The Famous Aberdeen - Season 2022/23

[Don Diego De la Vega]

The big Serb confirmed (in the press) and now Michael Hector talking about a return too that would be a happy Friday 

[Sheepster]

9 hours ago, Thenorthernlight said:

McKenzie has played over 50 games at first team level & has not progressed one iota 

And even if (massive if) you think he gets a game for a couple of teams in this division, that doesn’t mean he’s near good enough for us 

TBF, difficult to progress when you have limited opportunity to play in your best position in a back 4 (particularly good at defending against wide players etc). Goodwin binning the back 4 after the Tannadice shitshow didn't help his cause, meaning only LWB was available. Was a useful sub at LWB when Coulson lost interest defending and started on the keepyups and drag backs!

First league start last season at LB was under Robson. Looked comfortable and solid.

Expect we'll sign a LCH and LWB very shortly, but LWB is hard to fill. We clearly need more specialist CHs on the books and have done so badly for 2 seasons. Devlin, Milne and Mackenzie are clearly not the answer, so hopefully the reinforcements arrive In time.

[coprolite]

7 minutes ago, Don Diego De la Vega said:

The big Serb confirmed (in the press) and now Michael Hector talking about a return too that would be a happy Friday 

I thought that’s what the Hector interview was going to say based on the clickbaity headlines but it looks like he’s just saying he’d have liked to be part of the league cup final, while saying polite things about his loan spell because he’s going to be playing against us tomorrow. Unless there’s another interview I missed. 

[Dons_1988]

10 minutes ago, coprolite said:

I thought that’s what the Hector interview was going to say based on the clickbaity headlines but it looks like he’s just saying he’d have liked to be part of the league cup final, while saying polite things about his loan spell because he’s going to be playing against us tomorrow. Unless there’s another interview I missed. 

Yeah that was my take 

[Thenorthernlight]

52 minutes ago, Don Diego De la Vega said:

The big Serb confirmed (in the press) and now Michael Hector talking about a return too that would be a happy Friday 

Nah, he’s not.

He literally said he’s had no opportunities to come back since his loan spell back in 2014. 

[Thenorthernlight]

52 minutes ago, Sheepster said:

TBF, difficult to progress when you have limited opportunity to play in your best position in a back 4 (particularly good at defending against wide players etc). Goodwin binning the back 4 after the Tannadice shitshow didn't help his cause, meaning only LWB was available. Was a useful sub at LWB when Coulson lost interest defending and started on the keepyups and drag backs!

First league start last season at LB was under Robson. Looked comfortable and solid.

Expect we'll sign a LCH & LWB very shortly, but LWB is hard to fill. We clearly need more specialist CHs on the books and have done so badly for 2 seasons. Devlin, Milne and Mackenzie are clearly not the answer, so hopefully the reinforcements arrive In time.

Liam Scales & Declan John, come on down 

[Ampersand]

11 hours ago, DukDukGoose said:

MacKenzie isn't at the level to play regularly but there's always a spot for a guy like him.

Considine wasn't good enough for the first 8 years of his career, fleeting moments aside. When he left, folk were up in arms.

My feelings exactly on MacKenzie. Works hard, committed defender, just of limited ability - Consi is an apt comparison. Unlikely to tear it up and move on for big money, but also likely to be deemed competent enough to keep around as a squad player. 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

5 minutes ago, Thenorthernlight said:

Liam Scales & Declan John, come on down 

[DukDukGoose]

42 minutes ago, Ampersand said:

My feelings exactly on MacKenzie. Works hard, committed defender, just of limited ability - Consi is an apt comparison. Unlikely to tear it up and move on for big money, but also likely to be deemed competent enough to keep around as a squad player. 

Yeah, exactly.

You need some guys who know their ceiling is squad player at the club and are happy to fulfill that role.

It's all well and good having players of first XI quality in reserve but you will quickly run in to issues.

[1GregStewart]

1 hour ago, DukDukGoose said:

Yeah, exactly.

You need some guys who know their ceiling is squad player at the club and are happy to fulfill that role.

It's all well and good having players of first XI quality in reserve but you will quickly run in to issues.

Bang on. Mckenzie is useful and it annoys me that so many fans write him off. 
Talk of ‘he should be a championship player’ etc. just shows an understanding of football manager on the computer and not the real world. 

[Thenorthernlight]

8 minutes ago, 1GregStewart said:

Bang on. Mckenzie is useful and it annoys me that so many fans write him off. 
Talk of ‘he should be a championship player’ etc. just shows an understanding of football manager on the computer and not the real world. 

Complete & utter nonsense.
It’s based on the 50+ first team games he’d had. 

[Dons_1988]

13 minutes ago, 1GregStewart said:

Bang on. Mckenzie is useful and it annoys me that so many fans write him off. 
Talk of ‘he should be a championship player’ etc. just shows an understanding of football manager on the computer and not the real world. 

Lol what. 

I wouldn’t say I’d written him off but I think he’s got work to do to prove he’s a useful squad player. 

Not everyone can be first XI quality but squad players shouldn’t feel a significant step down and I think he does weaken a back 3 or the LWB position at this moment in time. 

The comparisons to considine are understandable but he’s miles off actually being that guy yet. 

[DukDukGoose]

3 minutes ago, Dons_1988 said:

Lol what. 

I wouldn’t say I’d written him off but I think he’s got work to do to prove he’s a useful squad player. 

Not everyone can be first XI quality but squad players shouldn’t feel a significant step down and I think he does weaken a back 3 or the LWB position at this moment in time. 

The comparisons to considine are understandable but he’s miles off actually being that guy yet. 

So was Considine.

Up until Shinnie went in to midfield he was a constant target of heckles.

[Dons_1988]

24 minutes ago, DukDukGoose said:

So was Considine.

Up until Shinnie went in to midfield he was a constant target of heckles.

Lots of players have been targeted whether shit or actually perfectly serviceable. 

Not sure that’s the benchmark for judging mckenzie. 

[anotherchance]

2 hours ago, DukDukGoose said:

Yeah, exactly.

You need some guys who know their ceiling is squad player at the club and are happy to fulfill that role.

It's all well and good having players of first XI quality in reserve but you will quickly run in to issues.

I personally don't see it with MacKenzie at all - I don't think he's shown he's dependable enough to be a Consi and I'm not really sure we should have him hanging around for years on the off chance that he develops into what Consi was in the last 3 or 4 years of his time with us.

The fact that we need a certain amount of Scottish players for Europe will work in his favour, as will the fact that there's always likely to be a more pressing need for recruitment elsewhere in the team, as he is the type who'll fly under the radar.

Re squad players - in an ideal world I'd tend to have young players in and around the squad who might be good enough one day to command a place in the team every week. That was MacKenzie at one point, but as with Campbell and certainly McLennan, we tend to have them hanging about for longer than we should when we know deep down that they aren't going to cut it.

 

[d31]

16 minutes ago, anotherchance said:

I personally don't see it with MacKenzie at all - I don't think he's shown he's dependable enough to be a Consi and I'm not really sure we should have him hanging around for years on the off chance that he develops into what Consi was in the last 3 or 4 years of his time with us.

The fact that we need a certain amount of Scottish players for Europe will work in his favour, as will the fact that there's always likely to be a more pressing need for recruitment elsewhere in the team, as he is the type who'll fly under the radar.

Re squad players - in an ideal world I'd tend to have young players in and around the squad who might be good enough one day to command a place in the team every week. That was MacKenzie at one point, but as with Campbell and certainly McLennan, we tend to have them hanging about for longer than we should when we know deep down that they aren't going to cut it.

 

Mackenzie is not going to cut it but he gets a stay of execution this window given we are changing out 12 players or so.

If we get our recruitment right this time then he might be a candidate to be moved on in 2024

[DrewDon]

Overall, although different types of full-back, I would say Mackenzie is at about the same level as Richardson. If he was three or four years younger then I would be more content about him as a genuine squad option, developing with some semi-regular minutes. I would be hoping to see a bit more from him by now, though; he will be 24 by the end of next season. I do wonder if the long contract extension under Glass was partly a swipe at McInnes, who clearly didn’t rate him and was preparing to let his contract expire. 

[Thenorthernlight]

51 minutes ago, d31 said:

Mackenzie is not going to cut it but he gets a stay of execution this window given we are changing out 12 players or so.

If we get our recruitment right this time then he should be a candidate to be moved on in 2024

Slight amendment to your post 

[DukDukGoose]

27 minutes ago, DrewDon said:

Overall, although different types of full-back, I would say Mackenzie is at about the same level as Richardson. If he was three or four years younger then I would be more content about him as a genuine squad option, developing with some semi-regular minutes. I would be hoping to see a bit more from him by now, though; he will be 24 by the end of next season. I do wonder if the long contract extension under Glass was partly a swipe at McInnes, who clearly didn’t rate him and was preparing to let his contract expire. 

There's far more to work with if you compare MacKenzie to Hayes but Hayes used to be really good and is still fast.

I'd have MacKenzie over Hayes every day of the week.

[Thenorthernlight]

31 minutes ago, DukDukGoose said:

There's far more to work with if you compare MacKenzie to Hayes but Hayes used to be really good and is still fast.

I'd have MacKenzie over Hayes every day of the week.

Here’s a thing. 
Shouldn’t we be looking at better than both?

I’m not sure it would be that difficult, especially with our expanded scouting network.