Casagolda

As I’ve said a few times before, I actually have a fair amount of sympathy with Robinson. We had the best league record of anyone outside the OF in 2019, we’ve won 6 league games in 2020. As much as Robinson will shoulder a lot of the blame for the decline(some of it merited)- how many times can you sell your best player(s), not re-invest it in the team, then expect the team to keep moving forward? A decline of some sorts is/was inevitable. To me, it looks like we’re somewhere in between having sold off the last batch of promising youngsters and the next lot being ready(existing?). So this summer, when budgets were probably tightened even more, he’s went out and brought back a lot of guys on short term deals who’ve done him a turn in the past to get him through this season- Long, Cole, Hastie etc. For one reason or another, it hasn’t really worked as well as I’m sure we all would’ve hoped. However outside of the OF, I’ve still not really seen any team outplay us or look vastly superior to leave me worried about being left behind. The Hibs defeat I think is the only game we’ve actually lost by more than a single goal and even that was 0-1 after 88 odd mins- with us missing our fair share of chances. Essentially, I don’t think it’s time to panic just yet. Admittedly, I’m not as confident as I was a few weeks ago but most teams from 4th down seem to be in the same boat. On the plus side for us, Robinson’s been in similar situations before and always seems to come out the other side of it and I personally wouldn’t bet against him(somehow) doing it again.

You knocked us out the Scottish Cup two seasons running at Fir Park and I’m fairly sure Fallon scored a screamer in both games.

How many times has Robinson done that when we’re chasing a game though? Just chucked as many attacking players on as possible, we still create nothing but lose all shape before inevitably being picked off by the other team.

I think it’s a good point, I mean there can’t be many windows since Robinson’s been here that we haven’t actually sold a player? It’s hard enough when we sell a Turnbull or a Scott after only 30 odd games for the club. You now also see guys like McAlear(just made his debut for Norwich) or McKinstry(signed a new 3 year deal at Leeds) getting sold before Robinson can even get them in the team. So even though I do think some of his recruitment has been questionable and deserves criticism, I do have sympathy with Robinson. Constantly having to juggle losing your best players and best prospects, whilst trying to keep us competitive on a bottom 6 budget seems like a fairly thankless task tbh. Given we’ve already sold Turnbull, if he steers clear of relegation and chucks in a few youngsters before the seasons end, then he’s basically hitting every objective asked of him by the club(again).

I thought he was due back around the same time as Carson in January(ish)? That’s what confused me anyway- shite if he’s out longer. Do think we miss someone like him with a bit of aggression and snideness in the middle of the park, as Robinson alluded to yesterday. Not to mention, he had a pretty decent range of passing as well. Between him, Carroll and Carson all being out for extended spells, we really have had some shite luck with injuries this year.

Have you both just forgotten about Donnelly? I mean I wasn’t always his biggest fan but I’d have him sitting in front of the back four ahead of O’Hara and Maguire everyday of the week.

Not sure what Tony done to rile the Saintees today, compared to last week this match seemed to lack the same level of needle and there was hardly a challenge of note from either side. On the football side of things, St Johnstone were deserved winners for me. They carved out two good chances first half down our right, we didn't heed that particular warning and O'Halloran eventually punished us 2nd half. Both teams were missing important players but Saints looked a more well drilled, cohesive unit throughout We were pedestrian for the most part and created little of note outside of a couple of set pieces - except one decent chance for Watt in the 1st half. However it's frustrating that just like last week, we gifted them a route back into the match with some utterly shambolic defending for the equalising goal. Some amount of utter dross in our squad by the way, think there's about half a dozen players involved today that could leave tomorrow and we'd be no worse off.

I’d say you nailed it there. St Johnstone certainly had more of the ball, yet did very little with it. Chapman looked fairly suspect when called into action against Celtic but I genuinely don’t remember him having a save of note to make yesterday. We weren’t any better mind and the only time we managed to string a couple of passes together we scored. The penalty(how many have we given away now?) was so avoidable and frustratingly it handed a team struggling for goals a route back into the match. As for the bookings, I think the ref called most of them right with the exception of Bryson- who should have gone. McCann and McNamara’s were cynical as f**k, however I’d applaud a Motherwell player doing similar so it’d be hypocritical to complain. Overall an utterly forgettable game where I’d say a draw was about right, everyone should just take their point and move on.

Stunned that O’Hara’s complete lack of awareness on the edge of his own box has cost us a goal. Tidy finish to be fair to him after what was a a decent move. Penalty itself was daft from Mugabi though who again, looks far from convincing when he’s not protected by playing in the middle of a back 3. That challenge by Bryson on Chapman was an absolute shocker, stick on red card.

This was something I noticed as well. We’ve not actually dropped a point or even conceded a goal to a non OF team in the League since the Hamilton game back in August(albeit we’ve missed several games due to Covid). Even going back across our last 6 league games against non OF opposition, we’ve only conceded 1 goal in 540 mins of football. We’ve also picked up 13 points and scored 10 goals in those 6 games as well- which included trips to Easter Road and Pittodrie. As much as these OF drubbings are becoming slightly tiresome, it’s not something I’m going to lose much sleep over. They actually seem to have clouded over the fact that after a poor start, we’ve otherwise been motoring along quite nicely and seem to be heading in the right direction.

EDIT- Completely forgot as per @capt_oats that we beat them under McGhee at Parkhead. Still, any excuse to watch Higdon’s pen/celebration.

Link Meniscus tear for Carson, out til January at least.

I’d stick with the 433 for now as well. I think one of the biggest problems with it at the start of the season was, we didn’t have anyone to be the focal point in that striking role to make it work. I mean, contrast Watt’s display yesterday with that of White or Long earlier in the season. Watt’s got a bit of everything really. He’s clever, works hard, robust, lovely touch, good link up play, can dribble etc. His performance yesterday and at Pittodrie(albeit in two that day) were textbook displays in leading the line. Also credit to Cole. I wasn’t his biggest fan first time round but he definitely offers us something different up there- that we haven’t really had since he and Scott left in January. Impressive shift considering it was his first game in six months. Plus, it helps having an on song Polworth to pull the strings. His touch/turn and ping out to McGinley yesterday for the first goal was absolutely delightful. Was also good to see someone look comfortable bombing down the left and putting a ball into the box for what felt like the first time since March- and what a ball it was by the way.

Think he actually managed more minutes for us.

A move back towards a front 3 then? I was never Cole’s biggest fan but he does offer us a physical presence, as well as still having the mobility that could make the front 3 more viable again. It’s never really looked right since he and particularly Scott departed in January. Otherwise unless we’re gonna start chucking bodies out before Monday night, then we’ll be left with a lot of ‘forwards’ vying for only 2 positions.

I liked him. Pacey and skilful, he ripped teams to shreds during the league cup group stage last season. Then the real stuff started and he looked a bit out his depth tbh. However once he got use to the physical side of the game, he came back into the team and showed some good form towards the end of the year. Seemed to be a spell round about November/December where he was setting up goals every week. Like the rest of the team though, his form tailed off badly in 2020 and culminated in the decisive penalty miss against St Mirren as they put us out the cup. By that stage, he looked bereft of confidence again. He’s hardly been seen this season, so I can’t say I’m overly surprised at his departure. He was clearly no longer in Robinson’s plans and it frees up a decent wage for us. Good luck to him.

Would that not be due to the change in style of play? Looking at that, you can’t help but notice that ‘big physical Motherwell’ had a far superior record against the OF at Fir Park than our current set up. We only lost 1 out of 6 games and even that was by a single goal(a penalty if memory serves me correct). Whereas the 5 games since the Jan 2019 change in playing style, we’ve lost them all by an aggregate score of 19-3...

Has he hit a forward pass yet? I’m surprised he didn’t find one of our centre backs with his penalty at Pittodrie last week.

Lamie is a Championship defender at best, just like White is a Championship level striker. Two signings I could understand in a Covid affected market, where we were desperately looking for cheap squad options. However we put the wheels in motion regarding pre-contracts for both before that was even a thing, so worryingly these were two guys Robinson must have genuinely thought would improve our squad. I’d still give McGinley the benefit of the doubt at this stage, although he was miles off it last night. Mainly for the reasons the Capt outlines above, he’s been injured and largely playing out of position. Plus, it was our two experienced Scottish Internationals who really sold the jerseys last night anyway.

We’ve given away 7 penalties in our last 5 European matches.

Yup, can’t defend simple balls into our box. Same sloppy defending that cost us against Livingston, Dundee Utd, Accies etc. Fortunate to get away with against Coleraine and Glentoran in previous rounds as well. And after all the praise he got on Sunday, Long back to his petulant best giving away an utterly needless free kick right on half time.

Lovely Stuff. Not been a big fan of the 352 but one of the real advantages of it is getting 2 strikers on the park and today, the Long/Watt partnership worked a treat. Watt was superb at dropping in and taking the ball into feet while Long's pace and movement caused them all sorts of problems. The goals were soft from Aberdeen's point of view but as a team we looked sharper, played with more energy/better tempo and Watkins header aside, never gave them a sniff of goal. Much better from the midfield today as well with Allan Campbell head and shoulder above everybody else on the park. Also delighted for Big Bevis to bounce back after Thursday with a goal. So yeah, well done 'Well and much more of that please.

Yup. Never thought I’d be raging after Motherwell winning an away tie on penalties in Europe but, here we are. I said at the weekend, I’d bin the 352- it doesn’t work and the ‘up turn’ in results is purely coincidental IMHO. We were fortunate St Johnstone couldn’t punish our mistakes on Saturday and even struggled against Glentoran till they went down to 10 men. The defence is an absolute shitshow and got ragdolled last night by some boy who wouldn’t look out of place in the Juniors. Gallagher is a shadow of the player he was last season and Lamie is just a liability. You’ve also got McGinley, by his own admission a centre back, going full Fraser Kerr down the wing. Also, not to keep panning the guy but O’Hara’s complete lack of discipline or awareness is quite something.