Not looking forward to this at all. The record for both teams in the away fixture is pretty grim reading, but given our incompetent manager and consistently shooting ourselves in the foot, it can only be damage limitation. The draw with st Johnstone did nothing for us. Yes we gained a place but in the grand scheme of things, no football was played, we don’t have a style of play, and we don’t have a managed that knows how to change things up positively. 
 

can see him trying for a 5 at the back for this one, lord know 5 in the middle didn’t work as we’ve no wingers, so he’ll use that as an excuse to “shore” things up at the back. Roos seems to have completely lost the plot this season too. 
 

out

bed

bed

bed

3-0 hearts, no dons scorer.

Really, really looking forward to another game of football. More games, thick and fast, that's what we need.

I agree @manc_don, think we'll go back three. I actually don't think that'll be a bad thing though, because we're away in a difficult fixture. I think he'll play the 3-4-2-1 setup that worked a couple of times in Europe, which is vastly different to the single sitting midfielder he played in every other fucking game. It's a stuffy setup at times, but does allow two (Polvara and McGrath would be my guess) to get close to Miovski, whilst allowing the fullbacks to get higher. In theory. It would mean dropping Barron (because he won't drop Clarkson for contractual reasons), which he'll be fine with. Obviously, the injury to Rubi might mean he sticks with the back four. 

If we are to have any chance of catching the Maroon spoon burners for 3rd then we have to win this one but just cannot see us doing it. Agree with Manc that Robson will use this game as an excuse to go to a 5 at the back again. If he does then Barron has to start beside Shinnie in the midfield and Clarkson moved further forward but would not surprise me if Robson drops Barron and keeps McGrath for the middle 3. Diets don’t look that good a side and if we were using the players we have in the correct manner I think we would be beating them on Saturday but don’t think Robson is capable of doing that which is very frustrating. 

In

Pub

away end

Pub to numb the pain

2-0 no dons scorer

 

Not optimistic at all.

Oot

Making breakfast 

Therapy appointment 

Watching FA Cup games

4-1 diets. Duk

5 hours ago, Jute said:

If we are to have any chance of catching the Maroon spoon burners for 3rd then we have to win this one but just cannot see us doing it. Agree with Manc that Robson will use this game as an excuse to go to a 5 at the back again. If he does then Barron has to start beside Shinnie in the midfield and Clarkson moved further forward but would not surprise me if Robson drops Barron and keeps McGrath for the middle 3. Diets don’t look that good a side and if we were using the players we have in the correct manner I think we would be beating them on Saturday but don’t think Robson is capable of doing that which is very frustrating. 

In

Pub

away end

Pub to numb the pain

2-0 no dons scorer

 

I don't think Barron and Clarkson work together in many of the options (that Robson uses) in a three/five. Clarkson further forward works when he's in the middle (although it needs width), but when we do Robson's preferred European style, that involves two higher up, who drop wide when defending - not really something Clarkson does well. Barron doesn't play well further forward full stop, so that's out. We could play a 3-4-1-2, which would suit Barron and Clarkson, but that would involve dropping McGrath, which I don't think Robson will do. It's the same problem we've had all season. If Barron starts, it has to be at the expense of Clarkson or McGrath, not ramming every midfielder onto the pitch at once because three players who play similar roles are also very good.

Hearts have been terrible in their last five games. Twice they have had to fight back from 2-0 down against Ross County and Dundee, both at Tynecastle. They were minutes away from being taken to extra-time by Spartans.

Forget the record at Tynecastle, it's a winnable game against a vulnerable team.

I just don't see Aberdeen turning up.

1 hour ago, Panda said:

Hearts have been terrible in their last five games. Twice they have had to fight back from 2-0 down against Ross County and Dundee, both at Tynecastle. They were minutes away from being taken to extra-time by Spartans.

Forget the record at Tynecastle, it's a winnable game against a vulnerable team.

I just don't see Aberdeen turning up.

Don’t disagree with any of that. I think your last sentence rings true with my point about shooting ourselves in the foot. We won’t perform because we’re hindered by a lunatic.

Hearts -1 is 3/1 with 365 for those interested. 

^^^.....Im interested in a google translate for bookie terminology

Oot

Avoiding the game this afternoon via countryside stroll.Wouldnt be surprised to come back to a baffling 3 - 0 win for the Dons(ala McGhee) 🤔

  Prediction - reality says 3 - 1 them,ruby for Dons

2 minutes ago, Elgindon said:

^^^.....Im interested in a google translate for bookie terminology

It basically means hearts to beat us by more than one. Put on £10 and you'll get £30 back. Obviously no Dons fan would ever bet against Aberdeen, as that would be Hunnish behaviour.

2 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

It basically means hearts to beat us by more than one. Put on £10 and you'll get £30 back. Obviously no Dons fan would ever bet against Aberdeen, as that would be Hunnish behaviour.

Yeh, I'm only putting a fiver on it.

41 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

Obviously no Dons fan would ever bet against Aberdeen, as that would be Hunnish behaviour.

Interesting point actually, Rico as to whether you would ever want to see your team lose.  I can see the argument by those who say give Robson until the end of the season.  My concern would be, if we happen to have a decent end to the season then presumably we are stuck with the same guy for next season and with the best will in the world I don't think any of us reckon he is good enough.

There is always an element of luck involved in appointing a manager.  In Milne's time as chairman, a lot of the managerial appointments may not have worked but you could kind of see the basis behind why he might have given them the job in the first place.  Eg. someone like Alex Miller had done well at Hibs and won a trophy, Steve Paterson had been successful at Caley albeit it didn't work out at Pittodrie.  With Cormack, I don't know which hat he would used to pull out the names of Glass, Goodwin or Robson because none of those would even have been in my top 20 candidates for the job.  I think with each of these names, most of our fans were looking forward more in hope than in expectation that their tenure as boss would be successful. 

We have created a problem for ourselves in that if we dispense with Robson, we are getting into the cycle of ditching managers every 18 months which is not great.  The issue is, until we appoint someone with a decent track record in the first place I think this is going to keep happening. 

 

 

Back four then, looks like the widthless 4-2-3-1 again.

If I were Robson I’d study the Brazilian box midfield. They used to regularly play 4 central mids, two defensive and two attacking with 2 forwards. The width came from the full backs, think they still played it with Cafu and Roberto Carlos, and the holding mids covered them as they pushed on or couldn’t get back quick enough.  the attacking mids went wide either overlapping the forwards or moving and penetrating centrally with the forwards going wide. A lot of movement and rotation.  I’d agree we’re not Brazil but there’s a way to do it with the squad we have! Takes an open minded and intelligent coach to implement!

20 mins in. Very good start. Means nothing without a goal though.

Amazing finish from Miovski. Another nonsense VAR intervention. Contact fucking sport.

Fuck var. yet again. Purely incidental contact. Can we bin it now. Ruining my enjoyment, causing more issues than before it came about. Killing the sport.

Edited January 27, 20242 yr by OrlandoDon

There is just as much contact from the defender on miovski on his shot that led to the corner there. Fucking nonsense var.

It’s brutal, basically any 50/50, chance of a foul, handball etc and fans call for foul so that they get a var check. It’s changing the game, much like has been said before, your players need to claim everything in the hope of the ref then going to var. awful.

17 minutes ago, OrlandoDon said:

It’s brutal, basically any 50/50, chance of a foul, handball etc and fans call for foul so that they get a var check. It’s changing the game, much like has been said before, your players need to claim everything in the hope of the ref then going to var. awful.

Yep, it's fucking awful. Ruined the game the other night, and ruining it today. For what? Lots of shitey penalties for a ball hitting someone's elbow with their back to the play. Offside given for a toe beyond the defender. Context removed from every single decision. All massive negatives. For the one decision every three months that actually required a video replay for a genuine error. Absolute fuckers that brought this shite into our game. Absolute fuckers who are still saying shite like "it's not VAR, it's the way it's being used". 

Anyway, a very good first half from the Dons. First to every ball and pressing well. The midfield all playing well, with Clarkson doing the business with his passing. Shinnie been outstanding today so far too. Setting the tone. As is so often the case, when he plays well, the others respond. Miovski's finish was just top class too, he's ace. 

Edit: to add, once again the ref and other officials saw exactly what happened in real time. An accidental coming together. The player saw our goal go in and walked away without complaint as he knew he wasn't fouled. The ref saw it in context, he knew what happened.

Edited January 27, 20242 yr by RicoS321

Here we VAR again.

Season is officially a dud.   On the plus side, Panda is now a tenner up.

Think Rico should apologise to anyone he talked out of betting on Hearts -1

Robson in his post-match interview is going to dine out on that first 30 minutes, but the following 60 was the same as the rest of the season.

Well beaten in the end. Couple of bollocks decisions, just like we got in our favour the other night. We've now been conditioned to believe that a player having a ball belted off his arm is a penalty, it's difficult to even have a conversation with anyone who agrees with that. It's like an entirely different value system. There is nothing sporting about their penalty, absolutely no merit in it, but everyone is now fully on board with that type of call. With VAR finding them everywhere, the game's fucked. 

After the pen, we really struggled. The changes failed miserably. The first was an obvious sub, bringing Duk on. However, he got five minutes to add something to the game, before the double sub destroyed any shape we had left. I guess that's the problem when you always make your subs so late. You condense the time available for further changes and so any impact the first subs have is nullified as they have to switch almost immediately. I understand that there is pressure to make changes, but spread them out and allow players to come into the game (or do the opposite and make a triple change). Fairly clueless tactical response to going behind, given we were the better team for a large part of that match.

Was looking promising but not in it second half.Game in midweek V an in form Dundee could be interesting....