I do have the fear about this one. Weekend was an improvement but not enough to be able to handle going to ibrox in the following game. Not sure we can line up, especially at CB, in the same way or we’ll be in for a rough ride. Think if we can hold out for a while, the natives will get very restless very quickly, but it does rely on us actually being able to create something, which is obviously something we’re not doing very often. Do we put Topi up top? Not convinced Nisbet will offer anything.

out

bed

work

work

2-0 huns, no dons scorer.

2 minutes ago, redordead said:

Why isn't Polvara replacing shinnie. He might actually be able to turn and pass to a red shirt from deep

Because Okkels has been shite, and is probably now tired.

Fair

Deary me. Nite nite...

Never saw it but sounds like we were pretty shit? Any positives?

So much to dissect 

We're a disgrace. Could've been six. 

Doohan first class and only bright spot.

Should be number one for me.

This 12 game run is totally unacceptable. 

Our passing is a disaster 

Shinnie is done

Control seems to be a team issue. Nobody can trap a fucking ball.

I don't care where we are sitting, another three games like this and jimmy has to come under serious pressure.

Who'd have thought that before the semi pumping.

10 minutes ago, redordead said:

Fair

Aye, it didn't flatter them. Very comfortable. 

Not many positives to take. Tobers looked good again (I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on the last goal, he wasn't expecting Dorrington to get shot and never had his position nailed to push the attacker wide). Jensen looked decent too. All the attacking players were poor, with Clarkson probably doing the most to make something happen. My Hibee mate asked if Okkels has something on Thelin, and I'd tend to agree - he just didn't involve himself at all, and I don't think we should be playing him into fitness. 

Biggest issue at the back was Nilsen on his wrong side. I mentioned it at the weekend, it was so obvious it would lead to error. It appears we've signed another right sided player to replace him, who looks no more able to carry the ball out without making a cunt of it (just the body shape, again). There must have been an available left footed defender somewhere in the world? Obviously we've now got a right footed left back if McGarry is injured just to compound things. 

Anyway, Gueye's back soon. 

I can’t believe any sane person would have chosen to put Nilsen in midfield instead of Palaversa and sacrifice any mobility we had in that area. Predictably he did nothing other than kick people (and get caught under Balogen for their second).

Morris taking one look at the defender on a yellow card and deciding he wanted no part in trying to take him on was a shining nugget on a turd of a team performance, ultimately inconsequential but gutless all the same.

That is worst Tribute Act team I have seen since mid 80s when shite like Gregor Stevens played for them. Embarrassing to lose 3-0. We have fallen off a cliff form wise. Only positive for me was Jensen. Elgin get an early goal on Saturday we could be right in the shite as confidence has gone completely. 

Sakes, I had a meeting at half time, so only caught the first half. By the time the meeting finished FT score had filter through. What in the actual fuck happened? Seems like it went bonkers in extra time? Never thought we were up to much from what I saw in the first half, but christ.

55 minutes ago, Slim said:

I can’t believe any sane person would have chosen to put Nilsen in midfield instead of Palaversa and sacrifice any mobility we had in that area. Predictably he did nothing other than kick people (and get caught under Balogen for their second).

Morris taking one look at the defender on a yellow card and deciding he wanted no part in trying to take him on was a shining nugget on a turd of a team performance, ultimately inconsequential but gutless all the same.

Exactly why Morris was on the shit list for a long time. Easy to look good on a thriving confident team, but our league requires having stones to fight, work, and be brave. That’s not Morris at all. Or a number of our players.

seems like teams know how to play sivert in midfield now, less time and space and he’s not overly two footed or skillful, or quick. He’s no central defender that’s for sure. He also makes a lot of mistakes and gives the ball away. If JT is honest sivert’s days as a starter are probably numbered. Maybe he’s gassed having not had a post season break, but he’s certainly not the influence he was the first dozen games. Three year contract for a 33 yr old is a little worrying now.

So that's Thelin's 12th consecutive game without a win. Putting that into perspective, McGhee was sacked after 1 win in 13 games. Was always gonna be a tough ask at Snake Mountain, but jesus wept ... beyond Doohan's countless saves and Jensen's nice wee run, we had nothing. Anything but a win against Elgin must surely put a huge question mark over Thelin

Think it is time, we put faith in the manager rather than jumping onto the bandwagon and say "sack him"

Dave, needs to get on the phone and find OUT what is going wrong with these so called professional footballers.

 

 

Way i see it is we have Thelin for 3 years. At least. We asked him to commit and he said it’s long term, we have to have given him guarantees. We’re obviously and clearly backing him financially. We’ve sacked glass Goodwin and Robson in quick succession, I think talking about jimmy going is pointless. And I don’t think we should, doesn’t help and we have to accept it may get worse to get better. We had a shit squad/team when jimmy came in and his immediate success papered over that. There’s work to be done and jimmy is here for a while. Wish him well and accept he’s being given time.

8 minutes ago, JessianK said:

Think it is time, we put faith in the manager rather than jumping onto the bandwagon and say "sack him"

I'd like to see evidence of this bandwagon. 

Thelin needs time and to work his new players into team but it should be made clear to him and the players the performances like tonight’s and the one at Kilmarnock will not be accepted going forward. Thelin said after Kilmarnock that a performance like that would not happen again but it did tonight. 
 

We have a lot of dross still in the side who don’t seem to even get the basics like positional sense or passing to people in the same colour jersey as them. As much as Thelin needs to get new players in he needs to get some of them out. 

2 minutes ago, Jute said:

Thelin needs time and to work his new players into team but it should be made clear to him and the players the performances like tonight’s and the one at Kilmarnock will not be accepted going forward. Thelin said after Kilmarnock that a performance like that would not happen again but it did tonight. 
 

We have a lot of dross still in the side who don’t seem to even get the basics like positional sense or passing to people in the same colour jersey as them. As much as Thelin needs to get new players in he needs to get some of them out. 

We discussed squad overhaul a number of times in the last 3 plus years. I think the early season form marked that but it’s well over due. I fully expect a few to leave in this window.

44 minutes ago, OrlandoDon said:

We discussed squad overhaul a number of times in the last 3 plus years. I think the early season form marked that but it’s well over due. I fully expect a few to leave in this window.

Masked that, can’t edit. Fully expecting a couple more transfers, maybe more, this window. New guys have to be given time and rushes in for hearts and rangers away is a tough ask.

McGrath, Mackenzie, McDonald away, who else?? I’d say duk and Ambrose (loan) too but we’re already thin up top.

I'm not one who gets to see the Dons live very often these days, so please educate me, chaps. Is it Thelin's zonal system that the team struggles with? I've seen talk of the first team being absolutely exhausted, maybe this is why? If so, then I can only assume JT is hunting for players who can play his specific style of football, and not many of what he inherited have shown an ability to do this. Happy to be educated otherwise 

Edited January 16, 20251 yr by Reekie_Red
Sp

9 minutes ago, Reekie_Red said:

I'm not one who gets to see the Dons live very often these days, so please educate me, chaps. Is it Thelin's zonal system that the team struggles with? I've seen talk of the first team being absolutely exhausted, maybe this is why? If so, then I can only assume JT is hunting for players who can play his specific style of football, and not many of what he inherited have shown an ability to do this. Happy to be educated otherwise 

This is a tricky one, we just see the Games, not the life these players have once they leave the pitch.

But ever since that cup game, the whole team, not the managers seem to just... give up? Have said this for years. Our team seem to have a real mental attitude that is missing since those Fergie days, when we went everywhere wanting to win, having that us against them all attitude. 

Watched the Kilmarnock game and when I saw the face of Mckenzie trying to pass the ball and the scowl of hatred on him, something seems to have happened within the team. That is defo on Jimmy to rout out and sort it. 

 

The "sack" him bandwagon I was speaking was the typcial two faced hun in boyd on sky stirring the pot already calling for Thelin to be sacked, https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/kris-boyd-goes-aberdeen-jugular-34490262

 

9 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

We had a shit squad/team when jimmy came in and his immediate success papered over that. 

That's a fair point but also have to bear in mind that six(?) of that starting line up last night were signed by Thelin so it is HIS team now.  He can't use that excuse any more. On the plus side, the goalie is proving a lot of the doubters wrong, starting to look decent.

9 hours ago, JessianK said:

Think it is time, we put faith in the manager rather than jumping onto the bandwagon and say "sack him"

Dave, needs to get on the phone and find OUT what is going wrong with these so called professional footballers.

 

 

Ib think Jimmy has to remove shinnie if he wants to change the attitude. He's been there as skipper under too many failures. He sets the tone.

22 minutes ago, wokinginashearerwonderland said:

That's a fair point but also have to bear in mind that six(?) of that starting line up last night were signed by Thelin so it is HIS team now.  He can't use that excuse any more. On the plus side, the goalie is proving a lot of the doubters wrong, starting to look decent.

Doohan was good again last night. However, he does struggle with the ball at his feet. I don't think it can be overstated how important that is to the way Thelin plays. Doohan is good at coming off his line, but he's very slow to distribute the ball, and that has a cumulative effect going upfield and has a lot to do with us having nothing on when we reach the final third.

In terms of it being his team, I don't really think that'll be the case for a good year. Six players is still only half a team, and that would assume that we had 100% success in any window. On the flip side, there are players already there who I'm certain Thelin would want to keep too. Overall, I'm not seeing anything we didn't understand Glass. Both try the playing out from the back at all cost, with zero pragmatism thrown in. The biggest difference is that Thelin has already earned the right to give it significantly longer to try and get right than Glass did. It remains to be seen whether it's possible to get a team capable of playing that way on our budget, despite its increase. I'm not convinced it is. It just takes one or two in the team who can't use the ball well, or they can when fully fit but not when at 90%, and we lose careless goals. I think we're going to have to see some pragmatism at some point. Maybe when Gueye is back, that'll offer us the option of mixing it up a little. 

22 minutes ago, redordead said:

Ib think Jimmy has to remove shinnie if he wants to change the attitude. He's been there as skipper under too many failures. He sets the tone.

He's also been there in our biggest successes. Pretty much every win we've had against the Huns has involved Shinnie for example. The biggest points total for any team outside the scum was with Shinnie. He's still a very good player. He's one of the only ones who doesn't hide during games, ever. Unfortunately, his passing can be a let down at times, especially when he's knackered. His other attributes outweigh that though, and we're probably better calling for the other players to try and develop some of those attributes rather than asking Shinnie to improve. 

Our team has been utter shite for years so until we’ve replaced more or less the entire starting 11 then I don’t see why anyone expects any massive improvement. The start to the season was incredible but was never going to be sustainable so it’s going to take a lot more than one season to sort our dross out.

1 hour ago, wee toon red said:

Our team has been utter shite for years so until we’ve replaced more or less the entire starting 11 then I don’t see why anyone expects any massive improvement. The start to the season was incredible but was never going to be sustainable so it’s going to take a lot more than one season to sort our dross out.

Yep. The only argument we could make against that is that same logic should have applied to Glass, Goodwin and Robson. Not really an argument against, just a point! It does seem a little strange that the technical director role is still sitting empty, after our urgent review identified that weak point. More concerning is that we seem to be ceding control slightly to Thelin, although I'm prepared to accept it was both coincidence and pragmatism that our new recruitment lead is someone who has worked with him before. Things will likely get worse before they get better too. I don't imagine we're going to get a perfect strike rate overnight, so I'd expect a few duds out of the existing bunch. Concerning is the speed of dud replacement currently, I mentioned in the summer that we needed to shift a few out the door, but we never did, and our squad looks worse for it. We've had several missed windows over the years, including McInnes' final January, which should be an absolute sin. Regardless of managerial situation, the club should have the confidence and ability to be able to shift players in and out to keep the churn of players going. They don't have to do much, just a couple in and out can freshen things nicely and not allow us to stagnate. Guys like Vinnie and Jensen etc should be happily shifted on, confident that they could improve but aren't going to turn into world beaters that we suddenly regret letting go. It seems like every new manager has come in with the "I'll give everyone a chance" attitude, which has meant average squad players not being turned over. Hopefully a couple of years of a consistent manager should finally get us back to parity.