Aberdeen v Livingston - Sunday 3pm

[DrewDon]

I'll try to focus on the positives from the second half and forget that the first half even happened. 

I thought Watkins was good, even when he was feeding off scraps - he offered a presence while looking fairly comfortable with the ball to feet and linking play well. He should score one of his two chances at 2-0, and it's a pity that he didn't because his performance was worthy of a goal. 

I don't imagine many were happy with Ojo being brought on at half-time, but it seemed to work quite well - he was better than his last couple of appearances and gave Ferguson more freedom to influence things further up the park and just generally stamp his authority on things a bit more.

Hedges and Wright were hopeless in the first half, but both redeemed themselves somewhat with the second goal - we need to see much more of that, though. 

I've been fairly impressed with McCrorie over the last couple of games. He has been moved around a fair bit but always slotted in pretty well. His distribution needs a bit of work but he has a good physical presence and he seems to be quite comfortable carrying the ball. 

[naegoodinthedark]

Top bantz from the Dandies to give everyone a 3 game head start, then unleash the big red game winning juggernaut.

We’ll probably win the Europa league outright on Thursday night too.

[Frank Grimes]

27 minutes ago, ScottishZizou said:

Aberdeen Twitter is hilarious. You’d think we’d just been beaten. If we can win next week against hibs then it’s been a good start to the domestic season. Thought the second half today was really encouraging and hopefully we can continue with that fluidity. Kennedy and hedges are tough players to analyse as they clearly have great ability but at times can be a massive liability going backwards. Huge season for McInnes as anything except 3rd and an improved style of play and some of our fans won’t have it. 

Aye, f**k our Twitter keyboard warriors 

Absolute wallopers to a man 

[Scrutinizer]

Livingston played  well first half,plenty pressing,Robinson and Forrest with good chances. Robinson needs to be sharper with his shooting.Second half Sibbald caught in wrong side of player. Bartley letting Hedges waltz pass him.Overall plenty effort,too many bad touches,and defensive midfield was very poor.

McCrorie 7/10   Played well

Devlin   5/10   Played ok

Fizzywater 5/10  Played ok,out position for the second goal great run and cross for Pittman goal

Guthrie   6/10  Stable  

McMillan  3/10  not a good performance,not an attacking fullback

Pittman   6/10   Put a good shift in,scored,but to many bad touches

Bartley   1/10   Unbelievably slow, lazy, clumsy terrible first touch and passing

Forrest   5/10  Good first half,disappeared second,has to show more overall

Sibbald  6/10   Gave penalty away,was always in the game,never stopped trying

Robinson 4/10   Done plenty running, but always running into defenders

Holt     2/10   Done nothing in a defensive midfield role,far to lightweight,his only passing was  sideways,slows the game down, when you need urgency 

Ambrose   2/10   On for 20 minutes,brought nothing to the game

Serrano   1/10   Should have been red carded,terrible tackle 

Tiffony   2/10   Never seen after he came on

Hamilton  1/10   Looks very slow, stiff,poor reflexes,don't think he's good enough for the top division 

Formation  4-2-3-1 ??

GARY HOLT  Needs to get some work done on a few players laziness,quicker movement,and more wing play,too many player drop out the game to much.

Aberdeen done nothing,absolutely poor all game,except for 5 minutes where they could've scored three goals

Edited August 23, 2020 by Scrutinizer

[DrewDon]

As much as I don't have time for the sort of people who tag Dave Cormack in tweets, I don't think third and an improved style of play are unreasonable expectations for this season. 

[ScottishZizou]

2 minutes ago, DrewDon said:

As much as I don't have time for the sort of people who tag Dave Cormack in tweets, I don't think third and an improved style of play are unreasonable expectations for this season. 

I don’t think they are but we are three games in and won 2. Let’s give this squad/season more than a couple weeks?

[tarapoa]

Considine on commentary is a tough listen. Like they've given a microphone to someone in the crowd. Just randomly shouting directions like 'Send it home Ash', 'Get back in Hedgey'. Awful.

I loved it - fan with a microphone, but with an insight into the game and not afraid not to tow the party line. eg questioning the substitution

Haste him back next time he goes through some sevconian.

[thruthenight]

59 minutes ago, Scrutinizer said:

 

Bartley   1/10   Unbelievably slow, lazy, clumsy terrible first touch and passing

Holt     2/10   Done nothing in a defensive midfield role,far to lightweight,his only passing was  sideways,slows the game down, when you need urgency 

I could not disagree with these more. Holt was our best player IMO. Their 2nd goal was Fitz getting pulled out of position rather than Bartley being slow.

 

[AmericanFan]

3 hours ago, fitbagoals said:

Goals from today's match

 

Second goal was straight up fire.

[A Livi Fan]

I could not disagree with these more. Holt was our best player IMO. Their 2nd goal was Fitz getting pulled out of position rather than Bartley being slow.

 

You'd be forgiven for thinking Holt wasn't playing. All he done was take passes from one centre back and pass it to the other then run away.

Devlin was rubbish and just fouled everyone.

Bartley was off the pace again.

Forrest never came out second half. McMillan wasn't as effective as he usually is.

McCrorie needs to do some serious work on his kicking with the amount that went straight out.

Serrano never instilled any confidence, not to mention his tackle that was definitely worth a booking but was expecting McLean to give a red.

 

Only 2 players I would really give pass marks to are Sibbald and Guthrie. Sibbald was excellent first half until he got booked, although he was caught sleeping for the pen, and Guthrie was solid enough at the back.

 

Aberdeen were there for the taking again and as usual we cannt take advantage whilst playing away against a poor team. Hopefully an improved performance next week, should be winning at home to County.

 

ETA that the above is not a suggestion of lack of effort, far from it. At times we played well but just too many not at it for much of the game. The same can be said for Abderdeen though and this is just a typical chance missed for points away from home.

[BucksburnDandy]

Considine not entirely convinced by that substitution. 

This was my favourite part of today. It spoke volumes about what the players really think of the predictable "game management" of sitting in rather than finishing off teams. Big Andy will never be my favourite player but he's an honest lad and that honesty shone through in saying we should have been going for more goals.

As for the performance second half, until Derek decided to sit in, it was much more like it. Wright and Hedges looked very bright, McCrorie did well once again, Watkins was very bright and intelligent, Ferguson looked much more like himself, supporting the forward players well. McKenna strolled it in the first half and I'm very excited to see more of the team with him at centre half and McCrorie playing the Ryan Jack role of 3 years ago.

Ultimately I am happy with this week in terms of points and performance progress today but f**k me, Derek needs to take the handbrake off and believe in his creative players more. Because they can click and play well, but they rarely seem to get that opportunity.

Livi will be fine, once Stokes gets up to speed. Decent team, couple of errors cost them but more positives than negatives. Really enjoy watching Pittman and Sibbald play. Two hard players but work brilliantly for the team and although Sibbald made an error, he also was impressive for me throughout.

[Scrutinizer]

2 hours ago, A Livi Fan said:

You'd be forgiven for thinking Holt wasn't playing. All he done was take passes from one centre back and pass it to the other then run away.

Devlin was rubbish and just fouled everyone.

Bartley was off the pace again.

Forrest never came out second half. McMillan wasn't as effective as he usually is.

McCrorie needs to do some serious work on his kicking with the amount that went straight out.

Serrano never instilled any confidence, not to mention his tackle that was definitely worth a booking but was expecting McLean to give a red.

 

Only 2 players I would really give pass marks to are Sibbald and Guthrie. Sibbald was excellent first half until he got booked, although he was caught sleeping for the pen, and Guthrie was solid enough at the back.

 

Aberdeen were there for the taking again and as usual we cannt take advantage whilst playing away against a poor team. Hopefully an improved performance next week, should be winning at home to County.

 

ETA that the above is not a suggestion of lack of effort, far from it. At times we played well but just too many not at it for much of the game. The same can be said for Abderdeen though and this is just a typical chance missed for points away from home.

You're not far off with you're assessment of that game, although  Fizzywater got dragged  out of position for the second goal Bartley moved to close Hedges down and decided to stop,without a tackle then Hedges flicked the ball past him,which started the problem.Holt plays side to side,back to defender,nothing positive,I thought McCrorie done well,quick out,good saves,not a very accurate kicker of the ball though. Sibbald was Livi's best player,along with Guthrie.Forrest,Pittman were ok,Forrest needs to realise the game lasts 90 Minutes,Pittman first touch lets him down.

Up front is still a problem,so many forward players,are any of them any good,what I've seen so far Hamilton,Kouider-Aissa imo are not good enough,Popolnik and Tiffony don't look top league standard, Robinson and Souda are average.Forrest is good when he learns to play 90 minutes .. 
 

[kingjoey]

15 hours ago, andy-500 said:

Considine on commentary is a tough listen. Like they've given a microphone to someone in the crowd. Just randomly shouting directions like 'Send it home Ash', 'Get back in Hedgey'. Awful. 

Good move for the second goal though. Thought Livi looked the better team first half.

Andy Considine was one of the best, club player,  co commentators I’ve heard. Through the whole game he told it as it was. Not sure Derek McInnes will be all that happy with him, though.

[Guest Bob Mahelp]

10 hours ago, BucksburnDandy said:

This was my favourite part of today. It spoke volumes about what the players really think of the predictable "game management" of sitting in rather than finishing off teams. Big Andy will never be my favourite player but he's an honest lad and that honesty shone through in saying we should have been going for more goals.

As for the performance second half, until Derek decided to sit in, it was much more like it. Wright and Hedges looked very bright, McCrorie did well once again, Watkins was very bright and intelligent, Ferguson looked much more like himself, supporting the forward players well. McKenna strolled it in the first half and I'm very excited to see more of the team with him at centre half and McCrorie playing the Ryan Jack role of 3 years ago.

Ultimately I am happy with this week in terms of points and performance progress today but f**k me, Derek needs to take the handbrake off and believe in his creative players more. Because they can click and play well, but they rarely seem to get that opportunity.

Livi will be fine, once Stokes gets up to speed. Decent team, couple of errors cost them but more positives than negatives. Really enjoy watching Pittman and Sibbald play. Two hard players but work brilliantly for the team and although Sibbald made an error, he also was impressive for me throughout.

Sacrilege. 

Big Andy should be every Dons fans favourite player. Today, always and forever. 

[Jacksgranda]

Just watched the highlights. Can't have been much happen in the first half. Or indeed, after Livingston scored.

Like the strip.

[Durnford]

[WARNING - IRONY ALERT] 

Really cant believe how we failed to get anything from that game. Who'd have believed that playing for 70 minutes without a recognised forward at a ground we've failed to win at for about 15 years wouldn't have worked?

Also questionable about the tactic of swapping out a keeper who kept a clean sheet against Sevco; for one who, although competent, hardly seems to talk to his defence.

With regard to the substitutions was swapping Fitzwater out for Ambrose really the way to go? Also with Devlin picking ip a yellow in the first half; it was like he was walking a tightrope for the rest of the game; some described him as subdued; I suspect being one tough tackle from receiving his marching orders might have had something to do with that. Maybe he should have been substituted earlier?

Bringing Hamilton and Tiffoney on with about quarter of an hour to go was like a last gamble to recover a game that had almost already been lost. If they're going to make the grade then they need to be given the chance and this was precisely the kind of game that they should have been put out perhaps from the start. Hamilton has never been an impact substitution and I suspect the same can be said of Tiffoney. If the management don't have faith in these young guys then surely there's not much point to them being on the books? Hamilton has already spent the best part of the last two seasons out on loan despite having an impressive debut against St Mirren in 2018 I believe.

As for Kouider Aissa; he had a frustrating game against Sevco where he barely seemed to speed up beyond what appeared to be a jog. Part of that might have been his lack of fitness having already made the step up from part time to full time professional and not really understanding his place in a team defending against a physical attacking side like the rangers; but again he's just moved up from the lower league; he played well in the pre-season friendlies; when the new additions come in he may find his chances even more limited so surely this his main opportunity to prove himself? The alternative is that once Stokes and Lokotsch are available he wont even find a place on the bench?

Ho hum; onwards and upwards.

[LIVIFOREVER]

2 hours ago, Durnford said:

[WARNING - IRONY ALERT] 

Really cant believe how we failed to get anything from that game. Who'd have believed that playing for 70 minutes without a recognised forward at a ground we've failed to win at for about 15 years wouldn't have worked?

Also questionable about the tactic of swapping out a keeper who kept a clean sheet against Sevco; for one who, although competent, hardly seems to talk to his defence.

With regard to the substitutions was swapping Fitzwater out for Ambrose really the way to go? Also with Devlin picking ip a yellow in the first half; it was like he was walking a tightrope for the rest of the game; some described him as subdued; I suspect being one tough tackle from receiving his marching orders might have had something to do with that. Maybe he should have been substituted earlier?

Bringing Hamilton and Tiffoney on with about quarter of an hour to go was like a last gamble to recover a game that had almost already been lost. If they're going to make the grade then they need to be given the chance and this was precisely the kind of game that they should have been put out perhaps from the start. Hamilton has never been an impact substitution and I suspect the same can be said of Tiffoney. If the management don't have faith in these young guys then surely there's not much point to them being on the books? Hamilton has already spent the best part of the last two seasons out on loan despite having an impressive debut against St Mirren in 2018 I believe.

As for Kouider Aissa; he had a frustrating game against Sevco where he barely seemed to speed up beyond what appeared to be a jog. Part of that might have been his lack of fitness having already made the step up from part time to full time professional and not really understanding his place in a team defending against a physical attacking side like the rangers; but again he's just moved up from the lower league; he played well in the pre-season friendlies; when the new additions come in he may find his chances even more limited so surely this his main opportunity to prove himself? The alternative is that once Stokes and Lokotsch are available he wont even find a place on the bench?

Ho hum; onwards and upwards.

Yeah I thought that too about Devlin, with him being on a booking I was thinking Devlin would be taken off and McMillan would've switched to RB when Serrano came on. Watched Sportscene to see if they enlightened us about the Livi penalty claim, but they completely ignored it (much like the ref) and just talked about Aberdeen throughout their post match segment, with a quick mention about us signing Stokes thrown in.

[EdinburghLivi]

2 hours ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Watched Sportscene to see if they enlightened us about the Livi penalty claim, but they completely ignored it (much like the ref) and just talked about Aberdeen throughout their post match segment, with a quick mention about us signing Stokes thrown in.

Will assume the best and that was due to not having a camera angle rather than not giving a f**k. I was very surprised with how little time they dedicated to both Sunday games.

Edited August 24, 2020 by EdinburghLivi

[LIVIFOREVER]

10 minutes ago, EdinburghLivi said:

Will assume the best and that was due to not having a camera angle rather than not giving a f**k. I was very surprised with how little time they dedicated to both Sunday games.

Yeah was better when Celtic and Aberdeen were serving their covid lockdown suspensions, got tons of time on the games from the teams that were left. 

Didn't mention us much at all though, they were acting like love sick lambs having gone 3 weeks without their sheep, fawning over Aberdeen.

[Guest Bob Mahelp]

2 hours ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Yeah I thought that too about Devlin, with him being on a booking I was thinking Devlin would be taken off and McMillan would've switched to RB when Serrano came on. Watched Sportscene to see if they enlightened us about the Livi penalty claim, but they completely ignored it (much like the ref) and just talked about Aberdeen throughout their post match segment, with a quick mention about us signing Stokes thrown in.

No enlightening needed, it was just a superb tackle.