European fitba returns to the Cathedral of Football on Thursday 27th November at 8 pm when Aberdeen host Armenian side FC Noah in the UEFA Conference League.

Our guests are a fairly new club, formed in 2017 as FC Artsakh. They changed their name to FC Noah after the fella with the ark from the Bible in 2019. They won the Armenian double last season and have a respectable record in Europe in recent years.

They are not to be underestimated, but I still fancy a home win. 2-0 to Aberdeen.

Brutal night in more ways than one.

Not really much to say that's not been said already. Atmosphere from the word go was flat and this was on and off the pitch. When we took the lead it was literally with our first decent chance and for a guy who has played so little Nisbet deserves great credit for his calmness with the finish. 

Getting that break just before half time I thought we'd kick on in the second half and possibly score another or two. 

Noah obviously got an arse kicking in the dressing room and looked like a different team in the second half. At no time after they equalised did I really feel confident of us winning the game and at times they actually looked more like getting a second.

A distinct lack of leadership on and off the park on display. Not really one for singling out individuals but totally agree with Rico's comments regarding Karlsson as I lost count of the times I shouted at him for not doing the simple things and when what he tried didn't come off he seemed hell bent on berating those around him. Is he becoming a luxury we can't afford or does Thelin get him told to keep it simple.

Didn't realise just how brutal the wind was during the game as was reasonably sheltered in the South Stand. Only when we got onto Merkland Rd afterwards I realised how bad it was. As for the drive down the road, the further south I got, the worse it got. Awful fucking journey home.

December is going to be a seriously tough month with the number of games we have coming thick and fast. Much as we might on paper have a reasonable looking run of league fixtures we're going to have to up the ante somewhat to continue climbing the league.

24 minutes ago, BigAl said:

December is going to be a seriously tough month with the number of games we have coming thick and fast. Much as we might on paper have a reasonable looking run of league fixtures we're going to have to up the ante somewhat to continue climbing the league.

Yip 100% and unless Jimmy changes his tactics, approach and formation we are going to struggle to climb anything.
Looking at our next three league games.................. on paper we should really be taking 9 points from them. Unfortunately we dont play the games on paper we have to play them on a football pitch. I really have no fkn idea how many points we will take from this next three games.

It should be 9 and it could be but for that to happen Jimmy needs to take his head out from his arse and make the changes that simply must be done 
2 up front (Nisbet and Lazetic) bin Karlsson and thats a good starting place.

cmon tae fuk Jimmy jist fukin dee it min 

I don’t get why people think two up top will work. It’s in midfield we are really poor. We had to go to a back 5 because of that. Going two up top will, in my opinion, mean more long ball. And neither lazetic or nisbet are strong in the air. 
To dominate games means you have to dominate in midfield. How does two up top help us there? We also don’t have width/wingers to stretch the field to give two up top more space to operate in.

15 minutes ago, OrlandoDon said:

I don’t get why people think two up top will work. It’s in midfield we are really poor. We had to go to a back 5 because of that. Going two up top will, in my opinion, mean more long ball. And neither lazetic or nisbet are strong in the air. 
To dominate games means you have to dominate in midfield. How does two up top help us there? We also don’t have width/wingers to stretch the field to give two up top more space to operate in.

You might be right, but Nisbet has shown throughout his career that he's really only useful in a two. It doesn't have to be rigidly a two of course, Nisbet was at his best when playing in a 4-2-3-1, with Gueye occupying defenders ahead of him - a role that Lazetic would be great at. Lazetic wins headers, but can also take the better ball on his chest or just generally get his body between defender and ball and do something. Nisbet is great at bringing the ball in and distributing it, just not when under concerted pressure. Two up front doesn't mean less in midfield either. It does mean less width, but we should be good enough at home that we can allow the wing backs to play a lot higher (like how Lobban started yesterday). We could have two sitting midfielders, with Armstrong in front, a flat three, or one sitting and two in front of we choose to go long. The width would be the biggest concern, as you point out, however none of our wide players are operating in a role that prioritises width currently - they are all inverted. Our width, with Karlsson, Keskinen, Milanovic basically serves to narrow the pitch, or make the run for the very difficult over the top ball. If we had Morris still, I could see how we might lose something by playing two, but I think it could only be a gain, in that we might get more out of a guy who will score goals.

27 minutes ago, OrlandoDon said:

I don’t get why people think two up top will work. It’s in midfield we are really poor. We had to go to a back 5 because of that. Going two up top will, in my opinion, mean more long ball. And neither lazetic or nisbet are strong in the air. 
To dominate games means you have to dominate in midfield. How does two up top help us there? We also don’t have width/wingers to stretch the field to give two up top more space to operate in.

We have very little link between midfield and attack. Our two midfielders sit really deep - whether that's by accident or design. Our wing backs don't get up the pitch or overlap quick enough. So we build up slowly, then have a line of four players passing to each other while the opposition are very comfortable in their defensive shape.

I was looking at the 'average positions' from recent games on the opta stats website (I'm on my phone at the minute and the mobile version of the opta site is chronic, so can't post the graphics). It's noticeable how deep Nisbet generally is as opposed to Lazetic and Karlsson. He essentially plays as a number 10, which he did to great effect last season. But last year - as @RicoS321has just said - he had Gueye to play off of. Karlsson tends to sort of drift, not knowing if he's a striker or inside winger. At the other side, Armstrong or Aouchiche aren't forwards and don't play as such.

When Lazetic plays, he plays further forward, but then there's this big gap between him and the midfield so he receives very little of the ball, certainly not in dangerous areas. Our tactics appear to sort of hope he can pull defenders out of position so Karlsson and whoever is on the other side can exploit the space, but it doesn't really happen, especially when playing a three-man defence. 

There's two options with a front two. Play Nisbet as a 10 and play Karlsson and Lazetic as a front two.

Or play similar to Hibs' set up. Three in midfield, meaning two number 8s step up further forward (a role that would suit Armstrong) and allow the front two to move the defence more while the opposition try to cover the extra bodies. It would also allow to press more.

18 minutes ago, Panda said:

It's noticeable how deep Nisbet generally is as opposed to Lazetic and Karlsson

I said to my mate last night that in the first half Nisbet played much more like Lazetic would. Previously, he's been assuming the centre of almost a flat front three, but he actually broke away from that and pushed further forward. I couldn't tell whether it was just because their defence was pish, or it was a change in approach. 

18 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

It’s my 30th thanksgiving this year. Sweet potato with marshmallows, served most years but I’ve never tried it. Just can’t. Would be like glazing the turkey with WD-40.

When he asked for a football top,he probably meant more Miami Dolphins,Dallas Cowboys ish.Nicely guided back from obscurity 👍

35 minutes ago, Elgindon said:

When he asked for a football top,he probably meant more Miami Dolphins,Dallas Cowboys ish.Nicely guided back from obscurity 👍

No chance! There is only one football. My boys were born in LA and I lived there 17 years, the only American sport I’m really into is the NBA and the lakers, but my older son has one laker top and three Aberdeen tops.

@OrlandoDon where is it you stay and how many of us are allowed to crash at your gaff for the World Cup?