RicoS321

The whole 58 years pish is exactly that though. They've had one tournament, where they played all their games at Wembley and deployed some extremely dubious refs, which they won. It is a complete outlier, rather than something that should expect to be repeated. They make it sound like it's some inevitability, and that they've been hard done by. However, there's not a single tournament since their "victory" where they've been the best team, or even anywhere close to it. The last two tournaments weren't some hard luck story, rather they were a story of complete luck, where everything went right for them at the right times and they made the finals. They're about the level of the Netherlands, Portugal or Croatia of the last twenty years. There's probably a few teams in and around that level, and it varies from tournament to tournament. Seeding means that they're unlikely not to qualify for big tournaments, but once they get there that benefit fades a little and they struggle. They are not Germany, Spain, France, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, they are the level below that and would need a hell of a lot to go right in order to win a tournament. Of course, the Euros can lend itself to a team outside the top four winning it, as we've seen numerous times in the past. They'd still be massively punching above their weight if they did win though.

Morris is a fanny. For all his downsides, Mackie wasn't afraid of a tackle or an aerial challenge. When played through the middle, Mackie was a very serviceable player, he wasn't as bad as many make out, so I'm not comparing Sokler to him by way of criticism. What Sokler does best is movement for himself and for others, something that Mackie did well too (he was never really credited for the runs he'd make to make space for others - perhaps cause he didn't want the ball! - which showed a decent understanding of the role). He understands what to do as a striker, which is a useful asset. Duk, for example, doesn't have this, and many others too who play for themselves first rather than team first. The problem that Sokler has is that his first touch under pressure isn't generally great, and his link up play isn't there. Those are difficult to teach, and are certainly limiting factors. It's why Sokler played better alongside Miovski, and will probably always be better in a two rather than a lone striker. Like Mackie, he's not great with his back to goal (other than flicking it on), it's not his comfortable area. He likes to be on the run, on the shoulder of the defender, or pressing, with the ball always in front of him. Whilst he may or may not be better than Mackie (I'd say very likely), the point is that he's that type of player, with similar attributes. The second goal was indeed excellent movement, and it's an area in which he instinctively knows what to do. If we can get players in and around him this season to crete those opportunities, then he'll score plenty. I think that a large proportion of our passes into him (high or low) will return in short order though, and so we'll have to adapt as a team to accomodate that.

I'd say it was a relief, but it was never in doubt. The best team by a considerable distance.

That's mental. Sokler is nowhere near the player Miovski is. He's basically a slight improvement on Darren Mackie. He's got good movement, is fast and not afraid to put himself into a header, but his first touch is poor and doesn't offer much in the way of link up play. Mackie was a serviceable SPFL player, Sokler is probably slightly above that because he has a better eye for goal (I think). He's not Miovski though. That said, he may turn out to be good enough for what we need him to do, it'll be interesting. I have a feeling we might be chopping and changing between him and Ambrose until we settle on one.

Donal...... No, wait...

Miovski was excellent at taking the ball in last season (hold up play doesn't mean trapping balls punted over your head). You're not a reliable judge of his abilities however, given your strange attitude towards him. Sokler might be fine, his movement in the box is excellent, but he'll be not even in the same league as Miovski unless he develops physically.

He isn't good enough, and never has been? He's got nice feet and can finish, but he's not quick enough and lacks the physical side. He reminds me of Cammie Smith, a good technical footballer who's just a level below. Unless he's improved in ways that are difficult to improve since he's been away, I don't think he'll get many minutes this season. As for the pitch, I agree it was definitely a factor. Having the ball hold up like that is ridiculous and does the plastic pitch a disservice. Twenty minutes of sprinklers and it'd have been playing perfectly.

What a win. Name's on the trophy. Reasonable performance. Shinnie, Clarkson, McGrath, McKenzie all decent. Difficult to tell regarding the new signings, I wasn't really sold on any of them if I'm honest. Nilsen looked like he might be good, but would need to see him tested against real pace and pressing as he didn't look particularly quick in pace or quickness of feet (with obvious caveats given preseason fitness and new player and country). Molloy I thought similar, we need to see him under pressure against pace, but his distribution was decent and looked quite calm. Ambrose looks like he might take a good bit of work. Decision making might be a problem. Morris did what he's done before against limited opposition, Duncan wasn't great but improved when Milne came on. Milne needs to be getting more minutes to challenge Devlin, who was average. Sokler took his goals well and was okay generally. He doesn't seem to have bulked up at all in the summer and isn't going to provide the hold up play we need I don't think. Energy and pressing was good, but I think we've got a worse team than that which finished the season (because Miovski). We need more players.

Amazing half. There's nothing stopping us this season

Brilliant third. Excellent from McGrath. These lads are pish.

Some battling from Shinnie. Nothing thon Hun ref can do to prevent that one. The pitch looks honking. Not watering a plastic pitch shouldn't be allowed.

Yasss. Commentary ahead of picture. Shayden with a beautiful cross. Dons legend.

Good to see Shinnie defying suspension too.

That's what I assumed. Interesting to see if the back pair form a good relationship.

Not even a countdown timer on the page. Pretty disgusting. I had to check elsewhere for the game time. No idea how we'll set up for this one. Small potential for an upset I'd say.

Duk gone missing. Shame. Six months of a purple patch has gone to his head clearly. There's always been a huge amount missing from his game, with no obvious way to address it. I'm not sure he can escape that in today's world of data analytics. Not many clubs that have the funds that the Dons will want for him will be operating the McInnes model of picking guys that played well against you, or looked good on telly. With him previously returning to the club overweight, and now not at all, he'll have just removed any remaining value he might have had. Hopefully someone at the club has the wherewithal to not drag this out into the season. If there's a club (not in Scotland!) willing to buy out his contract and maybe a token sum, we should just offload.

Nah, we've got Shinnie and the new guy, no need for another all action midfielder. Although I'm saying that with no real idea of how Thelin intends to play. I'd like to see us just leave the squad quite bare, with no overloading of positions until we get an idea of how things are progressing. A loan late in the window if we feel that we're missing something, to tide us over until Polvara returns.

No he did not. That'll be his first European goal. Unless he scored an own goal in Europe? Wouldn't be surprised. Good to see he's still playing, and far enough away that we don't have to witness it.

Not to mention the stewards trying to injure their opponent's captain.

Think it's been difficult for him in training so far, everybody's talkin' at him.

Why would we need wingers when we have the dynamic width and overlapping prowess of McGurry and Richardson?

Aye, heard that. Shame. Might just be a guy that we never see the best of. It'll be interesting to see if we replace him. Maybe an ideal chance for a loanee later in the windae.

A mental case in the midfield, that'll please the fans. Just what we've been lacking, they'll say. "I've been saying it for years". In a year's time, they'll be moaning about lack of discipline. I do like a strong midfielder, but I think it's less important these days than being able to cover a lot of ground, or being able to control the tempo of the game. Quite a few on that twitter feed suggesting he's a Ramadani replacement, but seems a different player altogether. Ramadani wasn't a defensive midfielder, in the sense that you couldn't have him sitting on his own in a 4-1-4-1 type formation (Goodwin tried it and it was terrible). Ramadani defending - like Shinnie - on the front foot, by playing high up (or deeper) in people's faces. His game - like Shinnie - involved covering lots of ground and being fit. He could sit in a two also - like Shinnie - but I still don't think you'd call him a defensive midfielder. Ramadani is basically just a less aggressive version of Shinnie, which, when added together, was very potent. It'll be really interesting to see what Thelin has in mind for him. From the lineup last night, it looked like it could be a 4-3-3, but I don't see us going with that if this guy is in the team alongside Shinnie, which I assume will be the case. I don't think we'll need two sitting midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 for most games (at home, anyway), so this guy might sit in while Shinnie bombs about and Clarkson does his thing, both pressing high off the ball. I can see Clarkson being the weak link in that press, but hopefully the preseason will have battered it into him. It does suggest that we have the option of completely changing the way we play by bringing Polvara off the bench. He finished the season very strongly and has a good bit of headroom to improve if he's given the opportunity. McGrath will be, I assume, out wide and probably cover several roles. We really need something creative from the wings.

It's fine, VAR will clear it up.

I think I'd need four thousand and twenty four others before resorting to Morris.