I'll be in a minority that's glad it's Celtic we're playing in the final. 

The 2017 final still rankles. We should have done it that day. Shay Logan standing off Stuart Armstrong and letting him hit that equaliser in a half when Celtic offered little. The Jonny Hayes - Kenny McLean mix up that should have given us a second (and to this day I still don't know who to blame). 

Beat them on 24 May, win the cup, end a 35-year wait, and do it against a seemingly unstoppable side going for yet another treble. It would be beautiful and would finally put 2017 to bed.

Tickets

I don't actually think we'll sell 21,000. Too many just can't be arsed with what they think (wrongly) will be another defeat to Celtic. So 19,000 probably would do us.

However, it's important that Aberdeen fight for half of the North stand. The way the noise projects around Hampden, you can barely hear the fans behind the goal when you're at the other end. Give us half the north, the west stand, and the lower deck of the south. That's about 19,000 tickets - if we sell out, then give us the rest.

That's the first fight we need to win long before we get to Hampden.

8 hours ago, Panda said:

41 years ago today.

 

 

My first cup final, taken there by my dad. And this Saturday I’m taking my loon, aged 8, to his first cup final. The omens are good but we’ll probably keep the car engine running just in case. 

2 hours ago, Kowalski said:

My first cup final, taken there by my dad. And this Saturday I’m taking my loon, aged 8, to his first cup final. The omens are good but we’ll probably keep the car engine running just in case. 

There is something very special as a father about taking your offspring to their first cup final

Have a wonderful day and obviously COYR 🤞

I'll be on my way back up the road by half time.

I've said a few times now I feel like I'm preparing to attend an execution.  I swear to God though if I see one fucking Congo line I'm walking out of the ground immediately 

1 hour ago, tlg1903 said:

I've said a few times now I feel like I'm preparing to attend an execution.  I swear to God though if I see one fucking Congo line I'm walking out of the ground immediately 

At the head of the Conga line?

1 hour ago, RicoS321 said:

At the head of the Conga line?

Touché 

This is the year of the underdog in finals:

Crystal Palace 👍

Tottenham Hotspur 👍

Aberdeen - Lets make it a hat-trick 🤞

On 21/05/2025 at 00:07, tlg1903 said:

Touché 

No, it's "do do dooooo"

Cup final week and you’d think summer had kicked in here. Quiet. I may be wrong, but it seems we have lost 2 goals in minutes 20-30 against Celtic in some of the more recent games, and we’re two down at least at half. Even the most recent game, two one down at half but took a bit of a beating for much of the first half. What do we do differently?? Our holding mid protects the back 4 but neither Clarkson or palaversa have really played that defensive destructor role. How do we tighten it up? 
fear shinnie may be a weak link at left back, slightly lacking in pace. What’s the chances Mackenzie starts and we see Shinnie in center mid?? Unlikely, but I don’t know how we mix it up in the hope of a better result??

4 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

fear shinnie may be a weak link at left back, slightly lacking in pace. What’s the chances Mackenzie starts and we see Shinnie in center mid?? Unlikely, but I don’t know how we mix it up in the hope of a better result??

That's what I'd do if Shinnie is up to it. Palaversa can't finish 60 minutes of football at present, so there's no point in starting him there. Polvara hasn't been great when playing there either. Maybe play him in front of those two, with McGrath and Keskinen on the wings, and perform a nice bit of shitefesting. None of the mask pish for MacKenzie though. 

6 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

That's what I'd do if Shinnie is up to it. Palaversa can't finish 60 minutes of football at present, so there's no point in starting him there. Polvara hasn't been great when playing there either. Maybe play him in front of those two, with McGrath and Keskinen on the wings, and perform a nice bit of shitefesting. None of the mask pish for MacKenzie though. 

I think it more likely Jensen goes to left and Devlin comes in at rb but I defo think it would be prudent to move Shinnie into the middle for this one. 

15 minutes ago, tlg1903 said:

I think it more likely Jensen goes to left and Devlin comes in at rb but I defo think it would be prudent to move Shinnie into the middle for this one. 

Yep, that wouldn't surprise me. Jensen isn't very good at left back. I'm not sure why the manager doesn't see it. You basically lose out on his best bits going forward, whilst making him worse in defence. He'll get torn to pieces down that side if he plays there. It's almost like we've been told that he can play left back, so that makes it true, rather than evidence. A bit like Dorrington being brought in as left centre half. 

The question would be for me is how good would Mackenzie be there after not playing for the better part of 3 months

1 hour ago, tlg1903 said:

The question would be for me is how good would Mackenzie be there after not playing for the better part of 3 months

Hopefully last week gave him the chair in the face that he needed to get back to his best. 

1 hour ago, RicoS321 said:

Hopefully last week gave him the chair in the face that he needed to get back to his best. 

It's genuinely impressive you found a way to make that funny 👏👏👏

Just not looking forward to it, we’ve had such a horrendous style of play for the majority of the season and whilst we did take it to the cheeks post split, it didn’t work and we got pumped. I’m not sure what he does to suddenly change both the skill level and confidence of the team, or even to make us take what chances we do get. Just hope I’m wrong, can see it being a 5-0 pumping.
 

Still, I think the suggestion everyone has made re Shinnie in the middle is a no brainer. I’d prefer to see McKenzie at left back than Jensen but I’d also not blame McKenzie for not wanting to play. Hopefully someone has had a good sit down with him. 
 

Fuck it, all the omens are pointing to a Dons victory, let’s fucking go! If Spurs can do it, anyone can.

I think Shinnie will stay at left-back, I don't see Thelin making drastic changes and playing a somewhat unfamiliar team.

If Tobers is 100% fit he'll start, otherwise will be Dorrington.

Other than that, I expect it'll be the same team that started the semi-final, which means Morris and Keskinen, Gueye and Nisbet, Clarkson and Palaversa, Jensen preferred over Devlin. Maybe McGrath starts over Gueye or Morris.

Many asking for Dante Polvara to start, but he made an interesting comment this week. Said he's not had enough minutes to build up his fitness since his injury. Said something along the lines of "I played 35 minutes, then the next I played 80 minutes at Ibrox and my body was broken". Said he basically needs a proper injury free pre-season to get up to full speed. 

8 hours ago, Panda said:

Many asking for Dante Polvara to start, but he made an interesting comment this week. Said he's not had enough minutes to build up his fitness since his injury. Said something along the lines of "I played 35 minutes, then the next I played 80 minutes at Ibrox and my body was broken". Said he basically needs a proper injury free pre-season to get up to full speed. 

Sounds like the perfect ruse.

I'd say that half our squad need a proper preseason at this point.

I think you might be right about lack of changes, and I think that'd be a mistake. Their tactic of having a player on the touchline with a lot of space to run at the fullback needs to be counteracted. They draw the fullback in narrow by overloading with a fullback and midfielder centrally, so that the winger has a free run, one-on-one with Shinnie (or whoever). 

I'm thinking a 4-5-1 might be the best bet. A midfield three, with McGrath and Keskinen the wide players. A thankless task for the one up front, but probably a necessity.

20 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

I'm thinking a 4-5-1 might be the best bet. A midfield three, with McGrath and Keskinen the wide players. A thankless task for the one up front, but probably a necessity

What I had in mind was Clarkson sitting in behind Shinnie and Palaversa and going direct to Gueye, with Shinnie and Palaversa picking up the scraps. A throwback to Robson era, without the back three. When they have the ball, Shinnie and Palaversa drop to form a block. If we get caught upfield, Clarkson's job is to slow them down until the midfield gets back, rather than engage. The only downside I can see is Palaversa not lasting 60 minutes. 

Ok so a fair few drinks in and optimism levels are increasing.

We ARE so fucking winning this

Fuck the VicTims 👍

 

It's absolutely pishing it down in Glasgow tonight so my fear is it ruins all the cards not under the roof, but hopefully they survive.

37 minutes ago, Panda said:

 

It's absolutely pishing it down in Glasgow tonight so my fear is it ruins all the cards not under the roof, but hopefully they survive.

Hope it's an image of a giant seat being aimed at the Tims.

Big giant seagull taking a dump and it turns out to be a seat 

Edited May 23, 20251 yr by JessianK

My daughter texted me overnight (she's currently in Melbourne) asking if I was feeling confident, I replied that I have Samaritans on speed dial.