RicoS321

Much as I enjoyed the tone of your response, I don't believe deterrent's have ever worked nor ever will. Even down to the level of Tyrant's "they weren't smacked enough when they misbehaved" nonsense. Let's beat the paedo out of the paedo? That's about as stupid as curing gay. I'd prefer if the state was not involved in that. If individuals see no other option than to deal with it/them then so be it. So Chilcott did (as far as it could) its job. If the media did its job then we'd be a step closer. For some reason the man is not a pariah. He's still trusted. He's still allowed his opinion. Without apologising. I think most of our problems in this instance would be solved by transparency. That's a system change that would prevent Tony Blairs. Sending Tony Blair to jail will not prevent future Tony Blairs.

You've mistaken my "not being arsed enough to hate" with apathy. I don't need to hate individuals to understand the problems of society. I don't need to individualise them. It's a distraction. Hating Tony Blair? Why? Wanting him to go to prison? Why? To satiate my hate? I don't get it. He's part of a system. He acted as part of that system. I'm more interested in finding out if there is a better system. One day, the truth can come out about his actions and he can live with that. He can persecute himself, he doesn't need me to do it for him. Similarly lauding Greta Thunberg. Stop pedestalling the girl FFS. Take what she says and analyse it and understand it just as you would any other. We're being tricked into deifying this girl so that when she makes a mistake - like all humans - they can rip up everything she's ever advocated and tell us it can't be true or trusted. I appreciate her message, but she could be anybody. We need to stop thinking we need individuals to lead us rather than ideas. Individuals are fallable and can be hated and blamed. Is it self-centred or ignorant? Or time-constrained? Or not knowing where to begin? Or not seeing an alternative to grasp onto? It's difficult to exctricate yourself from a system that is all-consuming. Most of the time it takes money and freedom from work. Hence yer Extinction Rebellion folks being middle class and often retired (neither is a criticism; listen to their message). Again, it concentrates on the individual and hides any clear message of an alternative. Exactly. You need hate to divide and conquer. You need hate of individuals.

Hate takes a lot of fucking effort from the hater. I don't know how folk can be arsed.

Considine is ace. A proper Dandy. He's also good at fitba. I mean, he can actually control and pass a ball and not panic and hoof it out unlike the majority of other defenders we've had in his time here (I'm including Devlin in that, and definitely Reynolds). He'd get into any of the teams below us in the league and he's shown that he's good enough for our first team over a sustained period. Every year he's been here, there have always been far more pressing issues than replacing Considine, and he's been in the top 5 or 6 performers every season since Brown turned up. He started getting better as soon as he learned he needed to be aggressive and play to his strengths and that in turn helped his confidence in the tackle and on the ball after an early career of getting knocked about by much smaller players. He had a couple of great seasons at left back, which allowed Shinnie to fill a massive hole in our midfield. It was becoming obvious by the season before Lowe arrived that we could improve the team by getting Considine back to central defence, but I'd argue that was really only for games against the Huns and Tims, as Considine was more than good enough against the rest. The problems against the scum usually occurred because of a change in tactic (justified or otherwise), where Considine would be added to the left of a back three rather than a fullback, thus increasing the distance between him and the wide player or leaving a huge gap behind. Anyone that's ever played football knows that doing that to a player who's weakness is pace will end in disaster. Games that we challenged the scum or beat them were when Considine played as part of a normal back four unsurprisingly. The problem that we have now is that McKenna is a better player and Leigh is a better left back. Considine is okay as cover for left back, but we're not nearly the team we were a few seasons back where we can comfortably support that from the rest of the pitch so Leigh needs to be there every week barring injury. I think Considine has been better than Devlin this season (and I'd say our most consistent performer this season), but I don't think Considine on his wrong foot is better than Devlin so I don't think he should start there barring injury either. I think we have him on the bench when everyone is fit knowing that we're covered for every position across the back apart from right back.

I was about to question the nonsense idea that you could possibly jinx a match, but you spectacularly managed to jinx 3 out of 4 results there. Top jinxing.

According to "dons together" Cormack's vision seems to be some sort of second tier European type thing. I think we'll see significant changes in the world of fitba over the next 5-10 years to create some sort of European class system for fitba. I think he's expecting (based on nothing, just my reading having never spoken to him or heard him speak in person) a european league that we'd play more games in, with a reduced Scottish league. It's a guess like, based on reading between the lines on the club's strategy document. It would avoid having to address the situation of the scum, plus do exactly the same to the teams below us that the scum have done to us by creating an ever-expanding wealth gap.

But this was always going to happen. We had one change things, and we didn't. The hun now have 2 AFCs to pick from, and it was completely predictable. We're witnessing 1995 - 2014 over again. We're living through the worst ever period in Scottish football, and AFC have sat on and watched and supported it. The hun are now two seasons in to a massive spending spree. This isn't just one season in the making, they've spent £10M+ for a few years now, with the tims more than matching. We're basically playing in an alternative league once again. Everyone is playing exactly the same way against the scum, and most are taking a shoeing. They've both handed pretty much every team a tanking with only the occasional disruption, which always happens in a 38 game season. As for AFC specifically, we've depleted the quality of our squad for 3 seasons now and we simply cannot afford to go into a game against either team with a single player first team missing in order to be in with a chance because we're way behind in terms of ability (before getting into motivation, tactics etc). I actually don't care that much, it is what it is. I don't really give a fuck about our games v the Tims, and the Huns games are heading that way too. I don't want us propping up their bought and paid for helicopter Sunday wankfest, giving it legitmacy that it doesn't deserve by turning out in spades for the opportunity to one day beat them. Fuck them.

Well that's ruined my plans for a pitch in my back gairden. Good work min, good to know. Surely next time we play the Arabs in the cup, we can get a couple of their caravan-dwellers to do it for £300K cash? Or give them Gleeson? Plus £400K cash.

So what's the sports village pitch then? Breeze block with a steel frame on top isn't it? It's fucking freezing in the winter, so I reckon it's energy efficient in that it doesn't have heating or insulation. Given it's the dons' training centre, I'm assuming that getting changed in one building before heading to the indoor pitch would be absolutely fine. Part of the warm up. Would seem more energy inefficient to have twa shiters.

Nae outside food. Aye, it's fantastic and pretty decent inside. Although, I think Garlogie was indeed referring to its internals rather than outside look? In which case, it will be an interesting visit at some point.

Sounds about right for a basic shed in the Sports Village indoor pitch style. It's not like yer adding more changing facilities or the like. Fairmers put up sheds like that a' the time, and they're always skint.

Agreed. Watched him in the Scotland u19s against Germany and he was excellent. One of the best players on the park. Those were the best in his age-group. Gives you a sense of his abilities in a fairer setting. Modern fitba seems to be going the way of rugger in that you have to be hyper-fit and athletic to play in any top division. There were a handful of u19 ruggers in this world cup and they were specimens beyond their years. Campbell has all the atrributes but the physical presence. Reminds me of a younger Ryan Jack, and I think he'll go all the way if his physical development continues. He's getting a lot of game time at present and I'm not sure if it'd be better to have him out on loan as I don't think he's ready for SPL yet. Got exactly the amount of pitch time you'd expect McInnes to be giving youngsters like him at the weekend and I'd like to see that continue until January then reassess.

Well, aye, fair enough. We played our 4-2-3-1 to perfection despite missing our midfield. Most folk would have played Campbell who would have struggled and most would have played Leigh left back. Team selection is part of tactics. But most importantly, when we broke we did it perfectly with the right players moving at the right time. We slowed it down when needed to, and there was no "game management". McKenna got very tight to their number 9 and gave him nothing, Considine high on his man too. Probably the best we've played this season (not saying that much).

Could you imagine Wilson playing number 10 today though? We needed Gallagher in there. Wilson would have done about a tenth of the work and we'd have got tanked. He's his own worst enemy as he seems to need a 6 minute breather between each jaunt up or back the park. I thought he looked okay against Hearts before getting injured too, but today he was right back to being pap. He should never have been signed. Aye, although Vyner sold him a few times in the first half by being out of position (he fairly made up for that in the second). Aye, it's not a team for the Tims like. Considine was very good today like, alongside Devlin and McKenna but the Tims will have a hell of a lot of space if we play that midfield against them. That said, will we have any other options?

To be fair, it was a very good tactical display. None of us would have considered Leigh in midfield, it was a shrewd move given their pressing and style of play. We're all pretty quick to lambast McInnes for shite tactics, but today's were excellent. Not just the line-up, but the way we drew them in and played very quickly on the break. It was great to watch. Gallagher, for all his inability in terms of decision making, did really well in terms of making space for himself and others - his movement was first class. The only downside was the chubby retard getting on for the last minute. I'd have cancelled football forever right then.

Wilson maybe? Or am I being harsh? He really doesn't seem to be able to do both defensive and attacking duties and it effects both areas of his game. It's like watching Greg Stewart as a winger.

It's not fair. The suggestion made by the comment is that we're playing a back 6. It would have been fair if he'd backed it up with his suggested midfield. We're clearly down 3 midfielders. In answer to ayrshire, there are no youth midfielders better than Campbell and McInnes (and I agree with him) has deemed that Campbell hasn't been cutting it in the games he's played and that was with experienced midfielders alongside him. I suspect he might get some time later in the game. Decent performance so far, absolutely tremendous finish from Cosgrove who has been excellent this season - a huge improvement in his overall movement and use of his body which shows again today. Wilson been murder, I'd get Hedges on. Leigh doing the miles in midfield as has Gallagher, with Vyner a little poor in terms of coverage, resulting in Logan having to come infield leaving him constantly out of position against their fast winger and he's making mistakes because of it. Devlin and McKenna been very strong. Lewis making up for his mistake (although it was a dive) for the penalty in some style. It's a good away performance against a strong side. They're pressing has been immense. I'd hook Wilson as I don't think we can afford another 45 with a passenger on the pitch and I'd consider Campbell on for Vyner at around the half hour. Vyner has the strength against Tait where Campbell might struggle, but Campbell will hold onto the ball, which we're seriously lacking at the moment.

Just saying "6 defenders" doesn't really tell the whole story though does it? Who would you have had in our midfield today? Clearly Bryson isn't fit. Campbell has been pretty poor in recent games and doesn't really have the physical side to match Campbell in their midfield. I think Vyner is average, but I understand having him in there, so he's a midfielder today. You're then looking at either dropping Considine for Hedges or keeping Devlin on the bench. Given Motherwell's dominance against many teams this season that's a reasonable risk too given our obvious weakness in midfield. Does anyone seriously think we should have gone with Campbell and Gallagher, or Campbell, Gallagher and Hedges? Name yer team. The options are fairly gash at the minute.

I think the problem for AFC is we're probably deemed "above" that approach. Motherwell, Hamilton etc blood their youngsters through necessity and with out having to think about it. We can afford not to have to. All it needs is for the club to explain it to the fans, to actually connect with the fans not in the guise of sales. Whether they do it via McInnes' annual fan meetings (previously Black and Gold, I assume it's now DNA?) or some other mechanism is fine. Just explain that we're going for an experienced first 16, with youth supplementing other areas. Ask for understanding of the policy and patience with the young players when they're introduced. If we have no youths coming through (such as centre half this season) then we supplement via the loan system. Current squad of 19 non-youth players is: Lewis, Cerny, Leigh, McKenna, Considine, Devlin, Taylor, Vyner, Logan, Bryson, Ferguson, Ojo, Gleeson, Gallagher, McGinn, Hedges, Wilson, Cosgrove, Main My definition of youth is a player that hasn't broken through yet. That makes Wright still a youth player and McLennan, Campbell, Anderson and Ross. I'd advocate taking Main, Taylor, Gleeson out of that squad leaving only one injury covered by a senior player in each position before we reach the youth backup. That's not exactly radical given Gleeson hasn't played, Taylor played 20 minutes and all three being gash regardless. With existing injury and performance levels we'd have seen a good few minutes for Anderson and perhaps even Ramsay getting minutes in defence on top of Campbell's extended run.

In terms of ayrshire's main point, there's definitely something there although I wouldn't use Shankland as the example (he was poorer than Cammy Smith at the time). I've said for years that our squad players are the issue here. Guys like Main, Storey etc. are simply no better than the young players coming through. We're taking the easy approach of going out and buying a player to fill the squad rather than the riskier approach of allowing youth to play. It's a fine line I suppose. In my opinion we're seeing that Campbell isn't quite there yet when given a run in the team but I'm extremely glad that we're not seeing a seasoned pro like Gleeson in there in his place as it's throwing good wages after bad. When you look at our striking options, it should have been three strikers only in the squad and that should have been Cosgrove, Wilson (I think Wilson is pap) and Anderson. In an injury crisis, you simply move McGinn in there and act in January if necessary. There is zero benefit from having Curtis Main on a football pitch. The Main signing reeks of bad management and bad planning. We could have picked up 100 Curtis Main's late in the window if we really thought the squad was still light. Two things I think need to be highlighted. The first is that we haven't had a better backup striker than Josh Magennis under McInnes - we haven't been able to improve on that. That's not a compliment to Josher. The second is that McInnes needs to understand that we - the fans - need to see evidence of our youngsters failing. I'm not convinced that Anderson is good enough, but I want to see that he isn't. It needs to be AFC strategy to play these guys for extended periods within games to the extent that they are experienced enough to play the role of - at very, very worst - Curtis Main. Main brings nothing to AFC, Storey brought nothing, Tansey, Maynard, Taylor, Halford etc etc. This straddles the good times and the bad times, I was saying the same when we were winning 7-0 (more so, in fact). The strategy has to be less Mains and Taylors and more youth. At worst, if we're finding that someone like Campbell is struggling in a game, then we shove Gallagher in there and get on with it. If Anderson is struggling, then shift Wilson, Hedges or McGinn in field and hook him. But set up our squad so that these guys are the next line of defence (midfield or attack) when we get one or two injuries. Most importantly, tell the fans that is what you're doing. Be honest about it and you'll get far less flack if it goes wrong. It isn't even a fucking risk to be honest, do we really need Cosgrove, Wilson and Main ahead of Anderson?

That was a grim second half. Mulgrew excellent at turning up for Scotland, rarely misses a game. Unfortunately he's not that good a defender anymore. Good on the ball, but loses his man regularly and never holds the line. The third would have been avoided if he had just played the guy off at the back post for example. That said, the big cunt up front was different class like. Devlin didn't do much wrong and didn't do much right.

Managed to get a couple for the first half, but a wee bit buffery. Will give strike out a try in the second. Devlin majestic so far. Looking good for a place on the dons' bench in the coming weeks. To be fair to Clarke, we struggled with our two left sided centre halves in the last few games, with the opposition getting a lot of shots where the left-sider (Mulgrew, mainly) kept showing them inside. I can see why he wanted a right-fitter, and Devlin is a solid defender despite his passing being pap.

Any links? Mine keeps buffering

I'd agree with that, I like Robinson. Although, to date, I'm not sure the evidence really backs up that he has punched above his weight in the league. I can't think of any bad managers that we've taken from Motherwell in recent years either.

That's a pity. We could have gone for a straight swap.