Ross County v Aberdeen (Sun 19th May)

[Jacksgranda]

That's the spirit!

[kingjoey]

2 hours ago, coprolite said:

We don't have a team capable of finishing third. 

Our defence is shite and has rode its luck against poor quality bottom half strikers.

We're also just about to lose our best midfielder on a free. 

We have some good players but not all over. 

My pre-season optimism hasn't lasted long. 

Why would you think that we’re not planning on improving our defence?

[coprolite]

2 minutes ago, kingjoey said:

Why would you think that we’re not planning on improving our defence?

Why would you think i thought that? 

[kingjoey]

14 minutes ago, coprolite said:

Why would you think i thought that? 

The way you’ve worded your post sounds as if you’re expecting the same players to be there next season, less the ones who are leaving, and no improvements coming in.

[coprolite]

3 minutes ago, kingjoey said:

The way you’ve worded your post sounds as if you’re expecting the same players to be there next season, less the ones who are leaving, and no improvements coming in.

I was referring solely to the current team being good enough. I apologise for any confusion caused. Even though it's been caused by you. 

[kingjoey]

3 hours ago, coprolite said:

I was referring solely to the current team being good enough. I apologise for any confusion caused. Even though it's been caused by you. 

Your pre-season optimism hasn’t lasted long because, it sounds like, of the players that we have now. My pre-season optimism is still high because we will hopefully bring in better players.

[betting competition]

23 hours ago, coprolite said:

We don't have a team capable of finishing third. 

Our defence is shite and has rode its luck against poor quality bottom half strikers.

We're also just about to lose our best midfielder on a free. 

We have some good players but not all over. 

My pre-season optimism hasn't lasted long. 

Defence has improved since we began playing MacDonald and switched to a back four. We’ve just had five consecutive clean sheets in the league, which should have been six if not for a dreadful VAR decision.

Regarding other matters, losing Barron is a blow, but he has been inconsistent in certain matches and is not on the same level as Lewis Ferguson, although they are different types of players.

This season involved a massive rebuild due to the number of loan players, but next season should be a bit easier. We are also likely to lose Miovski in the summer, which is a bit of a blow.

We performed really well in all the cups, but with European games, we struggled in the league. It will be interesting to see if Hearts face the same issue as we did this season.

Edited May 21 by betting competition

[Dons_1988]

12 minutes ago, betting competition said:

Defence has improved since we began playing MacDonald and switched to a back four. We’ve just had five consecutive clean sheets in the league, which should have been six if not for a dreadful VAR decision.

Regarding other matters, losing Barron is a blow, but he has been inconsistent in certain matches and is not on the same level as Lewis Ferguson, although they are different types of players.

This season involved a massive rebuild due to the number of loan players, but next season should be a bit easier. We are also likely to lose Miovski in the summer, which is a bit of a blow.

We performed really well in all the cups, but with European games, we struggled in the league. It will be interesting to see if Hearts face the same issue as we did this season.

I think if your underlying original point had been that we’re not that far away and it isn’t that big a rebuild required then I’d probably agree with plenty of this. I can’t support it as evidence that we have had everything in the building already to finish 3rd.

Recent results and performances need put into perspective, it confirms my belief that we should never have been in any danger whatsoever but it doesn’t make us brilliant in any way shape or form. 

The squad this season was imbalanced and filled out with too much shite to compensate for the summer rebuild last year whilst simultaneously preparing for Europe. 

Fact remains that we need to sort out the spine of the team from goalkeeper through to striker (assuming miovski leaves) before we can predict anything for next season really. 

[coprolite]

55 minutes ago, betting competition said:

Defence has improved since we began playing MacDonald and switched to a back four. We’ve just had five consecutive clean sheets in the league, which should have been six if not for a dreadful VAR decision.

Regarding other matters, losing Barron is a blow, but he has been inconsistent in certain matches and is not on the same level as Lewis Ferguson, although they are different types of players.

This season involved a massive rebuild due to the number of loan players, but next season should be a bit easier. We are also likely to lose Miovski in the summer, which is a bit of a blow.

We performed really well in all the cups, but with European games, we struggled in the league. It will be interesting to see if Hearts face the same issue as we did this season.

Agree that there's a lot to work with there already and we're not starting from scratch like last year. 

The five clean sheets thing is a bit of a miniskirt though. Agree we looked better with Mcdonald in there but there were still plenty brainfarts and cock ups. I think every one of those five games had someone clean through after a long punt down the middle. If that someone had been a top half striker chances are they score. Similarly, a few of those games had jobbers missing sitters. We'd not have got away with those against better teams or over the course of a season against fellow bottom six shite. That's not remotely a top three defence, McKenzie excepted (four times out of five). 

[Jacksgranda]

1 hour ago, betting competition said:

Defence has improved since we began playing MacDonald and switched to a back four. We’ve just had five consecutive clean sheets in the league, which should have been six if not for a dreadful VAR decision.

Regarding other matters, losing Barron is a blow, but he has been inconsistent in certain matches and is not on the same level as Lewis Ferguson, although they are different types of players.

This season involved a massive rebuild due to the number of loan players, but next season should be a bit easier. We are also likely to lose Miovski in the summer, which is a bit of a blow.

We performed really well in all the cups, but with European games, we struggled in the league. It will be interesting to see if Hearts face the same issue as we did this season.

Vincent will explain - in great detail - why this won't be an issue for the third farce.

[tarapoa]

11 minutes ago, coprolite said:

We'd not have got away with those against better teams 

You're probably right, but generally performances against the 'better teams' have been okay this season.

Dealing well with these bottom six fixtures was fairly pleasing as it looked a series of banana skins given the position we were in when the fixtures were announced.  Credit to Leven for that.

[10menwent2mow]

I've gone through the squad a few times with mates and have managed to convince myself we don't need much. 

GK - Need a first choice when Roos goes, not sure I'd keep him even if he wanted to stay. Doohan fine as back up. If new No.1 picks up serious injury, probably look to loan someone as we did with Woodman. 

RB - Happy enough with Devlin and Milne as cover. 

CB - Rubezic, Jensen, MacDonald (Milne). If Gartenman doesn't come back then we definitely need another. Will depend on the system. 

LB - Think McKenzie has been one of the few positives this season. Not seen enough of McGarry but don't think this is a priority position. 

CM - Shinnie, McGrath, Clarkson, Polvara. Going to need someone to cover Barron going but again, there are options. 

Wingers - Besuijen, Morris, Duncan. I'd think Morris will be away but getting Hoilett signed up should be a priority. He will be targeting the 2026 WC, give him a 2 year deal. Could throw Duk in as a winger as well. Who know what'll happen with Vinny. 

CF - Sokler, Duk, Gueye. Not sure we'll see Pape again, I'm working on the assumption that Miovski will be gone, I don't think Sokler is the answer so a number 9 is a priority. 

It'll be about the type of player we target, if we just sign squad players to fill gaps then I don't think we've got enough quality but as mentioned elsewhere, one in each of the positions down the spine of the team and we aren't far off. 

[Dons_1988]

8 minutes ago, 10menwent2mow said:

I've gone through the squad a few times with mates and have managed to convince myself we don't need much. 

GK - Need a first choice when Roos goes, not sure I'd keep him even if he wanted to stay. Doohan fine as back up. If new No.1 picks up serious injury, probably look to loan someone as we did with Woodman. 

RB - Happy enough with Devlin and Milne as cover. 

CB - Rubezic, Jensen, MacDonald (Milne). If Gartenman doesn't come back then we definitely need another. Will depend on the system. 

LB - Think McKenzie has been one of the few positives this season. Not seen enough of McGarry but don't think this is a priority position. 

CM - Shinnie, McGrath, Clarkson, Polvara. Going to need someone to cover Barron going but again, there are options. 

Wingers - Besuijen, Morris, Duncan. I'd think Morris will be away but getting Hoilett signed up should be a priority. He will be targeting the 2026 WC, give him a 2 year deal. Could throw Duk in as a winger as well. Who know what'll happen with Vinny. 

CF - Sokler, Duk, Gueye. Not sure we'll see Pape again, I'm working on the assumption that Miovski will be gone, I don't think Sokler is the answer so a number 9 is a priority. 

It'll be about the type of player we target, if we just sign squad players to fill gaps then I don't think we've got enough quality but as mentioned elsewhere, one in each of the positions down the spine of the team and we aren't far off. 

I’d be challenging some of this. 

CB - I think Jensen may just be shite. Macdonald and Ruby may be ‘ok’ but a hell of a gamble to go with that next season. Definitely need at least 1 first choice I’d say. 

CM - options there but balance is all wrong. Shinnie needs managed on game time and workload within games so he needs some support. I’d say we need at least 2 here

wide - besuijen is likely finished here, morris too and I don’t think Duncan is good enough. Hopefully we can keep hoilett but definitely work needing done here. Duk and McGrath can fill in but up until hoilett we were painfully short in these positions this season. 

LB - I reckon mcgarry is pish tbh (happy to be proved wrong) and Mackenzie been decent but unlikely to be long term answer. Cover needed for now and looking to improve in future. 

Probably agree on strikers and RB although we could/should do better than devlin but not a priority. 

[10menwent2mow]

Fair enough. Respect your opinion. There are times when I think we expect to have a squad of 22 'starters' which for a club our size is just never going to happen.

I'm not saying that means we should accept mediocrity but how many of our fans would've got rid of someone like Considine time and again, yet he ends up playing 500+ games for us. Some would say that's a sad indictment of our squads over the past 15 years. Maybe Hibs fans say the same about Hanlon and Stevenson. 

Sokler might prove us wrong. Remember, two seasons ago, folk were saying it was criminal we were getting rid of Ramirez and bringing in yon Miovski boy, seems to have gone OK. One of those things that time will tell. As I said, it'll be all about the quality we bring in, would rather 4 or 5 quality players, than a bucket of pish, which seems to have been the M.O too often recently. 

[Dons_1988]

12 minutes ago, 10menwent2mow said:

Fair enough. Respect your opinion. There are times when I think we expect to have a squad of 22 'starters' which for a club our size is just never going to happen.

I'm not saying that means we should accept mediocrity but how many of our fans would've got rid of someone like Considine time and again, yet he ends up playing 500+ games for us. Some would say that's a sad indictment of our squads over the past 15 years. Maybe Hibs fans say the same about Hanlon and Stevenson. 

Sokler might prove us wrong. Remember, two seasons ago, folk were saying it was criminal we were getting rid of Ramirez and bringing in yon Miovski boy, seems to have gone OK. One of those things that time will tell. As I said, it'll be all about the quality we bring in, would rather 4 or 5 quality players, than a bucket of pish, which seems to have been the M.O too often recently. 

I don’t disagree with much of that - if we put devlin and Mackenzie in the considine mould then I’m kind of saying that, it’s not a particular priority to replace guys that are steadily 6 or 7 out of 10 most weeks. The challenge is to build the squad so that they are supplementing the squad rather than being key parts of it. 

We can’t have 22 starters either, I agree. But I don’t think we have 11 starters who are at the level we want yet. If we factor in likely departures this summer, I think we’re currently missing a first choice keeper, centre half, centre mid, a striker and potentially 2 wide men. 

It will take time to get where we want to, my preference is to spend this window prioritising those key areas through the spine of the team then ideally spend future windows evolving the team around that. 

[coprolite]

1 hour ago, 10menwent2mow said:

I've gone through the squad a few times with mates and have managed to convince myself we don't need much. 

GK - Need a first choice when Roos goes, not sure I'd keep him even if he wanted to stay. Doohan fine as back up. If new No.1 picks up serious injury, probably look to loan someone as we did with Woodman. 

RB - Happy enough with Devlin and Milne as cover. 

CB - Rubezic, Jensen, MacDonald (Milne). If Gartenman doesn't come back then we definitely need another. Will depend on the system. 

LB - Think McKenzie has been one of the few positives this season. Not seen enough of McGarry but don't think this is a priority position. 

CM - Shinnie, McGrath, Clarkson, Polvara. Going to need someone to cover Barron going but again, there are options. 

Wingers - Besuijen, Morris, Duncan. I'd think Morris will be away but getting Hoilett signed up should be a priority. He will be targeting the 2026 WC, give him a 2 year deal. Could throw Duk in as a winger as well. Who know what'll happen with Vinny. 

CF - Sokler, Duk, Gueye. Not sure we'll see Pape again, I'm working on the assumption that Miovski will be gone, I don't think Sokler is the answer so a number 9 is a priority. 

It'll be about the type of player we target, if we just sign squad players to fill gaps then I don't think we've got enough quality but as mentioned elsewhere, one in each of the positions down the spine of the team and we aren't far off. 

I don’t think we should be pushing the boat out to get Gartenman back and think that CB should be number one priority whether he’s returning or not. 
 

Agree on Hoillet but I think Devlin’s a liability at RB.

[VincentGuerin]

2 hours ago, Jacksgranda said:

Vincent will explain - in great detail - why this won't be an issue for the third farce.

You mention me on a near daily basis, so I'll do you the courtesy of finally giving you a wee reply.

No Scottish side has managed a third-placed finish in a season when they've played group stage football yet, other than Rangers in 2005/06...

At the moment I think Hearts look like they'll have a decent chance of doing so, as I don't think there's any competitor you can say genuinely look likely to cause us bother next year as of today, but it's a long summer ahead.

I hope that suffices for you.

[tarapoa]

5 hours ago, VincentGuerin said:

No Scottish side has managed a third-placed finish in a season when they've played group stage football yet, other than Rangers in 2005/06...

At the moment I think Hearts look like they'll have a decent chance of doing so, as I don't think there's any competitor you can say genuinely look likely to cause us bother next year as of today, but it's a long summer ahead.

What Naismith needs to consider to surmount that challenge is sign a first team squad of around 23 players, and then only ever play the same 14 or 15 each Thursday and Sunday.

The promised land of Robsonball........