playing the best Tennis of his career, but he found out against Federer that was not enough. Federer is better than Murray - a lot better. Probably that was the first time in his career he realised that he might not be good enough to ever win a grand slam - because contrary to what other people say, I believe he has great self-belief, so that will have been a huge psychological blow. I think he went into that match last year expecting to win. He was untouchable prior to the final - but he met his match. I watch him a lot and his temperament has improved over the past few years. I can't remember the last time he self destructed on court, which he obviously was prone to doing when he was a teenager - unfortunately he'll always have this reputation. If Murray is good enough, he'll win a Slam. The issue for me is his serve. It's inconsistent and against Federer and Nadal it will be exposed. He needs to serve a high percentage of first serves to have a chance - if he doesn't, he lose. For the next few years he'll always have a chance at Flushing Meadows and Melbourne... however I don't think he has a chance at Wimbledon or Roland Garros - if he comes against a flat hitter, with a big forehand he'll always lose on those surfaces. I was at his match against against Marchenko on Friday and he looks in great shape. His destruction of Melzer today was as good as I've ever seen him play. His return of service was amazing. It's the best in Tennis - Melzer has big serve, but he just couldn't hold against Murray - at one point Murray was returning 90% of his serves - thats incredible. There was just no respite. Melzer is the world number 10, or he will be on Monday, but Murray made him look weak there. It was also the most aggressive I've ever seen him play - his forehand was big and deep. This qualifier he plays in the next round is obviously a danger, in the same way that Tsonga was a couple of years ago, but if he plays the way he did today, then we'll have another great occassion on Friday.

Kefalonia is absolutely glorious. I spent 6 weeks there doing some field work in 2004. It's nothing like Crete or Rhodes... in that the place isn't (or at least wasn't) swamped with binge drinking british tourists. There was only one night club on the whole island. However, there were many excellent bars and restaurants. The island, the beaches and sea in particular, is beautiful. Very chilled out... if thats what you are looking for.

Cheers for that! if guardian have there facts straight, that would certainly suggest we're entitled to a development fee. A silver-lining at least.... 300-400k goes a fair way at our level, in todays market!

Would be good to get some sort of clarification. I read a few unsubstantiated claims that should Maguire move to England, we won't be entitled to anything. Surely that can't be the case though? I thought all transfers within Europe were governed by UEFA directives?

It might not be a complete disaster if (or when as it would appear) he leaves. I think we're due approximately GBP 300-400K in development compensation. Does anyone know, for certain, whether we're entitled to compensation if he move to England or Europe... or would we be relying on one of the Old Firm picking him up?

I wasn't having a go at you or Zerouali... just my honest assessment. That's all. As you alluded to earlier, different people are going to have different opinions.

I wouldn't say so. He was very hit or miss at Aberdeen. In the end he left Aberdeen after a very up and down spell, had a brief stint in Saudi Arabia and then ended up back in Morocco. If he'd been as good as some folk used to say, he'd have got a gig in Spain or England, or somewhere like that, after leaving Aberdeen. With Zerouali, there were occassional flashes of brilliance... but that's all they ever were. There was never a sustained spell of good form. If he was any better than average, he'd have dominated the SPL. In reality, he was nowhere near that level.

That's an absolute hammer blow. By all account this guy has been one of our best and certainly most consistent, players this season. Get well soon.

Nice work guys! This is a massive improvement! Looks terrific!

Each to their own I guess.. Chewin' the fat was a low-brow comedy... sure, it wasn't witty or clever, but speaking as someone who grew up in Scotland, I found some of the observational humour pretty funny. Limmy simply had no redeeming features.

Saw Arj Barker last weekend, was very poor IMO. I'd never heard of him before, but apparently he sells out in the US and AUS. Some of his observational stuff raised a chuckle.... but other than that I barely managed to crack a smile.

Not sure whether that was an attempt at a dig....I've probably been the victim of an elborate fishing prank (or maybe not), but that'd actually be quite a respectable ratio. Roughly a goal every three games. Maguires current record is a goal every 10 games.

To be fair, that Iceland side had a few very talented young lads in their side. One of whom was recently transfered for several million pounds. I watched a bit of the game and our boys did well, Iceland just had better players. Steve Clarke would be one of my preferred options, however I’m unsure if we could afford the sort of wages he’s become accustomed to in the EPL. We don’t have a great deal of money, even less once we’ve compensated McGhee. The new manager is going to have to work on a shoe-string too. In my opinion, what we need now, is to identify an up and coming manager, someone who is at the bottom of an upwards trajectory, who could drag us along for part of the ride. Someone, probably from the lower leagues, who’s shown that they may have the potential to make a silk purse from a sows ear. The best thing, in my opinion, would be to draw up a list of ambitious, hungry, motivated early career managers... interview them, and identify the most impressive candidate.... However, I have my doubts as to whether WM, SM and the rest of the board are perceptive enough to make the correct decision.

Superb post mate, the biggest problem on many of the Aberdeen FC forums is that too many people have an agenda. Our support was divided during the Calderwood reign. Some thought we could do better, others were happy with their lot - resulting in fights. I read all three of the main Aberdeen forums and what we have now are a couple of groups of vocal e-supporters; the first group who hated our previous manager with such a passion, that they canvassed hard for his removal. They are so obsessed with justifying their actions and saving face that they can't see the wood for the trees. The second group were happy with the status quo under the previous regime. Aberdeen were competitive and established as a top 6 six team - but there was little ambition for anything else. We were, however, a million miles away from winning anything and the football was dire, but at least we weren't a laughing stock – which, incidentally, we are again. These people are furious, that the idiots, as they see them, have won... causing the club to break something which they did not feel needed fixing. Different people with different expectations of Aberdeen Football Club. It’s so blatant that I'm actually embarrassed for the people in question. However, as you correctly mention facts are facts. Anyone with an ounce of sense, or credibility, can see that McGhee's reign has been a disaster for start to finish. He needs to go. One thing that should united all our supporters, whichever side you are on, is that the current fare at Pittodrie is simply unacceptable. Willie Miller should also fall on his sword and clearly there is a bigger problem, higher up in the board room, which needs addressing if we are to move forward in the long term – but that’s another argument. You can defend Mark McGhee and say he's had less money than his predecessor - but that does not justify just how bad we have become under his stewardship. Someone made a great point earlier, that technically, yes McGhee has had less funds, but comparatively that actually isn’t the case at all – as the only thing that has changed over the past 6 or 7 years is the monetary definition of “fuck-all.” Aberdeen players still command a hefty wage, in comparison to other SPL clubs. McGhee should have done much better with the resources at his disposal, much, much, better… and we certainly shouldn’t be getting hammered by another team in our league 9-0 and losing home fixtures tamely, to clubs with a fraction of our budget. It will be an utter disgrace if no action is taken on Wednesday morning.

Some good points in there.... hard to disagree with most of it. The first couple of paragraphs, in particular, are spot on. We've been humiliated that many times over the past 10-15 years, that basically no one cares anymore. We've just been beaten 9-0 in a league fixture and the manager has kept his job - that is outrageous!!! However, no one can really be bothered to do anything about it. We'll just bumble along until the next disaster.... complete apathy.

That looks like the West Germany flag, next to the qatar one, in the middle of the pitch.... are they going to resurrect the Berlin wall if they win the WC bid?

Where is that held these days? I was there in 2006, the last year it was held in Berlin. The main parade took place in the Tiegarten between Siegessaule and the Brandenburg gate - with the Reichstag in the background - it was just an amazing event. The atmosphere was incredible. you should head to Dusseldorf/Cologne if you have some spare holidays....

Federer is probably the best player ever to pick up a racket. If he plays his best he will beat Andy. We've got to hope for a slight off day i feel. Would be a terrific achievement to beat Nadal and Federer on the way to winning a Grand Slam.

The surfaces have changed quite a lot over the past 5 or 6 years. In Melbourne they finish the surface with a paint that contains a lot of sand, which increases the friction and obviously slows the ball. This is why Nadal tends to do favour melbourne over flushing meadow, which is a slick acyrilic surface. They showed a really interesting graphic during the wimbledon coverage a couple of years ago... time was when wimbledon was the fastest surface, but its been formulated different these days and rather than skidding so much the ball has started bouncing higher and holding up. This is why you don't see players serve/volleying so much at Wimbledon. 5 or 6 years ago, I don't think Nadal would have beaten Federer at wimbledon. These days the US Open, and the courts on the North American hard court circuit in general, are the fastest in the world. Which is why andy does so well in America. His best performances have come on this type of surface in New York, Cincinnati, Montreal and Miami. This is why I like him. As a big sports fan, it's nice to be able cheer a Scot with a bit of finesse and ability - rather than some chump who's "just pleased to be there"

yeah I wasn't having a go either... and just because I watch a lot of Tennis, I'm not claiming to know exactly what I'm talking about. I just feel strongly that Murray isn't a choker. In my opinion there are better guys out there - and these days, to win a major, you have to do something extra special. It's unbelievable that we have Nadal and Federer both competing in the same era, while the supporting cast like Del Potro, Djokovic and Murray are all hugely talented players too... add to them Roddick and Davydenko, who also show occassional flashes of brilliance. I hope Andy can improve, but I don't see him winning a major until he sorts out his second serve, or becomes more consistent on his first serve. He also needs to play more agressive (in my opinion)... if he meets one of the top guys, on top form, when they are locked in, his strategy of attempting to force errors will continue to see him fail. I'm a bit nervous about Istner, because he's on good form.... I haven't actually seen him play before. I missed the match that announced his arrival, with Roddick in the US Open. However, from what I've heard his game should match up with Andys pretty well. Additionally, the Australian Open is the slowest non-clay surface on tour, so surely this is another negative against the big server? I am really hoping for a Quarter final against Nadal... that would be an amazing match - Particularly if both players go in fresh and avoid a five setter in the 4th round. Andys semi final against Nadal in the US Open was just incredible to watch!