Hamilton v Aberdeen, 28/02/17

[kingjoey]

We obviously played pretty well last night, but the guy that stood out head and shoulders above everyone else was Kenny McLean. Every time he was on the ball I felt that we were going to do something. Looks really comfortable on the ball, very difficult to dispossess, great passing skills and some lovely little flicks. After the first couple of months of the season he has been our most consistent player. If Ryan Jack is out for a few weeks, it will unfortunately mean that he will be more deep lying and curtail him going forward quite so often. The one thing missing from him is goals, but, apart from last night, other players are doing that to get us the wins, 9 out of 11. Transfer fee well spent.

[Menzel]

8 hours ago, Laid-back Accie said:

 

ETA - I have to say, Aberdeen fans are the most salty losers I've ever encountered

This is it, there's something about a certain number of dons fans who lose it when something that isn't an utter pumping happens. One loss, despite our run of form, and it's sack the board, get spending Milne, Derek needs a word with himself about tactics etc etc. 

The amount of supporters on the facebook page who now want Accies relegated is hilarious. 

[Estragon]

I was beginning to get over it until I remembered this is the second time Accies have beaten Aberdeen this season.

4 league wins in 26 games, 2 against those utter c***s

[RussellAnderson]

I'd quite like Accies to be relegated, but simply so we don't have to go to NDP again. We just don't cope well there, for whatever reason. You could be cynical about the surface, but sometimes these things just happen in football. Get doon you Dons-bashers

[accies1874]

I'd quite like Accies to be relegated, but simply so we don't have to go to NDP again. We just don't cope well there, for whatever reason. You could be cynical about the surface, but sometimes these things just happen in football. Get doon you Dons-bashers

I think both teams seemed to struggle with the pitch. Players were slipping all night, and no one seemed to judge the bounce well at all.

[shootingboots]

Credit must go to Accies last night. As much as we were camped in their half they really restricted us to any decent chances (we had better chances in the first half than second) and defended very well, they were committed and put their body(bodies) in the way. If they defend like that the rest of the season they will stay up.

 

 

[jmothecat]

Devlin was fantastic. As much as McLean was everywhere in an attacking sense for the Dons, Devlin seemed to be for Accies. They executed the tactics right.

From a Dons perspective I felt we looked worse in the second half, partly as our play was a bit more hurried and panicky, but partly I think due to the personnel changes. Christie had an off night so hooking him made sense but this sort of game didn't suit Pawlett or Storey. However with no Hayes or Stockley there weren't many options. Pawlett I think plays better with Stockley up front.

No Jack or Hayes for Sunday worries me but we should hopefully have enough.

[shootingboots]

2 minutes ago, jmothecat said:

No Jack or Hayes for Sunday worries me but we should hopefully have enough.

Is that confirmed or are you just speculating?

[RussellAnderson]

First half we were unlucky, but in the second we were desperate. 

[jmothecat]

Is that confirmed or are you just speculating?

Hayes confirmed, Jack just based on fans on Twitter which is obviously not reliable.

[Dons_1988]

Hayes confirmed, Jack just based on fans on Twitter which is obviously not reliable.

Mcinnes said last night he expects jack and reynolds to miss a few games

[wulliamwallace]

Bottle merchants are fkn gash 

HH

[Mackiemyday]

Would have been more concerned if we had put in another sub-par performance, but i thought we were good for the majority of the game.

Fair play to Hamilton when they got the early goal you knew that they would defend for their lives - and that they did.

Thought McLean was excellent for us, his work rate is something i have never really taken much note of in the past but he was none stop all night. I hear a few fans sometimes have a go at him for moaning and throwing his arms about, but its only because he is frustrated people are not pressing opponents as much as he does.

I am a big Ash Taylor fan but if we are ever going to win anything or have any ambition of going to the next level then we can’t have a starting CB who gifts goals like he does. 95% of the time he is solid as a rock but when he does make an error it normally costs us big time. It’s so frustrating as he could be brilliant.

Rooney on another night would have had a few goals, i know he had 4 in 3 before last night and the commentary team mentioned him being in "top form" i don’t think he is. Rooney from last season would have finished a few of those chances.

I thought with Hayes being injured Pawlett would have been more suited to a start out wide over Chrisite who i thought struggled in that position. I was happy when he was introduced at half time but the game completely passed him by. That was the most disappointing factor of the night for me, he had a real opportunity to show the manager he should be starting games but he didn’t take it.

[Milners]

Ha ha Talked in Taylor mistake eh, think we got to look at the bigger picture with Taylor and Reynolds as we have won 10 out of 12 games and only conceding 7 goals in those 12 games which is an excellent record. Shame Reynolds is is injured as Taylor and him have done well is the point I'm trying to make i suppose than just lose a game due to a defensive error which some fans want to change the defence.  O'Connor and Taylor haven't looked that solid in previous games which is a concern. 

On to the game last night - how did we lose that? I suppose it was one of those games where we did create enough chances in the first half to win the game but second half was disappointing with the amount of the ball we had but very little we created. Can't believe how bad Ash Taylor was for the goal but he needs to forget about that as we will need him on Sunday. Really missed Hayes as in the 2nd half McGinn was poor apart from a few balls he put into the box. 

Really concerned with the amount of injuries we have and hopefully some will recover for Partick Thistle game as our squad is very small - the bench is going to be kids if quite a few missing but hopefully Jack/Hayes make it.

Didn't think Christie had a good game again yesterday, really don't know why we signed him on loan as his position is the same is Kenny McLean who has been Aberdeen best player since November. 

[FuzzyBear]

2 hours ago, RussellAnderson said:

I'd quite like Accies to be relegated, but simply so we don't have to go to NDP again. We just don't cope well there, for whatever reason. You could be cynical about the surface, but sometimes these things just happen in football. Get doon you Dons-bashers

Aberdeen seemed to cope fine with the surface apart from their final ball that was generally poor.

Effort level from Accies was fantastic. Keep that up and we should be fine.

Can someone explain what Imrie brings to the team as I think he was been dreadful all season.

 

[RussellAnderson]

With our centre backs, I think we have to look at the bigger picture. There's not one centre half I'd take at Aberdeen over those we have from the rest of the league, Celtic aside. Players like Souttar and Lindsay look like prospects and I'd love to have them at the club to develop but as far as starting XI for right now, just about every centre half in the league makes the mistakes that Taylor makes. Yeah I'd love a Vincent Kompany but its not really gonna happen eh. As stated above, our centre halves are solid for the majority of the time, and we didn't lose the game last night on a poor piece of defending, it was lost because we couldn't score from over 20 corners. That is insane. 

[FoolBoy]

Having agonised over some simple errors in play from previous matches, Accies literally threw themselves in to this game and the crowd were hooked, the team put everything they had in to the game and got the result.

We fully expected Aberdeen to equalise, but really surprised at how they failed to convert from 21 corners and numerous crosses into the box, it was like playing against a noob in FIFA Seasons, constantly drilling shots but to no avail. I would of smashed my controller if I was McInnes thats for sure!

Accies showed their fight and determination thats long been laying dormant for the past good few games and hope this carries on to the cup game on Saturday.

Aberdeen werent poor, solid defence was very hard to break through. They spaced themselves well and made plenty of running opportunities but Accies managed to hold them back, sometimes to the astonishment of the fans, but praised the performance throughout the game, some simple errors here and there (Sarris trying to scissor kick and double jump kick in the box???), but they got the job done.

A great game on the face of it, plenty of excitement that was for sure and the ref done well too to be fair, although had it been Collum or someone else, it may have turned out different when some players were falling over themselves, the ref picked up on these pretty well.   

[BucksburnDandy]

One of those nights, well done Accies, got the goal and held on with some excellent defending, full credit for the doggedness and determination. Mikey Devlin was outstanding and certainly would not mind having him in a Dons shirt.

 

For us, we could have played till midnight and not scored. Adam Rooney was guilty of missing a few chances first half, and despite scoring 17 goals this season, he looks short of confidence. Something missing from his game which I cannot put my finger on.

 

The only moan I will have is at Ash Taylor. After some excellent displays in the last 2-3 games, he switches off yet again at a crucial time and costs us the game, as at Parkhead at the start of February. The lad has had a lot of opportunities to build his concentration but he just cannot seem to do so. Very frustrating and a major flaw in his game. If he does not receive a new deal, it would be down to that. He has the characteristics to be a good defender but his concentration is poor.

 

Overall, I cannot complain at the performance. Played better than our last two matches but couldn't get the final ball right. A timely boot up the rear end with Sunday in mind. Disappointing to see Reynolds and Jack go off, and it would be concerning if they were out longer term.

 

One thing that last night did bring up was the need to bring in a proper winger that can challenge Niall McGinn and Jonny Hayes. Without both playing, we looked short, not for the first time, of quality final crosses/passes. It is something I would like to see addressed as a priority in summer. And that doesn't mean dross like Wylde, Monakana and Burns, but a proper winger capable of playing first team football and producing.

 

Finally, absolutely love the seethe Hamilton causes our support. Hilarious how few of them can get their head round getting beat by them. Aye, they might have two stands, an artificial park and a tiny support but on the pitch, where it matters, they still are a Premiership team and if they stay up, it will be deserved.

[glasgow-sheep]

Well done to Hamilton, you certainly seem to know how to get a result against us down there.

I thought we played really well last night, certainly a lot better than the game at the beginning of the season, with McLean and Jack being absolute standouts.

Yet again, when faced with a stubborn defence throwing everything on the line we just couldn't get the break and lacked any guile to break through them.  Lost count of how many terrible corners McGinn put in.  Folk moan about our short corners but when McGinns corners are repeatedly terrible we have to try something else. Someone on the train back into town was saying we've scored more goals from set pieces than anyone else in the league which seems remarkable given how often our corners are utterly useless.

Rooney is the other concern.  I agree he's not on top form, despite the number of goals he has scored, and has missed a number of very good changes in recent weeks, looks even slower and lost his sharpness. If on form he'd easily be on 25+ goals already.  Sadly, esp with Stockley out we have few options.

We've been on a great run and it was inevitable we'd lose at some point, and if we had to lose I'd much rather it was last night than Sunday.

Still 9pts clear with Hearts and The Rangers* in disarray and a home cup QF to look forward to, COYR

[Owsley]

On the Skondras/McGinn first half incident, I totally disagree with all of the BT panel who thought it was a CGO and therefore a red. McGinn was not reaching that ball after his touch, it was going through to be contested by Rooney and McMann and the latter did enough to put Rooney off. McGinn being barged was neither here nor there. Of course it should have been a foul and a clear yellow. From the footage from behind the goal, McLean may have had an Accies player obscuring his view.

Impressed by some of the comments from the Dons fans on here. I think we all hope you get back on track soon and get as far ahead of that new bunch as possible.