RicoS321

Height basically. Shankland over 6ft, the other two around 5ft8. Shankland can, and does, use his physique to bully defenders and hold the ball up. Anderson much less so. It's not impossible for a smaller striker to make it, just significantly harder. Especially if they're not either very fast, or very fast over 10 yards. He might be the latter, but I'm not certain. Again, I'm just offering an opinion based on the limited time I've watched him. He could very well come good.

He wasn't great, but neither were Ayr generally. I guess it's about getting minutes at his age really. When I first saw him play for us, my initial thought was that he was a young lad that had developed muscle early, which is why he stood out at youth level. He doesn't seem to have the pace to cause teams trouble, although he's undoubtedly a good finisher. He had one good shot early doors that he struck really well. If I was to predict a career trajectory at a very early stage, I'd say he'll be akin to someone like Bruce Anderson. He has a long way to go though and if he can work really hard with a sprint coach then he might carve out a decent Dons' career. He's just that awkward in-between of being not fast enough to be like Sokler or Mackie (who aren't quality players, but have pace to make them very useful), or tall enough to be like a Watkins type nuisance that can be aimed at from deep. He has a nice touch and is good with the ball at his feet, I'm just not sure that the physical attributes he has fit the role he's been assigned at a young age. Whether it's too late to convert him into something else, I don't know.

Scott Brown starts as well.

He's not going to Ibrox because he's not an idiot. Just the same as McInnes didn't. I don't think Cormack is letting Thelin run the football side of things at all. In fact, I think that'd have been made clear up front and probably a position Thelin is comfortable with. He'll be getting the same autonomy as Goodwin and Robson did. Positions required identified by the manager, passed to the recruitment team who already have an array of players that they've identified and been watching, for them to draw up a shortlist with the manager getting the final say. The manager is given leeway to sign a modicum of players he knows he wants from his recent footballing experiences (Nilsen is no different to Devlin or McGrath in that regard, just that Thelin's recent experience is in a different country). On top of that, the recruitment team will present any players that they feel are not to be missed despite them perhaps not being of a required position. Similarly, Thelin will be given little control over the comings and goings of the youth team, save for a few targets that the club will be suggesting he meets (minutes for youth products etc, which might be his only failure, if you can call it that!). In corporate speak, it'll be a flat structure, with recruitment sitting alongside football management and coaching. The recruitment guys won't be reporting to Thelin and he'll have no control over where and who they scout. They're a service department if you like. Whereas, under McInnes, Richardson was a direct report (as he seems to be at Killie). Anyway, I think Polvara and Gueye returning is huge for us. If Polvara can begin the way he ended last season, then that'll be massive, and Gueye just offers something that the others don't. If we are looking at another 9, then I think we'd have to cancel Nisbet's loan. I don't think we can accommodate another forward player. If we're serious about challenging for the title, or at least consolidating second, then we probably need better cover than Vinnie and better fullback cover, although I would ideally like to see that cover coming from our youth setup. In all, I wouldn't be disappointed to see no movement in January. Unless injury strikes between now and then. A striker and wide player if I'm being greedy.

There's no way those lads are turning down champions league fitba next season.

Harsh, he was excellent in the first half. Struggled once he switched wings though. His best game for us I thought. Nah, McGrath is usually an excellent penalty taker. He never missed one for St Mirren. It was probably the worst pen Ive ever seen though. I think what happened is that he tried to send the keeper the wrong way, but realised just as he was about to kick it that the keeper had gone the way he was hitting it and tried to pull out of it and redirect. He seemed to slow down just as he was making contact. From memory, he used to place them with power. Fuck knows what he was playing at. Also the sitter he missed too. His freekick was class though, and the keeper wasn't getting it.

Big questions need to be asked. Not sure this manager is up to it.

Well that was fun. I've not seen us slaughter a Hun team the way we did in the first half in a long time. If McGrath hadn't shat it (although pens for that sort of thing is a total nonsense) then I think we'd have gone on to score more before halftime. That penalty miss fairly rocked us and we switched off for their only chance of the half, the disallowed goal. They switched tactics, which had us under a lot of pressure, and we should have made the changes earlier before they got the chance to score. When we scored the second, there was only one winner and they offered nothing. Nicky Devlin was absolutely immense, but the whole squad was tonight. I've not seen a Hun team that shite for a long time. None of their players would get in our team.

Note to self: check kick off time before leaving the house. Too early to go in, not early enough for a pint. Since when did Wednesday night games not kick off at 19:45? Anyway, decent team. Only disappointment is no Duk off the bench if we need him. Guess we'll have to cope with a hattrick before he goes off in the sixtieth minute. Another one of those freekicks he scored against them a while back would be fine.

He's not done too much, but a lot of that is down to personnel and tactics, which I think JT will recognise. He played with Nisbet in the first half against the Tims, when they were playing a high back line with space in behind. Clarkson thrives on that opposition setup, but it needs a striker playing on the shoulder. Clarkson would equally have been looking to play Sokler in, as McGrath did, and is perfectly capable of making that pass. Him and Nisbet against a high line isn't the right call. Him and Sokler, if the Huns play high, is a good way to get a goal. I think a lot will depend on how he sees the Huns setting up. It'll also depend on whether Duk starts, or if he feels he'll be more useful from the bench. I think that @Panda's suggested lineup is a good shout. It has the right blend of keeping it tight and being quick on the break. I'd be sorely tempted to play Nilsen, Palaversa and Shinnie and press the shite out of them if it's Nisbet up front.

Amongst others that died?

Fuck that, we'll be taking our 3p in the pound from duff and phelps like every other creditor.

That's sad, he seemed a nice chap.

At 3-0 down, he'll receive a second booking for kicking the ball away. As he walks off, he slips in the steadily forming puddle of his manager's tears, landing on a water bottle which ruptures his bum crack*, putting him out of action for six years. As he lies on the ground, Rubi commandeers the phone of a willing spectator in order to take a thumbs up selfie in the foreground of the injured Hun. The image goes viral. *I'm not a medical professional

I think we might play Nilsen and Palaversa, with Shinnie in front. Shinnie will spend the entire half getting right into Barron, not letting him move, and he'll take the bait and get sent off. We'll then take on all our flair players, like Morris and Ambrose, and put six past them.

Vinnie would have ripped his strip off and thrown it in Goodwin's face. With humility, of course.

Just back, what a result. We totally dominated that second half, it was like we were playing a team from the championship. Top marks to the defence who were solid when required, but also moved the ball forward so quickly and were happy to take it into feet throughout, Mitov included. They couldn't get near us, like we had an extra man. However, if it wasn't for a centre half, a fullback and a donkey, we'd have been going home with one point. But really, the win is Thelin's. For years, including McInnes, we've had managers sitting in, comfortable with their tactics for 70 minutes, maybe tweaking something small or making a like for like sub. Now we've got a manager who witnesses what's happening and makes changes to personnel and tactics that get us goals and points. Morris was fantastic when he came on, but it was also a change of tactic, from Keskinen coming infield and switching wings, to us playing with width and Devlin overlapping. Duk shifted in to try and pick something up at the back post and McKenzie playing high. Shinnie comes on with the instruction to play deep and cover the fullback belting forward (he was at right back for large parts), then Duk moved to centre forward in place of Sokler, who couldn't adapt from being the man over the top in the first, to being the penalty box striker in the second. Which comes to Ambrose. It wasn't that he is a good player, it's that he - like Nisbet - plays in the penalty box in a way that Sokler and Duk don't. Sometimes it's best to have a poorer player more suited to the role than a good player not playing to his strengths, and Thelin seems to not only always get that right, but also get the overall balance right and at the right time. Besuijen played well and just offered fresh legs and a different challenge for them to think about. He didn't just throw on a bunch of players because they weren't the guys already on the park. Obviously, it helps that we have that rock solid base behind to build from, but the manager has built that confidence and solidity. Just brilliant. Probably the best Dons I've seen this century. Maybe.

I have to say, I don't like this type of positivity around the Dons these days. I don't turn up to Pittodrie expecting to have a smile on my face. Thelin needs to stop all this relentless positivity. With the seagulls less erratic after their babies have left the nest, there's a real lack of things to complain about.

If you didn't sit through Alex Miller, Steve Paterson, Mark McGhee and Craig Brown then you're not eligible for a ticket in the new pie-in-the-sky arena. Straight forward enough.

Morelos heading behind bars? The logical place.

Big Dunc freeing himself up from ICT so that the Huns don't have to pay a fee.

Yet that was the rule for over 100 years without a real issue. McCoist is completely correct. I'm surprised anyone feels otherwise to be honest. There are two distinct types of incident. One is a player seeking to gain an advantage, the other is a player gaining an advantage. Duk's was just a player gaining an advantage. Not unsporting, not deliberate, not even particularly lucky. For the entire history of football, up until VAR, that would never have been a foul, because it very, very clearly wasn't deliberate. Because the handball rule existed to prevent people from seeking to gain an advantage by using their hand. Everyone that's kicked a ball before can - for the most part - tell whether a handball is deliberate or not. The rule as it was worked absolutely fine. VAR has changed the rules because it needs black and white, yes or no. It doesn't want referee discretion. It won't be long before the shitey VAR system is using "AI" to calculate whether a ball touched someone's hand, and so is automatically a foul. It's anti sport and anti sportsmanship.

You could be right, but replace McGrath's name with McCowan or Hayes and the above would have been applicable to both before they went there. He might even feel he wants another shot down South, although I don't think his game is necessarily suited to the level of team he'd get. Or maybe he's just waiting for his hat trick against the Huns before announcing his three year deal.

Aye, it wouldn't surprise me, I wish we had sewn it up before the start of the season. It was clear he was a stand out for us, it'll be interesting to see when we started talks. I don't think there's much hope of him extending his contract at present, unless he's really settled in the city with family etc. It's in his own best interests to let it play out for a while and see what offers are on the table in January. It's a similar situation to that of Hayes when he joined the Tims, and he signed a contract with us that guaranteed a good wage and a healthy - but not outrageous - sum for us when he departed. It would be tremendous is we could get McGrath on another 2 years with a ~£1M clause if he's happy enough in the city. The Tims will happily pay that chicken feed amount to get a player that can win them games domestically, coming in and out of the team when required, whilst weakening a team that can take points off them. They've done it many times over the years, with McCowan the latest, Hayes before and others. I guess it depends how much he values being a key part of a team and minutes on the park over being a smaller part in a bigger machine. I suspect many of us have had eqiuvalent situations in our own working life (I have!). He's been a great signing for us either way.

Need to dig out the Tom English wankfest over Clement and his hyperbaric chambers from last year. He's one of the best managers in Europe you know.