Dons vs Well

[RicoS321]

On the plus side, our goal yesterday came from Shinnie having to mop up when Polvara took an age on the ball and got caught in possession. One of the many glaring signs that he was struggling, that the manager missed. 

[STFU_Donny]

The lack of subs yesterday was baffling. You could see they were knackered.
I also thought we’d have made more changes to the starting lineup. 
 

Motherwell were passing it about well and playing around us for fun but I don’t remember Mitov having much to do. Fully expected us to see out the win until we were caught napping at the corner. Very frustrating! 

[TheDonbytheDee]

4 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

But, have you seen our squad? 

 

I have. That's my point though. The money we spend now isn't really improving us on the pitch. 

I don't think we have a bad squad, but I honestly believe the manager is responsible for the consistent shite shows we are served up most weeks. 

I like the bloke and really want him to succeed, but I have huge doubts these past few weeks.

I'm not overly convinced this Lutz bloke will change much, but hopefully he does.  

 

[Elgindon]

10 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

But, have you seen our squad? I don't think it's very good. We've maybe had one good signing in the summer, in Lazetic. Armstrong probably a downgrade on the younger and fitter McGrath. Karlsson not being nearly as effective as Morris. The rest being completely replaceable by a number of serviceable SPFL players. Players like Palaversa, Polvara and Keskinen simply haven't kicked on from not being good enough in the first place, with Shinnie and Nilsen being a year older, and it showing. There's just not a lot to work with, and other than the new manager bounce, I don't see us being in a better place. We could probably, maybe, improve the performances of Nisbet by playing him correctly in a two, playing Clarkson, keeping Armstrong further forward etc, but I think the issues are largely personnel based rather than tactics. 

For me, getting rid of Thelin is basically blaming him for the poor squad building. The entire point in getting rid of McInnes, and employing the following four (and a half) managers, was that we were no longer letting the manager do the squad building (at least not unchallenged). We've done exactly that, whilst having a stupid "strategy" of signing project players that seems to force the manager to build unbalanced squads. I don't think we'll ever get the opportunity to see if Thelin can do it for us as a manager, because the new sporting director will likely need more than two windows to sort the mess that he's walked into.

Agree with a lot of what youre saying,but as already mentioned its also the way other sides have been moving the ball quicker,tidier,and getting forward in numbers earlier.If we're supposed to be a quick on the break side,why do we look like were playing with the handbrake on,and disjointed and less assured going forward..

    Guessing much of that may be non consistency of team selection,which, goes back to the issue of not having the right mix of squad,isnt helping Thelin.But even then,should we not be able to get more out of what weve got?

Edited yesterday at 18:52 by Elgindon

[RicoS321]

2 hours ago, Elgindon said:

Agree with a lot of what youre saying,but as already mentioned its also the way other sides have been moving the ball quicker,tidier,and getting forward in numbers earlier.If we're supposed to be a quick on the break side,why do we look like were playing with the handbrake on,and disjointed and less assured going forward..

    Guessing much of that may be non consistency of team selection,which, goes back to the issue of not having the right mix of squad,isnt helping Thelin.But even then,should we not be able to get more out of what weve got?

That's because they've got better players, and a balanced squad. We've signed badly. I don't think Thelin could be getting significantly better out of what we have got because what we have got isn't very good. It was really a response to the budget comments, as if spending more money means that we should be being better whilst ignoring how we've actually spent that money. 

I'm not saying that he couldn't get slightly better out of them, just not a huge amount. There's a ceiling to the sum total of that squad, and to me it looks about fifth best in the league, maybe sixth. We've ended up with some individual players who would get into any team outside the scum, but as a squad it's not better than Motherwell. Key areas of the park are missing good players, and we've got zero options to throw on as a wildcard that could get us a few points to push us higher than the quality in the squad merits. 

[tlg1903]

1 hour ago, RicoS321 said:

That's because they've got better players, and a balanced squad. We've signed badly. I don't think Thelin could be getting significantly better out of what we have got because what we have got isn't very good. It was really a response to the budget comments, as if spending more money means that we should be being better whilst ignoring how we've actually spent that money. 

I'm not saying that he couldn't get slightly better out of them, just not a huge amount. There's a ceiling to the sum total of that squad, and to me it looks about fifth best in the league, maybe sixth. We've ended up with some individual players who would get into any team outside the scum, but as a squad it's not better than Motherwell. Key areas of the park are missing good players, and we've got zero options to throw on as a wildcard that could get us a few points to push us higher than the quality in the squad merits. 

I don't necessarily agree we have zero options, I would like to see Clarkie, Milanovic, kjartensson and belalovic given more/any opportunity. Especially in games where we are clearly knackered and we look out of ideas. 

[Blow.Up.Sheep]

said before, got with two up front form the off and we would have won that easily, start with anything else and it would have been 1-1 or 0-0 at the very best.
Our stubborn muppet of a manager really needs to wise the fk up.
We have some decent level of players (on paper) at the club but ffs Jimmy min stop trying to ram round pegs into square holes 

[RicoS321]

1 hour ago, Blow.Up.Sheep said:

said before, got with two up front form the off and we would have won that easily, start with anything else and it would have been 1-1 or 0-0 at the very best.
Our stubborn muppet of a manager really needs to wise the fk up.
We have some decent level of players (on paper) at the club but ffs Jimmy min stop trying to ram round pegs into square holes 

We did go with two up front from the start though. We played a 3-5-2, with Karlsson next to Lazetic, changing half way through the first half as they were overrunning us in midfield. If we're playing two up front, it has to be Nisbet and Lazetic, at the expense of Karlsson in my opinion, but it seems that Karlsson will play every game. Also, Shinnie and Armstrong (mainly the latter) struggled with being stretched between wing back and midfielder when playing either side of Polvara, and we were much better when they reverted to Shinnie and Polvara sitting, with Armstrong breathing out his arse out of the way a bit. I think we'd have to address the midfield three if playing two up front. I would suggest a 3-4-1-2, to allow the sitting midfield with one in front, that will sort of match most teams. 

[Blow.Up.Sheep]

2 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

We did go with two up front from the start though. We played a 3-5-2, with Karlsson next to Lazetic, changing half way through the first half as they were overrunning us in midfield. If we're playing two up front, it has to be Nisbet and Lazetic, at the expense of Karlsson in my opinion, but it seems that Karlsson will play every game. Also, Shinnie and Armstrong (mainly the latter) struggled with being stretched between wing back and midfielder when playing either side of Polvara, and we were much better when they reverted to Shinnie and Polvara sitting, with Armstrong breathing out his arse out of the way a bit. I think we'd have to address the midfield three if playing two up front. I would suggest a 3-4-1-2, to allow the sitting midfield with one in front, that will sort of match most teams. 

Perhaps I was not exactly clear, as when I said start with two up front Lazetic and Nisbet is exactly what I meant. I honestly believe if we play them two up front regularly we will win far more games than we will lose.
I am not so sure who we "sacrifice" to play both Lazetic and Nesbit but going by the last few games there are plenty fkn choices as with the exception of Dylan Lobban they have all been mince.
 

[RicoS321]

6 minutes ago, Blow.Up.Sheep said:

Perhaps I was not exactly clear, as when I said start with two up front Lazetic and Nisbet is exactly what I meant. I honestly believe if we play them two up front regularly we will win far more games than we will lose.
I am not so sure who we "sacrifice" to play both Lazetic and Nesbit but going by the last few games there are plenty fkn choices as with the exception of Dylan Lobban they have all been mince.
 

Aye, I agree. I actually found it more frustrating that we played two up front and yet we never give Nisbet the opportunity of playing with a partner. Not sure what player Thelin was watching last season, but he was almost always better with Gueye alongside him. I said before we resigned him that unless we were playing a two then we might as well not bother with the transfer. It's frustrating that we can apply the available evidence, but a manager can't. I remember watching Bruce Anderson break through for us, and McInnes would almost always take the striker off for him, leaving him as a lone striker which he inevitably couldn't do. It'd be like a form of torture, which it's like watching Nisbet lead the line. It leads directly to comments about him being lazy, or shite, when neither are particularly true. 

[Elgindon]

Interesting comments from Karlsson after the game  -   

 

   "There’s a different way of managing the game now. We think it’s working. We are doing better – but I still want us to do more offensively than we have been until now.

“How are we going to create more chances? It’s a good question because from my point of view we come quite low, our block is low and you don’t get the press.

“We are running around so when we win the ball, it’s still too far to the goal.

“We have to work on our build-up and find better alternatives, because we have dropped down and only two up front.

“It has been Marko (Lazetic) and myself against how many players, I don’t know?

“We are trying to find ways to come out of their press, so it’s something we have to work on."

[OneBrianIrvine.]

41 minutes ago, Elgindon said:

Interesting comments from Karlsson after the game  -   

 

   "There’s a different way of managing the game now. We think it’s working. We are doing better – but I still want us to do more offensively than we have been until now.

“How are we going to create more chances? It’s a good question because from my point of view we come quite low, our block is low and you don’t get the press.

“We are running around so when we win the ball, it’s still too far to the goal.

“We have to work on our build-up and find better alternatives, because we have dropped down and only two up front.

“It has been Marko (Lazetic) and myself against how many players, I don’t know?

“We are trying to find ways to come out of their press, so it’s something we have to work on."

Interesting in that he’s voiced it, agreed. He has looked pretty frustrated past couple games. I was irate the Hibs game when he was going tonto at Keskinen.

I’m no tactician and sick to back teeth of terms like low block and press etc 

I just know we threw over managers in part because of their supposed boring play, was pledged peak Brazil from Dave and now we are sitting in a ‘low block’ at.home.to.motherwell.

We’ve all said what he’s saying. It’s bloody obvious. Our set up and approach is all wrong. Our midfield is a bombscare. 

Our forwards are on a hiding to nothing. And they ARE getting a hiding from the boo boys.

I know Karlsson is here because of the JT link but the guy will no doubt have other options in January. TBH I’m not a huge fan (hands up I rarely take to loanees, and he’s a bit of a ball hogger) but he’s obviously talented and right now we play as though getting the ball to him is the only option, like the one good kid in the school team. If he’s fed up and buggers off what then?

 

 

[RicoS321]

We should have been going into the Motherwell game with two fresh (ish) midfielders in Shinnie and Clarkson. We went in with two knackered ones. We're good enough to not play a low block against Motherwell, but not when breathing out our asses. We started higher in fairness to Thelin, but we quickly regressed as we were getting overrun. Same with any team playing the Thursday - Sunday fixtures in our position, we don't have the fitness or squad depth. 

The biggest problem is, of course, that the majority of our central midfielders aren't good enough, and it's the most important part of the pitch. However, JT should have known the issue going into this season and should have either addressed it in the window, or sought to mitigate it tactically. For me, it's fairly obvious that allowing two to sit deep is not an issue, as long as you have someone like Armstrong (or even Karlsson) playing centrally ahead of them. The 3-4-3 isn't meant to have two sitters as far as I can tell. Although I notice that Karlsson omitted any right sided forward from his comments! On the whole, I don't think he's said anything that isn't being said in the changing room, I think Thelin's intention will be to support the front two. He could make it easier for them though.

[The.Moog]

On 10/11/2025 at 08:25, RicoS321 said:

But, have you seen our squad? I don't think it's very good. We've maybe had one good signing in the summer, in Lazetic. Armstrong probably a downgrade on the younger and fitter McGrath. Karlsson not being nearly as effective as Morris. The rest being completely replaceable by a number of serviceable SPFL players. Players like Palaversa, Polvara and Keskinen simply haven't kicked on from not being good enough in the first place, with Shinnie and Nilsen being a year older, and it showing. There's just not a lot to work with, and other than the new manager bounce, I don't see us being in a better place. We could probably, maybe, improve the performances of Nisbet by playing him correctly in a two, playing Clarkson, keeping Armstrong further forward etc, but I think the issues are largely personnel based rather than tactics. 

For me, getting rid of Thelin is basically blaming him for the poor squad building. The entire point in getting rid of McInnes, and employing the following four (and a half) managers, was that we were no longer letting the manager do the squad building (at least not unchallenged). We've done exactly that, whilst having a stupid "strategy" of signing project players that seems to force the manager to build unbalanced squads. I don't think we'll ever get the opportunity to see if Thelin can do it for us as a manager, because the new sporting director will likely need more than two windows to sort the mess that he's walked into.

Agree 100% with this. Our squad is just not very good. We were absolutely played off the park by Motherwell - again.

There are fundamental basic issues.

Too many players not suited to the rigours of Scottish football 

Too many players not suited to the style the manager wants to play 

Too many players who lack basic tactical nouse and technical ability.

Too many “project players” and reclaim projects - guys who only see us as a stepping stone to bigger things. Of course they miss the point that “bigger things” only come if they deliver here, but fundamentally most don’t really give a fuck.

A manager struggling to implement any sort of style of play & who doesn’t react well to in game issues.

We sit too deep, don’t press high or aggressive enough & as such our forwards are totally isolated and out numbered.

Key squad issues for me:

We are too small and lack physicality at the back. See ridiculous amount of goals we lose from set plays and balls into the box for evidence.

We are too old and/or too weak physically in midfield for Scottish football. Means we don’t get forward quickly or often enough (hence lack of goals) & lose out on far too many second balls (overrun in the middle)

We sold our only genuine physical presence (Gueye - not replaced), & our only genuine pacey wing threat (Morris - not replaced) though Karlsson is a real talent, but not the same type of player.  

The wingers in general just don’t create enough - its all Karlsson who mostly has to create for himself.

Our forwards either aren’t suited to one up front (Nisbet) or aren’t getting supported well enough (Lazetic) all for reasons mentioned above.

Frankly, its all a bit of a mess so hopefully Lutz will be the spark and missing piece to start sorting it out because frankly, the current incumbents have proven incapable of doing so…

[TheDonbytheDee]

Karlsson is a fantastic player, unfortunately he is wasted in our current set up.

I can't help but feel sorry for Clarkson at the moment.

Probably our best midfielder, just getting occasional minutes in the second half is frustrating for him and the team

The lad is a joy to watch.

He must have done something wrong to be so out of the picture, whilst we struggle create.

 

[Kowalski]

13 minutes ago, TheDonbytheDee said:

Karlsson is a fantastic player, unfortunately he is wasted in our current set up.

I can't help but feel sorry for Clarkson at the moment.

Probably our best midfielder, just getting occasional minutes in the second half is frustrating for him and the team

The lad is a joy to watch.

He must have done something wrong to be so out of the picture, whilst we struggle create.

 

I feel like I could have written the above myself. Spot on, on all points. 
 

Something going on with Clarkson, we need to know. He should be starting most games, in that deep lying playmaker role, he’s very good at it. 

[OneBrianIrvine.]

Said it for years - the team should be built around Clarkson.

Most talented player we have.

He’s a football player. Not an athlete or a unit or a speedster impersonating one. 
 

I just enjoy watching him and there’s increasingly few players you can say that about these days.

Criminal we can’t find a way to utilise his talent.

Edited 1 hour ago by OneBrianIrvine.