Aberdeen v FC Shakhtar Donetsk

[TheDeeDon]

Were the Ultras doing something outside the Merkland tonight before kick off??

I was queuing to get in the South and they were all on Merkland Road having a sing song, closely being watched by plod.

[rico94]

Good performance against a very good side.

I think he started with the wrong midfield,maybe should have went with Shinnie Polvara and Clarkson if the plan was to sit back and hit them on the counter attack.

I do think that we look better playing with 3 centre backs so hopefully he sticks with that on Sunday.

[Jormungand]

I do think that we look better playing with 3 centre backs so hopefully he sticks with that on Sunday.

Big agree here. They look much more confident with more numbers back. More of an old fashioned 5 defenders and 5 forwards formation.

It's all cycles - 4-4-2 will come back in 10 years

[dons8321]

Lazetic has done well, I thought on the little opportunities he had the chance to do anytihng with. Clarkson has been a bit disappointing. Keskinnen has done better than I thought but still doesn't defend well enough or create enough. Milne has been decent as have the other two but I would say Devlin has been our best so far. They don't look brilliant at the back so we might get another chance,

I actually thought Clarkson did really well backing up Devlin to ensure their WB always had to turn back because he wanted to get to they bye-line and cross with his left foot. Milne is much better in a 3/5 than a 4. Devlin was excellent tonight.

[OneBrianIrvine]

I actually thought Clarkson did really well backing up Devlin to ensure their WB always had to turn back because he wanted to get to they bye-line and cross with his left foot. Milne is much better in a 3/5 than a 4. Devlin was excellent tonight.

Agree with all that. Thought those 3 in particular were great. Clarkson was excellent first half - did a power of work.
Milne in a 3 looks like a rolls Royce player.
Devlin back to his best. I do think he was carrying an injury for a while and also has cause to be aggrieved for how little he has played.

I do like that shape and tempted to say keep the bones of it but don’t know how it translates to games where we should have more of the play.

Either way I’d keep Lazetic if it’s a lone role, I do like Nisbet but he tends to play between the posts whereas Marko stretches defender more. Some turn and shot in build up to second goal.

[OneBrianIrvine]

Oh and again those booing Nilsen onto the park can take a run and jump. Wee fannies.

[OneBrianIrvine]

Were the Ultras doing something outside the Merkland tonight before kick off??

I was queuing to get in the South and they were all on Merkland Road having a sing song, closely being watched by plod.

They marched in together, fair enough, but chose to do so in the middle of the road.
Piles of kids walking the length of King Street being followed by a heap of police vans.
Was mayhem, cars/buses unable to move. Police were useless.

[TheDeeDon]

I can't help but think Milne might be suited to a midfield role, if we play four at the back.

Reads the game well, looks comfortable on the ball and has a good pass on him.

Undoubtedly looks very good in the centre of a back three, but not convinced three at the back is right for us for most games.

[blowupsheep]

Sorted.

Still be interesting to see how many we get awarded in our home domestic league tho

[TheDeeDon]

Booing a player coming on to the pitch is poor form.
Sadly, it wasn't even one or two idiots either.

I have stated before I don't rate Nilsen as a player, but he played well enough when he came on and certainly didn't deserve the booing.

Why didn't their player get booked for the penalty hand ball?

[rico94]

I can't help but think Milne might be suited to a midfield role, if we play four at the back.

Reads the game well, looks comfortable on the ball and has a good pass on him.

Undoubtedly looks very good in the centre of a back three, but not convinced three at the back is right for us for most games.

Milne was a midfielder when he was a youth player but got converted to a defender as he got older so he could easily play in midfield.

I think we should be sticking to a back 3, I dont think any of our defenders are suited to playing a back 4 they just get exposed too easily.

[TheDeeDon]

Milne was a midfielder when he was a youth player but got converted to a defender as he got older so he could easily play in midfield.

I think we should be sticking to a back 3, I dont think any of our defenders are suited to playing a back 4 they just get exposed too easily.

I've constantly said most of our faults stem from our midfield and attacking play being poor, which puts pressure on our defence and usually leads to mistakes, which results in cheap goals against us.


If our players work as hard as they did last night, we will soon start climbing the league. Having an outlet up front (Lazetic) who can actually hold up the ball and harass defences should also help us. If he can keep up that standard of play he will soon become an asset.

It was nice seeing a bit of aggression from one of our attackers. It's been a while since we have had that.

If we do play five at the back, we need better wing backs. Devlin can't put in that level of shift every game and not sure Jensen is an option either. You need the bravery of a Devlin to push forward. I couldn't see Jensen scoring Devlins goal last night.
Topi did a power of work last night, but he is never going to be a wing back. Is Gyfami or even Frame capable of playing wing back?

I really don't think we are far away from being a good side and I realise I am writing that whilst we are rooted to the bottom of the league.

[rico94]

I've constantly said most of our faults stem from our midfield and attacking play being poor, which puts pressure on our defence and usually leads to mistakes, which results in cheap goals against us.


If our players work as hard as they did last night, we will soon start climbing the league. Having an outlet up front (Lazetic) who can actually hold up the ball and harass defences should also help us. If he can keep up that standard of play he will soon become an asset.

It was nice seeing a bit of aggression from one of our attackers. It's been a while since we have had that.

If we do play five at the back, we need better wing backs. Devlin can't put in that level of shift every game and not sure Jensen is an option either. You need the bravery of a Devlin to push forward. I couldn't see Jensen scoring Devlins goal last night.
Topi did a power of work last night, but he is never going to be a wing back. Is Gyfami or even Frame capable of playing wing back?

I really don't think we are far away from being a good side and I realise I am writing that whilst we are rooted to the bottom of the league.

To me thats the problem with Devlin, he doesnt put in that level of shift every game because if he did then he would never be out of the team.

I think Thelin is basically telling our fullbacks to play as wingbacks in his 4231 system anyway so if we play with 3 centre backs then we have extra security when the fullbacks/wingbacks are so far up the pitch.

I think if we have 3 midfielders instead of the 2 holding midfielders that also stops us being overran in midfield.

One of the issues we have with last nights formation is there is no room for 2 wingers so you are going to have 2 or 3 wingers sitting on the bench unless they get played as wingbacks.

[RED_JOHN]

We gifted them the win last night. Poor display defensively as extremely weak at the full back areas defending crosses. 2nd ball and no effort was put in to stop them either.
A poor tactical decision by the manager to have his team sit off the opposition for too long during the match made it far more comfortable for them than it should have been.
Yes we scored two goals but every goal we conceded was damming and due to a lack of effort taking responsibility.
Another bad defeat

[neilthedon]

Milne was a midfielder when he was a youth player but got converted to a defender as he got older so he could easily play in midfield.

I think we should be sticking to a back 3, I dont think any of our defenders are suited to playing a back 4 they just get exposed too easily.

Aye. Play tthe " Beckenbauer " role ?


Slot in the middle of a 3 man central defence, but break forward into midfield aas we " transition ".

( I suppose you could also say " lioke Alan Hansen" but he was a fanny who I only remeber for getting in the way of God versus the Brazilians )