RicoS321

Shinnie had an absolute shocker last time he played left back against the tim. Got moved into midfield and Considine was brought on in his place and played well. Problems usually occur when we dick about too much and try play Considine left of a three or some such or fuck about with it during the game. If he can play fullback and get very close to the winger, they often struggle because he's reasonably physical. The problem occurs when we drag him away from the winger and let him get run at all day, so if he does play then he has to stay planted on the winger and bully him. I'd definitely keep Shinnie at left back though if Tansey is able to play. I'm not convinced he'll make it, probably another sneaky comment by McInnes to keep the tims guessing.

Correct. They specified an arbitrary criteria of 12.5 hectares as required for building a new stadium, thus conveniently ruling out any sites offered/suggested....

Aye, generally the one poster with unrealistically high expectations. Something's gone wrong.

You just know he will though. The only thing I'm hoping will prevent it is the fact that we tried it earlier against Hertz and it was woeful. We have an abundance of (pish) defenders in our squad which makes me think he'll take that option. The problem is that Christie being out forces a change in that area, and Stewart has so far been pish. That's why I think he'll do it. The problem being is that we'd still be one short in midfield. Shinnie is the only player capable of playing the left side of a 5 (Considine is fine as left back, but not as a wing back and Wright/GMS is/are fine as winger but not as back-tracking wing back), so we'd still have to chuck Ball into midfield meaning we'd potentially have 6 centre halves on the pitch at once. However, he may decide to play May in behind Rooney and just have McLean and O'Connor in the centre given the extra protection at the back. Generally you can tell a lot about McInnes' intentions by the way he finishes the previous game. He likes to try things out (Taylor being re-introduced in the lead up to the league cup final last season as an example) late in games with the intention of starting that way in the following match. Reynolds coming on was indication - to me - that he intends to set-up this way against the Tims. It worked in the game where Quinn scored a couple of years back mind, but it's risky and I don't quite think we have the personnel for it this time round. Or, more correctly, I think we have a better chance setup differently. I see McInnes going something like: -----------------Lewis------------------ --Arneson----Reynolds----McKenna-- Logan----------------------------Consi ---O'Connor----Shinnie----McLean--- ----------------May-------------------- --------------Rooney------------------ That'd be brutal.

I don't think he's saying that. It is completely possible that McInnes might have not wanted to blow his entire budget on a single player. Or he might have thought that paying the extra cash just wasn't worth it and that he could have got a better/different player for that money. I think he'd definitely have had an opinion on what he thought Moult was worth. I'd also think he'd have the integrity to not spend the dons' money if he didn't think it was worth it. McInnes is a cautious guy too, if he wasn't 100% confident that Moult would do the business, he maybe didn't want to be the guy spending 600K + on him. It's not a criticism, just a genuine possibility.

Getting Moult would have got us to the playoffs. It was the blatant hole in the team. Trying to get there without a striker of that quality (May earlier would have also done) was a stupid risk when paying £400K for a striker shortly after anyway. I firmly believe that a decent striker to aim at was the only difference between us and the Cypriot fucks. Ironically, signing Moult would have meant we'd have made enough money to sign May too. If, as Ten Caat suggests, it was McInnes' decision the it was a fucking shocking one. Anyone who couldn't see we were going to struggle in Cyprus with a Maynard/Stockley combo disnae have a fucking clue about fitba. If it was McInnes' decision, then it's by far the worst he's made as dons manager. I'm not convinced it was though, I think there wid have been a big push from the board not to pay over the odds for a player. Anyway, I expect we'll never find out.

That boat has sailed unfortunately. We'd have been still in Europe and in a final if we'd upped our bid, and we'd probably still have managed to get May too. I expect he'll join der hun in january and come back to haunt us (more than he has already). Top performance by Well, completely deserved their victory.

Think we have to move Shinnie back to midfield assuming Tansey isn't fit. We have to go to a 4-2-3-1 as Rooney drifting out wide isn't going to work against the Tim. I'd have May up front on his own as his movement is much better than Rooney's. Shinnie into midfield alongside O'Connor with McLean in front. That's quite a solid midfield. Shinnie at left back would be my preference, but Considine replacing Shinnie there is a lot less of an evil than either Ball or Stewart in midfield. O'Connor and Shinnie holding is solid, O'Connor and Ball is ridiculously slow and we'll get overrun. Stewart hasn't cut it and doesn't deserve to start. I expect McInnes to do some weird back 5 shite though with Reynolds joining McKenna and Arneson. One thing's for certain, McKenna has to be trusted for this one given his previous few games.

Have you read all the recommendations on the thread yet? I was waiting for positive feedback on my last recommendation before suggesting another you see. Chasing Shadows by Ken Hughes worth a read, about Nixon. But read the last recommendation first.

Well done indeed. Do we get to read it? Not suggesting I'd understand it like.

Aye, I have a landy like, but I only use it at weekends as I'm not totally ignorant.

How else are folk supposed to travel along the main road to the industrial estate carrying a single 80kg person, other than in a 1,750kg vehicle?

Apparently they'll let his sister stay.

Missed it again. Watched the 6th episode and then forgot about it, will go back and watch it as I really enjoyed it. Did it cover the Chennault affair? If not, Chasing Shadows is a good book to get the low down on it (the kindle version has audio recordings of Nixon too, which is interesting). Basically the prelude to Watergate.

Aye, 300+ mile trip like, that's a killer. 6 hours or so. They'd be quicker gan to Tenerife.

Brilliant. Good work McInnes.

I was freaked out driving hame fae work at just after 14:00 this afternoon. Assumed it was just yer classic apocalypse. Sahara dust and Portuguese fire-smoke apparently.

Aye, I don't particularly like London either. I value my lungs. I just find it a badly laid out, unsustainable, mess and I don't get the hype. In fact, I think the hype is the hype. I'd knock most of it down, as it obviously does have some excellent parts.

I watched the entire second half where you'd have expected to see some of the kicking (albeit, I believe McGinn took a couple of hoofs in the first half) and there really wasn't much to speak of. Shinnie perhaps lucky not to receive a second booking for deliberately pulling back a player, however it was deep in their half so it would have been harsh. Otherwise most of the fouls were 50-50 types, apart from May's challenge where he took a swipe after he looked to have been pulled back himself and correctly received a yella. Only 3 cards backs this up. As to the backs to the wall, I'd say that McInnes got the subs right on this occasion. It called for a defensive last 20, and we did it very well. It was an end to end game and the midfield were tiring. McLean especially seemed to be covering a lot of ground and ended up going up front toward the end. They didn't create many clear cut chances and once the changes had time to settle after the first couple of minutes we were okay again. I think Ball is reasonably pish though and probably doesn't need to be introduced, however for once I don't think the attacking sub would have worked and extra defending was the right call.

Really good win, fantastic result. Just saw the second half. We looked decent, with everyone getting stuck in. Battled very hard. The back four looked good (Logan probably the worst of the 4, but still good). McKenna and Shinnie won everything, and Arneson did fit he does. O'Connor made a couple of dodgy passes but was otherwise strong and McLean held onto the ball really well and got stuck in. GMS looked like a confident player. Well done McInnes, despite the cup(s) shite yiv done exceptionally well in the league.

Can't imagine Moyes doing much. Hopefully we'll hear of some decent applicants in the coming weeks. I doubt the position will be filled this year. I'd personally hold out for a while if there is no outstanding candidate at present. There is plenty of time to work out the best person and folks will come and go from jobs before the next campaign.

George Graham? They'll go for McCoist or Moyes or some cunt. If there's not a scottish person, and I think yer right, then we simply don't need one. Shoe-horning in a Scot who isn't up to it is a worse position than giving a good coach from another country (decent British/Irish manager or any other European country). Perhaps a Scandi. Again, we'll get applications and there'll be some good names in there I'm sure. The problem we have, and the Malky Mackay appointment highlights this, is that he has to be someone that will question the entire setup and cause the SFA real problems or else he just won't be doing his job properly. It's a catch 22, as that person won't get the job.

Seems to be a hell of a lot of support for Strachan still. A quick shifty on the BBC comments for example, and it's about 50-50 with those for/against. Strange. The Slovenia game was classic Strachan. Reverting to type when the pressure was back on him again. He made the same mistakes as he did in the opening of the campaign, the same as he did in Georgia in the last campaign. He absolutely has to go, there is no room for progression under Strachan. Undefeated in 6 games is a great stat until you realise it was just the pure desperation associated with the all or nothing nature of the situation. Strachan's job was effectively gone after Lithuania/Slovakia, it was just a case of throwing caution to the wind and going for it. It was like playing 6 games against the Tims where you know you haven't got much chance so the pressure is basically off. As soon as it came to the crunch and it relied on Strachan making proper footballing decisions again it all came crumbling down as he returned to his comfort zone. More importantly, as a manager he seems to thrive on that hard luck tale. It's like he enjoys the "heartache" and showing that he's a "true Scotland fan". He's a fucking drain. Like the cunt beside him. International management is about being ruthless and risk averse. The right thing to do in that last game was to take the essence (and formation) of what you had in the previous games and then throw in a couple of form players like McGinn, MacGregor or even Fraser who'll really fight hard and add something. Every international game should be a challenge to those players in the first eleven. Strachan was always "famed" for being outspoken, yet he had nothing to say about £36 a ticket versus Malta, nothing to say about the running of the game in this country. In reality, he was the obsequious little shite the SFA wanted.

Anderson started (and finished) against Norway in 2004 at Hampden. Man of the match as I recall, he had a fantastic game against John Carew in his prime. Seve was only a sub against Faroe and Lithuania for about 5-10 mins in both. Remember being pissed off that he didn't get more time against faroe given our dominance. So Anderson last starter I think.

Yep, entirely in our own hands now. If we can get a goal early, they might turn off with nothing to play for. Will be a good game. We're better than them, as we showed at Hampden, there can be no excuses.