The Famous Aberdeen - Season 2022/23

[HarleyQuinn]

 

[Dons_1988]

20 minutes ago, lubo_blaha said:

I would be amazed if it made any difference to who we can sign. If we qualify, we’ll have 24 hours before the window shuts. Is a player really going to turn us down because he’ll be playing 6 games in the conference instead of the Europa? I doubt it.

I wouldn’t have traded how that turned out, although we were quite fortunate in setup of groups back then. We went into the final game with a chance of progressing with just one point, which won’t be the case now, and obviously went on to pump Copenhagen and drew Bayern. We look back on it favourably because of that but the competition we’re joining now is a different kettle of fish (would bite your hand off for the chance to do those trips though).

Perhaps it is. I don’t think our team is ready to really compete at EL level at the moment. Had it been a few years into the McInnes era or if Robson had more time to build his team then absolutely but I don’t think we’re there yet. I’d personally rather be in the conference with one big team and a couple that we can match on our day than have six ties where we’re really up against it. 

The prize money point was more in response to those thinking the Europa would be more lucrative. As you say, the football and memories are the big things.

I do get the point but I’d rather frame it as the conference league being an attractive fall back. The EL is still where we want to be in my mind. 

[lubo_blaha]

1 hour ago, DukDukGoose said:

I'm talking about potential signings for next season.

If you're signing for European football (which players admit they do) would you be wanting to play Europa, against top teams, or Europa against average teams?

I would be surprised if playing 6 games in the EL instead of the ECL would be a deciding factor for any signings. They’re much of a muchness in terms of prestige imo. It’s not like we’re comparing the Europa and Champions League.

I would imagine they’d be much more concerned as to whether we’re playing in Europe at the point they would be signing for us, as opposed to what we’ve done in the previous season.

[lubo_blaha]

1 hour ago, Dons_1988 said:

I do get the point but I’d rather frame it as the conference league being an attractive fall back. The EL is still where we want to be in my mind. 

That’s fair enough and I’d imagine most would agree with you. It’s a brilliant ‘problem’ to have!

[DukDukGoose]

13 minutes ago, lubo_blaha said:

I would be surprised if playing 6 games in the EL instead of the ECL would be a deciding factor for any signings. They’re much of a muchness in terms of prestige imo. It’s not like we’re comparing the Europa and Champions League.

I would imagine they’d be much more concerned as to whether we’re playing in Europe at the point they would be signing for us, as opposed to what we’ve done in the previous season.

I think you'd be surprised.

[Moorie]

48 minutes ago, lubo_blaha said:

I would be surprised if playing 6 games in the EL instead of the ECL would be a deciding factor for any signings. They’re much of a muchness in terms of prestige imo. It’s not like we’re comparing the Europa and Champions League.

I would imagine they’d be much more concerned as to whether we’re playing in Europe at the point they would be signing for us, as opposed to what we’ve done in the previous season.

Europes Europe for us. We ain’t one of Europe’s giants who rely on champions league qualification to attract and keep their best players.

 

The market we are in any format of Europe in is the selling point that gives us slight advantage. Our issue is are players more interested in playing European games or having a bigger bank balance else where 

[lubo_blaha]

2 hours ago, Moorie said:

Europes Europe for us. We ain’t one of Europe’s giants who rely on champions league qualification to attract and keep their best players.

 

The market we are in any format of Europe in is the selling point that gives us slight advantage. Our issue is are players more interested in playing European games or having a bigger bank balance else where 

Spot on.

Money is of course the biggest factor, European football of any kind is a bonus. 

Look at players we’ve sold or missed out on: McCrorie, Ramadani, Teklic, Idzes. None of them will be playing in Europe. Two of them won’t even be playing top division football. 

[DukDukGoose]

So much better than I expected but changes were required earlier as we noticeably tired.

Morris really needs to improve his final ball. The type of player that will get you off your seat when he's taking men on but little to show for it at the end so far.

Polvara had a really good first half. Probably a crazy shout but I thought he could have had a go when he broke through the middle as Hart looked miles off his line.

[HarleyQuinn]

Shout out to Polvara. Deserves credit. Clearly has a great attitude and desperate to succeed. He looked the part. His ball to shinnie was fantastic. 

Would still like to see a defensive mid and an attacking mid join. 

Morris' pace is a real assist but his final ball is lacking. There's potential though. 

I thought Devlin was our MOTM last week. Had a good second half today after a disasterous moment.

Edit: I think Robson gets far too much grief then he actually deserves however he needs to drop the idea of making subs only in the final 10 minutes. Even if the players on the bench aren't as good, we need the energy/legs.

Edited August 13, 2023 by HarleyQuinn

[HarleyQuinn]

What's everyone's thoughts on Rubezic so far?

Edit: In Robson's post match interview he said we're hopeful of signing 3-4 players. We'll have to use the loan market but ideally they'll be permanent signings.

Edited August 13, 2023 by HarleyQuinn

[Thenorthernlight]

4 minutes ago, HarleyQuinn said:

What's everyone's thoughts on Rubezic so far?

Defensively fine. 
Can’t pass for toffee.

 

[Don exotic]

I thought Morris did well as an outlet to get up the park and in pressing them. 
 

The back three were stretched at times, as you might expect. Hopefully the errors are just them getting used to playing together, but I doubt this will be the defence in a few weeks time.

[DunbartonshireRed]

49 minutes ago, HarleyQuinn said:

What's everyone's thoughts on Rubezic so far?

Edit: In Robson's post match interview he said we're hopeful of signing 3-4 players. We'll have to use the loan market but ideally they'll be permanent signings.

I think the loan market comment is aimed at preparing us for Scales just joining on loan again. 

I've heard 2 names regarding midfielders. Mark Zabukovnik who I think was name dropped aswell on an RTG podcast. 12 goals and 4 assists isn't bad for a defensive midfielder. 

The other one is Jani Atanasov. Think this one is a bit more wishful thinking considering he's played for Bursaspor and Hadjuk Split in recent seasons. Now in top flight in Poland. He's an international teammate of Bojan. 

[DrewDon]

I was actually more impressed by Rubezic today than I was against Livingston, partly because the quality and type of opposition was so different. He coped pretty well. His passing needs a bit of work, especially if he's going to move to the right of the three when MacDonald returns. 

I think Polvara is being a bit overhyped, to be honest. He did well enough in the first half, some decent pressing and the ball to Shinnie was good. But he disappeared in the second half and his passing got slack. He also needs a bit of coaching out of possession. In fairness, he could probably have benefitted from being replaced on the hour if Robson had more trust in his bench. 

I thought Shinnie was very good today. Probably our second best performer behind Miovski. Clarkson also had some really nice moments, as would be expected. 

Mackenzie also did fine. Although I thought he maybe should have done better against Kyogo on halfway, eventually leading to O'Riley's goal. 

Edited August 13, 2023 by DrewDon

[the tungston weasel]

Shinnie, mioviski great today and for 89/90 mins devlin was fantastic. Unfortunate that the 1/90 was a disastrous mistake.

 

Edited August 13, 2023 by the tungston weasel

[betting competition]

Staying away from the match thread as it was bad enough to listening to various songs during most of the game and then see a pointless debate on the match forum.

Thought we was excellent in the first half, fair play to our manager who took massive risks defensively while creating numerous chances. 2nd half was a bit different although not much on the bench to change. Hopefully our 2 Centre backs missing gets fit soon along with Hayes.

Really tough start with St Mirren away just after European trip, not expecting much from that as we saw with various European trips in the past.

Edited August 13, 2023 by betting competition

[lubo_blaha]

Shinnie was immense today. Aside from winning the ball, he was really good at keeping the ball under pressure. He’s got a great knack of being able to nip away from a pressing opponent and finding a teammate. 

[Dons_1988]

Thought polvara was similar to livi, started well then faded away badly. Not contributing nearly as much as shinnie/clarkson. 

Devlin had his moments but overall thought he was decent and looks like a pretty good recruit so far. 

Mentioned morris on the match thread, there’s a player there but if he can’t find an end product then we can’t be relying on him every week.

Mckenzie was pretty good today and I’ve certainly been a critic, so fair play. 

[DukDukGoose]

I thought Ruby was very good, considering he's not long joined and isn't very fluent in the language yet.

 

[Dons_1988]

Just now, DukDukGoose said:

I thought Ruby was very good, considering he's not long joined and isn't very fluent in the language yet.

 

Yeah he’s been fine. Very solid, he’s obviously not the most mobile so he’s going to struggle with clever movement and pace, but we just need to build around that. There was one moment first half when maeda left him for dead and you could see that vulnerability but generally he’s done well.