Assumptions are the mother of all …
By: TheNorthernLight |
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I’m surprised I’ve not been flamed yet for the outrageous claims I made in the preview to Aberdeen’s fixture against the Accies earlier. You may recall that I confidently predicted a win for the Reds, based on our superior form and the league position of the opposition. Even factoring in the flu bug and the impact on team selection, I really thought we’d do the inevitable and, well - win.
Assumptions, as we all know, are the mothers of all cock-ups, and so it proved for Aberdeen as they crashed to a terrible 2-0 defeat. The team put out by Calderwood had to do without Considine, Hodgkiss (a player I doubt we’ll see again in a red shirt this season as his club, West Bromwich Albion, are demanding a fee for the young right-back to keep him at Pittodrie), Young and Duff, while Mulgrew, Smith and Wright are still out injured. Nevertheless, the team we did put out had it’s fair share of first team regulars. Langfield, Mair, Diamond, Severin, Kerr, McDonald, Aluko, Mackie and Miller all made it through the flu-bug scare.
Thankfully for the large support that made the journey south from Aberdeen, the game survived a late pitch inspection by referee Stephen Finnie (who also narrowed the pitch to avoid the frozen bitties left by a failure in part of the undersoil heating) but I suspect that many in the red end of the ground would have wished this game had been canceled after all.
Those who made the journey where subjected to a lackluster affair by Aberdeen, a game in which the first half was completely forgettable, and the second half had one moment of controversy and one of some lovely play by the Accies. In the 50th minute, Diamonds tackle on McCarthy on the edge of the area was initially rewarded with a free kick by referee Finnie, but following a consultation with linesman Baxter (no doubt making up for flagging that Rangers goal offside at Pittodrie earlier in the season) decided to award a penalty kick. Mensing converted to give the Accies a 1-0 lead. Diamond was again tricked by young McCarthy 20 minutes later, allowing the ball to get through to Offiong who then flicked the ball past Scott Severing before blasting it past Langfield.
2-0 was how it finished, but despite results not exactly going our way (United getting a point after a spirited fight-back against Celtic, while Hearts and Hibs could only manage a draw) we remain in 5th spot. The win lifts Hamilton off the bottom of the league, the an honour now held by Inverness Caley.
The Reds next face Alloa in the Scottish Cup on Saturday. With only domestic silverware and European football to play for now, it’s a game the Dons have to win. Based on Saturday’s lacklustre performance, Calderwood has his work cut out to motivate his players. I dare not say it, but really, I expect another comfortable victory ..
Category: Team News
Hamilton v Aberdeen
By: TheNorthernLight | Add Comments
Aberdeen travel to Hamilton for their first game of the New Year. The flu bug that is in danger of turning this game into a run-out for the U19’s has hit the squad hard, with Derek Young and Stuart Duff out with the sniffles. Lee Mair, Richard Foster and Gary McDonald also travel, but a source close to the club has said the bus will stop off at Tesco’s on the way to buy in some extra Lemsip and a tube of vitamin C tablets. Captain Scott Severin and defender Zander Diamond have also recovered.
The Dons will look to take revenge for that defeat earlier in the season when goals by David Graham and James McCarthy sank the Reds at Pittodrie. Since then, the Accies have gone on a major slide, and now sit proudly at the bottom of the table, though recent wins over Motherwell and Kilmarnock keep the pressure on the two teams above them in the league, Falkirk and Inverness Caley.
Look, Aberdeen will win this game. We’re on a good run at the moment and despite the selection problems, I can’t see us messing this one up. Aside from that defeat back in September, the last time Accies beat us, my Dad (who retired three years ago) had just turned 13. So, another three points coupled with Celtic stuffing the Arabs and Hearts pressing the ’self destruct’ button for the second week in a row in this afternoon’s Edinburgh derby would do just nicely as we enter the new year in fourth place.
‘Mon the REDS!!!!!
Category: Team NewsHolding on to what you’ve got
By: TheNorthernLight | 2 Comments
Aye aye, and thanks for hanging on - it’s been a while since I last updated the site. There’s all sorts of reasons which I wont burden you or me with, but suffice to say that the Xmas and New Years break comes with a resolution to make at least three updates per week on the wee A’deen corner here on The Offside.
So - apart from fifth - where are we at with the greatest team north of the Tay? When last we filled these pages, the Dandies where due to head down to deepest Ayrshire for the game against the ‘marnock. We all know how chillie it got against Killie and the game was cancelled, possibly due to the fact that Jefferies and the lads forgot to put 50p in the meter. Everyone got hot under the collar about it, Tango perhaps got even more tango-esque but really, at the end of the day what the hell are we doing playing football in the middle of winter anyway? Surely the SPL would have learned their lesson from seasons past that winter football is a bad idea. Hell, even Napoleon became unstuck on his winter excursion into Russia back in 18-oatcake, so what chance a grass pitch in Ayrshire, or muddy fields in Inverness, Coatbridge and Motherwell?
The break seemed to do Jimmy and the boys good though. Wins against Falkirk (Lee Miller getting on the scoresheet twice), Inverness Caley (Mulgrew bangs in another) and of course last weeks epic against Hearts sees us shoot up the table like a mad shooting thing. It’s a shame that Celtic have as-good-as won the league already of course so there’s not much left to play for really. Except perhaps sticking it to other mid-table mediocrity (aye, that’s you Hearts, United and Hibs).
Ah well. It’s January which means transfer window time for most teams. Not for Aberdeen though. No, we’re going to try and hang on to our squad as much as we can, with Severin, Mackie, Smith, Young, de Visscher and Mair all able to talk to other clubs. Now, dont get me wrong, I love Aberdeen FC more than life itself, but I just cant help thinking that there are agents fighting for parking places down Pittodrie Street hoping to steal away our first eleven.
They’re all good SPL players sure enough, but unless they’re crazy they’d be fools to go elsewhere. Severin and Mackie we need, the jury is still out on Smith (I want to see him play a game first), while de Visscher is worth hanging on to. Young .. well. Our big risk is losing the impressive Aluko as well as Miller. Should Aluko be sold, we’d lose a lot of impact and danger down the left wing, while Miller is starting to score and as the good Lord knows we need more goalscorers in the team.
Truth is, Aberdeen really need a good defender to shore up the middle of the back line. I’ve not heard any news about players coming north, but there was an article in the P&J the other week wherein Calderwood mentioned something about himself and Jimmy Nichol scouting players in the English Second Division. Now, those of you old enough to remember another manager who tried the same thing might recall other class lower league players such as Keith Edwards, Peter Nicholas, Tom Jones and the great Gary Hackett, all of whom wasted everyone’s time and money at Pittodrie with displays that would make Ali Dia blush.
We wait with baited breath.
Category: Team NewsA week in the life of - Aberdeen FC
By: TheNorthernLight | Add Comments
Sorry its been a while since you last heard from us. We’re still here, we’ve just been mad busy with work, and life in general. Speaking of life in general, things have not stood still for the mighty Aberdeen FC.
Since we last updated our wee corner of The Offside, Aberdeen played their game against Rangers (a 2-0 defeat at Castle Greyskull) and they won their third home game in a row when they cruised past a completely crap Motherwell (a nice 2-0 win, to make up for that dip in the ‘GA’ column incurred against the Orcs).
So, a win and a defeat. All in all, not too bad. In the game against Rangers, we where by far the better side in the opening 45 minutes. Lee Miller and Sone Aluko caused enough grief in the Rangers defence (Lee McCulloch, a defender - aye, that will be right), while Mark Kerr had a good game in the midfield. Together with Gary McDonald - who we rate quite highly though he’s no Barry Nicholson - the two had a satisfying afternoon. But, as usual, it was the defence, or lack thereof that proved our own undoing. Like the game against Hibs, where we lost 2 crap goals after being two goals up, we conceded sloppy stramashy goals we shouldn’t be conceding at this level. Aye ok, so Rangers where all over us like a cheap suit in the second half and we did well to hold out as long as we did but really Jimmy needs to get that defence sorted out in January if we’re to stand any chance of staying in the top half.
So with those three points staying in Govan and the wait for a victory at Greyskull continues (it has only been 17 years, sure we can wait a bit longer), Aberdeen had a game against Motherwell to look forward to. In itself not particularly exciting, but what made this game stand out was that it was Mr Calderwood’s 200th game in charge of the Dandies. He’s certainly lasted longer that most would have wished, but the fact remains that he’s been our most succesfull manager since that Ferguson guy. Ok, success is relative these days with the Old Firm dominating the league and all that, but a third and fourth spot in the last few years is not bad by Scottish Premier League standards. Like most Aberdeen seasons (and for that matter, Aberdeen managers) it’s been 200 games of highs (European football last year and that cracking 4-0 win over Copenhagen), some lows (getting knocked out of the League Cup by Queens Park) and lots (and we mean *lots*) of mediocrity in-between. Still, follow, follow, we will follo … oh shit no, wrong song.
You know what I mean.
So, on to Motherwell and boy oh boy, they where guff. It wasn’t a great game (one for the ‘mediocre’ column), but that’s not to take away anything from the fact that Aberdeen played well (in our opinion, one not shared by everyone): Scott Severin and Mark Kerr in particular looking good while Sone Aluko had another blinder until he got substituted. The win got us into 5th spot, miles behind the Arabs but there’s still plenty of time to catch up.
Despite the win, it didn’t stop the rumours about Jimmy’s future starting up again. In midweek, director of football and all-round club legend Willie Miller said “I’ve no doubt about his coaching ability, I think he’s a very, very good coach. I hope the fans stay with him.” We hope the club sticks with him, not because we think he’s a great coach per se, but there’s not really anyone better out there. We’re not wanting to fan the flames of speculation, but Mark McGhee’s name has been mentioned - mind you, after that showing against Motherwell I think we could do a lot better. Then again, given Motherwell’s season so far (a good example of second season blues) we think Motherwell could do a lot better.
This Saturday we travel down to deepest Ayrshire for a game against another struggling side, Kilmarnock. Killie lost games against teams below them in league (2-1 at home to Caley and 1-0 away to Hamilton) so either we’ll give them a pasting (like we did at the start of November, the crushing 1-0 win at Pittdrie starting our now unbeaten run at home), or it’ll be another 4-2 defeat like in the League Cup back in September. Either way, lets hope it’s a game we can put down in the ‘incredible highs’ column, though we’d settle for ‘mediocre’.
Just not another ‘incredible low’ please - I’m not sure I could take it.
Category: Team NewsRangers vs Aberdeen
By: TheNorthernLight | Add Comments
Outside of the Old Firm derby, this game is probably the most charged fixture in the Scottish Premier League.
Some of this certainly stems back to the early to mid 80’s when Aberdeen regularly beat Rangers to both League and Cup wins. To illustrate, consider that between September 1980 to about September 1988, Aberdeen did not lose in 30 of the 33 meetings between the sides. Since then it’s been mostly one way traffic though, but Aberdeen have a habit of pulling results out of the bag just when they need them; consider the last game of season 2007/08 when Aberdeen’s 2:0 win at Pittodrie ended Rangers’ title campaign and sent the trophy to Parkhead, while a 1-1 draw earlier in the season made Aberdeen the first team to take points of the ‘Gers, something that Walter Smith will be hoping to put right tomorrow.
Rangers have history on their side in this fixture. A League Cup game in 1995 was the last time Aberdeen beat Rangers at Ibrox, Billie Dodd’s two goals sealing the victory, but for the last League win you’d have to go back to 1991 when the Dons won 2-1.
There’s not much to say about Rangers really - their season is progressing according to form and - again - tradition. Unbeaten since that shock win against St. Mirren back at the start of October, they’ve ploughed a steady furrow, the 0-0 with Motherwell the other week perhaps a surprise to many. Rangers lost influential midfielder Kevin Thompson for up to eight months due to a cruciate ligament injury inflicted during their 4-0 win at Kilmarnock, but there’s plenty of backfill in the middle of the park for Rangers, including of course talisman captain Barry Ferguson, to give Jimmy Calderwood plenty to think about.
Aberdeen are still without Bertrand Bossu, Tommy Wright, Stuart Duff and Jamie Smith, while Darren Mackie will undergo a late fitness test to see if he’s available for selection. For the first time since Scott Severin’s 2 minute cameo against Lithuania in 2006, Aberdeen had one of their own playing for Scotland - striker Lee Miller came on for the second half in the midweek friendly against Argentina and had few chances, but found the going tough against the more experienced (and skilfull) Argentinian defenders.
Rangers trail Celtic by four points and with the Hoops playing second-from-bottom St. Mirren, don’t expect the gap between 1st and 2nd to close anytime soon. Aberdeen’s defence has been noticeably absent, if not incompetent of late. Losing a two goal lead against Hibs was bad enough and Rangers are a different proposition altogether. Kris Boyd just cant stop scoring at the minute, so Aberdeen would do well to keep him in check.
It’s hard to see anything other than a Rangers win here.
Category: Team NewsHibs vs Aberdeen
By: TheNorthernLight | 3 Comments
Is it just me or has there been a *lot* of football played this week? I think there have been something like 12 games in seven days. We don’t mind of course, but you have to wonder just how much football the average fan can take (financially) in a week. And again, it might be just me, but Celtic always seem to be playing (and beating) Kilmarnock these days?
The Mighty AFC where in action as well this week. On Saturday we lost to Dundee United for the second time this season. The first half performance was pretty poor - two defensive blunders costs us two sloppy goals, but we picked it up in the second half, with the Dons playing some cracking football. In the end, Darren Mackie got on the end of a Sone Aluko cross, but it was all too little, too late: Sandazo and Feeney’s first half goals where enough for United as they moved into a deserved third spot, some 4,982 points behind the Old Firm.
Three days later, on Wednesday, St. Mirren came to town, also for the second time in the season. At the end of August, another goal by Darren Mackie secured a 1-0 win, and only our second win of the season. On Tuesday though, in what was one of the dullest games we’ve ever seen, it took 80 minutes before we finally secured the three points. Andrew Considine and Sone Aluko got on the scoresheet against the undisputed 0-0 draw kings of the league. It wasn’t a pretty game by any means, and the good play we saw in the second half against United was completely absent here. Nevertheless, the win got us three points and a move up into the top half of the table for the first time this season. It sure wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take the points.
So on Saturday we’re off to Edinburgh for a game against the Hibees. We’re still without an experienced back-up keeper as Bertrand Bossu is still out, and concerns around Tommy Wright’s fitness abound as we head toward the January transfer window. The former Darlington player has only made 5 appearances for the club so far this season but has yet to play a full match - he’s either been substituted or has come on as a substitute on all those games. Jamie Smith and Stuart Duff are also out, so the team making the journey south will probably the same as the one that faced St. Mirren in mid-week: Langfield, Mulgrew, Foster, Diamond, Considine, Young, Severin, Kerr, Aluko, Miller and Mackie.
Our games against Hibs last season where high-scoring, if nothing else. We played them twice at Easter Road, drawing one (3-3) and losing one (3-1). Mixu Paateleinen’s team have lost two games in a row, their midweek defeat to Dundee United following on from a home defeat against Inverness Caley. It’s not beyond Aberdeen to take something from this game, even a win perhaps. While our home form has been keech, our away form has shown signs of promise: there where spells in the games against Hearts, Dundee United and Celtic where we where playing some nice football. In our previous meeting with Hibs this season, two goals from one of Hibs’ two dangermen, Derek Riordan, secured all three points for the Edinburgh side in the 2-1 defeat; Lee Miller scored from the penalty spot just before the break. We also had Charlie Mulgrew sent off in that game.
For the stats then: it’s the 241st meeting between the two sides in the league. We’ve won 103 of those, Hibs 79. Should we win and Hearts lose away to Caley, we could move into fourth spot behind Dundee United. If we’re to get anything out of this game we need to make sure we don’t self destruct defensively like we did against United the other week. We’ll probably end up with that 1-3-4-2 setup that Calderwood is so keen on, with Mackie and Miller up front (the two linked up well against St. Mirren), Saluko and de Visscher wide - it’s anyone’s guess who’ll be in midfield. McDonald and Kerr are obvious if Severin is the ‘1′ at the back. As long as it’s not Foster and Young, whose performances of late in those positions have been adequate if not convincing. At the back, it’ll probably be Considine, Diamond and Mair.
Like most games involving Aberdeen, it’s hard to predict how this will turn out. The Dons generally take a while to warm into a game, with our best performances in our last two games coming in the second half. Paateleinen will be gunning for a win on home turf in front of a skeptical support, so we have to make sure we keep a clean sheet till after the break, or at least try and hit Hibs on the break.
We think this will be a draw.
Category: Team NewsAberdeen vs St. Mirren
By: TheNorthernLight | Add Comments
Arrgh, just when you think you’ve got your season back on track with a first home of the season against Kilmarnock, five minutes of defensive insanity sinks the Dons as they lost to Dundee United at the weekend. First, Scott Severin lingers on the ball for too long allowing Gomis to take the ball off him to float a ball over a frankly surprised Zander Diamond for Francisco Sandaza to put the ball in the net. I mean, a player with that kind of experience should just hoof that ball into the car park, rather than even running the risk of losing possession. And then, just when it could not get any worse, for the second goal, the entire Aberdeen defence was bypassed for Warren Feeney to fire in from pretty much on the goal line. Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful.
Certainly the second half was much better once Young and Hodgkiss where replaced for Mulgrew and McDonald respectively. Sone Aluko finally came into his own once Mulgrew arrived, getting more space down the wings to fire in the crosses, one of which was eventually headed in by Darren Mackie. The goal set up an exciting end to the game which also saw an Aberdeen goal ruled out for offside, but while the second half (and in particular the last half hour or so) showed promise, Aberdeen’s defensive blunders, coupled with a bit of physical presence to impose themselves on the United strikers cost us three valuable points.
And so, with that mixed performance behind us, we take on St. Mirren at Pittodrie. Back at the end of August, a Darren Mackie goal got us the three points in what was then our second win of the season and our first game of the season against the Saints. A home game, should be three easy points right?
A while back we predicted that of the games coming up for the Dons in November, we’d be looking at realistically picking up eight points, namely a draw against United and Hibs away, then home wins over Motherwell and St. Mirren - the game against Rangers we can take for granted. So far we’ve dropped one of our points, but I think that against St. Mirren we should get back on track. St. Mirren have only won two games on the road in six attempts (Caley and Hamilton) while our home record is still nothing to be proud of, despite the win over Killie two Saturdays ago.
Team News
For Aberdeen, defenders Lee Mair and Andrew Considine are both available, while Stuart Duff, Tommy Wright and Bertrand Bossu sit out through injury.
For Gus McPhersons side, defender Scott Cuthbert is available for the Saints after recovering from flu.
The dangerman for St. Mirren is obviously their top striker Billy Mehmet. He’s been good for eight goals so far this season so his danger should not be underestimated. For the Aberdeen back line, you’d be hoping they deal better with him than they did with Sandaza and Feeney.
Category: Team NewsDundee United vs Aberdeen - A Short History of the New Firm Derby
By: TheNorthernLight | Add Comments
The cities of Aberdeen and Dundee lie about 65 miles apart on the north-east coast of Scotland. Aberdeen, the larger of the two, nestles between the rivers Dee to the south and Don to the north, while Dundee is situated on the north bank of the Tay Estuary. A major town during the industrial revolution, Dundee grew thanks to a flourishing jute industry and rose to become one of the more important towns in Scotland, at a time when Aberdeen was still a small and largely insignificant fishing port. The decline of the jute industry and other traditional heavy industries on which the town had become dependent (such as shipbuilding) led to a decline in the cities fortunes and by the 1970’s, Dundee had entered a recession, with unemployment rising to 14% by 1981. In contrast, Aberdeen had begin to flourish during this time. The discovery of North Sea oil led to Aberdeen entering a boom period that saw it’s population grow to over 200,000 and the city establish itself as the Oil Capital of Europe.
This rivalry between the two cities was not just economic or social. The two football teams in the towns had also begun to improve. Dundee United had slowly been overtaking its larger and more illustrious rival Dundee in terms of league and cup success. By the mid 70’s, a United team under the management of Jim McLean (assisted then by a young Walter Smith) had reached the Scottish Cup final in 1973 and in the league the team had achieved a third place in ‘78 and ‘79; they would eventually win their first - and to date only - League championship in 1983. Back-to-back League Cups in 1980 and 1981 completed the silverware. European success was also nearly theirs, as the Terrors reached the semi-final of the European Cup (where they gave A.S. Roma a scare, eventually losing the tie 3-2 on aggregate). In then 1986/87 season United went one further when they became the first Scottish club to reach the Uefa Cup final, where they lost to IFK Gothenburg.
During this time, Aberdeen had also slowly begun to improve. Under the guidance of new manager Alex Ferguson (freshly sacked from his post at St. Mirren), the Dons had won the league in 1980, a feat they repeated in 1984 and 1985. Add to that two European trophies and several domestic Cups (the Scottish Cup in 82, 83 and 84) during this time and you can safely say that between them, Aberdeen and Dundee United where the two best sides in Scotland.
What these two teams - now dubbed ‘the New Firm’ - achieved more than anything else was to break the dominance of Rangers and Celtic during this time. Aberdeen’s league win in the 1984/85 season would be the last time that a side outside of Glasgow would win the league. Heavy investment at Ibrox and Parkhead (thanks mainly to these two teams being able to pick up English players keen to play European football while English sides where barred from taking part in European competitions) saw these two teams slowly re-impose themselves on the league and by the end of the 80’s, normal service had resumed. Both Aberdeen and United would continue to challenge for silverware, but neither team would challenge the Old Firm again.
Despite the downturn of both Aberdeen and Dundee United’s fortunes in later years (years of mid-table mediocrity, United’s relegation in 1995, Aberdeen’s near relegation in 2000 and a revolving managerial door at Aberdeen: consider that Dundee United had only one manager during most of this period, while Aberdeen had four), this fixture remains an important and exciting fixture. Fans of Aberdeen could - indeed would - argue that Rangers are their biggest rivals, but a win against the upstarts down the A90 is a highly valued prize. This rivalry does not seem to apply to the transfer market though - the current Aberdeen squad has four ex-United players: Lee Miller, Lee Mair, Stuart Duff and Mark Kerr. It’s pretty much one way traffic however, with the last Aberdeen player moving to United was Jamie Buchan back in 2000.
The Game
Tomorrows fixture is the 163rd time the teams have met in the league. Aberdeen have won 64 of those encounters, while United have won 52. Last season, the two sides played four games with two wins and two defeats each, while tomorrows encounter is the second time the sides have met this season. On the 20th September a penalty from Francisco Sandaza inflicted the 4th defeat of the season on Jimmy Calderwood’s side. Aberdeen and United had poor starts to the season with both sides at one point bottom of the table, but that victory over Aberdeen set United on a run of seven unbeaten games (5 wins and 2 draws, including that belter against Rangers in midweek) so it’s fair to say that United are on a run of good form at the minute.
Aberdeen finally got their first home win of the season in the narrow 1-0 win over Killie last Saturday. The result lifted the Dons into 7th place - only two points behind United in 3rd sport. Jimmy and the team travel the short distance down the motorway without Jamie Smith, Bertrand Bossu, Tommy Wright and Stuart Duff, who has been ruled out until the early part of next year with a knee injury.
The Dons have a great record away from home (P5, W3, D1, L1) and should look to continue that run tomorrow. United are a strong side though, packed with talent and this game will be no pushover. It will be interesting to see who Calderwood has at left back, a position that has caused some debate in recent times. Mulgrew was brutal last week against Killie, his substitution for Mark Kerr making all the difference in midfield as the Dons reverted back to a more sensible 4-4-2. Two players who had a good game last week where Sone Aluko and Lee Miller, so expect them to be in the side. We think this is the probable lineup:
4-4-2, left to right:
Langfield, Considine, Severin, Diamond, Hodgkiss, Aluko, McDonald, Kerr, Foster, Miller, Mackie
Dangermen
Francisco Sandaza. Some good performances in pre-season got the pulses raising at Tannadice. He’s scored four goals so far this season, including United first two goals in the 3-3 draw with Rangers. Signed from the Valencia reserve squad, the 23 year-old has begun to settle in well in the SPL and has become a firm favourite with the United supporters.
Prediction
Hard to call really. If Aluko and Miller turn in performances like the one last week against Killie then we might be in with a chance. We always take a big support down to Tannadice which will boost the side, but realistically though, I expect United to win this 1-0.
Category: Team NewsWe’re On The March Wi’ Tango’s Army!
By: TheNorthernLight | Add Comments
We’re gaun to the Argentine.
Ah well, not quite, but jings, it’s good to get a home win on the board. In the days before the game, there were all thae stories about Aberdeen having the worst home record in Britain or something which doesn’t exactly get the confidence up. We’re pretty sure Grimsby had a worse home record than Aberdeen (the Mariners have played more games and had a worse ‘home’ goal difference) and there’s three teams in the Highland League that can post worse table statistics. But all this is irrelevant now, because Grimsby are now the most rubbish team in the land, and we’re no!
Now, when I play Football Manager 2008, I always go for a straight 4-4-2 formation because you can understand how that works: two central defenders, a couple of guys who run up and down the touchline, one guy in midfield for the incisive passes to the strikers (two please), and the other a ‘holding’ midfielder who gets stuck in about the other team. As soon as I deviate from that formation, say a daring 4-3-3 at home to Rangers or a 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1 it all goes horribly wrong. My virtual players like the simplicity and comfort of a 4-4-2 and I like the formation because it just makes sense.
Footballers are simple folk for the most part who, like me, prefer simplicity in their formations and consistency in the team selection. Tango (or Mr Calderwood to most of us) had us all guessing on Saturday and he didn’t disappoint. A 3-4-3 with Considine, Severin and Diamond in defence, a midfield consisting of Mulgrew, Young, Foster and Hodgkiss while up front we had Aluko, Miller and Mackie. All in all, quite a daring attack-minded formation with defensive options should Killie break through. Aluko and Mulgrew on the left have both put in good performances over the season, while Hodgkiss at right-back has been consistently good. Considine is improving while Diamond and Severin at the center of defence are solid enough.
The selection in the middle was a little baffling. We could be wrong, but we are pretty sure that both Foster and Young are wingers by nature, so to find them both in the middle was surprising especially as we had Kerr on the bench and Severin in defence. In the end, Mulgrew was brutal and was taken off at half-time for Mark Kerr, who would later provide the pass to Aluko that led to the goal.
Next week against United we need to have a solid midfield, as this is where United are themselves quite strong. Foster and Young are not going to dominate the midfield in the way we need to, so lets have Kerr/McDonald or Kerr/Severin, with Diamond and Mair in central defence and Miller up front (he had a great game on Saturday) with Mackie or Tommy Wright, who we are still keen to see start a game.
Anyway, that’s all in the future. For now, lets enjoy the result. Kilmarnock are a strong side and the victory was well deserved. Lets take a leaf out of Motherwell’s and Dundee United’s book and use this victory to build a run of good results.
Right, I’m off to download Football Manager 2009. There’s a demo out (download here) which features the Scottish leagues in detail. I’m going to set up a 1-3-4-2 formation with Aberdeen and see if I can do any better than Calderwood - or at least understand what the hell it’s all about.
See ya!
Category: Team NewsAberdeen finally win at home!
By: TheNorthernLight | 3 Comments
Well, it took five attempts but we’ve finally done it - a home win.
Sone Aluko’s single goal, an 18-yard screamer past Combe in the Killie goal just after the break was to prove the winner and some measure of revenge following our Cup exit at the hands of the Ayrshire side a few weeks back. All in all it was a great performance from the Dons in front of a crowd of just over 10,000.
Sone Aluko had one of his best afternoons ever in the red and white of Aberdeen and was worthy of his Man of the Match award. He was constantly threatening the Killie goal, whether from open play down the left wing (which he completely dominated right throughout the game) or from set pieces. Lee Miller also had a great game, as did Richard Foster in the midfield and Jamie Langfield in goal. Defensively we took some time to warm up - Diamond and Hodgkiss were immense, but Considine had an akward start and the first 20 minutes of the game where a wee bit scary. Charlie Mulgrew had a shocker however, struggling against Mehdi Taouil for most of the game and his substitution after the restart for Mark Kerr was inevitable.
The win pushes the Dons into 7th place, one point behind Dundee United who we play next week at Tannadice. Kilmarnock move down to fourth spot, overtaken by Motherwell who beat Hamilton 2-0 today. Elsewhere, Hibernian’s last game against St. Mirren at Love Street before the Buddies move to their new ground ended in a dismal 0-0, as did the game between Falkirk and Dundee United. No doubt Ian will be updating us all later, but Inverness Caley had a shocker of a game against Rangers, going down 5-0. Celtic take on Hearts tomorrow.
So, a good win for the Dons - we’re finally on our way!
Category: Team News
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