johnoswald2712

Quite interesting seeing the names folk reckon have been told that are surplus to requirements and nobody has mentioned Ballantine. Only thing that apparently rules him out is that he can’t really be described as experienced

Haven’t posted on here for a while and agree with posters who have identified the centre of the pitch as an issue. I personally think that McLean has fallen into the same trap that CD did in that he makes the players fit the system rather than the system fit the players. Assuming we sign McLelland I’d go as follows. Mitov Mclelland Gordon. Considine Wright Phillips McGowan Gallagher Carey May Jephcott Hopefully this covers the issues centrally, allows Carey to float about, be a nuisance and if necessary bolster the middle. Also allows us to change to a back 4 if Brown is on the bench. I know this has previously produced boring, eye-bleedingly bad football but I’d rather sit through that than another humiliation. I’ll now put on my tin helmet while this is pulled to pieces

Apologies. I meant back line but when you’re my age you always refer to a back 4 whether it 3,4 or 5

Do I think Muller and Dendoncker were Kerr’s replacements? No. I think Muller was cover for the right side of the back 4 and Dendoncker was only signed after Kerr was away. They might have been seen as short term stop gap replacements but not anything more than that. Millwall had said they wanted Muller back and there is no way we can afford an EPL player, even one as far down the pecking order as Dendoncker was. I do agree about McCann however. He had at least a couple of years left on his contract and should not have been sold for less than £2m. Pretty sure it was Brown who was responsible for that though. Davidson came out in the media with some half-hearted acceptance but it was clearly forced on him and the team is still paying the price for that.

Who said that? I certainly didn’t. I said it was his job to replace them

You’ve heard wrong then. Like your earlier post about the shots inside the box (does home v Hearts not count) you make things up to suit your anti- Davidson agenda. I am not happy with the way we are playing, who is ?? but surely the guy who less than 12 months ago gave the club their most memorable season deserves the chance to put things right. Radford pointed out earlier that last season we got the bounce of the ball and a wee bit of luck whereas this season we have received poor refereeing decisions and no luck. The way we are playing compared to last season hasn’t changed significantly. What has changed though is the players. We lost Kerr and McCann and haven’t really replaced either and that, according to you, is the manager’s fault. I disagree. It sits pretty much squarely on the shoulders of the head of recruitment. This is one of the reasons he was binned and a scouting network is being set up.

Can’t believe Livy fans are complaining about Clancy. While the Cleary handball looked a good shout on another day they could have been down to 8 or 9 men. Penrice could easily have been red carded and the challenge on Hendry near the end was absolutely a red.

I’m surprised that they haven’t resorted to an Astro pitch especially as it might generate extra income. The players association do a survey at the end of each season and the last few years only the plastic pitches have worse marks than McD. Think the best surfaces appear to be hybrids with Astro sewn into natural grass. Don’t know the cost but that would be irrelevant after the groundsman knackered it by cutting it too often. McD is now over 30 years old and part of the issue is it’s been left to wither for too long. As another poster said it needs a facelift, new tvs,etc but because they’ve left it for so long what should have been easy upkeep which wouldn’t have been costly has turned into an expensive refit and just like the lack of investment in the team at the right time ie after cup wins, the boards lack of foresight is going to cost the club a substantial amount of money

Not necessarily. The balls being played across the back 3 tend to be uncontested but as soon as any of them are pressed they tend to go long. This might be what they are instructed to do but also may be a result of the pitch.

I posted in the match thread about the state of the playing surface and think this has a bit to do with the issue of long balls being played from the back 3. Both Cleary and McCart are reasonably comfortable driving out with the ball and while Gordon isn’t so comfortable doing so he’s more than able to play 10 yard passes to midfielders. However the bounces and bobbles because of the pitch make that difficult so they resort to the easy option of knocking it long. Interestingly in my opinion no team has come to McD in the league and played flowing, passing football including Celtic who are probably the most likely in Scotland to do so. When questioned regarding this their managers pretty much all cite the poor playing surface as a reason. I fully expect folk to point out our away form to contradict the above but I’m pretty sure it’s more than a coincidence that our worst performances have been at home.

I’ve not seen enough of Bair or Vertainnen to give an informed opinion of them but if they aren’t better than Ciftci then they must be utter dugshit. One thing regarding the style of football. As it usually is, the ball was screaming for mercy today it got hammered so much by both teams. I honestly think the state of the playing surface has a lot to do with this. Defenders don’t want to take a touch and play a pass because the ball bounces all over the place. Trying to run with it is also a problem so players (especially playing in a team in our position) resort to playing it long. I know a lot of contributors on here want to see the back of the manager or the chairman or various players but if we truly want to change to an exciting, passing type of football then the first person we should empty is that sorry excuse of a groundsman

A pluses and minuses line up. Plus Zander is back, minus a midfield that is soft as shit. Plus Butterfield dropped, minus replaced by MacPherson who is absolutely gash. Plus Middleton hopefully fired up to play against his former team, minus no Murray Davidson. At this point of the season points are more important than performances so hopefully do enough to get 3 points

Watching the game back on Sportscene last night, surprised nothing was said about the handball when Souttar practically caught the ball. Didn’t see it at the game yesterday as we sit nearer the Ormond stand but looked nailed on to me. Only good thing was it didn’t come back to haunt us

Absolutely no chance this will go ahead. Even if the snow clears quickly the pitch will be waterlogged and that’s before we think of getting fans in, road conditions etc

When Willie Miller says there’s not much in the foul that Aberdeen are benefiting from you can absolutely guarantee it’s not a foul. The amount of decisions going against us now are getting ridiculous.

McPherson is pretty much a liability in a defensive setting. Team was set up in 2 solid lines after the red card but he chases the ball like a collie dug making it easy to play round him. If he doesn’t learn defensive discipline then he’ll never be a midfield player at any level. Agree with Radford that we are getting a raw deal from refs this season and handball decisions have directly cost us 4 points this season. Even the 4 sendings off are dubious. Bryson was the only one I initially agreed with and even then tv pictures showed that cheating tosser Porteous had feigned contact and injury. If Hallberg was deserving of 2 yellow cards today then we’d be as well putting the lights off and locking the doors because the game’s f….d

Might be having some sort of meltdown but have to agree with Random Guy. Ref sends a player off for minimal contact but let’s Watt away with blatant pull back . It’s the inconsistency that drives you daft. Overall thought we at least forced Siegrist into a couple of saves so deserved at least a point. Ironic that the sending off saw us falling into 2 defensive lines which probably didn’t suit the Arabs. They are much happier when teams come on to them allowing them to counter. As no score draws go though I quite enjoyed it.

Agree with this and I certainly felt last time round there was no real end product but given the amount of times we managed to release Brown into space on the right hand side in the last 2 games, it’s hard to imagine that Wright wouldn’t have managed to pick out someone in the box a couple of times rather than turn back the way Brown did

Not going to say I’ve seen Hallberg often but this is pretty much what I remember. Will always give a new signing a chance but this one doesn’t fill me full of hope. Another ordinary player for the most important part of the team. We need someone with a bit of creativity or someone who will move the ball on quickly to increase the tempo of play. Even someone who will be an out and out ball winner would do.Hope I’m wrong but in my opinion Hallberg doesn’t tick any of these boxes.

Something that is pretty unanimous is our transfer business has been shambolic. However everyone seems to be blaming the manager or the chairman. If they are to blame why are we employing a head of recruitment??? From the day they arrived it’s been obvious that Crawford and McPherson are nowhere near good enough but someone saw fit to give one a two and a half year contract and the other has signed a PCA. What exactly have they been watching the last 5 months? I never subscribe to sacking managers at the drop of a hat . Just look at Dundee and to a lesser extent Hibs and Hearts to see how that works out. However the club needs gutted from top to bottom and now would appear to be the perfect time to start.

Handball penalty against Hibs, handball that led to goal by Hearts, handball in semi final, handball v Aberdeen. That’s 4 points and a cup gone due to refereeing mistakes and that’s before we even start to discuss debatable decisions. Not trying to say that refs are the reason we’re in the position we’re in but don’t try to say they have had no impact either.

Middleton has been a massive disappointment. Even last season a couple of free kicks pretty much covered up some pretty poor displays. MOH is a poster boy for wingers , he’s like a bag of revels, you never know what you’re getting. Viv might be the answer but all indications are he’s only here for the month . Vertainen did ok when he came on today but he might be more effective in Crawford’s position (think I would be more effective than Crawford too though). Even if we get wide players we still need someone to convert the chances.

If you feel hurt by that I apologise but unfortunately Callum can only play the hand he has been dealt. Yes we need to be more expansive and exciting but these type of players tend to come at a substantial cost way beyond our budget. Lewis McCann at Dunfermline and Robbie Deas at ICT would be 2 players I would target next month. Both would require a fee but not so much that we couldn’t afford them. Wage demands unlikely to be high as well. I would also bin all the loan players except Devine and bring back Gilmour and Ballantyne. 3 forward thinking players plus a solid defender would be a good start to addressing our problems. Maybe our Head of Recruitment has more in mind

Oh well then we’ll just sack him and put you in charge. I’m sure the players will love your nice charts and coaching experience