*** Official Aberdeen vs. Heart of Midlothian Thread ***

[Sooks]

19 minutes ago, Jambo61 said:

I'd hold back on declaring a new dawn given we scraped victories, no matter how welcome!

Hoodoos are different though mate . We were getting **** all wins out of both of those teams for a long time - consigned to history

 

Aberdeen are shite . They need to go the same way 

[hearts00]

If we win on Saturday I think we can call it…Aberdeen will not finish above us. 

[GinRummy]

2 hours ago, Robbo-Jambo said:

                       Gordon   

?    Halkett.  Kent.  Rowles.   Kingsley

 

A decent RWB and that's a pretty solid back 5/3.

Atkinson is your only option 

[stirlo]

9 hours ago, Jambo61 said:

They only need watch our highlights from last night for inspiration then! As for 'goals' for us, someone needs to actually move into space/ look for a pass from mid-field and the mid-field need to grow a pair and take responsibility rather than the normal sideways or back. 3 whippets at start of 2nd half, strung along a fairly fixed line, no interchanging, little options provided as they stand next to the opposition and no breakthrough balls. I have no idea why everyone seems so scared to take the ball, commit a man and beat him then find a decent pass cross for no one to chase down! Not fit enough for me, not expansive enough, not brave enough.....recipe football!

 

This is a major issue with the current squad IMO. None of the attacking players apart from Shankland and to a lesser extent Vargas seem to have much instinct for finding space and timing their runs correctly in and around the penalty area. 

[dannymack]

11 hours ago, gregzy2k7 said:

😂😅🤣 Something tells me you've been following Hearts for a while. Expect nothing and hope for the best is the best policy.

 

You're right about the typical Hearts part 😊

 

Been there, seen it, wore the t-shirt, I'll never ever underestimate the opposition again,  far too many games have been lost or drawn after we've been over confident of beating a down trodden opponent. 

 

We all know how it works 😄

[TheBigO]

5 hours ago, Jambo61 said:

I'd hold back on declaring a new dawn given we scraped victories, no matter how welcome!

Oh they dont count then. Fair enough.

[pettigrewsstylist]

12 hours ago, BRY said:

We need to be wary of the long ball for Miovski to chase - he has some speed and a great finisher.

Either over or through our defensive line.

I reckon it will happen at least 6 times. Wed will only have convinced them its the route to success.

[TheBigO]

2 minutes ago, pettigrewsstylist said:

I reckon it will happen at least 6 times. Wed will only have convinced them its the route to success.

Its 100% what theyll do. Heehaw with Wed, its just all they do!!

 

Worry is it prob is their best route to success

[Jambo61]

32 minutes ago, TheBigO said:

Oh they dont count then. Fair enough.

Bit of a stupid statement mate. But you crack on if mediocrity is your thing! Each to their own!

[karipidis]

Devlin out for 4 weeks 

[Thomaso]

1 minute ago, karipidis said:

Devlin out for 4 weeks 

where was that confirmed?

[colinmaroon]

Horrible deja vous moment coming up I fear.

 

Struggling team break their duck! 

 

And no, I don't mean Hearts!

 

 

Edited December 7, 2023 by colinmaroon

[davemclaren]

Interesting stats from the BBC. I think it tells us anything or nothing can happen. 😄

 

• The side playing at home are unbeaten in the last 18 league meetings between Aberdeen and Hearts (W14 D4), winning the last seven in a row. The last away win in this league fixture came in May 2017 when Aberdeen beat Hearts 2-1.

• Hearts have won both of their last two league meetings with Aberdeen, last winning three in a row in December 2010 under Jim Jefferies.

• Aberdeen have won just one of their last seven league games (D2 L4), losing both of their last two. Not since January/February last season have they lost three in a row in the Scottish Premiership.

• Hearts have won both of their last two Scottish Premiership away games, last winning three in a row on their travels in the competition in September 2018 under Craig Levein.

• Since the start of last season, only Kyogo Furuhashi (33) has more Scottish Premiership goals than Hearts’ Lawrence Shankland (30). Shankland has scored (2) or assisted (2) four goals in his last four league appearances against Aberdeen.

[Chong]

19 hours ago, GinRummy said:

I usually like to try and guess the side but I can’t even guess which keeper will start or which formation we’ll play. 
 

Halkett back at RCB if he’s ready?

 

 

It's the Naismith lottery, I gave up guessing the line up after a few games this season. Think we need to get back to 4 at the back though. McKay, Oda, Vargas and Forrest are obsolete in the current formation. 

 

Halkett needs time. Building minutes and confidence given the time out hes had, we can expect him to start games in about 6 weeks I think. I certainly would be against doing a Beni and chucking him in the deep end, after 12 months out, when the position isn't desperately needing covered. 

[karipidis]

7 hours ago, Thomaso said:

where was that confirmed?

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/hearts/cammy-devlin-injury-blow-for-hearts-latest-on-liam-boyce-goals-issue-addressed-ahead-of-aberdeen-trip-4437840

[crunchy frog]

Im going for 1 each.

Will be a good day out though, looking forward to scattering Peep Peeps bar

[Mister T]

I hope we smash them and set Robson on the path to the job centre. He was a nob of a player and a slavering nob of a manager.

[TheBigO]

8 hours ago, Jambo61 said:

Bit of a stupid statement mate. But you crack on if mediocrity is your thing! Each to their own!

Not really.  This thing of moaning being akin to aiming higher does amuse me though! (genuinely that's not aimed at you as don't know your posting history mate).  But in general there's this thing that if you moan your tits off it means you're striving for excellence!

 

All I'm saying in all honesty is that it's "our away form is abyssmal" and then we grind out some tough wins away from home, including in tundra conditions on a plastic pitch to a team that doesn't lose at home very often to anyone.  And it becomes "we're only scraping wins" "lucky".

 

Come on.  Yes Celtic and Rangers batter teams often, but they also scrape the shit out of wins too.  You have to.  It's the mark of a squad willing to work hard for one another.  Those scraped wins dont come in there is slacking.

 

And that's a great base to build some more exciting stuff on top of imo.

 

More of a reply than I meant and  genuinely not a go.  I just don't think anyone will enjoy football outwith being a Celtic, Man City or Barca fan if they want to see there team win by 3 goals every week.  Take the grinds.  Embrace them man!!! Its a step forward!

[Robbo-Jambo]

13 hours ago, GinRummy said:

Atkinson is your only option 

Yeah at the moment, but really meant about getting a quality one in 👍.

[Chillidigits]

Sheep are reeling. It's time to go for the throat although natural order seems to be they win up there we win down here.

[pettigrewsstylist]

Be interesting to see squad tomm now that Atty and Barrie back. The back four option has become available again.

[KG1874]

The way the dons are playing you’d expect not to lose at the bare minimum, I think we will get 3 points though it’s important to get back to winning ways 

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

Be interesting to see how they go tomorrow. Will he risk some of his squad, went for his first team on Weds, hardly used a sub.

 

Big difference from the game in March, they were on form and had come off a 2 week break prior to our game, we had just played successive games against Celtic and were down.

 

With this being their 4th game in 9 days, cant see any way they can sustain their high tempo approach for 90 minutes.

[Rick Sanchez]

Clark

 

Kingsley

Kent

Rowles

 

Atkinson

Baningime

Nieuwenhof

Cochrane

 

Lowry

 

Shankland

Vargas

[RDSK]

Clark

Sibbick Kent Rowles Cochrane

Beni Calem

Oda Lowry Vargas

Shankland

[kingantti1874]

5 minutes ago, RDSK said:

Clark

Atkinson Kent Rowles Cochrane

Beni Calem

Oda Lowry Tagawa 

Shankland

 

[Jambo61]

4 hours ago, TheBigO said:

Not really.  This thing of moaning being akin to aiming higher does amuse me though! (genuinely that's not aimed at you as don't know your posting history mate).  But in general there's this thing that if you moan your tits off it means you're striving for excellence!

 

All I'm saying in all honesty is that it's "our away form is abyssmal" and then we grind out some tough wins away from home, including in tundra conditions on a plastic pitch to a team that doesn't lose at home very often to anyone.  And it becomes "we're only scraping wins" "lucky".

 

Come on.  Yes Celtic and Rangers batter teams often, but they also scrape the shit out of wins too.  You have to.  It's the mark of a squad willing to work hard for one another.  Those scraped wins dont come in there is slacking.

 

And that's a great base to build some more exciting stuff on top of imo.

 

More of a reply than I meant and  genuinely not a go.  I just don't think anyone will enjoy football outwith being a Celtic, Man City or Barca fan if they want to see there team win by 3 goals every week.  Take the grinds.  Embrace them man!!! Its a step forward!

You missed my original comment of welcome results!

My mindset was the same at work,a wee improvement every year led to a big improvement over e.g. 5/10 years.

We really don't seem to improve, if so not for long. We aren't really fit, we aren't really much different from 9 other teams in our league. We are very very static and risk averse, nothing new there! Creativity for some reason is stifled, again nothing new. We change managers to dopplegangers! We change so many players every year we start from scratch each season. Partly the bosman thing, mainly really poor like for like signings in the main!

I hate mediocrity, why would I turn up to watch that week after week after near 60 years of watching a lot of shite, but some great times too! Burley still irks!

I go to enjoy not endure!

[Go for it 1308]

12 minutes ago, Jambo61 said:

You missed my original comment of welcome results!

My mindset was the same at work,a wee improvement every year led to a big improvement over e.g. 5/10 years.

We really don't seem to improve, if so not for long. We aren't really fit, we aren't really much different from 9 other teams in our league. We are very very static and risk averse, nothing new there! Creativity for some reason is stifled, again nothing new. We change managers to dopplegangers! We change so many players every year we start from scratch each season. Partly the bosman thing, mainly really poor like for like signings in the main!

I hate mediocrity, why would I turn up to watch that week after week after near 60 years of watching a lot of shite, but some great times too! Burley still irks!

I go to enjoy not endure!

Good post

👍 

[upgotheheads]

59 minutes ago, kingantti1874 said:

 

 

1 hour ago, RDSK said:

Clark

Sibbick Kent Rowles Cochrane

Beni Calem

Oda Lowry Vargas

Shankland

 

That would work for me.

[Spellczech]

Surely it cannot be a matchday thread unless it is started on the day of the match?

[Ron Burgundy]

When a team can't buy a win their manager looks to see when they have Hearts on the fixture list.

Saturday will be no different I reckon. ☹️

 

[Chimp]

14 minutes ago, Spellczech said:

Surely it cannot be a matchday thread unless it is started on the day of the match?

 

Cheers Geoff.

[wavydavy]

11 minutes ago, Ron Burgundy said:

When a team can't buy a win their manager looks to see when they have Hearts on the fixture list.

Saturday will be no different I reckon. ☹️

 

 

I was thinking exactly the same. Teams always seem to break their duck when they play us.

 

This is a make or break for Robson I would imagine so if the players rate and like him then they will be trying their hardest.

 

Having watched their highlights lately they have been bad at taking their chances. Miovski who is a decent striker has missed a barrowload of chances lately. No doubt his luck will change tomorrow.

[neilnunb]

Two teams that cannae score...

 

6-6 then 😁

[Captain Sausage]

Aberdeen suffering from the additional Euro games like we did last year? Big game, would be great to buck the trend and come home with 3 points. 
 

McKay, Halkett and Gordon in please. 

[wavydavy]

43 minutes ago, Captain Sausage said:

Aberdeen suffering from the additional Euro games like we did last year? Big game, would be great to buck the trend and come home with 3 points. 
 

McKay, Halkett and Gordon in please. 

 

Not sure any of them will start. I would prefer that they get some minutes towards the end of a game we are winning.

 

We have seen how long Beni has taken to get back and he is still working on it. Halkett with his CB position requires to be jumping and landing so much more than any other players so needs to build up gradually.

 

McKay I think came back too soon after his last injury so we have to give them time.

[Swanny17]

Clark

 

Kingsley Kent Rowles

 

Natty Hoff Beni Cochrane

 

Lowry

 

Shanks Tagawa

 

 

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

1 hour ago, Captain Sausage said:

Aberdeen suffering from the additional Euro games like we did last year? Big game, would be great to buck the trend and come home with 3 points. 
 

McKay, Halkett and Gordon in please. 

Not really, we took 13 from 21 points in our struggle

[Lord Beni of Gorgie]

Third game in a week and just about 4 in a week (add 2 days) for them, legs are going to be a factor in this game. Would like a bit of energy in the team from Weds

[TyphoonJambo]

1 hour ago, Swanny17 said:

Clark

 

Kingsley Kent Rowles

 

Natty Hoff Beni Cochrane

 

Lowry

 

Shanks Tagawa

 

 

probably

[Cruyff]

                      Clark 

          Kingsley Kent Rowles 

Atkinson                          Cochrane

               Hoff          Beni 

                      McKay 

               Shanks  Tagawa 

 

If fit......

[Sigma One]

7 hours ago, Mister T said:

I hope we smash them and set Robson on the path to the job centre. He was a nob of a player and a slavering nob of a manager.

They might down tools anyway as I don't think it all roses at the moment. 👍

[Berrassobad]

Surprised how many have Gordon in their team - not a hope imo

[Sub4TiddlerMurray]

8 hours ago, TheBigO said:

Not really.  This thing of moaning being akin to aiming higher does amuse me though! (genuinely that's not aimed at you as don't know your posting history mate).  But in general there's this thing that if you moan your tits off it means you're striving for excellence!

 

All I'm saying in all honesty is that it's "our away form is abyssmal" and then we grind out some tough wins away from home, including in tundra conditions on a plastic pitch to a team that doesn't lose at home very often to anyone.  And it becomes "we're only scraping wins" "lucky".

 

Come on.  Yes Celtic and Rangers batter teams often, but they also scrape the shit out of wins too.  You have to.  It's the mark of a squad willing to work hard for one another.  Those scraped wins dont come in there is slacking.

 

And that's a great base to build some more exciting stuff on top of imo.

 

More of a reply than I meant and  genuinely not a go.  I just don't think anyone will enjoy football outwith being a Celtic, Man City or Barca fan if they want to see there team win by 3 goals every week.  Take the grinds.  Embrace them man!!! Its a step forward!

 

This x however many

[chrystaf]

8 hours ago, TheBigO said:

Not really.  This thing of moaning being akin to aiming higher does amuse me though! (genuinely that's not aimed at you as don't know your posting history mate).  But in general there's this thing that if you moan your tits off it means you're striving for excellence!

 

All I'm saying in all honesty is that it's "our away form is abyssmal" and then we grind out some tough wins away from home, including in tundra conditions on a plastic pitch to a team that doesn't lose at home very often to anyone.  And it becomes "we're only scraping wins" "lucky".

 

Come on.  Yes Celtic and Rangers batter teams often, but they also scrape the shit out of wins too.  You have to.  It's the mark of a squad willing to work hard for one another.  Those scraped wins dont come in there is slacking.

 

And that's a great base to build some more exciting stuff on top of imo.

 

More of a reply than I meant and  genuinely not a go.  I just don't think anyone will enjoy football outwith being a Celtic, Man City or Barca fan if they want to see there team win by 3 goals every week.  Take the grinds.  Embrace them man!!! Its a step forward!

That's the case, sadly.  Even the old firm are not banging in the goals.

I'd be happy to accept the grinds away from home, but in this tight league most home games are grinds as well.  Leaving aside the "it's all about points" aspect, it doesn't make for enjoyable watching these days.

Perhaps when we get a decent striker, ancommanding attacking midfielder and a competent right back, things will change. 

[Berrassobad]

Just now, chrystaf said:

That's the case, sadly.  Even the old firm are not banging in the goals.

I'd be happy to accept the grinds away from home, but in this tight league most home games are grinds as well.  Leaving aside the "it's all about points" aspect, it doesn't make for enjoyable watching these days.

Perhaps when we get a decent striker, ancommanding attacking midfielder and a competent right back, things will change. 

Thats your xmas sorted then

[rmreido]

Hoping for a win, but up there, doesn't look likely....

When was the last time we won up there?????

[Takeshi kovac]

On 07/12/2023 at 10:43, gregzy2k7 said:

Gordon

Halkett Kent Rowles

Atkinson Beni Devlin Cochrane 

Lowry

Tagawa Shanks

 

1-3 to the good guys.

Not for 1 minute do I think this will be the starting 11 but I would be very happy if it was

[151]

9 minutes ago, rmreido said:

Hoping for a win, but up there, doesn't look likely....

When was the last time we won up there?????

 

Sure they said after we beat them a few months back that the home side hasn't lost in this fixture for 7 years or something.

[stirlo]

5 minutes ago, 151 said:

 

Sure they said after we beat them a few months back that the home side hasn't lost in this fixture for 7 years or something.

 

I'd be very surprised if there's a fixture in the Scottish Premiership that has been consistently dominated by the home team as much as this one over the last 20 years. Obviously let's hope it's a different story tomorrow. Their players will definitely be feeling the pressure tomorrow, so that could work in our favour, but we have to go there and play with belief.

Edited December 8, 2023 by stirlo