Sorry @swaddon min, have too much to rant tonight to wait for the match thread to appear.

Just how significant is the Falkirk game now?

If we lose to Falkirk, they will leapfrog us and we'll fall to eighth. Since we'll be in January, that's sackable territory.

A reminder of Dave Cormack's statement on 31 January 2024 when he sacked Barry Robson: 

"There is a talented squad of players at the Club which makes our current league position unacceptable." We were eighth, after three wins in 11. Robson's final game was a draw.

Jim Goodwin was sacked on 28 January 2023 with the club in seventh, with two wins in 11.

Stephen Glass made it all the way to 13 February, with the club in ninth, with four wins from 11 (two from nine).

Unlike two of the above, Thelin is still in the Scottish Cup, and unlike all three has won a trophy within the last eight months. The sporting director's recent arrival also buys him time as he unlikely doesn't want a sacking on his record too soon. And, Thelin also hasn't had the January transfer window.

So all these things to me would suggest even defeat at Falkirk wouldn't mean Thelin is in any immediate danger.

However, fail to win on Saturday, and that would be three wins in his last 11 (four in 14). And a double header with Rangers is after that. Lose the cup game to Raith Rovers and you know what, that might be when the club did need to act to stave off angry fans.

 

Jimmy, I don't want to read in two years about your first league title at some Scandinavian club where everyone is raving about your 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3 hybrid. For the love of fuck, FOUR AT THE BACK ON SATURDAY!

 

1 minute ago, Elgindon said:

Nae to be greedy like,but a cheeky shot on target wouldnt go amiss

It's not the 80s, unrealistic expectations again from the Aberdeen support.

I was foolish and selfish 😔

Nilsen on and we have Polvara, Kjarten and Clarkson on the bench. A strange decision. 

 

 

I don’t understand why we don’t press, we sit off them and allow them to pass, it’s so easy for them. We make every opponent look good.

dare I suggest jimmy has lost the dressing room? Team has no heart passion or desire.

How bad are we? Thelin is a clueless buffoon on all evidence on show over the past few games. Our players cannot do any of the basics and look to be second to every ball. They take no accountability either and just blame everyone around. 

Absolutely fucking brutal half of football from us but I guess it is just the longest in a long line of them 

1 minute ago, TheDonbytheDee said:

Nilsen on and we have Polvara, Kjarten and Clarkson on the bench. A strange decision. 

 

 

We’re lacking passion and fight in the middle. I get why sivert. But he’s the best of a bad lot. None of the others are fighters, although don’t know enough of Kjarten.

That was flippin awful...

7 minutes ago, Elgindon said:

Nae to be greedy like,but a cheeky shot on target wouldnt go amiss

Best I can offer is 50 feet over the bar

Dare I ask

Anyone looking forward to back to back games against the Huns 🙄

There’s absolutely nothing positive to say. No fight to start 2026, no extra effort after recent failures. We have problems. This isn’t just one poor performance.

Dinna laugh, but ... Ah was lookin' forward tae this game! 😮  ... Ach weel, maybe we jist got oor shite 45 mins oot o' the road so we can concentrate on oor good ... err ... well, ... 'nae bad' 45  

It's not actually our middle two that's the biggest problem. It's that Falkirk ping it wide and not enough players in red are stopping the cross.

It means, in a weird way, we would be better with three at the back, as the three could deal with the crosses.

But really, our wingers need to track back more, while one of Karlsson or Nisbet need to drop a bit deeper too to be an outlet. 

I would say Falkirk have shown us their best. A few adjustments and we can still win this.

Abysmal again. Just more of the same, second best all over the park.

If you are (inexplicably) going to field a team in the Scottish league with a glaring lack of physicality and aggression - especially in midfield - then you need to control the game via possession, passing and moving the ball and playing through the lines.

All things we are utterly incapable of doing.

The line that we have good players and good technical players just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny I’m afraid - especially when we get outplayed week after week by run ofvthe mill SPL journeymen…

I can’t make any sense of what we’re trying to do. We look completely disconnected.

Feels like Jimmy has well and truly lost his way.

5 minutes ago, OrlandoDon said:

We’re lacking passion and fight in the middle. I get why sivert. But he’s the best of a bad lot. None of the others are fighters, although don’t know enough of Kjarten.

So the answer to our problems is a 34 year old who has hardly played in a year. Even more worrying Rico liked your post.

 

We've looked fkn knackered fae the kick aff! 

1 minute ago, OrlandoDon said:

We’re lacking passion and fight in the middle. I get why sivert. But he’s the best of a bad lot. None of the others are fighters, although don’t know enough of Kjarten.

Kjartansson looked a little bit off it against Hibs, not a risk worth taking. We were losing the game in the midfield, so as you say, Nilsen the best shout. Realistically, none of the midfielders (apart from Aouchiche, who does the running required), can really do the job required in a 4-2-4. I'm all for attacking against teams like Falkirk, but we're losing so much in midfield, the extra attacking options just aren't getting brought into play. 

Karlsson has worked hard, but it's interesting how a player of his calibre (based on transfer values rather than reality it seems) reads the game so badly. Both Keskinen and Bilalovic went beyond him on occasion, and he just stayed central when they lost the ball. Both times, he had to sprint to get back in to cover, when he should have been in position ready to hold up the fullback ages before. 

Thankfully we are usually only shyte for one half. Now that is out of the way we go on and win this.

Three points today is all that matters.

1 minute ago, TheDonbytheDee said:

So the answer to our problems is a 34 year old who has hardly played in a year. Even more worrying Rico liked your post.

 

No, the answer is to change to a 4-2-3-1. But, if you're replacing Aouchiche and you only have Armstrong, then Nilsen is the best option. Clarkson would be extremely high risk, and Polvara is a bit of a fanny, who's been poor of late. 

4 minutes ago, The.Moog said:

Abysmal again. Just more of the same, second best all over the park.

If you are (inexplicably) going to field a team in the Scottish league with a glaring lack of physicality and aggression - especially in midfield - then you need to control the game via possession, passing and moving the ball and playing through the lines.

All things we are utterly incapable of doing.

The line that we have good players and good technical players just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny I’m afraid - especially when we get outplayed week after week by run ofvthe mill SPL journeymen…

But we don't know how we are trying to play and I am fairly sure the players don't either.  

A lot of our issues are down to our manager and the baffling tactics he employs. The constant chopping of and changing of players is madness too.  I'd say Glass had his teams better prepared than Jimmy has us at the moment. 

3 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

No, the answer is to change to a 4-2-3-1. But, if you're replacing Aouchiche and you only have Armstrong, then Nilsen is the best option. Clarkson would be extremely high risk, and Polvara is a bit of a fanny, who's been poor of late. 

Sorry min, Nilsen is a very bad option for us. Maybe if we signed him around five years ago, it might have worked, but for me the poorest signing of the Jimmy reign, as we actually paid decent money for him. 

Now I have said that, he will now pop up with the winner. 

Polvara on for Bilalovic 

We need a different approach and need to keep the ball. I’d stick karlsson back to the left and yank topi, Clarkson at 10 and Kjarten for Armstrong.

What is this attack and excitement in the opposing box????