Aberdeen v Motherwell

 

Aberdeen defender Stuart Duff will miss the visit of Motherwell with a hamstring injury. 

 

Jamie Smith, Richie Byrne and Jackie McNamara are out with similar injuries while Derek Young is sidelined with a knee problem.

 

Well's David Clarkson suffered an eye injury during Saturday's loss to Hearts but may still feature at Pittodrie.

 

However, left-back Danny Murphy has returned to Cork City following a lack of opportunities since joining Well.

 

Aberdeen (from): Langfield, Mair, Maybury, Diamond, Considine, Bus, Foster, Walker, Nicholson, Severin, Aluko, Miller, Lovell, Mackie, Maguire, De Visscher, Touzani, D Smith, Soutar.

 

Motherwell (from): G Smith, Quinn, Hammell, Craigan, Reynolds, Hughes, Lasley, Fitzpatrick, Clarkson, McCormack, Porter, McGarry, J Murphy, Archdeacon, McLean, Lappin, D Smith, Daniels.

Just in

 

A few thoughts

 

Motherwell were shite and there for the taking, they only played for 20 minutes when we went to 4 5 1 on another day we would have got the second and hammered them. Even at the end when they pressed us back we looked dangerous.

 

Mackie was a waste of a shirt.

 

Nicholson missed 2 sitters when we were 1 - 0 and 1-1 ( he moved into a more attacking role in the 451)

 

How Zander got man of the match is a mystery

 

Maguire had a ok game outwide (im not drunk)

 

Just in.  The game itself was grimmer than visiting Dachau last week.

 

But we should have won, and had quite a few chances.  Mackie and Nicholson should have scored.  Sadly Mackie had a complete nightmare - only Maguire had a worst game.

 

But why oh why did we suddenly go 1 up front?  Motherwell came back into it at that stage and scored.

 

God knows what Diamond was playing at with the penalty, a very stupid mistake.

 

Best players tonight were Nicholson, Soutar, Diamond (before his lunge) and Maybury.  The rest were either average or poor.

 

So disappointed we didn't take 3 points, but suddenly we're not too far from the top 6 at all.

No way did Maguire have a worse game than Mackie

I know its arguing different shades of shite but Mackie did nothing constructive the whole game where as Maguire had some good runs.

Mackie was gifted a one on one with the keeper and gave the boy a pass back

No way did Maguire have a worse game than Mackie

I know its arguing different shades of shite but Mackie did nothing constructive the whole game where as Maguire had some good runs.

Mackie was gifted a one on one with the keeper and gave the boy a pass back

 

I'll quite happily agree to disagree but I thought he spent most of the game not tracking back and shirking out of challenges and hardly doing anything positive.  The amount of times he let his man run past him without chasing back in the first half was shocking.

not a Maguire fan by any stretch of the imagination but I thought he did ok 7/10

which is a big improvment for him

where as diamond was a 5/10 and mackie was 2/10

Mackie was guilty of some awful play and should have scored at least one, but what did Lovell do all game?  I don't remember him doing anything of note at all, and he certainly didn't get himself into any scoring opportunities, but he's treated like some sort of god.

 

Granted our "strikers" were not helped by too many high balls which neither of them are capable of holding up.

 

EDIT: For those of you that weren't at the game, the substitution of Mackie was greeted with huge cheers, but the substitution of Lovell was greeted by huge boos.  Unfair in my opinion.

How Zander got man of the match is a mystery

 

I was there as a guest of the match sponsors, Diamond only had the second highest amount of votes behind Zoltan Varga. Lovell was next followed by the referee then Maguire with 2 votes thanks to 2 silly lassies.

 

Got a wee tour of the stadium before the match, in the dressing room, one of the players photoshopped a grim reaper outfit onto Jimmy's body and added the caption 'The Jim Reaper'.

 

The game was dire, how Aluko was kept on the bench by Maguire is a complete mystery only beaten in mysterious stakes by De Visscher lasting 90 minutes. Going 451 was a stupid move, Motherwell didn't have a single shot on target until we changed up. Lovell and Maguire standing at the side of the pitch asking what the hell they were supposed to be doing spoke volumes. Mackie was atrocious.

EDIT: For those of you that weren't at the game, the substitution of Mackie was greeted with huge cheers, but the substitution of Lovell was greeted by huge boos.  Unfair in my opinion.

 

Perfectly justified in my opinion. Mackie was a disgrace to the shirt. Lovell had pretty much no decent service whatsoever but fought for every ball and was unlucky to be given a foul against him when he outmuscled Cragian to put himself through on goal.

I know its arguing different shades of shite but Mackie did nothing constructive the whole game where as Maguire had some good runs.

 

i wouldn't call running across the pitch three times from the left side to the right side then passing the ball to the nearest red shirt constructive or particularly good, well ok, it was a red shirt, better than a white one i suppose

Perfectly justified in my opinion. Mackie was a disgrace to the shirt.

 

a bit harsh, mackie is not very good at playing football, we all know that, but he tries his hardest, that's not a disgrace to the shirt.  the disgrace is that he keeps getting a game, that's not his fault

Just to add to the general thoughts on tonight....

 

Overall it was a grim watch, particularly in the first half when the ball spent 90% of the time in the air. Very little football on show from either side. Motherwell pretty disappointing for a team apparently 'flying' in 3rd.

 

As far as we were concerned, I thought Soutar had a decent game. His save from the penalty was excellent and I'd say he was blameless for the goal - good finish IMHO. Back four looked reasonably solid for a change, so no doubt JC will make a few totally unnecessary changes for Saturday. I like Maybury at RB. Granted he's not the tallest, but at least he's a proper full back playing as a full back!!

 

Zander and Considine competed pretty well with Porter, the penalty award aside and Foster looked back to something like his best.

 

Midfield was the frustration for me. We essentially played 2 wide players in Maguire and De Visscher but they rarely took a player on and rarely provided any decent service to Lovell and Mackie. They always seemed to want to go back or square when having a go seemed a better option.

 

Mackie is more in need of a goal than any player I know and despite giving his all he clearly has no confidence at the moment and no doubt Lovell will get binned again because he didn't score. Truth is the service afforded to our strikers is so poor that a front two of Didier Drogba and Christiano Ronaldo would have struggled tonight.

 

So what chance of continuity of selection for Saturday? No chance. My guess a different formation, at least three changes and different partnerships all over the pitch........and therein lies the problem.

 

 

Just to add to the general thoughts on tonight....

 

Overall it was a grim watch, particularly in the first half when the ball spent 90% of the time in the air. Very little football on show from either side. Motherwell pretty disappointing for a team apparently 'flying' in 3rd.

 

As far as we were concerned, I thought Soutar had a decent game. His save from the penalty was excellent and I'd say he was blameless for the goal - good finish IMHO. Back four looked reasonably solid for a change, so no doubt JC will make a few totally unnecessary changes for Saturday. I like Maybury at RB. Granted he's not the tallest, but at least he's a proper full back playing as a full back!!

 

Zander and Considine competed pretty well with Porter, the penalty award aside and Foster looked back to something like his best.

 

Midfield was the frustration for me. We essentially played 2 wide players in Maguire and De Visscher but they rarely took a player on and rarely provided any decent service to Lovell and Mackie. They always seemed to want to go back or square when having a go seemed a better option.

 

Mackie is more in need of a goal than any player I know and despite giving his all he clearly has no confidence at the moment and no doubt Lovell will get binned again because he didn't score. Truth is the service afforded to our strikers is so poor that a front two of Didier Drogba and Christiano Ronaldo would have struggled tonight.

 

So what chance of continuity of selection for Saturday? No chance. My guess a different formation, at least three changes and different partnerships all over the pitch........and therein lies the problem.

 

Good post. I would definitely keep the back 5 for Saturday but the rest of the positions could be up for debate, apart from Nicholson.

 

It'll be 10 men behind the ball at the weekend.  On last nights game I was told by a few folk Maguire wasn't totally useless!! JDV is however turning out to be a complete waste of skin.

 

 

I would keep the back 4 also.

 

Maybe stick Seve or Touzani in front of them.

What happened to the quote last weekend from JC - "attacking formation for the rest of the season because I've been too worried about counteracting the opposition and it's not worked".

 

Can someone please remind him?

JDV is however turning out to be a complete waste of skin.

 

Not quite sure what to make of him.  He has no pace for a winger, but he put in a brilliant cross at 1-1 which Nicholson should have scored with from about 5 yards out.

It was also his cross that Lovell nodded into the Bayern net.

He has no pace for a winger, but he put in a brilliant cross at 1-1

 

A poor man's David Beckham?

 

Or a rich man's Stephen Payne?

 

I think he learned his trade from the same bloke as Scott Muirhead.

Just saw the equaliser on the news. Soutar dived about two hours after the ball hit the back of the net.