[SCO] Scottish Premier league 2015/2016 (7 Viewers)

[Red]

As expected really.

Aberdeen weren't at their best, but still comfortably the better side.

Killie looked slow and unfit, no excuse when Aberdeen had a midweek game.

The Dons were in second gear for most of it, but never any doubt about which team would win.

Yeah, we dozed through that one.

Spent a lot of the game wondering why on earth anyone would start Boyd ahead of Magennis in a game like that.

Kilmarnock aren't good enough to carry Boyd through games in the hope that he gets a goal.

You need everyone working all the time and it has come as no surprise that you've started to do better since dropping Boyd.

Chuffed you took points off Celtic.

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Successful jaunt down to Motherwell on Saturday.

Ward

Logan-Taylor-Considine-Shinnie

Jack-Flood

McGinn--McLean--Hayes

Goodwillie​

Astonishes me that Goodwillie keeps getting a game. He contributes so little while we have Rooney (28 goals last season) on the bench.

Anyway, we are generally strong enough to win despite Goodwillie and that was the case on Saturday.

It was far from a good performance, but our centre-halves stayed strong and McGinn was outstanding.

As much as we didn't play well, we still hard plenty of chances to win the game more comfortably than we did.

It's pretty exciting when you see the quality of play when Shinnie, McLean and Jack get the chance to combine. Three intelligent, technically sound players who really spend a lot of time looking a cut above what the are usually facing in Scotland. That they back themselves (and each other) to take the ball in tight situations is a big step up for us and our ability to break down defensive teams.

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Oh, and the whole Scott Allan transfer saga was pretty funny.

Quite the slap in the face for New Rangers.

And Celtic sign a Rangers fan who really isn't a particularly good player.

Good deal for Hibs.

 

Buy on AliExpress.com

[juvefan27]

Problem with the Boyd/Magennis situation is that, as you say, we can't carry Boyd hoping that he scores, so Magennis fits the system better, but Magennis can't finish, whereas Boyd can.

So it's a Catch-22, where if we play Magennis we'll probably get more chances, but he can't finish them. Boyd can't do anything without service, but if he gets a chance he'll probably score.

Personally I'd go with Boyd, the majority of teams defend so poorly that there will be at least once chance. Two seasons ago we had a terrible season, but he still got 22 goals.

What do you think are the chances of Aberdeen putting together a proper challenge this season?

IMO the problem is that in a head-to-head match Celtic are still far stronger. So even if you win every other game (which obviously won't happen), you're hoping Celtic drop 9-12 points to make up for the likely results against them.

Would love to see someone else win it though, and genuinely hope Aberdeen can do it!

(And Higgy's Pirlo impression was a help )

 

[Boksic]

Will be the usual with Celtic winning the league by a pretty comfortable margin.

The best chance for anyone else is the cups. It has been pretty funny that Celtic haven't managed to win a treble without Rangers in the picture. But it has been great for teams like St. Johnstone and ICT being able to take advantage in recent seasons.

Scott Allan situation was a strange one. I'm not sure why Celtic went for him other than the fact to annoy Rangers. He was floating around teams England without doing anything before a good season in the Championship. I wonder if they have ever considered any other Championship Players of the Year in the past (for some reason I don't think so). He doesn't seem good enough for what Celtic should aim to be and not sure how their fans will take to him given he is a Rangers fan.

 

[juvefan27]

This may be the worst Kilmarnock team I've ever seen.

And I've seen us concede 4 to Gretna.

Avoided relegation on the last day in 2009-10, but I'd honestly kill to have that team back!

To think we won a trophy three years ago, seems like a lifetime ago!

For all Kenny Shiels could be a bit of a clown, at least he seemed to have a plan and a style he wanted to play, plus a genuine affection for the club. Hoping we can get him and Paatelainen back as manager and assistant like in 2010-11.

Always dangerous to go back, but we can't honestly be any worse than we are at the moment.

 

[Red]

Good win against a Dundee team that gave us problems last season.

They abandoned the open style they've played so far and just pack the defence.

Ward

Logan-Taylor-Considine-Shinnie

Jack--McLean

McGinn----Hayes---------

Goodwillie-Rooney​

Tactical contortions required to engage in the experiment of playing Rooney and Goodwillie, which has proven repeatedly not to work. It is an extraordinary blindspot McInnes has for Goodwillie.

Anyway, totally controlled the first half but only threatened from set-pieces.

Had less control in the second half but scored a great goal to get ahead and never looked in danger of surrendering the advantage.

Was a complicated game to attack in because of how defensive Dundee were in and because of the danger they can pose on the break. That led to us being a bit slow in possession and a bit too safe in or play at times. Shinnie was also held back a bit and with Hayes mostly playing in the middle we weren't able to stretch the play out on the left very much.


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Problem with the Boyd/Magennis situation is that, as you say, we can't carry Boyd hoping that he scores, so Magennis fits the system better, but Magennis can't finish, whereas Boyd can.

So it's a Catch-22, where if we play Magennis we'll probably get more chances, but he can't finish them. Boyd can't do anything without service, but if he gets a chance he'll probably score.

Personally I'd go with Boyd, the majority of teams defend so poorly that there will be at least once chance. Two seasons ago we had a terrible season, but he still got 22 goals.

I've only seen Kilmarnock at Pittodrie and in the second half against Celtic, so my input on the matter is limited.

All I know is that you appear to have been soundly beaten in all three games that Boyd has started (with or without Magennis) and that you've picked up points in the two games where Boyd hasn't started.

Very simplistic analysis having not seen those other games, but that is a bit of a pattern developing.

What do you think are the chances of Aberdeen putting together a proper challenge this season?

IMO the problem is that in a head-to-head match Celtic are still far stronger. So even if you win every other game (which obviously won't happen), you're hoping Celtic drop 9-12 points to make up for the likely results against them.

We are stronger than last season.

We have theoretically taken a huge chunk out of the gap between us and Celtic in the head-to-heads by signing a good keeper.

I don't think Celtic are stronger than last season as things stand. They've made a few nothingy signings and Boyata isn't as good as Denayer. Need to see what happens in the next week with Van Dijk and what Celtic may do with the cash if he goes. The Gordon, Denayer, Van Dijk combination was very strong last season. Celtic are likely to concede more goals than they did next season and it remains to be seen if they will score more to compensate for that.

If you watched the games last season there wasn't much between the teams.

The ref stopped us getting a draw in the first game last season, Brown cost us in the next two and the one at the end of the season was irrelevant.

Even when we lost 4-0 at Parkhead, we controlled the first half only for Brown to cost us a goal just before half-time and that changed the game.

We play them after the international break.

I'm not concerned about our technical ability to go head to head with them, but I am concerned that there will be a huge mental barrier for us to overcome in the rest of the season if we lose that game.

Would love to see Aberdeen play Jack, Shinnie and McLean in midfield and really take Celtic on in that area of the pitch.

 

[Red]

Scottish League Cup third round draw:

Kilmarnock v Hearts

Livingston v Inverness CT

Ross County v Falkirk

Rangers v St Johnstone

Celtic v Raith Rovers

Morton v Motherwell

Dundee United v Dunfermline Athletic

Hibernian v Aberdeen

The ties are scheduled for 22/23 September.

 

[Red]

 

[Red]

Correct team picked my McInnes to allow to physically match Celtic and really put pressure on them.

Ward

Logan-Taylor-Quinn-Considine

Jack-Shinnie

McGinn---McLean---Hayes

Rooney​

Celtic played for a draw and that tanslated into a nothingy performance, where we spent long periods on the front foot and undoubtedly deserved to win.

They sacrificed pace to try ad kill the game and it only killed their own attacking play. They just looked so tame and one-paced (other than Griffiths). They had neither the drive in midfield that Shinnie offered or the pace to break that Hayes and McGinn had.

And Celtic's defence is a joke. They conceded 17 goals in the league last season and have conceded eight aleady this year.

Great mentality shown by everyone concerned. We really got in the faces of Celtic on and off the park and got in about the ref during the game as well. No-one was backing away from confrontation and Celtic didn't like it at all - a huge contrast to how passive Aberdeen have been in some big games at times in the past.

Six out of six, top of the league and a chance to go five points clear when we play our game in hand tomorrow.

And everyone can fuck right off after banging on and on about us continually losing to Celtic last season.

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There was so much to take in, but at Pittodrie on Saturday the scenes at the end of a tumultuous Aberdeen-Celtic game told you much about the current state of the big two in the Scottish Premiership.

There was the noise, first of all. Walls and walls of noise. There was the sight of a packed house and a winning Aberdeen team coming together in celebration - and it was powerful. The team answered all the questions we brought with us.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34237693

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[Trezegol17]

Correct team picked my McInnes to allow to physically match Celtic and really put pressure on them.

Ward

Logan-Taylor-Quinn-Considine

Jack-Shinnie

McGinn---McLean---Hayes

Rooney​

Celtic played for a draw and that tanslated into a nothingy performance, where we spent long periods on the front foot and undoubtedly deserved to win.

They sacrificed pace to try ad kill the game and it only killed their own attacking play. They just looked so tame and one-paced (other than Griffiths). They had neither the drive in midfield that Shinnie offered or the pace to break that Hayes and McGinn had.

And Celtic's defence is a joke. They conceded 17 goals in the league last season and have conceded eight aleady this year.

Great mentality shown by everyone concerned. We really got in the faces of Celtic on and off the park and got in about the ref during the game as well. No-one was backing away from confrontation and Celtic didn't like it at all - a huge contrast to how passive Aberdeen have been in some big games at times in the past.

Six out of six, top of the league and a chance to go five points clear when we play our game in hand tomorrow.

And everyone can fuck right off after banging on and on about us continually losing to Celtic last season.

- - - Updated - - -

There was so much to take in, but at Pittodrie on Saturday the scenes at the end of a tumultuous Aberdeen-Celtic game told you much about the current state of the big two in the Scottish Premiership.

There was the noise, first of all. Walls and walls of noise. There was the sight of a packed house and a winning Aberdeen team coming together in celebration - and it was powerful. The team answered all the questions we brought with us.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34237693

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Congratz Red,

So Celtic's defence is really bad this season? Hmm Ajax might stand a chance then!

 

[Red]

Congratz Red,

So Celtic's defence is really bad this season? Hmm Ajax might stand a chance then!

Boyata is shit.

They waited so long to sell Van Dijk that they haven't yet had the chance to integrate the new players yet.

Simunovic didn't play on Saturday and Blackett played left back.

These guys might turn out to be good, but Celtic are hugely vernerable right now.

There is no dominant presence in the defence to take responsibility to go and attack the ball and Gordon is only making it worse by refusing to come off his line.

Their midfield also doesn't defend well. Biton is mediocre and they waste Brown by asking him to be a fixed DM. He isn't clever enough to that and robs him of his ability to rove around and make tackles - his key strength.

All Ajax have to watch for is the pace of Griffiths running in behind.

Denayer and Van Dijk were a huge part of Celtic's team last season and I think people are only just starting to understand that and how many inadequate players those two were covering for.

 

[Red]

 

[Red]

 

[Red]

7 out of 7.

Ward

McLaughlin-Taylor-Considine-Shinnie

Jack-Flood

McGinn---McLean---Hayes

Rooney​

Was always likely to be a difficult game given the inevitable drop in intensity after cuffing Celtic, but came through it.

The performance was unnecessarily shit, but we still created four good chances while Hamilton never came close to threatening.

Midfield was too fluid in the first half and that led to some shapeless, nothingy play.

Shape was better in the second half, but ball retention was poor, so struggled to build much.

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[juvefan27]

Congratulations on the start Red!

Really hope you can put together a proper title challenge. Sadly I think Celtic's wealth will tell in the end, but more power to you!

 

[Red]

Ta.

In the bar after beating Celtic, seeing Kilmarnock had won at Tannadice only added to the high spirits.

Another win without Boyd...

 

[Red]

Eight out of eight...

Switched between systems through the game:

Ward

Taylor-Quinn-Considine

Logan--Jack--McLean--Shinnie

McGinn-----Pawlett

Goodwillie
---------------------------------------------------------
Ward

Logan-Taylor-Quinn-Considine

Jack-Shinnie

McGinn--McLean--Pawlett

Goodwillie​

Glorious first half where we prevented Hearts building any momentum, got a goal and then took them apart on the break.

Just awesome stuff to do in what is meant to be a hard away game.

Saw the second half ou without alarm and though they scored, we still created more clear chances in the half.

Hearts are a mediocre side that only look dangerous when they launch high balls.

Wish Bozi was still here so I could rub this result in his face.

Ah, well.

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[Red]

 

[Martin]

i wish it were you being interviewed

 

[Red]

I wouldn't show as much cleavage as Charlie Nicholas does...

Not that I'm going to be too critical of him:

 

[Red]

Horrible game from McInnes last night.

Fell into his usual bad habit of playing both strikers and that never works.

Often we are strong enough to win despite playing both of them, but when missing tactically key players it was too hard.

Also couldn't have set the team up in a way that was easier for Hibs' 3-5-1-1 to play against.