RicoS321

Interesting game like, very much a game of two halves. Shinnie started at left back, which was great to see, but O'Connor was poor in midfield, sitting far too deep and staying there. It was a bit of a blessing when Shinnie got injured and we moved O'Connor back. Hopefully he'll remain there, and we utilise Storie in the coming weeks. Taylor's passing was awful, but we insisted on isolating him, giving absolutely no options when he got the ball - I genuinely felt sorry for him yesterday, McGinn spent the whole first half in-field (or most of it, he switched wings toward the end of the first half, and Hayes provided an outball constantly). The second half, we were far more direct, with no passing from the back whatsoever. It was punted at Rooney in order to get the second ball in midfield, and it actually worked for long spells. McGinn had a great finish, but wasted two other good positions with lazy attempts at goal where laying off to others was the better option. He slowed down so many quick breaks, it was frustrating. Burns had several great runs, but once again was sacrificed rather than McGinn - Pawlett coming on and had a decent game. A fantastic finish from Vigurs gave them a deserved point (deserving, mainly due to our lack of scoring). Madison was okay, looks decent on the ball, with an eye for a pass. However, he is very lightweight, and his work rate was poor. I think he'll definitely be a good player one day, I just don't believe he'll fulfill that in the 4 months with us. I wouldn't be starting him in the next game Thought McLean had a decent second half, put himself about a lot and generally covered well. He seemed to get better as Hayes tired and Madison provided little assistance. Perhaps he's the type of player that thrives on being asked to hold the midfield together. He certainly played well alongside Storie against Celtic, and there was a marked improvement in effort yesterday. Some signs of real attacking creativity at times yesterday (aye, like, 3 times). Really lacking in centre mid though, and we need to get a settled game plan as we were all over the place for long spells yesterday.

It is like a new signing, if that new signing already lived in the area with his family and had done for several years, played for the club previously before leaving and returning within a month, had played with every single player in the team before (bar one) and could be 100% of fitting in with the rest of the squad. Just like a new signing.

Oot. He was hypnotised by a jap gong it seems.

On the Edinburgh cooncil links? Doesn't surprise me, awful site. I do like public services, but by fuck they manage to make a coo's cunt of absolutely everything. Public sector created websites should be banned.

Aye, it's bland and functional. Like Hertz' style of play. Good work though, the right decision for them.

What the fuck happened here?

Do you think the price of tickets has a negative effect on youngsters playing the sport like? I don't know, I would have thought it might, although I've nae idea of the correlation. I think the fat cunt smoking and eating junk food probably stunts his child's growth, thus making him a shite fitba'r! Also, the lack of places to play for free and the devotion required to be successful are inhibitors. Fuck knows, yer right about the public sectorians though, my mate just picked up a job at the cooncil - he seems unaware of the environment, so should be funny.

It's not deliberate! I'm hoping Morris turns out to be good. I think Taylor had a better game than Reynolds at the weekend also, and I think that Taylor at right centre back is marginally better than either Considine or Reynolds at right centre back (especially Reynolds, who is uncomfortable on his left, never mind his right foot). I suppose when I said I thought Shinnie at left back was more valuable than O'Connor in defence, I was looking purely at the fact that O'Connor can play quite well in midfield, rather than the shambles it leaves in his absence! It just highlights the difference a single player could make. An alternative could be: -----------------Lewis----------------------- Logan---O'Connor---Considine-----Shinnie -------------Jack-----Hayes----------------- McGinn---------Maddison------------Burns ----------------Rooney---------------------- That takes Taylor out of the game. That'll do nicely.

I thought I'd start this one early, to take account of our (lack of) activity in the transfer market. I didn't want to whoor new threads all over the shop, so this can just make its way South after the Caley game. The question is: What's team do you think McInnes will play for ICT game (lets assume Reynolds, Jack and Hayes are all out)? vs What's our best team with everyone fit? I'll start, obviously. ICT game: -----------------Lewis----------------------- Logan----Taylor----O'Connor----Considine -----------McLean-----Shinnie-------------- McGinn----------Maddison-----------Burns ----------------Rooney---------------------- I think McInnes will prefer O'Connor in the centre, rather than move Considine back and Shinnie across. Although Depending on Morris' fitness, perhaps he might like him in there and O'Connor in midfield, however I can't see him dropping McLean ever, and I think he'll want to start the new guy as I suspect that was a large part of the deal (that he'd get every opportunity for game time). The rest picks itself more or less. Best team: -----------------Lewis----------------------- Logan----Taylor-----Considine-----Shinnie ----------O'Connor-----Jack---------------- McGinn---------Maddison------------Hayes ----------------Rooney---------------------- As a starting eleven, I'm going with this, in McInnes' favoured system. I've previously said that O'Connor is the best centre half at the club and that we should play him there, however I don't think we've signed well enough in midfield to use that option. I think the Shinnie and Hayes partnership on the left outweighs the Shinnie and Jack partnership in midfield and I think that if we're shoe-horning a player in, it should be O'Connor in midfield because he's still a better option there (alongside Jack) than McLean, Storie, Pawlett or I assume Maddison. I've guessed that Maddison is ace, but that is possibly harsh on Burns who's played quite well recently. In defence, I couldn't care less whether it's Reynolds or Considine, but Considine has been better of late and is stronger on the ball and in the air. I'm not affording Morris the same assumption as Maddison, I'm just - harshly - assuming he's pap, although I'd love it if he was better than Taylor. It really is just that one centre midfielder that fucks things up for us. Whilst we'd still have been slightly short on cover, our first eleven would have looked so much more balanced. It's not good that our first eleven has to involve playing one player out of their best position, very frustrating.

Aye, I get what he was saying. All I meant was that there was no longer the working class fan to sell the game to, it doesn't have to be their target market. How else can people not be horrified by someone getting paid £300K a week to play football? Rather, it's seen as something admirable. If we aspire to these idols, then surely it makes entire sense that we have no problem paying the top dollar to watch them? They need the high prices to give the game in England its status. Fuck knows how that seems to have migrated to Scottish football like, but it has.

To be fair, we don't really have a working class anymore. Anyway, the spending in England made the BBC Scotland news ahead of the dons new signing (as did Utd signing Andreu for some reason). I would have thought that listing all the Scottish deadline day transfers would have been quite easy, and relegate this EPL pish to the bottom of the website somewhere. It's like we're supposed to be impressed by big numbers. I see the EPL like a spoiled child that should just be ignored. I've grown quite ambivalent toward it these days, it used to annoy me, but now I just feel sorry for it and will happily watch the occasional highlight here and there.

It stems from last season like. McInnes was always going to have too much to do in this window (although Killie have managed to take in 16 players!). It's impossible to get all your targets to join, and we just had too many positions needing filled. I think he made the right decision with players leaving (although I'm surprised Pawlett wasn't among them). Unfortunately he let those players go without securing replacements. To the extent that our best team - in McInnes' eyes - probably includes two players not playing in their best positions (O'Connor and Shinnie). I think we have cover in many areas, but only if we rely on two things: being able to change the system and giving young players an opportunity (Storie, Wright, McKenna specifically). We are where we are I suppose, and the Maddison chap looks a decent prospect (albeit somebody else's prospect, and only for four months).

Ashley Maddison? I expect he'll be prone to getting hacked.

Another fantastic piece by John Pilger: http://johnpilger.com/articles/provoking-nuclear-war-by-media

Which was?

It's the statistic I have issue with. It's a ridiculous stat, which does nothing to help those with mental health issues, just belittles the issue. Just tell us the stat of how many players have suffered, that's the only thing relevant here. They're trying to sell a cause (an admirable one probably) here rather than give people honest facts. I'll explain. If I ask "do you know someone with depression" to five Aberdeen players, when I know that one Aberdeen player is suffering from depression, then I'm highly likely to get 60% + players who respond "Yes". Football teams are close knit, so if I have depression and confide in a team mate there's a fair chance he'll tell - in confidence - a few others (not through being vindictive, more just saying: be careful when ye spik to player X, he's got depression). It's a stupid stat. It's the sort of thing you'd expect to see from a consultancy firm who specialise in - in this case - mental health, who want to sell a service to - in this case - our governing body. Or maybe I have trust issues...

Presumably because it was entirely made up on the hat, as admitted by the starter of said rumour. Nice to see the verification of stories by "journalists".

Surely a lower excitement threshold is better for me? Generally happier, and able to jizz quicker, fit could be better? Edit: Aye, I'm nae talking semen-velocity here, which is not affected by excitement threshold. More the time it takes to produce, meaning I can fit in a quick chuffter atween the office and the car park, the car park and the traffic lights, the traffic lights and the next traffic lights, and so on.

Loirston was further. It was agreed subject to purchase of a piece of land. There was also Bellfield, which I think went to planning too. Not to mention Balgownie for the training complex. At least if a random hitch occurs after planning, the land will be opened up for a housing development. I do actually believe that this project will at least start though. I also believe that the fundamental issues of parking will not be addressed and the novelty of the walk, or shuttling, from the park and ride will wear off pretty quickly. I'm thinking that self-driving cars may save the day though. Genuinely.

^^^This. It wasn't the decision to sit back at the start, it was the extent to which we did it. 90% possession or something in the first half. It was unacceptable, and a little embarrassing. It sent out a loser message to the players and fans. There was no way they were going to have the belief to win that game.

Ex-hun. One of the leavers when they went bust, so they hate him, which makes him a'rite.

Can't wait to get stuck at those traffic lights, pictured, with no other cars within a 2 mile radius.

It could be argued that it's irrelevant to us now we're leaving Europe! Coverage absent from the Guardian too, which is surprising, although the announcement isn't anything more than an opinion. Will be interesting to see what deal a Conservative led UK tries to agree with the US post-brexit. The notion that we even need a deal is strange to me. We clearly don't.

Pfft, sound shite to me. Born in Kirkcaldy it seems, so hope we do the decent thing and cap him against Malta.

Yep, it's going to be an interesting few days. We must have been looking at a centre mid, we can't possibly not have been. At the moment, I'd settle for one good quality central midfielder, box to box type. It'll be really interesting to see what we do in the next game if we don't get a midfielder in. With Jack and Hayes probably still out and Reynolds suspended, we're an Anthony O'Connor short because unfortunately he can't play in two positions at once (although that seems to have been the plan at the weekend). I don't know how we address the more permanent flaws of McInnes' caution, at times poor tactics, and serious issue with trust in his squad and therefore substitutions. Is it something that changes in a manager over time? Do we give him the benefit of the doubt because of his excellent win record? I think managers, in general, suffer from a lack of accountability. Their rarely asked good questions surrounding their tactics and approach to games (as a result of shite reporters/interviewers), which leaves them to make the same mistakes until they eventually get sacked. McInnes needs to recognise his flaws, discuss them internally and work on them. Do we have a role at the club for questioning the manager?