Thenorthernlight Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 18 minutes ago, kingjoey said: He would have wanted a fair salary, so let Hibs pay out a significant amount of dosh for him, and then be out injured. I liked Hoilett from about mid March onwards. Clever player & a good crosser of the ball. BUT…. I’m not convinced he’d have fitted in to Thelin’s style, which relies on pace out wide & a lot of pressing, neither of which he has in him. That said, the Dons squad is undoubtedly weaker than last season so far. It’s a midfield without Polvara & Clarkson, & an attack without Hoilett, Duk & Miovski (he’s an unused sub, pointless). Most folk accept we’re weak in midfield & out wide. I don’t believe for a second the club don’t know that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1GregStewart Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 1 minute ago, Thenorthernlight said: I liked Hoilett from about mid March onwards. Clever player & a good crosser of the ball. BUT…. I’m not convinced he’d have fitted in to Thelin’s style, which relies on pace out wide & a lot of pressing, neither of which he has in him. That said, the Dons squad is undoubtedly weaker than last season so far. It’s a midfield without Polvara & Clarkson, & an attack without Hoilett, Duk & Miovski (he’s an unused sub, pointless). Most folk accept we’re weak in midfield & out wide. I don’t believe for a second the club don’t know that. You missed out Barron, the wee *** runt that he is. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thenorthernlight Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 6 minutes ago, 1GregStewart said: You missed out Barron, the wee *** runt that he is. I didn’t. I’ve airbrushed the wee rat b*****d from my memory. As will the vermin when they realise he’s a powderpuff wee weasel. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betting competition Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 4 hours ago, leomessi1984 said: Alfie Bavidge going out on loan again? Thought he'd maybe have been given a few run outs for you in the LC but not seen him. Went off injured in the game last night against Banks of Dee. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukDukGoose Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 1 hour ago, tarapoa said: Hmmm, he just gave us an x factor that I just don't see in the current squad - with the Celtic semi being the prime example. Plan A for the 'system' will not always work - and Hoilett was a great option. Maybe a year older with a serious injury to recover from won't help, but it will likely annoy me significantly if he ends up signing for another club in our league. How much can we afford to pay for a plan B? His form late last season probably earned him a starting wage on a two year deal. I think we need to look past that, especially considering it's a new manager with a new system. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarapoa Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 6 hours ago, Thenorthernlight said: That said, the Dons squad is undoubtedly weaker than last season so far. It’s a midfield without Polvara & Clarkson, & an attack without Hoilett, Duk & Miovski (he’s an unused sub, pointless). Just going into August that is undoubtedly the case, with suspension and injuries not helping at the moment either. I listened to one of the pods on the way home and the St J and Dons guys chatting seemed to agree we look much better this season. Right now I think the squad is no way near the level of Leven’s bottom six barnstormers - but if this Miovski saga would reach its conclusion sooner rather than later, maybe the dominoes will start toppling and we’ll see what shape we’re in a month from now. Just don’t want to squander points in what is a relatively kind looking set of fixtures before then - especially if we get Smurn and Kilmarnock on the back of European Thursdays. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moorie Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 On 30/07/2024 at 15:56, O_Kahn said: Pape skied a shot at today's training session hitting someone sitting in the RDS in the face. He then put in a tasty tackle on Sokler during the practice game. (to be fair to Pape he went over to the fan to check they had recovered). Everyone took part except MacDonald (who had a physio doing 1 to 1 exercises with him), and Clarkson who appeared on the touchline briefly. I remember Lee Miller doing this pre match. Fair play to him he came out and gave the guy his training top 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thenorthernlight Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 That paper thin squad of ours just got weaker. Leighton Clarkson now added to the unavailable list, & for some time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrewDon Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 I do understand what people are saying about Hoilett not 'fitting' what Thelin seemingly wants to do, but I can't help but think that a player like that would be such an asset over the course of a full season, especially when teams are sitting in and happy to concede possession. I lost count of the amount of times last season that we didn't have an individual just capable of breaking down a low block, or making the most of a set play. Hoilett offered that sort of guile and technical ability when he came in, a bit like McGinn did for us so often under McInnes when we weren't playing that well. Obviously I don't know what he was asking from the club, but I just think there are always going to be a good chunk of games over the course of a season for a team like us in this league, regardless of how we broadly approach them, where a player like that will just be able to elevate us from a loss to a draw or a draw to a win. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraniteGype Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 40 minutes ago, Thenorthernlight said: That paper thin squad of ours just got weaker. Leighton Clarkson now added to the unavailable list, & for some time. ‘Sakes. What’s the prognosis? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjoey Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 41 minutes ago, Thenorthernlight said: That paper thin squad of ours just got weaker. Leighton Clarkson now added to the unavailable list, & for some time. Where are you getting that from? Can’t find any confirmation of that anywhere. He certainly seemed to have a shoulder injury on Saturday. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dons_1988 Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 28 minutes ago, DrewDon said: I do understand what people are saying about Hoilett not 'fitting' what Thelin seemingly wants to do, but I can't help but think that a player like that would be such an asset over the course of a full season, especially when teams are sitting in and happy to concede possession. I lost count of the amount of times last season that we didn't have an individual just capable of breaking down a low block, or making the most of a set play. Hoilett offered that sort of guile and technical ability when he came in, a bit like McGinn did for us so often under McInnes when we weren't playing that well. Obviously I don't know what he was asking from the club, but I just think there are always going to be a good chunk of games over the course of a season for a team like us in this league, regardless of how we broadly approach them, where a player like that will just be able to elevate us from a loss to a draw or a draw to a win. I think we’d all love to have him. But he’s 34 and wanting to be a top earner (allegedly). The manager is entitled to make the judgement that he doesn’t want to utilise the budget on someone he doesn’t feel will start every week. Ultimately he’ll live and die by it but it does feel like he’s using sound logic. The decision will likely be more defined by what we bring in through the next few weeks anyway. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thenorthernlight Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 17 minutes ago, bpdon said: ‘Sakes. What’s the prognosis? Shoulder injury. 6 weeks 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thenorthernlight Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 17 minutes ago, kingjoey said: Where are you getting that from? Can’t find any confirmation of that anywhere. He certainly seemed to have a shoulder injury on Saturday. From a reliable source Hopefully it finally forces us to bring some one in 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjoey Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 28 minutes ago, Thenorthernlight said: From a reliable source Hopefully it finally forces us to bring some one in You'd have to be pretty naive to think that we're not doing as much as we can to bring players in. Not being in Europe is presumably having an affect on who wants to come to the club, but even with Leighton Clarkson being out I certainly don't want us being "forced" to bring just anyone into the squad. No panic please. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1GregStewart Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 1 hour ago, DrewDon said: I do understand what people are saying about Hoilett not 'fitting' what Thelin seemingly wants to do, but I can't help but think that a player like that would be such an asset over the course of a full season, especially when teams are sitting in and happy to concede possession. I lost count of the amount of times last season that we didn't have an individual just capable of breaking down a low block, or making the most of a set play. Hoilett offered that sort of guile and technical ability when he came in, a bit like McGinn did for us so often under McInnes when we weren't playing that well. Obviously I don't know what he was asking from the club, but I just think there are always going to be a good chunk of games over the course of a season for a team like us in this league, regardless of how we broadly approach them, where a player like that will just be able to elevate us from a loss to a draw or a draw to a win. It’s a blow and that’s undeniable. Players like that aren’t easy to find for the wide positions. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarapoa Posted August 1 Share Posted August 1 If Clarkson is out for a while, move McGrath inside (which he prefers) and go back cap in hand to Hoilett. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coprolite Posted August 1 Share Posted August 1 Can't see Clarkson being out for a relatively short spell changing the plans much. McGrath is better centrally than out wide, and it gives Vinnie, Pape, Morris and Duncan better opportunity to stake a claim. Long term, i'd rather he had a good look at the squad in proper games and spent where we really need to. Hoilett would have been a good option but we look like we've got actual tactics for getting through and round defences so shouldn't need to rely on one player for that. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukDukGoose Posted August 1 Share Posted August 1 Just now, coprolite said: Can't see Clarkson being out for a relatively short spell changing the plans much. McGrath is better centrally than out wide, and it gives Vinnie, Pape, Morris and Duncan better opportunity to stake a claim. Long term, i'd rather he had a good look at the squad in proper games and spent where we really need to. Hoilett would have been a good option but we look like we've got actual tactics for getting through and round defences so shouldn't need to rely on one player for that. This, 100%. QOTS are obviously a lower level than we'll be playing, but some of the movement against them was night and day than what we were used to for 75% of last season. We were trying to drag them side to side, to find pockets of space. LAst season we would flood the box and put in a hopeful cross. Hoillett was good for us, but we were just as good for him. Rehabbed his career and now he'll pick up a decent wage with a likely multiple year contract at 34. I don't want to see that happen to us again. See Hayes, Jonny. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flammable sheep Posted August 1 Share Posted August 1 Clarkson is huge for us in terms of pressing and getting through defences, but hopefully a shoulder injury won't be anything as long term as Dante's. Midfield looks very light with 2 out injured though, especially when Shinnie and Nilsen pick up so many cards. Thing is, if we bring in someone else, that really limits Fletcher Boyd's opportunities once everyone is back. Hard to find that balance 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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