johnoswald2712

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

Only started contributing to this forum recently but absolutely agree with this. How many times have we went through similar poor bouts of form but we always come out of it.

Seeing as we have such a good record when signing Irish forwards

Would sign him in a heartbeat.

McCann covered up a multitude of sins in our midfield and as I said on Twitter he is a once in a generation talent who will be almost impossible to replace. Would rather have taken a chance on Cammy Ballantine than waste time on McPherson who quite honestly would struggle to get a game in the local amateur league. We have 5 loan signings and I’d only keep Dendonker. Could make a case for Devine and Crawford as backups but that’s a stretch although maybe harsh on Devine. Big transfer window coming up as we need permanent signings of a good age rather than the short-term loans or aging pro signings that we have endured over the last wee while.

I’m not saying we should just sit back and accept things. I’m saying it might not be quite as easy to change as you appear to think it will be. We did all the things you mentioned by being an organised, difficult to beat team. I’d love us to be more expansive but understand that if that happens then results may suffer accordingly. Anyhoo if you’re as accurate about Preston as you said in the team thread then possibly Callum won’t be here much longer

Not sure letting them off the leash will make a big difference as other than Bryson who do you think would change the way they play to suddenly become more exciting. Maybe they could play Dee higher up the park with less defensive responsibilities but that’s about it as far as I can see. At the moment we have loads of honest pros with good work rates so letting them off the leash might not produce the silky results you are expecting