McInnes, that was p!sh

[Jussi]

I don't know what the answer is......we can slag our players, our tactics, the reality is only one team in Scotland wouldn't take McInnes in a heartbeat, only one team in Scotland, mebbe two, wouldnae take Consi at left back, only one team in Scotland wouldnae take Shay at right back.........etc. etc.

And it's nae just Scotland, same all over.

I think thats says more of the paucity of resources in scottish teams, asdide from Hibs & Hearts
average crowds outside of them are around average 5K & thats being very generous.

Id' say It's not the same all over . Not in the same degree.

Scotland is pretty unique as far as level of inequality.

The chasm between Celtic & the rest is grand canyon scale compared to other countries.

Take Spain , there a more teams than Real & Barcelona who have very decent squads & do well in Europe.

Cant really think of any country worse than ours in this respect.

[rico94]

I'll sit somewhere in the middle!

Listen, Sellic are a fantastic footballing side and even at our very very best, we'd struggle to take anything off them.

However, right from the 1st whistle, as soon as the Sellic defenders got on the ball, we have everyone back on the halfway line, inc Rooney and May? GMS more or less playing right back? So their central defenders can stroll up the park as far as they want, unchallenged. That was a shambolic tactical formation, even worse than the League Cup Final. 18K Dons fans can deseradly feel cheated tonight, cannot understand why McInnes would line us up like that.

Ok, we're up against a very good side but its clear that DM still doesn't know his best side and is equally clear he is tactically naive. As mentioned, why bring Considine back into the side? Leave Shinnie where he is at left back.

I've never bought into this myth that we are a better team this season. Hayes and McGinn would have at least asked questions of the Sellic full backs tonight, GMS never did, and who was playing left mid for us tonight, Considine? Clear that DM doesn't trust/rate Stewart, hardly played the last 4 or 5 games

DM never fails to surprise you, I'll give him that.

McGinn and Hayes played against the tims last season and never asked questions of their full backs, I seem to recall folk saying McGinn was pysh in all the games against Celtic last season including the SC final where we at least had a go at them.

[Stupie82]

We cant take anything away from Celtic, they are a very good team and they will win the treble at a canter.

We had May chasing down 4 defenders, with Rooney half assing it through the game. Did he even touch the ball? He was on the left most of the game, floating around but making little impact, even covering for Considine when he decided to push forward. On Considine, he was awful. He wasn't the only one, granted, but he was shoehorned into a team that defensively had done very well recently. Kenny McLean was woeful, he made a run late on the second half and I actually turned to mate and said that I forgot McLean was even on the park.

Boyata must have had the easiest game of his life and was allowed acres of space and time to push forward. Scott Brown ditto, the only one challenging him was Shinnie.

We just didn't push up and close them down like we did in the cup final. Im a huge McInnes fan, but his tactics were shocking and his post match interview was a kick in the s****s to say the least. He admitted that we got a footballing lesson, but other teams who have been woeful this season have done much better. While I don't expect to beat Celtic, I expect at least a decent effort.

They are a very, very good side, but we made them look world class last night. I'm very worried that mentally we just fold against them and its proving so almost every time we play them now. It could have been 6 or 7 last night. Realistically, I expected to lose , but not in that manner we did and its that manner that sticks in my throat. The lack of input into the Northern Lights before kick off showed the fans weren't expecting much, but by Christ they didn't half prove us to be right. I lacked so much enthusiasm before this game, because I knew we wouldn't be up for it. Joint top, 20k+ in the ground, game on TV, chance to prove the doubters wrong... it was typical of us to play in that manner and they always let the fans down. We just haven't got the right mentality at all and that sadly is McInnes fault as much as the players. If you cant motivate them for a game like that, when can you.

[Rochead]

I can accept that Smelly have better players than us. I can’t accept our inept tactics.

Spot on.
Other teams with allegedly inferior players can give them a game, we don’t, down to the inept way our guys are sent out to play them.
Surely after playing them so many times our management should have learned something? Apparently not.

[Mason89]

How can you learn from it, if you know it all already?

[8outoftencaat]

We all know that there is a huge gulf in financial terms between the teams and that because of this they will be able to sign a better standard of player. That is not an excuse for not putting up a proper fight on the pitch and a proper tactical battle when it comes to the managers and their systems.

I don't blame the players for last night to be honest. I think they all put in an honest shift but were always going to be chasing shadows because of the way that we were lined up from the start.

Celtic having pace and creativity coming from the wide areas immediately tells me that Considine cannot play there. The knowledge that our own team is devoid of pace meant that we had to come up with something different. We also needed to limit the space for Rogic to drift into and to avoid isolating our centre halves against Dembele or Griffiths if he had played. We knew their only weakness was at the back.

3-5-2 (or a 5-3-2) depending how you look at it is/was the answer. Arnason/McKenna/Reynolds or Considine at the back. Shinnie and Logan wing backs. O'Connor/McLean and Tansey in the middle with Rooney and May up front.

The 3v1 at the back allows the insurance of an extra man sweeping as well as narrowing gaps for Dembele. It also allows additional cover for Logan and Shinnie in the wider areas without leaving Dembele free. The 3 in midfield match up against theirs and reduce Rogic's space. 2 up front presents them with more of a problem defensively and minimises the chance of them playing through us from the back.

Guess what?! All our players are then playing natural positions.....it would have more chance of restricting them......we might have actually made a game of it!!!

What irks me even more is that he stuck with his bizarre system throughout...could have changed it straight away by taking off GMS and bringing on Tansey...why stick with something that blatantly isn't working?!

P.S. Don't anyone tell me that our players cannot play a 3-5-2/5-3-2. They are professional footballers and its the coaches and managers job to set them up properly in a system that gives us the best chance of getting a result.

[blowupsheep]

I don't blame the players for last night to be honest. I think they all put in an honest shift .

Absolute bollox

[Pacman1903]

Absolute bollox

I agree

[8outoftencaat]

I agree

Ok then. Who didn't try? I'll give you GMS maybe but I honestly don't think it was down to players lack of effort. As I said, and the main jist of my thread, it was because of the formation that we struggled more than anything.

We were lop sided and had players running off our men and behind them.

[Mason89]

I got the impression that showbiz teeth lining up 3 at the back, put 10 days worth of preparation out the window.