Originally Posted by
hulldon
Having returned to Englandshire and digested many of the posts here and on twitter and other fora, here is my tuppenceworth ... and sorry for the length of this ..... I've been thinking a lot ....
1. We set up to frustrate - disappointing but understandable, and having ridden a storm in the first few minutes, looked relatively comfortable until the sending-off. Would have been interesting to see how things would have gone if it had still been 0-0 after 75 minutes...
2. Red card for Ball was unlucky, in that the first yellow was soft. Having watched it again, I feel it warranted a yellow card, although there was no intent on Ball's part. Perhaps he should have been more careful given his yellow before but in no way did he mean to catch him. The iniquity is that it was virtually an identical situation to the Boyata/GMS challenge in the cup final. If Ball's was a foul and yellow card, then Boyata's was too - hence a penalty and a very different LC Final, perhaps.
3. Ferguson's challenge deserved a red, but he did actually half pull out so his studs didn't catch Rogic too badly, but still a red card, borne of frustration from a 19 year-old kid. He will learn from it.
4. McInnes' red card was a bit of a farce - footage shows him doing a fist-pump whilst facing the pitch in response to the chanting ... the farcical nature is the attitude of Thompson in not explaining the decision, but instead playing the big "I am" by giving him his marching orders from 30 yards away.
5. The Chanting which caused it is typical and whilst deplorable etc., etc, I personally can't stand it when the Dons support sing the Savile song. I know it's not the same, but it allows the Dhims to employ genuine whataboutery, so let's stop it! They and their ugly sisters continue to spew sectarian bile, so let's not give them the chance to deflect ...
6. The post-match analysis of Deek's tactics and skills and suitability for further employment are typical after a disastrous outcome like yesterday. Whilst much is made of his poor signings, I do feel we have made some good ones - Ferguson, Shinnie, Logan, Lewis et al - but some signings are of players who one would have thought would have made a difference - May was one of the best goal-scorers when at the Farmers, and he is still only 26; Stewart was/is in demand; Wilson had a good reputation; Gleeson played 200+ games for a good championship side; Forrester came with a good reputation. None have really done well at all, but on paper looked promising. Without McGinn, we have not enough creativity, especially after a few years with him, Hayes and McLean in the side. The last two have not been adequately replaced.
7. As I said, our sit in and man-mark and hope for a counter tactics were rent asunder by the red card, but they are more justifiable if you look at the two teams, and consider the only 2 Dons players on Sunday, who could/would have made the Celtic 16, were probably Lewis and Ferguson. A sad state of affairs but likely to continue unless we have a fairer distribution of wealth and talent, or Stewarty dips his hand in his pocket a little more - a little unlikely that one, I fear!
8. The criticism from various fora of our hammer-throwing approach, and a desire to kick the Dhims is unjustified. Apart from the Ball and Ferguson incidents, there was hardly a bad foul in the game from us, and not once did we get in Thomson's face about the three Scott Brown off-the-ball body-checks on Cosgrove or Edouard's retaliatory push on Ferguson early on. Sadly, only Shinnie would do that and he wisnae there! But it was interesting to note, that not once did Thompson speak to any of their players after a foul, let alone look to get a card out, whereas we got 4 yellows and two reds, plus Deek and Doc's dismissals... It was a typical Thompson ref performance - look at me, I'm in charge, and I'll show who's boss, especially to those non OF teams!
I'm not really sure where we go from here, as without radical change - either at Aberdeen or in Scottish football as a whole - I can't see us making much impression on Celtic in the near future, and sadly Sevco, unless they have more brain-farts of managerial appointment, or they go bust again (#fingerscrossedsmiley) are now creeping ahead of us, so it might be back to the two arse cheek hegemony of years gone by, and nobody wants that .... apart from the Scottish football authorities and media ....
So, I imagine I will dust myself down, hope we can keep the good players we have, replace the weaker ones, and develop the younger ones, and I will still drive the 500 to 800 mile round trip from down here to watch the once michty as often as I can, and hope that we can have a few more of those special days, that as a fan since December 1970, I am lucky enough to have seen a few times.
COYR and SF
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