Fucks sake Manc. 

 

Never not a notable fixture on the calender but this is a very big game for both teams given recent form. Neither of us can afford to lose this one and a draw isn't too much use either. Hopefully some solid time on the training pitch will have done our fledgling squad the world of good because we have a hectic schedule with 7 fixtures in the next 21 days.  

 

I've absolutely no idea how we will line for this one so I'm not going to predict a score or result but I'm expecting Hearts to be well up for it so we will need to be too. 

 

Really needing to win this to get things back on track. 2 wins in 12 competitive matches is getting a little alarming. Morris being out for 10 weeks (according to the manager) means Devlin probably moving to play right wing back as can’t see Robson moving away from 3-5-2. I would like to Besuijen given a run on the right and go to 4-5-1 but given Robson would rather put an injured Morris in the euro squad instead of Besuijen I suspect there is zero chance he will play him. As we are unlikely to move from 3-5-2 I would be tempted to move Duk to the bench and start either Sokler or Gueye as Duk looks completely out of form at the moment. Hearts look as disorganised as we do but our record at Tynecastle is abysmal. 
 

In

Bus to pub

Away end

Pub then home

2-0 no Dons scorer.

Out

Nae idea

Dodgy stream

Preparing for planes, trains and automobiles journey to Frankfurt.

2-3 (blind optimism) Ruby, Bojan & Clarkson.  

Such an important fixture at a horrendous venue for us. Haven’t had much luck there, and if we play like we’ve started the season, that won’t change. Hoping to fuck that Robson et al have all worked on alternative formations to make our defence workable. We should have players that could play a four. Still doesn’t resolve the Rama shaped sized hole mind, but a decent defence would be a start. 
 

out

bed

bed

bed

2-0 hearts, no dons scorer

Always a sense of gloom for this fixture,can't see much changing today despite Hearts poor form.Interesting to see the line up and formation though

Oot

Prediction 2 - 2 about as optimistic as I can get. Miovski,Clarkson

do we think we’ll see Besuijen make an appearance after robsons comments yesterday? Or that all lip service until he’s kicked out of the club? 

5 hours ago, manc_don said:

Such an important fixture at a horrendous venue for us. Haven’t had much luck there, and if we play like we’ve started the season, that won’t change. Hoping to fuck that Robson et al have all worked on alternative formations to make our defence workable. We should have players that could play a four. Still doesn’t resolve the Rama shaped sized hole mind, but a decent defence would be a start. 
 

out

bed

bed

bed

2-0 hearts, no dons scorer

I just don’t see how we can stray from a 3-5-2. We don’t have a single right midfielder and are very limited on the left. The whole window was based on 3-5-2 and we signed defenders and two wing backs.
think we’ll see the Dane, Macdonald, and Jensen today, devlin and mcgarry as wing backs. Really curious to what he does with that Rama hole, think he’s trying to make McGrath the replacement, time will tell.
lastly, Robson is a high pressure work rate guy, that clearly isn’t Vinny.

1-1, miovski.

Think it's reasonable to allow Robson the time to persist(rightly or wrongly) with his 3 at the back given we haven't explored all its options personnel wise. If we can sharpen up our attack meantime to take pressure off the defence

Roos

gartenmamn ruby Jensen 

devlin shinnie clarkson mcgrath mcgarry

duk miovski

Can’t be far off our strongest team, you could debate McDonald for ruby and one of the new boys for duk but otherwise it’s about as good as we could put out. No excuses today.

COYR.

Edited September 16, 20232 yr by wee toon red

Team as expected. Strong looking bench too.

Head says 1-1, but I've also £1 on 2-0 to the good guys.

I genuinely can't see us losing today. I think, for all the worry that we're not as strong as last season, our first XI looks better than theirs and we'll be right up for it today.

Just in the door and switched on game 

Why are we in white today ?

Fuck sake

Far too rushed. This playing with intensity isn't working, we just give the ball away.

Slow it down, pass the ball properly, let Hearts (who are just as poor as us, goal apart) run themselves into a frenzy, and we've got the front players to make clever runs and open them up.

Instead it's kick and rush followed by pot shots from the edge of the box.

31 minutes ago, Panda said:

Far too rushed. This playing with intensity isn't working, we just give the ball away.

Slow it down, pass the ball properly, let Hearts (who are just as poor as us, goal apart) run themselves into a frenzy, and we've got the front players to make clever runs and open them up.

Instead it's kick and rush followed by pot shots from the edge of the box.

This.  We look like a team playing with little control and more than a hint of desperation.  If Hearts are dominating us imagine what a proper team will do on Thursday.

Haven’t seen much but this game and others it’s way too much long ball and relying significantly on duk who is a different player from the spring. Creating very little.

9 minutes ago, OxfordDon said:

If Hearts are dominating us imagine what a proper team will do on Thursday.

I genuinely have the fear for Thursday evening.

Copious amounts of alcohol are going to be the order of the day 

2 hours ago, Panda said:

I genuinely can't see us losing today. 

Guys, I think I have a problem. 

No fight  no spirit, no hunger.

Even Robson will struggle to put any kind of positive spin on this pish in his post match interview.

15 minutes ago, BigAl said:

No fight  no spirit, no hunger.

Thing is, I disagree with all this. We were up for it, we just - like we did under Goodwin - had no obvious game plan.

We had two attacking tactics today.

The first: Collect the ball just inside the Hearts half, launch it to the front two, and hope they can turn into Dennis Bergkamp and take a touch, turn the defender, create a yard of space and then add a sublime finish, all while hoping the defender stands and watches them.

The second: Anyone who gets the ball within 30 yards of goal, take a shot.

I've been defending Robson and urging people to give him time, but this is no way to play. We have players who can actually play football and we don't need to be shelling the ball forward from the first minute.

Edited September 16, 20232 yr by Panda

25 minutes ago, Panda said:

Thing is, I disagree with all this. We were up for it, we just - like we did under Goodwin - had no obvious game plan.

We had two attacking tactics today.

The first: Collect the ball just inside the Hearts half, launch it to the front two, and hope they can turn into Dennis Bergkamp and take a touch, turn the defender, create a yard of space and then add a sublime finish, all while hoping the defender stands and watches them.

The second: Anyone who gets the ball within 30 yards of goal, take a shot.

I've been defending Robson and urging people to give him time, but this is no way to play. We have players who can actually play football and we don't need to be shelling the ball forward from the first minute.

Initially we might have had these qualities, but it didn't long to have them knocked out of us.

You telling me these qualities were on display in the latter stages today 🤔

13 minutes ago, BigAl said:

Initially we might have had these qualities, but it didn't long to have them knocked out of us.

You telling me these qualities were on display in the latter stages today 🤔

Well we didn't lose the game today because we had lost heart in the last 10 minutes.

I think the effort was there. Any notable strategy, tactics, ball control, defending, movement and trickery were all missing.

43 minutes ago, Panda said:

Well we didn't lose the game today because we had lost heart in the last 10 minutes.

I think the effort was there. Any notable strategy, tactics, ball control, defending, movement and trickery were all missing.

I never said we did mate but I expect my team to not chuck the towel in in the fashion we did.

Even the Hearts tv commentary team, who were very good today  were saying they couldn't believe the lack of fight and thd acceptance of defeat we demonstrated long before the final whistle.

I don't think I'm asking too much to ask for greater effort than I witnessed today.

I have trips to Frankfurt & Helsinki booked together with a three game home package purchased. If we continue in the same manner as we are, I very much doubt I'll be spunking my cash away after Xmas on that.

Just my opinion and after all it is what the site is all about 😉

I wish I could be upset, or care more right now, but bigger picture and all that.

Maybe in a couple of months when/if I’m back at work and closer to 100% I will but for now I’m not going to get too down on this.

Clearly something needs to change/ improve but whatever that is is not my biggest concern.

Dear AFC please sort it out.

Well that’s shite to wake up to the result I feared. Will be under massive pressure now, and as expected dons Twitter is murder right now. Thursday is not going to be fun. I’m now not envious of being unable to attend any of these fixtures ☹️ what the fuck did they do over the break?!?

Robson experiment is unraveling at an alarming rate of knots now. Looks completely out his depth. Formation is not working with the players we have and he is being far too loyal to some who are clearly out of form. 
 

That’s us comfortably beaten by two piss poor Edinburgh clubs. Never looked like winning either game. 
 

Next 4 will probably see us out the cup, humiliated in Europe and bottom of the league. Think is just a question of when this season not if we start looking for yet another manager. 

Not that I'm tipping us to win, but it wouldn't surprise me if we put in a credible performance in Frankfurt because the way we're set up under Robson is suited to playing a team likely to dominate possession. It's when you give us the ball we embarrass ourselves.

We'll press them, hound them, the likes of Duk will find space to run on the counter. Be a bit like the Celtic game which was our best performance of the season.

Frankfurt would be better just letting us have the ball, laugh as we try and pass it at 100mph, make mistakes, and then just pick us off.