Well, here we go again, another season of joy and despair.

Hearts had a very similar League Cup group stage campaign as to what we had last season. But, as was often said about us at the beginning of last term, I'd like to see them tested before talking them up. It's easy to look impressive at home to League 2 sides.

Claudio Braga and Alexandros Kyziridis could be very good signings though, and they appear to have a dangerous front three with Shankland staying. One thing Derek McInnes generally does is get his striker scoring.

I watched the goals from their friendly with Sunderland, and if we thought Aberdeen had gifted Ipswich their three goals, it was nothing compared to Sunderland's efforts, so hard to read too much into that. But we clearly need to tighten up.

At the time of writing, with no new signings in and with Sokler, Gueye, Tobers and Gyamfi all presumably injured, I'd expect a similar team to what started v Ipswich. I wouldn't be surprised to see Morris keep his place for "experience" of going to Tynecastle, Nilsen maybe start too ahead of Aouchiche, and maybe even Dorrington in for Milne - which wouldn't be a slight on Milne, more that Dorrington and Knoester have played more games together.

But, I'm second guessing Thelin. I rarely manage to get his starting XIs correct.

Looking forward to it. I don't think in my lifetime that Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs have all been good at the same time. The transfers they've made suggest all three could be handy this season, and it would be mouthwatering if they were (and Dundee United too), but we'll see. Likely someone will end up sacking their manager during the season - hopefully not us.

There's been good and bad.  Crosses into our box still seem a problem but some of our passing and movement has been very encouraging.  Milanovic is impressing when he gets on the ball and when we are attacking it is with intent.   All is not lost. 

1 minute ago, tlg1903 said:

There's been good and bad.  Crosses into our box still seem a problem but some of our passing and movement has been very encouraging.  Milanovic is impressing when he gets on the ball and when we are attacking it is with intent.   All is not lost. 

How has big yengi been so far? Second half hat trick??

Jensen is an absolute fanny, he might be technically better than Devlin but we’re a better team with Devlin in it.

1 minute ago, OrlandoDon said:

How has big yengi been so far? Second half hat trick??

Some good, more bad.  Don't think he's won a header yet and some of his first touches have left a lot to be desired.  That said he's had a couple of nice wee lay offs and has hit the post (mishit effort though).  Also was really unlucky with a heel flick he tried.  

Nielsen’s like that cunt at work who’s been a supervisor for the last 10 years because he can’t actually do the work itself but doesn’t have the leadership skills to get promoted. So he’s just there getting in the way, contributing nothing.

Totally unacceptable half. Poor all over. Outworked, ponderous on the ball. Keskinen still pish, Jensen having a howler, yengi is very poor, shinnie is getting dragged all over the place and the French boy is pretty much non existent apart from avoiding a few tackles then losing it.

 

If I have to explain to Jimmy why playing Clarkson , Adil and keskinen together at tynecastle isn't going to work, he probably isn't up to the job. 

Three show ponies in a fight, second half needs to be miles better because if we get battered here and on Sunday we're  in for a poor season.

The goal is a series of errors. Shinnie loses it, Knoester slips allowing the first cross in, then Shinnie mis-hits the clearance and puts it into the net.

We've been tidy enough in midfield, but haven't created much. Few times we've broke well on the counter and the final ball has been really poor.

Hearts have won the second balls outside our box and when they do we looked panic.

Shinnie is being asked to bomb forward a lot. I'd actually put Jensen over there and put on Devlin at right back. Milne also looking a bit nervous.

Don't agree with the Clarkson criticism, think he's been one of our better players.

24 minutes ago, OrlandoDon said:

How has big yengi been so far? Second half hat trick??

Name your odds 😂

Not too much on show from us to get excited about.

Milanovic probably top performer so far.

Don't think some of the criticism about Clarkson is justified.

All criticism of Yengi, completely justified 

Our £1.5m man posted missing in midfield

We could have done worse than sign Harry Milne

 

How the fuck has Yengi missed that 🙄

2 minutes ago, BigAl said:

How the fuck has Yengi missed that 🙄

I think he was trying to control it with his left then hit it with his right but it comes of his shin and trundles out 🤦‍♂️

Encouraging start to the second half though 

Boyd and Polvara coming on 👍

4-6-0?

Boyd playing no 9? 

 

 

First half thought we looked exactly like a match-unfit team playing an opponent who have had 4 confidence-boosting wins against lower opposition.  

Playing somewhat better now, although Yengi is definitely the new Gueye, and should thank his lucky stars Ambrose exists as a comparison.

Only 60mins but Milanovic looks an excellent find.

 

Edit:  Stop.

Morris Time.

 

So cheap

3 minutes ago, OxfordDon said:

First half thought we looked exactly like a match-unfit team playing an opponent who have had 4 confidence-boosting wins against lower opposition.  

Playing somewhat better now, although Yengi is definitely the new Gueye, and should thank his lucky stars Ambrose exists as a comparison.

Only 60mins but Milanovic looks an excellent find.

 

Edit:  Stop.

Morris Time.

Bollocks 2-0

3 minutes ago, OxfordDon said:

 

Turns out we're still shit at defending set pieces.

2-0

I don’t think that was too unexpected. We weren’t quite ready for that match in terms of match sharpness or up front. We definitely need to get a number 9 signed ASAP. Think that was clearly illustrated when we sent Boyd up front.
 

Hearts are what I would expect under McInnes. I think they will do well enough this season but I don’t see them splitting the old firm. 
 

I think we have signed some decent players. Milanovic looks handy, and I think there could be a player in the French lad once he settles in. Yengi was pretty unconvincing and I don’t think he’s a number 9. 

Hearts had a few very good individual performances (thought McIntee looked very good for them, the type of midfielder we need) but they were just aggressive, forced mistakes, and we handed them their two goals. I don't think we walked off thinking they were miles better than us. At times when we actually got playing, individually we had a bit more about us, but look like a team that needs games.

If that was a pre-season friendly I'd be thinking we showed signs of promise but need a finisher and need to be more aggressive when chasing those second balls. My worry was last week we'd be a little undercooked - fitness wise we're fine but no real rhythm to us.

Easy to blame lack of friendlies, but was very little cohesion in that front three. Yengi - what I will say for him is he gets into the right positions, that's about all I can say for him. Milanovic and Aouchiche showed flashes, but neither of them hurt Hearts. 

Clarkson for me our best player. Great deliveries that deserved better finishes.

Meh, annoying to lose to Hearts, but I don't think we're far away from still having a good season. 

We created nothing in that game. Clarkson on the ball was decent. That's not the issue here, when we don't have the ball he doesn't win it back and at tynecastle he's brushed off it, as was shinnie, as was Adil, as was keskinen. Special mention to yengi for lack of presence at his size.

Were not going to win games unless the opposition sit off of us. Too many passengers or to be fair to them not enough physicality in our side.

At tynecastle i'd have brought kjartan/polvara in with Nilsen ( who also looked off it physically today ) to ensure we won the physical battle because EVERYBODY ( except Jimmy apparently) knew how this game would play out.

The result wasn't the worst but I'm really angry that we've learned nothing, moved too slow in the window and our preparation for this season has been piss poor.

Was a struggle following it on the Beeb website text updates. But chuckle of the day went to Craig Levein "Yengi getting subbed off - thats the fastest we've seen him move all day".

Willie Miller gave Yengi absolute dogs abuse for doing fuckall all game. 

54 minutes ago, redordead said:

We created nothing in that game. Clarkson on the ball was decent. That's not the issue here, when we don't have the ball he doesn't win it back and at tynecastle he's brushed off it, as was shinnie, as was Adil, as was keskinen. Special mention to yengi for lack of presence at his size.

Were not going to win games unless the opposition sit off of us. Too many passengers or to be fair to them not enough physicality in our side.

At tynecastle i'd have brought kjartan/polvara in with Nilsen ( who also looked off it physically today ) to ensure we won the physical battle because EVERYBODY ( except Jimmy apparently) knew how this game would play out.

The result wasn't the worst but I'm really angry that we've learned nothing, moved too slow in the window and our preparation for this season has been piss poor.

I don’t think you can say we’ve moved too slow in the window. If you want to sign more yengi’s then they’d be here tomorrow, but if we want to sign legit quality within our budget that takes time, frustration rejection, and plan B, C, D etc. 

I expected to lose the first two games as we’re just not ready, squad wise or fitness wise. One plus of the league cup is competitive preseason, I don’t quite understand our lack of games to date. You can play endless inter squad games but I don’t think you get that bite and aggression that hearts and co bring. It’s frustrating the window is open for 4 weeks of our season and we’re still building a team. I said before we needed to replace the coach who went back home last season with an aggressive Scotsman who knows the league, we’re a bit of a soft touch.

 

Aye, that was predictable. We were fairly shite. I'm going to say bottom six level. Milanovic was half decent, although not defensively, and whilst he beat his man several times, never really escaped him. Not sure about Aouchiche. Yengi pish. Nilsen looked like he hadn't played in six months. Jensen gave it away too often and immediately fucked up when moved to left back (because he isn't a fucking left back). Milne looked shaky. Shinnie wasn't great, but after he sold himself for the first, Knoester should have been first to that ball, even before he slipped. We just weren't very sharp all game. 

Not sure where we are yet, would like to see more of the new lads before passing judgement. It doesn't look promising though. I said we'd need a number 8 to do the yards, and I still think we do. A striker obviously a must.

Positives - Milanovic gets better every game he plays and Aouchiche looks like he is still getting used to speed of Scottish game but again had some nice touches. 
 

Negatives - Pretty much everything else. Yengi making Ambrose look like a competent striker. Terrible movement and touch. Looked like a competition winner. The miss looked bad at the game but having seen it back on tv it’s even worse. Jensen again struggled with defensive duties. In games where we need the full back to defend we need to start Devlin. Keskinen looked poor but maybe still behind rest of players fitness wise. Shinnie is not the answer at left back although not helped by continually having to move into midfield to help Nilsen who did not look fit. We should have gone in for Harry Milne last January when we knew we needed a left back for this season. Team lacked cohesion and match fitness. We definitely should have played a few more friendlies. 
 

We desperately need to get another striker in as we cannot go with what we have and would suggest a left back.