RicoS321

I don't think that necessarily follows. His role isn't on the footballing side, and he shouldn't have the authority to question Thelin's decision making, I think he'd be overstepping if he did. Burrows is like Duncan Fraser before him. He has inside knowledge, of course, but that doesn't give him authority. He might question spending a portion of our budget on a single player, for example, but I wouldn't expect him to be raising the sort of questions we're asking. That would be Gunn's role. However, even if they were asking, they've clearly failed in getting their point across. This is clearly Thelin's ideology throughout, you can tell by the way he speaks and what he says. In that regard, it's clear why Gunn is leaving. He isn't doing it properly.

I've a feeling he might be as injury prone...

Gyamfi doesn't look particularly fast, but he's a unit. He'll run through people to get to the line. I think we're going to like him, if he stays fit. He blasted a couple of crosses in today, it was great.

Burrows is a Motherwell fan and chief executive (not a criticism), and Gunn is just an administrator turned football director. None have actual football experience. I don't necessarily think that you need it, in order to ask the right questions. Neither would appear to have the authority to properly question JT and ultimately override him. I think that became fairly clear when he began to bring in his own guys, both on and off the pitch. It remains to be seen whether the players we have brought in are good or not (I still think Clarkson is our best player, and the rest just average), but that's not the entire problem. The problem is that he's been allowed to fill an entire squad with players who are exactly the same as one another. All our wingers are basically Keskinen, or Matty Kennedy with foreign names. All our midfielders offer the same thing. Our strikers are all the same. All so that we can learn one system, and switch players in and out of it. It's a ridiculously stupid gamble for a club on our budget. We are never going to have the quality to not have to just grind out results, and punt it long to the big lad and pick up the scraps. It's either been a deliberate plan to accommodate one system, or he's just ended up buying players with similar attributes in error. Either way, there should have been someone at the club questioning the dogma and making a clear and evidenced point as to why it wasn't pragmatic. That person isn't there, yet, and it'll cost Thelin his job. We saw this exact same scenario under Glass, and we haven't learned since.

Nisbet doesn't really work as a number 9, he's always been better as a number 10. Nothing sticks to him. He was so much better when Lazetic came on, as he occupied the back line, and Nisbet dropped, controlled, and released. It's really simple stuff. Aouchiche is a waste of a jersey there, as he takes a touch, turns, then another touch, before trying a difficult pass. He rarely gets beyond the striker too, when he should be doing that every attack. Jensen is a victim of our setup. He's getting dogs abuse for taking ages to get the ball in, but every time he got the ball with the space to cross today, he did so. Every time he got the ball with a defender between him and goal, he cut back. There's probably only once or twice in a game where I've thought Jensen has cutback when he shouldn't have, he's very rarely favourite. I was in the mainer today for a change, and it was even more clear than normal that he's not actually doing a whole lot wrong. It must have been 95% of the time today that when Jensen got it, the fullback was not just in position, but in position, faced up, with time to spare and ready to block the cross or show him down the line knowing he had five yards on Jensen. The fans were giving abuse to the wrong guy. Gyamfi got two good crosses in from the byline today. Both where when he got it early. They're wingbacks clearly changed tact at half time and they utilised the space really well.

It depends who you are playing against and what you're doing up front. I can see the merit in just bringing him on in games, especially away from home. If we'd had a front two today, with Nisbet dropping deep in space, I'm convinced that we'd be fine with Shinnie and Nilsen, even. When Nisbet gets it with space, he immediately plays in the wide player. That means that they have space to play the early cross, or they already have the yard on their man. We got several crosses in from Jensen in the second half after the subs precisely because of that. Every time it went back to Palaversa it took eight days to reach Jensen, who isn't going past anyone, and he looks bad because of it. I'm not convinced that we do. I think they are mediocre and easy to play against for the most part. It's a team of identikit passive guys, who are nice on the ball. A team of Rob Milsons. We are also significantly worse than last season. Inevitably, too. The signs have been there for a year, after we allowed the manager to have more and more control. The squad building in the summer was an abject failure, and reeks of not having a person at director level capable of asking the correct questions. The last day gambling hasn't paid off.

Good find. We need to get someone in above him to really put the pressure on him. He could be a good manager I think, but he needs anyone to really be questioning his judgement. I would say that the whole "5 wins in 32" needs to do one though. Two entirely different squads and seasons, and need to be judged separately. There is no such thing as "calendar year" in fitba either, it's just pundit bollocks. Each season is a reset. JT has had his, and we judge him on his failures this season. I'd force him to stay and own his mess.

Sokler and Nisbet should have been an option for us this season. Ambrose and Yengi shouldn't be.

Clarkson takes risks, and I think that's what Aouchiche is supposed to do too, if it wasn't for the fact that he isn't very good. But otherwise, you're right. Take Morris out and your just left with the tippy tappy pish.

Aye, that was gash again today. Turgid stuff to watch. Again, we weren't terrible in the first half, but not great either. Lots of endeavour, especially from Keskinen who put in a power of work, but the overlapping fullbacks who not only don't overlap, but aren't really given the opportunity to do so either. They got the boot up the arse that we didn't at half time and that was all that was required. They dominated the opening period and waited for our mistake, with Devlin obliging on his wrong foot, and Knoester (who was poor again) following up at snail's pace. Clarkson the only one trying to move it quickly, with Palaversa like being a man down. Polvara's touch when he has his back to goal is shocking too. Special mention for Karlsson being utter dogshite too, just a very easy player to play against. Nisbet sprang into life when Lazetic came on, unsurprisingly to anyone who watched him play last season, but it was too late to be of use. Overall, we're just not very good. We have a lot of very average players. They all look like they're either on the verge of being good, or past the point of being good. There isn't a single player - bar Clarkson, and probably Mitov - who is playing at their best and improving. The subs were again testament to the atrocious squad building at a club who has only now managed to get a director of football in. If even the layperson, such as the people on this board, can see that it's an extremely stupid decision to go into a season with only one system and only players that fit that system, then it's criminal that there isn't a person raising that point within the club. Jensen was getting the ball deep, crying out for someone to slide it down the line to, and nobody was allowed to make that run. Karlsson, especially, narrowed in every single time on that side. I felt sorry for him. Thelin clearly watching a different game.

Will be good to see Armstrong starting, see what he can offer. Should help the inexperienced Shinnie through the game. That front four can count itself very lucky to be being given another shot after last week, but hopefully the extra week of training has got them on a better wavelength. In fairness to them, I suspect that if they actually got a goal we'd see a huge lift in their performance. European football really is a pain in the arse. We're carrying a huge squad. Tobers, Molloy, Yengi, Ambrose, the Finish lad, Bilalovic all not even in the side, and no young players. That's a lot of waste.

Or that we missed a trick in his development. A strong, tall lad who isnt terrible at football should have been something we could have made something out of. His overwhelming issue was complete and utter fear on the ball. He was jittery as hell, but also young enough that a few good loan moves could have ironed that out. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a completely different player at Pittodrie. Not a world beater, but someone who could be a better option than Jensen. I'd also say that we're seeing exactly the same in Yengi, and he desperately needs loaned out. He's no world beater either, but his nerves are making him ten times worse. Gueye was the same.

@Panda's suggested system was actually how he setup after the subs against Livi. Palaversa was in front of the defence, with Armstrong and Clarkson in front, and Polvara wide left. It became very congested, and disjointed, but if they have a week to practice it could be good. I'd say that we would be better without the inverted wingers in such a system though. The only reason I wouldn't go for it, from the start anyway, is that we're finally up against a team which our normal system would suit. In which case, we'll probably change.

2-2. St Mirren through on pens

Dons' legends, Anderson and Richardson banging them in for Killie and St Mirren tonight. I still think Richardson might turn out to be good.

That was the erotic thrillers page I believe.

Okay Steve Clarke! The Falkirk game followed a European game on the Thursday and both we had ten men in, I can understand the changes. The game plan wasn't really working in either game too. The Livi game was just a mess of subs. Not so much the timing, but the volume and randomness of them. The problem we have is one of Thelin's making though, in that we have players that are very similar to one another, with very little option to change. Other than the random playing of Polvara at left wing, the rest are virtually like for like substitutions. So I'd say that he does have faith in the game plan , but as you say, the subs are to alleviate tiredness. I actually think there is some merit in that though. They all have those monitor things attached to them, so I'd expect that they are using that data to determine if and when there is a drop off in coverage or pace of players on average over ninety minutes. For example, imagine Keskinen only did 90% of the work after 70 minutes each week, would you say that he's 10% better than Milanovic (I'm not looking for an answer to that, just giving an example of what they might be seeing)? If not, you bring on the latter. For me, the biggest issue with the subs is that they don't change the plan at all. There's no Morris factor. I completely agree with you as to consistent team selection. It's fine if you're confident in your best eleven, and you're merely trying to use the squad better because of Europe, but it seems like we're not close to settling on that best eleven. Although I remember regularly giving McInnes a hard time for not knowing his best side by October, and he had a much more settled squad.

He was all over the pitch in the first half against Livi, and he dominated their midfielders, but he took an extra touch too often because he doesn't have the passing ability as you mention. He was still good though, and he didn't struggle with the pace and work rate required. Unlike Palaversa when he came on. What I'm struggling to understand is why Aouchiche is getting off the hook after Saturday. He was terrible. His decision making was rank, and he didn't offer anything in attack or defence. It was like having a slightly lazier Keskinen (who does help defensively). For me, the midfield two were absolutely fine, and a large part of the reason we kept possession and didn't have any problems at the back (until they went off). The problem is that Thelin did not listen to me, and play both Nisbet and Lazetic from the start. Nisbet likes to drop deep, so when he does, Lazetic stays put - and vice versa. Motherwell will try and pass it through us, so I think if we can keep it solid, we can break to the front two and get something. Basically, keep Nilsen and Shinnie for this game.

Yes, a certain group in the UK has been deemed a terrorist group for painting a plane, and old ladies are being arrested for supporting them. On the opposing side, a woman is jailed for telling people to burn down hotels. The two are equated by a redundant press. Starmer is as pathetic and weak as Biden was, but he's there because of that, as was Biden. Like Biden, he's there to give the illusion of left versus right, when in reality there is no political left representing the UK. There is only a large right wing, and a bunch of people trying to win over that right wing by placating them and borrowing their talking points. Of course, that right wing is imported, in its entirety from the US, with huge funding from guys like Musk and the other social media guys, and orchestrated by people like Steve Bannon. It's basically political interference, but guys like Starmer are too pathetic to call it out. A British reporter actually asked him yesterday if Britain was no longer a Christian country. A line directly taken from right wing US Christian groups. Instead of ignoring the reporter, he weakly pretended that he was Christian himself. That weakness has immediately opened the door for Christianity being forced into the conversation (directly from the US), and it will keep being nudged until we're back to questioning abortion. Being the weak middle (very much including the BBC) versus the right, there will only be one winner. Again, I'm not coming at it from either side, I'm trying to be as objective as I can. In reality, I think that they're all wrong. They're both working against physics, and their stupid arguments will soon wither away when faced with the far larger problems that civilisation is facing. I'd expect a few civil wars when that happens. An example would be climate change and water shortages. The overwhelming majority of migration in the US in the next fifty years will be internal migration. You can see how it struggles to cope with the arbitrary external migration created by its borders, so how does that play out when those borders become state, or county borders? You've timed your move well, doing it before the rush, perhaps, although I expect that a large portion of Orlando will be redundant too. It's very intriguing. The political class will do its utmost to insulate itself whilst pretending it isn't happening.

I think the Dons v Morton (Dodds hattrick, Windass with four in extra time I think?) game might have been the last one I remember on Teletext. Was in the garioch sports centre and the scores were coming through. Unless it was the Motherwell 6-5 game. It would have been a Wednesday night. I was probably pished, having been to the boozer before football training, of course. Maybe '97. Grew up with it though, it was a very tense way to get the fitba score.

He sounds ace. Get him in.

What is hilarious to see, is the free speech wave going back and forth, with associated frothing and side-taking. It started with the left being defenders of free speech, being provocative in search of more liberal attitudes towards sex and sexuality, always being censored by the right. McCarthyism another sordid tool. Then the hate speech took over, with words being phased out because they were no longer appropriate leading to speakers at university and so on being "cancelled". Now the "can't say anything these days" folks are reporting people for making jokes about a death, trying to get them fired and shows cancelled. All propelled by the narcissistic machine of social media. You wonder when it will peak?

I just got my ticket. Very excited. Could be game of the season.

If only some of us had thought have that years ago. Although I suspect it's not unusual for a sporting director to leave post while a manager is in place, so we can just treat it like that.