The Lions v The Dons (Sat 5th Aug)

[kingjoey]

Have been out of contact with the football world until now. No idea how the game has gone but disappointed to only get a point. I'll check Sportscene later tonight.

[Menga Bus]

6 minutes ago, FreedomFarter said:

You've called for his sacking before on here. Just sick of the moany wee rats among our support stinking the place up on matchdays. Your user name references a player Martindale signed, get a grip.

I’ve genuinely never called for sacking? Just a blatant lie mate not sure what you gain from bullshitting?

Edited August 5, 2023 by Menga Bus

[Stylish Kid]

35 minutes ago, Menga Bus said:

Mate it’s just not that deep, it’s a reaction that 90% of fans were thinking when they saw the lineups, don’t think anybody was confident of a positive result. Martindale’s personal bodyguard over here

I may not be an expert on Livingston, but I'm pretty sure Martindale doesn't need a bodyguard

[GTG_03]

Disappointed with a point but tbh if any team deserved to win between the two it was Livi. Dreadful game where it was blatantly obvious we needed to get the ball down and pass our way through the livi giants. 

Trying to go long ball was never going to work. Concerning that Robson didn't seem to realise this at all.

Desperately need more creativity alongside Clarkson. I also thought Polvara was panicky on the ball and can't see him cutting it at this level.

[DrewDon]

Just back from this now. What an absolutely brutal watch. Livingston are b*****ds to play against, and I don't mean that as an insult.

Saying that, we clearly didn't do enough to warrant more than a point. I have seen some criticism for Duk and Miovski, but the service to them throughout was such poor quality - so many aimless punts and high balls against Livingston's giant defenders.

I understand the wisdom behind not taking too many risks with the ball, but I lost count of the amount of times we played straight into Livingston's hands by blootering it in any direction when at least a touch or two could have been taken: Devlin was especially culpable in the first half. Basically, it is going to be difficult for us to out-Livingston Livingston, especially when they seem to have a notable physical advantage in a lot of areas.

We are clearly a few players short at the moment. I thought Polvara actually did alright-ish and at least tried to play a bit of football at times, but returning from a loan at Charleston Battery last month to starting our first league game now is quite the ascension. You then have the likes of Morris and Mackenzie, who were - at least certainly in Morris' case - on the fringes of the team last season. 

I thought Robson could maybe have changed things a bit earlier. We never had complete control, but Livingston had a relatively strong final 25 minutes or so. Could we not have put Barron on to try and get more of a foothold, get us taking a bit more care of the ball? It might not have made much if any difference, but I would have liked to have seen something to try and change the flow. 

Rubezic will certainly be an interesting watch. He is clearly well equipped physically and stood up well to what Livingston were throwing at him, but Celtic next week will be a very different examination of his attributes. 

[Troy.1995]

Cant believe the shite coming from some Aberdeen fans saying they need more signings. How many new signings do you have FFS.You got away with one today and you know it.Had Livi been more clinical up front you'd be going up the road with he haw.Some of the tackles deserved more than was dished out,and I include our former captain in that category. Hopefully Bruce is OK but doesn't look good.And the dig a hole brigade,shame on them besmirching the good name of AFC.Shocking.

[DoingThe42]

Just saw the highlights on Sportscene. Was Duk carrying that weight last season?

Looks like he's had a good summer.

[Stylish Kid]

2 hours ago, ATLIS said:

Suspected broken ribs and a nasty head gash. Rubevic should've walked, a second yellow at worst. Bruce gets there first and wins the ball.

I actually thought it looked like if anything Anderson was more in the wrong as he came charging in to win it and Rubevic was more or less in a static position. A really sickening incident, but from the available camera angle, I'm not convinced it was particularly foul play 

 

However, Rubevic is clearly not scared of a challenge or hesitant about committing nasty cynical fouls.

[Stylish Kid]

20 minutes ago, DoingThe42 said:

Just saw the highlights on Sportscene. Was Duk carrying that weight last season?

Looks like he's had a good summer.

He looks like the Duk you started with last season - more than happy to take a shot, and also to fashion a chance from nothing, but so wasteful!!

[lubo_blaha]

2 hours ago, ATLIS said:

Suspected broken ribs and a nasty head gash. Rubevic should've walked, a second yellow at worst. Bruce gets there first and wins the ball.

Watched this back on sportscene. Claiming that this should be a second yellow is second only to Martindale saying it was a “really good game of football” in the baffling opinion ranks.

They both go up for a header, Rubezic ever so slightly later than Anderson. It’s a shame that he’s come off worse and I sincerely hope he’s alright but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a booking given for an incident like that.

[DoingThe42]

7 minutes ago, Stylish Kid said:

He looks like the Duk you started with last season - more than happy to take a shot, and also to fashion a chance from nothing, but so wasteful!!

I appreciate your time taken to respond to my query, but have I just been taken for an Aberdeen supporter?

Where did it all go wrong?

[EdinburghLivi]

2 hours ago, Cptn Hooch said:

How big is your defender's head that he's made contact with Bruce's ribs AND face?

Looks like he fell straight on his side following the head clash without getting his arms down to cushion his landing. Hopefully we get an update tomorrow.

[mozam76]

I will lap that result up with a fucking soup spoon. 

[GTG_03]

1 hour ago, DrewDon said:

Just back from this now. What an absolutely brutal watch. Livingston are b*****ds to play against, and I don't mean that as an insult.

Saying that, we clearly didn't do enough to warrant more than a point. I have seen some criticism for Duk and Miovski, but the service to them throughout was such poor quality - so many aimless punts and high balls against Livingston's giant defenders.

I understand the wisdom behind not taking too many risks with the ball, but I lost count of the amount of times we played straight into Livingston's hands by blootering it in any direction when at least a touch or two could have been taken: Devlin was especially culpable in the first half. Basically, it is going to be difficult for us to out-Livingston Livingston, especially when they seem to have a notable physical advantage in a lot of areas.

We are clearly a few players short at the moment. I thought Polvara actually did alright-ish and at least tried to play a bit of football at times, but returning from a loan at Charleston Battery last month to starting our first league game now is quite the ascension. You then have the likes of Morris and Mackenzie, who were - at least certainly in Morris' case - on the fringes of the team last season. 

I thought Robson could maybe have changed things a bit earlier. We never had complete control, but Livingston had a relatively strong final 25 minutes or so. Could we not have put Barron on to try and get more of a foothold, get us taking a bit more care of the ball? It might not have made much if any difference, but I would have liked to have seen something to try and change the flow. 

Rubezic will certainly be an interesting watch. He is clearly well equipped physically and stood up well to what Livingston were throwing at him, but Celtic next week will be a very different examination of his attributes. 

Agree regarding Barron. It's worrying that Robson never tried to make any changes when it was so obvious it wasn't working.

[Stylish Kid]

10 minutes ago, DoingThe42 said:

I appreciate your time taken to respond to my query, but have I just been taken for an Aberdeen supporter?

Where did it all go wrong?

Sorry!!!

[hoobahabba]

You know what, I don't think that game was as bad as everyone is making out. In fact, I quite enjoyed it. Not much skill on display but blood and thunder throughout. Sometimes you've got to appreciate it for what it is. 

We've definitely gotten our balls back as a team. Looking solid at the back and with more dig in the midfield. I was impressed with Sangare in the first half and felt we missed his presence at the beginning of the second, although Pittman's tenacity made up for it. He looked much more like his old self when he came on. Guthrie was another who put a shift in today. I'm still not convinced of his quality as a striker but he is not afraid to put himself about. I thought Montano was MotM today. Could be a big season for him. 

I know it's early days but I'm feeling much more confident about this season now than I was before. If we continue to make ourselves hard to beat, we've got every chance of staying up. 

[STFU_Donny]

Positives today:

A clean sheet when our defence is not at full strength. That’s about it. 
Given our results at the Tony Mac the last few seasons, a point isn’t the worst result.

[STFU_Donny]

1 hour ago, Troy.1995 said:

Cant believe the shite coming from some Aberdeen fans saying they need more signings. How many new signings do you have FFS.You got away with one today and you know it.Had Livi been more clinical up front you'd be going up the road with he haw.Some of the tackles deserved more than was dished out,and I include our former captain in that category. Hopefully Bruce is OK but doesn't look good.And the dig a hole brigade,shame on them besmirching the good name of AFC.Shocking.

Yes, we need more signings. We have a quadruple to win. 

[Cptn Hooch]

1 hour ago, Stylish Kid said:

I actually thought it looked like if anything Anderson was more in the wrong as he came charging in to win it and Rubevic was more or less in a static position. A really sickening incident, but from the available camera angle, I'm not convinced it was particularly foul play 

 

However, Rubevic is clearly not scared of a challenge or hesitant about committing nasty cynical fouls.

So it's not a foul if you're late but standing still? Wild

[LIVIFOREVER]

50 minutes ago, hoobahabba said:

You know what, I don't think that game was as bad as everyone is making out. In fact, I quite enjoyed it. Not much skill on display but blood and thunder throughout. Sometimes you've got to appreciate it for what it is. 

We've definitely gotten our balls back as a team. Looking solid at the back and with more dig in the midfield. I was impressed with Sangare in the first half and felt we missed his presence at the beginning of the second, although Pittman's tenacity made up for it. He looked much more like his old self when he came on. Guthrie was another who put a shift in today. I'm still not convinced of his quality as a striker but he is not afraid to put himself about. I thought Montano was MotM today. Could be a big season for him. 

I know it's early days but I'm feeling much more confident about this season now than I was before. If we continue to make ourselves hard to beat, we've got every chance of staying up. 

Yep, this was the big worry after how we finished the season, and even in the cup games we still hadn't faced Premiership opposition, so it was hard to judge how good our new back 3 would do. This game showed we could deal with corners and free kicks into the box again, something we were weak at last season, same with how Martindale has made signings to be more physical in midfield. 

He said he wanted to make us hard to beat again, and by the looks of things he's making good on that, but we've also got different options in St Kelly, Bradley, MacKay, Anderson, Bahamboula, more getting the ball down and going for goals players. There'll be games where we can change tactics and be more free flowing on the deck.

Today though it was good seeing Shamal not fannying about passing it out to a CB, and all those square balls across our back line, the Aberdeen forwards would've pounced on that forcing mistakes. Def change from how soft we were last season anyway, and i'm loving it. Hopefully we can score some set pieces like we did under Holt too, we've got the height for having a go at them. 

Early days right enough, but it's encouraging seeing us being so aggressive in the press, and having a fighting spirit, we can beat teams with better players than us just by putting in more effort. Love it when opposition fans say how shite a game it was too, means we're making them play shite and dragging them into our game plan, not allowing them to play their usual game.