Aberdeen v Livingston

[Jute]

Club have issued statement saying player denies saying anything.

https://www.afc.co.uk/2026/01/24/club-statement-livingston-match/

 

[dons8321]

1 hour ago, BigAl said:

In that case we have grounds to appeal his red surely is

No, don't appeal, Jack needs a rest...watching from the SS he was nowhere in the defensive line for the 2nd goal - at the back of the pack on the 18yd line along, rather than being in the centre of things as a proper CB should be and basically didn't move when the ball was flighted into the box.

[Don Julio]

Thanks to a delayed ferry to Shetland (which I’m now sitting on in the harbour!) managed to grab a last minute ticket. Right at the back of the RDS, which was wonderfully sheltered but 0 atmosphere. Not a single song all afternoon. Still, feel like I lucked out for what will almost certainly be my only trip to Pittodrie this season.

Others have said pretty much all that needs saying on the game and there’s nothing positive to say about rhe accusation of a racist remark. You can only hope it was misheard.

Can’t not comment on one or two other things.

1. The referee. That was just dismal. Laughable. Appalling. From the VAR/not VAR of ruling out a goal, to the red cards and everything in between. Just amateur. He should never be allowed near one of our games again. 

2. The twats near me who boo’ed both Nilsen and Jensen when they came on. FFS. Thats just wanker behaviour of the highest order. Just about pished my breeks when Nisbet scored. Couldn’t help letting out a sarcastic boo…

3. The folk who walked out when we went 2-1 down. It was dismal defending, obviously, but it wasn’t even half time. 

Still - 6 goals, 3 red cards (did Devlin get one too? Wasn’t sure why he left the pitch with Milne). Some crunching tackles. A ref you can hate. VAR was the only thing that took the edge off that as entertainment.

[Jormungandr]

Sore spot for me in that AFC statement but: discrimination is choice. That's what it means. Unfair discrimination is the problem.

 

As you were.

[tlg1903]

"The Club is aware of an allegation that racist language was used during today’s match with Livingston FC at Pittodrie.

The player concerned has been informed of the allegation and vehemently denies it.

Aberdeen FC condemns any and all forms of discrimination and we will co-operate fully with all relevant authorities during any investigation.

While this process is ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further."

Firstly, Fucks sake.  Raging this is the first thing I've got to talk about after that.  At the very least what we can take from the club statement is that a player has been named.  Milne is the obvious contender but it could also be Shinnie as he was wrestling with him for a bit.  I find this hard to believe from anyone in our squad though, we've had plenty of black players in our squad and if we genuinely had a racist in our ranks you would think it would already have shown itself in training.   Im sure we are now going to see some more forensic analysis of the footage in the next day or two so maybe some more information will come from that.  Live I had a reasonable view from the main but only noticed it once they were raising their hands and it was chaos within a few seconds so it really could be anyone involved in that stramash.  The previous form that Slim linked to is interesting, it does certainly raise the possibility in my mind that he's trying to cover for the fact he got sent off minutes into his debut though 

Onto the game.  Obviously, plenty of positives to talk about but the caveat of it being livi has to be taken into account.  Frame looked great going forward though, scratching my head as to why he wasn't at least given some sub minutes when Gyamfi was out for ages.  No comment on his defensive capabilities yet as he wasn't particulary tested but he looks a real prospect.  I had a perfect view in for his cross for Nisbet and it was glorious.  When was the last time we had a LB with a genuinely sweet left foot?    Great to see Topi play his best game in red by a mile, for once "like a new signing" is actually apt.  I thought he looked really in sync with the rest of the team for the first time and I think he needs that as a player.  I've always said there's a player in there but it's decision making that lets him down.  Today he wasn't really making decisions and just playing on instinct to my eye and it really worked for him I thought.  Long may that continue because if this is going to be a thing he's going to have a great second half of the season.  

The thing I loved most about today was the taking the game by the scruff of the neck in that inury time in the first half.   Excellent attitude despite the offside goal being disallowed (and that 4 minute var stop was infuriating.  completely stole our momentum) and the special needs defending that led to the two goals.  Also noticed Leven telling them there was still time for a 3rd.   We could look back on this game  as the turning point in our season.  

The ref was as bad as i've seen since McCurry retired.  

[TheDonbytheDee]

6 hours ago, BigAl said:

Anyone else find the time during the VAR first half checks to go for a pish, make a coffee, have some cheese on toast and submit your Tesco online shopping

VAR really is sucking the living daylights and enjoyment out of football

Over seven minutes first half injury time, which you don't want on a very cold day.

VAR should just be binned, it just sucks the joy from the goal celebrations, which is what all fans are their for.

Doesn't help either when you see such poor refereeing on display.

Hardie always seems to lose his grip on games early and never recovers.

We won 6 (six)- 2 yesterday, but Var, the referee performance and these racist accusations, has fair took a bit of the shine off our result/ performance.

[Reekie_Red]

3 hours ago, TheDonbytheDee said:

VAR should just be binned, it just sucks the joy from the goal celebrations, which is what all fans are their for

100%

All too often today across all leagues we are seeing players cast their eyes across to officials to see if they will bother accepting their goal.

VAR has sapped the life and spectacle out of football. Its been proven over its all.ost 3.5 years in the Scottish Premiership that it is even more indecisive than a human referees eye, and it has sadly led to an even more inferior quality of referees today who time and time again reference VAR's decisions because they were too inept to make a decision.

Jury's not.

Bin it.

[Slim]

Just on that link I posted earlier, it wasn’t an attempt to insinuate the Livvy player was pulling the race card or in any way purposely embellishing the truth, more out of concern that accusations were being made again with no substance allowing gossip and the court of public opinion to go into overdrive without any facts.

In the previous incident it turned out the player everyone assumed was being accused was identified incorrectly:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360506719/new-zealand-footballer-matt-garbett-wrongly-identified-perpetrator-eredivisie-racism-row

[Kowalski]

The TV coverage just looks like handbags with no visible distraught reactions from anyone apart from reacting to the idiocy of it being deemed worthy of a pair of red cards. Whether something was said in the tunnel is a different matter of course. 

[2stars]

Don’t think was in tunnel - the players were being separated going in

their lad seemed to react after the stramash so not sure. Will probably never get to the truth 

as for VAR - Nisbet may have been offside when the lines weren’t working- but WTF was the linesman doing? He didn’t raise his flag even after the ball was in the net so he obviously didn’t think it was offside- or just absolved himself of any responsibility. Was the same with the Livi goal that was checked- Lino didn’t raise flag. If the circumstances show VAR not working, then the linesman’s view should be the deciding factor- rightly or wrongly.

Thought Nilsen goal would be chalked off for a push so found it bizarre that they were checking for handball- still think on another day it might have been given as a foul, but having declared it was handball they were checking, think they didn’t want to then disallow it for something else as they had already made themselves look incompetent (There wasn’t much of a push for avoidance of doubt but did have both hands on defenders back who threw himself to the ground)

finally to the game

when we play with urgency and tempo we look good going forward and massive improvement on the pedestrian nonsense we have witnessed so much this season

as said before - Topi, Frame standouts but far better performances from majority of the team

Bilalovic didn’t get it right all the time but at least he was taking the full back on and trying to get to bye line unlike Milanovic

 Milne needs taken out of the team for his own good- confidence is so low he is afraid to make a forward pass in case he gives it away 

livi were pish though- only thing worse was Ross Hardie 

 

[OrlandoDon]

2 hours ago, 2stars said:

Don’t think was in tunnel - the players were being separated going in

their lad seemed to react after the stramash so not sure. Will probably never get to the truth 

as for VAR - Nisbet may have been offside when the lines weren’t working- but WTF was the linesman doing? He didn’t raise his flag even after the ball was in the net so he obviously didn’t think it was offside- or just absolved himself of any responsibility. Was the same with the Livi goal that was checked- Lino didn’t raise flag. If the circumstances show VAR not working, then the linesman’s view should be the deciding factor- rightly or wrongly.

Thought Nilsen goal would be chalked off for a push so found it bizarre that they were checking for handball- still think on another day it might have been given as a foul, but having declared it was handball they were checking, think they didn’t want to then disallow it for something else as they had already made themselves look incompetent (There wasn’t much of a push for avoidance of doubt but did have both hands on defenders back who threw himself to the ground)

finally to the game

when we play with urgency and tempo we look good going forward and massive improvement on the pedestrian nonsense we have witnessed so much this season

as said before - Topi, Frame standouts but far better performances from majority of the team

Bilalovic didn’t get it right all the time but at least he was taking the full back on and trying to get to bye line unlike Milanovic

 Milne needs taken out of the team for his own good- confidence is so low he is afraid to make a forward pass in case he gives it away 

livi were pish though- only thing worse was Ross Hardie 

 

I thought it was very clear that bilalovic had been instructed to take the ball outside, much like frame told to get upfield aggressively which he didn’t do in his previous game. If you can get devlin to bomb on like he has done in the past too, the two of them on the right can be just as effective as topi and frame were yesterday. If devlin doesn’t have the legs for it lobban is certainly capable.

yesterday gave me hope, but for us to get that aggressive play wide we need that mobile holding mid to provide cover, and central defenders who don’t make silly mistakes. Obviously frame and a right back pushing up is affected by the confidence they and the team has with the defenders/players behind them and we have been hurt with mistakes from long balls and lost cheat goals there. 
we’ve signed Morrison, need that midfielder this week. Think it could kjarten long term so another loaner in right now is fine, but we’re starting to ask for a lot from a number of young and inexperienced players.

[OrlandoDon]

Then again, if we can beat Real Madrid and be the best team in Europe starting two 19 year olds, and our central midfielders being 19 and 22, no reason not to place expectations on frame bilalovic lobban Milne and Kjarten!

Was really pleased for nisbet yesterday, finally able to play his game by getting proper service for the first time this season. As mentioned too, fully expected sivert’s goal to be disallowed based on the shiteness of the ref and var.

[OrlandoDon]

As basic as it is, anyone who has played the game as a defender or midfielder has been told not to let the ball bounce. Saw it again yesterday, the hesitancy and doubt. Even if the header isn’t perfect, letting the ball bounce leads to problems so many of the times. Our two CDs do it, Jensen is probably the worst. That’s defending 101 and if leven or the new manager simply emphasizes that we’d be doing a lot better too. Also encourages players to be more aggressive in the air if you play by that ‘rule.’

[Kowalski]

3 hours ago, 2stars said:

Milne needs taken out of the team for his own good- confidence is so low he is afraid to make a forward pass in case he gives it away 

The thing is we’re all quite rightly lauding our attacking display yesterday, but there were many occasions in the first half that Milne and Knoester saw no movement in the central midfield area in front of them for them to actually spot a team mate to pass to.  

[OrlandoDon]

9 minutes ago, Kowalski said:

The thing is we’re all quite rightly lauding our attacking display yesterday, but there were many occasions in the first half that Milne and Knoester saw no movement in the central midfield area in front of them for them to actually spot a team mate to pass to.  

That’s our missing holding mid, a young sivert. If we sign one more player this window, it’s him. It’s great that we have all these young players who look good at times, this needs to be a 25-30 yr old with experience/leadership. Shinnie and Armstrong do it sometimes, Clarkson too, but I don’t think the first two are naturally that guy plus aren’t long term solutions.

didnt see the games Kjarten played, despite being younger, can he do that??

[2stars]

1 hour ago, Kowalski said:

The thing is we’re all quite rightly lauding our attacking display yesterday, but there were many occasions in the first half that Milne and Knoester saw no movement in the central midfield area in front of them for them to actually spot a team mate to pass to.  

Certainly a bit of that- Cameron and Armstrong came short but generally well marked. Shinnie too but you feel as he is so left footed he is easier for opponent to read

the pitch doesn’t help for give and goes- ball bobbling all over the place, and was pleasantly surprised overall considering the wind as well how many decent passages of play we managed yesterday 

But as a centre half, if no movement in front, drop it down the channel behind the centre half and make them turn on it now and again- passing back and forth between centre half’s hoping the other will take responsibility is scourge of modern fitba

[Elgindon]

Highlights - 

 

[dons8321]

3 hours ago, 2stars said:

Certainly a bit of that- Cameron and Armstrong came short but generally well marked. Shinnie too but you feel as he is so left footed he is easier for opponent to read

the pitch doesn’t help for give and goes- ball bobbling all over the place, and was pleasantly surprised overall considering the wind as well how many decent passages of play we managed yesterday 

But as a centre half, if no movement in front, drop it down the channel behind the centre half and make them turn on it now and again- passing back and forth between centre half’s hoping the other will take responsibility is scourge of modern fitba

Would also add that Milne and Knoester both take 3 or 4 touches when they should know what they are going to do with the ball before it arrives at their feet.  Milne, for instance gets the ball from Knoester, takes a touch to control it, moves it sideways, trots forward a couple of paces, then passes to Devlin...any forward movement has already been nullified and Devlin then passes it back to Jack to passes to Knoester who then takes 2 or 3 touches and gives it back to Mitov.  Bilolivic was wide open on a number of occasions in the 1st half if we'd moved the ball quicker but by the time we'd fannied around with it he was closed down.,

[RicoS321]

1 hour ago, dons8321 said:

Bilolivic was wide open on a number of occasions in the 1st half if we'd moved the ball quicker but by the time we'd fannied around with it he was closed down

It looked to me like he was in acres of space, but was also inexplicably making the pass hard for the defenders by standing behind the line of the attacking player. If he'd just taken a few steps back, they'd have had a far less risky pass along the ground.

[TheDonbytheDee]

I never saw him during the game, but who was the dodgy looking character, in the Main Stand, who Martindale went to sit beside, after his red card.

Haven't seen a sheepskin coat and shades at a football match since the 1980s.

[Kowalski]

38 minutes ago, TheDonbytheDee said:

Haven't seen a sheepskin coat and shades at a football match since the 1980s.

You obviously don’t sit near BigAl.