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Scottish Premiership - Aberdeen v Dundee

Zander Diamond's Report Card


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The defender once labelled as a future Scotland stalwart has stagnated.  Even at the tender age of 24, his 200 appearances for the Dons mark him out as an "experienced" player.  Why can't he just screw the nut and concentrate on becoming a better defender?  Maybe he never was one in the first place and that his defensive colleagues bailed him out on numerous occasions.

 

What is the future, if any, for Zander Diamond at AFC?

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The defender once labelled as a future Scotland stalwart has stagnated.  Even at the tender age of 24, his 200 appearances for the Dons mark him out as an "experienced" player.  Why can't he just screw the nut and concentrate on becoming a better defender?  Maybe he never was one in the first place and that his defensive colleagues bailed him out on numerous occasions.

 

What is the future, if any, for Zander Diamond at AFC?

 

I wouldnt actually say he has stagnated, I think he's regressed.

 

If what Willie Miller said about him a couple of years ago is true (not willing to look at old games of Alex McLeish playing) then perhaps it's no surprise his game hasn't come on.  If you're not willing to learn, in no matter what walk of life, you'll never improve.

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He could be a cracking player for us, I'm just not convinced that's what he wants. Not at all.

 

He should be firmly established as the main part and organising influence in that defence, regardless of lacking full-backs etc he should be the top man. Currently he, for whatever reasons, isn't that. In fact I don't think he has moved on much as a player for a while now. I'd be gutted if he left but increasingly he is unconvincing, perhaps just a poor run of form, perhaps got a move on his mind, perhaps his agent coming the cunt who knows. Regardless of any of that, he has to raise his game.

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I wouldnt actually say he has stagnated, I think he's regressed.

 

If what Willie Miller said about him a couple of years ago is true (not willing to look at old games of Alex McLeish playing) then perhaps it's no surprise his game hasn't come on.  If you're not willing to learn, in no matter what walk of life, you'll never improve.

 

Add to that, that those around him haven't been exactly stable centre halves themselves, well since Anderson left at least. It's not an excuse, because if you want to succeed you find ways to learn no matter what the circumstances. But I do agree, he has regressed and I'm not sure why. Maybe he thinks he's better than AFC. Well he'll find out next season.

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Add to that, that those around him haven't been exactly stable centre halves themselves, well since Anderson left at least. It's not an excuse, because if you want to succeed you find ways to learn no matter what the circumstances. But I do agree, he has regressed and I'm not sure why. Maybe he thinks he's better than AFC. Well he'll find out next season.

 

When Diamond came back into the team for 07-08 following Anderson's departure (remember, Considine was preferred to him for most of season 06-07), he showed fleeting glimpses of the promise he had shown before.  By and large, he had a decent, if unspectacular season.  Considine was the more composed of the two that season, but Diamond's swashbuckling style earned him the plaudits, rightly or wrongly.  Similarly (to an extent) at the beginning of last season, Considine paired with Ifil was a pretty successful partnership until Considine's injury.

 

The watershed for me came with the QoS semi-final where Diamond had a shocker and his performances the next season (08-09) were pretty ropey.  He seemed to get away with it though with a team on the decline.

 

I personally wouldn't be sorry to see him go.  For the simple reason that he wont sign for a better team than us.  If he signs for, let's for arguments sake say, Hibs or Dundee Utd, would our strikers really be fearful of coming up against him?  I would view him as a bit of a bombscare merchant and would be pretty confident of our chances of tearing him a new one.

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Aberdeen are the biggest club he will play for and he would be wise to realise that. I would sell him, to anyone who will take him, in January.

 

Would normally agree, but both Mulgrew and Foster managed to go to 'bigger' clubs and I wouldn't class either as better defenders than Zander.

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Would normally agree, but both Mulgrew and Foster managed to go to 'bigger' clubs and I wouldn't class either as better defenders than Zander.

 

"go to" versus "play for"

 

Mulgrew got found out pretty quickly.

 

Diamond would probably be pretty happy to "go to" Celtic for example, and on present form I would be delighted for him to "play for" them.

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Aberdeen FC boss warns Zander

‘Cut out mistakes’

 

By Charlie Allan :wave:

 

Published: 04/10/2010

 

ABERDEEN FC defender Zander Diamond was today warned he will have to “give himself a shake” if he wants to fulfil his dream of playing for Scotland.

 

Aberdeen FC manager Mark McGhee described as “catastrophic” the mistake that Diamond made to gift Inverness Caley Thistle striker Adam Rooney the second goal in their 2-0 home SPL win over the Pittodrie side.

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He's like one of those kids you teach, you know they can pass easily, but just keeps being too lazy/arrogant to give a fuck.

 

The ones that are far more annoying than the "triers" who you know will never be that good.

 

Sort it ooot Zander!

 

Previous season's I have never seen Zander as lazy, seen him more as a trier who initially showed great potential. However, sadly, as years have gone on appears to be in the "never be that good" category; certainly is at present.

 

Current report card... Must try harder, acknowledge own mistakes and don't try to blame others.

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Probably centre half is one of the positions that intelligence matters. Zanders thick as mince. Cant think ahead, make decisions or do anything rational. Can make kamikazi tackles and score goals but the good he does is just about cancelled out by the bad. Worse is that he apparently has decided to leave. If you look at how dramatically the last bunch of deserters seemed to drop in ability once they made the same decision, I think he'll continue to have a shite season.

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I hadn't thought about that point maverick and it is a good one at that. What's more worrying is that is so early in the season. I will miss him when he decides to leave, but thats purely because of the potential i knew he had, however as has already been discussed, it has something he has failed to live up to. My summary of zander would be, shame.

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I'll certainly no miss him after todays newspaper revelations. -DICK

 

Take it this is the Spazbook thing?

 

Probably centre half is one of the positions that intelligence matters.

 

Intelligence matters in every position.

 

Previous season's I have never seen Zander as lazy, seen him more as a trier who initially showed great potential. However, sadly, as years have gone on appears to be in the "never be that good" category; certainly is at present.

 

Current report card... Must try harder, acknowledge own mistakes and don't try to blame others.

 

See also; Maguire, Chris

 

;)

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Intelligence matters in every position.

 

 

 

Right enough, though in most positions I think skill can make you good, intelligence can make you great, whereas a thick CB will very rarely be any good. A half-bright player can turn a thick one inside out, so if your CB is thick then chances are most teams will tear him a new one.

 

Much as I hate to say it, I think David Weir is a good case in point. He wouldn't be able to keep going if he wasn't thinking slightly more sharply than the competition and only relying on physical ability.

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I'll be he's shorltly going to spit oot his dummy and complain about us "so called fans" giving him abuse online, hence why he's off to Brentford (or wherever)

 

I hope not. I hope he does what a professional would, apologise, man up and get his head down and play better and realise the fairly priviledged position he is in and begin to appreciate it. I regrettably do not expect that however.

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