RicoS321

Jet was head and shoulders above Ramirez last night, he was excellent. I don't remember him giving the ball away once from a position that would have caused us trouble, although he didn't track his man at one point (which I think eventually led to their goal) but he was unexpectedly covering Hedges and wasn't prepared. The times he did give the ball away were when he was trying to make something happen, which is completely acceptable. We were very guilty of not trying things under McInnes for fear of giving it away. Many of the chances we created through jet last night would have been a sideways pass last season. I was unconvinced by Ramirez last night, but he certainly does have the potential to be a Rooney. His movement needs to improve a bit, but given he's on a new continent with a completely different game it'll maybe take time. He's about the size, stature and pace of Rooney anyway. Jet being there will be a huge benefit to him.

What's the view of the UK approach from your neck of the woods? Any suggestions that they're playing with fire and risking people in the rest of the world, or is it not getting much airtime?

I agree about fullbacks. I wouldn't say centre half is a priority. Considine, Gallagher, Devlin and McRorie is enough for the time being. If we could only get one or two players in I'd be looking at a striker and a winger, with a fast striker a priority. Ramirez looked a bit tired around 70 minutes last night (before his goal) and we could have been doing with fresh legs. Jet also looked tired, but was playing slightly deeper so could have been replaced by jenks in theory. Other than McGinn, there wasn't an option to replace. If we're continuing with two up front then we need an option to take off the bench as the number one priority. That said, I don't think we'll be restricted to one or two signings so a centre half would be my third choice. Another priority is to move on some players. If Ojo is ahead of McGeouch then I'd like to see McGeouch moved on, similarly one of McLennan and Kennedy. Our bench looked a little busy last night. Filled with senior players.

Just back. That was top drawer. Some excellent attacking play. Jet and Ferguson were excellent. Considine and McRorie a good partnership, they didn't have a lot of support at times. Ojo did okay, but shouldn't be playing out there, he doesn't offer anything and will get found out against better opposition. Unsure of Ramirez, could go either way, but he'll be good with the fans if he turns out to be good. Some hit fae McLennan. Fantastic to be back, so much better than the tele.

Really good half. Great to be at a game of fitba, good atmosphere, the spreading of the crowd works a treat. Ferguson, JET and Ramsay looking good, Hedges and Considine as always. Fantastic.

Go Great Britain, wooooo.

You could be right Panda, but match sharpness is very much a thing. Even if it only gives them a slight advantage, it might be the difference between them going through or not. Depending on how good jenks is, your lineup looks decent. I'm not sure McKenzie is going to be good enough at left back, so Hayes there is a good option.

Think so. He was red carded in their last European fixture, so think it just carries forward. Assuming that's why Considine and McRorie have been the preferred pairing in pre season too.

I also have zero idea how he might lineup. ..….....................Lewis.............. Gurrrrr... McRorie... Considine... McKenzie .............. Brown.........Ojo......................... ..... McGinn...... Ferguson..... Hedges..... ......................... Ramirez......................... Is my guess (not my preferred).

1-0 the dons. Late winner from Considine. Me to miss the goal having been thrown out for having my mask under my nose.

I'm just looking forward to being there. Sellout crowd too.

Keiran Ngwenya pens a new deal to keep him here forever.

That's a worryingly poor understanding of the term "evidence". There was no evidence that they deliberately broke rules laid out by their manager because they didn't give a toss. That's just a fact. Your opinion is that they didn't give a toss, thus broke rules. That isn't backed up by the manager who defended them and the players who apologised. It's nonsense, blatantly. A handful, again, enough to get us to third and many plaudits. The point being that they had broken the rules before this point but - despite this new found disrespect for the manager and his rule - went on to respect him again and perform well. I'm aware of the record since October as it was - correctly - the reason McInnes was sacked. The only argument here is that you're suggesting a shambles and a transition, whereas I'm suggesting something far less. In fact, the biggest shambles has occurred after McInnes' departure in the time it has taken to hire a DoF and the time it took to get rid of the recruitment guy and get in the new one (TBC), alongside the preventing of signings in the January window. As I've stated on previous posts, my issue here is with the club rather than Glass, and I think describing as a shambles is disingenuous and labelling as McInnes' shambles worse.

Too soon to start the Vienna thread?

The massively loaded part of the statement that said that they couldn't give a toss about breaking the rules their manager put in place. It's unevidenced nonsense. I think you're ignoring the numerous games (although significantly in the minority) where we played fairly well last season, including the game where we tanked hibs and the point at which we were comfortable in third and many people were raving about our style of play. Guys like Considine, Hayes, McGinn, Lewis (I'd argue Taylor too) have proven over numerous seasons that they can work hard and roll their sleeves up (I'm not talking about ability, but workrate and attitude) and McInnes' teams ground out results when playing terribly a huge number of times. Poor signings the deeper you go down the squad and the injuries that resulted in having to play these guys was clearly a big issue. Altogether, I still don't see Glass' job as significantly different to that which we'd task any manager in the close season (including McInnes every year). Not having made signings in January is probably the biggest problem Glass will face, alongside not having the recruitment specialist in place, which leaves us a window behind where we would expect to be. That should definitely buy him a season of leeway, hopefully two.