Derek McInnes

[afc1903mad]

I won’t, just like you’ll avoid the winning goal in a cup final because it doesnt suit yours

I have no agenda, but credit you admit you do.
The cup final was 8 games ago and I think the GMS injury and stoppage played a huge part in our players not being switched on and concentrating as they had for the rest of the first half that game.
Suggest you best go back to the cup final thread if you want to debate it further.

[NaeMairNeeps]

It's bizarre that on the back of winning 9 out of 10 games or something like that, that after a narrow defeat to the best team in the country whose budget is far bigger than ours and generally speaking whose players are far better than ours, everyone on here is clamouring for McInnes to get punted.

Everyone's gutted that we lost, but I don't think anyone could say the players weren't up for it. I also don't think anyone could say we didn't try and attack - we played 2 up front against them - pretty much nobody else does that. I also would disagree with those who say McInnes got the tactics wrong - we did a good job of nullifying their threat for the most part (which is a ***** component of a game plan against a superior team - which they are whether we want to admit it or not) and we did cause them problems at times. The reason we lost was due to momentary lapses in concentration - against other teams you get away with it - against Celtic you don't.

Those calling for McInnes' head fail to come up with viable options for a replacement. Steve Clarke is a great manager, but highly unlikely to come to AFC. Neil Lennon can certainly fire his teams up for big games, but what use is that if you don't win the other matches?

The question isn't simply, has McInnes taken us as far as he can... the question is two-fold - has McInnes taken us as high as he can and is there a realistic replacement who could take us further? The answer to the first part may be "yes", but if the answer to the second part is "no" we should stick with him.

If we beat Livi on Saturday we'll still be within touching distance of the top of the league come the new year and have already been to a cup final. Surely if we'd been offered that at the start of the season we'd have taken it?

^^^ .... 100%

[Aldo1983]

Hence why we set up to let him have the ball.

That was fine in the first half. Second half he got too much room.

[Mason89]

I have no agenda, but credit you admit you do.
The cup final was 8 games ago and I think the GMS injury and stoppage played a huge part in our players not being switched on and concentrating as they had for the rest of the first half that game.
Suggest you best go back to the cup final thread if you want to debate it further.

I don’t want to debate it at all. It happened exactly how I said it did. Everything else is just waffle

[Basingstokered]

I think there wa a lot more to it than that.
He did nothing of note yesterday.
Still, don’t let it get in the way of your agenda.

We did well yesterday we made their centre half do nothing of note yesterday

[RED_JOHN]

I think the vast majority can agree that McInnes made mistakes again yesterday. The familiarity of this is frightening against Celtic.

[87kilos]

Steve Clarke would certainly not be a backward step and is doing a remarkable job at Kilmarnock with a very little budget. Neil Lennon wouldn’t lie down to Celtic when up against them so I would certainly take him as stated previously. I don’t particularly like him but believe he is no coward against Celtic and Sevco so that itself would be a plus. There is plenty managers out there....we need someone who fears no one. Don’t expect Milne to pick someone different very soon as he is happy we just played Celtic never mind the thought of actually having a real go at them.

So we sacrifice consistency and finishing second to a team with a budget about 30 times ours so you can have a go at Celtic.

You really are an utter bawbag.

[Mason89]

Why would there have to be a sacrifice? You could do both

[afc1903mad]

Why would there have to be a sacrifice? You could do both

Ok, let’s play along.

Let’s assume we had the quality of players to go toe to toe, head to head with Celtic.
Have the strength and pace to attack them all game and get back to defend any counter attacks.
Let’s presume we were able to have consistency throughout the season and beat all other teams too
A squad large enough to cover injuries and suspensions, sufficient that we should be able to beat anyone on our day and realistically target a treble.

Let’s then say, we have a manager, confident in the squad that can always take the game to the opposition and not have to consider any shortcomings in our squad.

Let’s also say we have a chairman, willing to back the manager and the team to the hilt, to “show a bit of ambition” and spend enough not only 6o attract and recruit the best players to Aberdeen, but also to retain our best players.
[edit] To be able to call upon £9Million pound players from the bench[/edit]

You achieve what “you” think is realistically achievable.

How sustainable do you think that is and how long till we go the way of OldCo?

[Don_Corleone]

The simple reason we get beaten by Celtic more often than not is because they have better players than us. This is the simple reason why they beat most teams they play in most games they play - they have better players.

Of course, it is possible to beat them if your players play the game of their lives and theirs have an off day, but 9 times out of 10 the team with superior players will win a game of football. So 9 times out of 10 Celtic will beat us. With clever tactics and a game plan you might be able to slightly improve that stat... and reduce it to say 7 or 8 times out of 10.

We should beat the teams who we have superior players too, which in the main we do. Good management allows you to beat the teams you have similar quality players too, and in the main we do that as well.

Can one of our statisticians perhaps do a comparison between McInnes record v Celtic in the last 2 or 3 years against Rangers, Hibs, Hearts, Kilmarnock and St Johnstones record against them? It's nothing to do with the managers, Celtic invariably win against most teams simply because they have better players - and they will always have better players for the simple fact they have more money. The challenge for us is to win all the other games and occasionally win against them and hope they drop points in the occasional other games.