Dons_1988

I don’t disagree with the overall sentiment here but the bbc and plenty of media outlets have shown that if they want people to give more of a f**k about something then they will do it. There’s a chicken and egg situation here with what influences what people are interested in. Id suggest that the level of interest shown in womens football going back 5-10 years wouldn’t have justified the level of coverage it has received in recent times and yet (and I say this as a supporter of this effort) they have made a decision that womens football is criminally under represented beyond a niche interest and it needed addressed. Thats not to say that Scottish football should be front and centre but they clearly feel that its place in the uk psyche is a regional backwater and that suits them. Theres plenty of levers they could pull to increase it, whether it was an incremental increase in coverage at a uk level or more funding to regional outlets. But they absolutely perpetuate the ‘no one gives a f**k about Scottish football’ opinion.

Anderson could cope much better with the physicality. And I may have red tinted specs on but I don’t remember Anderson putting himself in trouble as much as gartenmann does. Not saying that the last ditch defending is a bad thing, but you have to question if you’re doing it that frequently. I’ve definitely seen him a few times charge out towards balls he doesn’t have a hope of getting then having to make a recovery. These are potentially things to be worked on though, I have no idea what interest there is from any side to make it permanent.

oh hearts

He definitely doesn’t like the physicality of the week to week stuff. He was great yesterday but my worry is that he’s excellent at the last ditch stuff. He makes good tackles, blocks, puts his body on the line. The stuff that stands out in these games. Problem is I see him making last ditch challenges etc too often against the likes of st Johnstone or hibs at home and you wonder if he’s actually put himself in that position in the first place. His positioning can be pretty kamikaze at times too.

Yeah I think we’ve seen this movie enough this season to know this isn’t ’the start of something’. We can’t accuse this team of not giving us some ‘moments’ this season. A few more mundane wins would be nice though.

I never thought that tbh. He just fucked it. Macdonald did a redtv interview after and he’s just held his hands up to the mistake.

Steady

There’s a strong argument for creating a thread dedicated to these types of decisions and protocols. This isn’t even Aberdeen and Celtic fans debating it. In the pantheon of VAR nonsense this season, this decision is pretty low on the Richter scale. It’s so fucking boring.

Other than Forrest coming on and immediately scoring, obviously. I do agree though, seeing McGregor come off was a psychological boost as at 2-1 they were in pretty much full control. Conversely, I’m not totally having that Celtic just chucked it as we took advantage and started doing what we’d been doing in the first half again. The depth on the bench for us was pretty woeful tbh but we managed to remain a threat. Leven made good changes when he could. Sokler and miovski worked well together and hoilett really stepped up. Cant argue on pens, Roos gave us very little chance.

It’s always a big ask to beat them both at hampden to win a cup (has it ever happened?) but both teams have vulnerabilities. Celtic are almost ideologically poor at the back. They take no steps to cover for any deficiencies so at a time when their centre halves are pretty poor the opportunities are there. It’s then just a question of bravery for teams like ours. The players are there to hurt them, you just have to be brave in possession. So often that doesn’t happen. I have to say I don’t particularly fancy hearts today but you never know. Much stranger things have happened.

Genuinely quite sad. I know refs have always been discussed but I swear VAR has made this even more insufferable. To disrupt this with football chat, o’reilly’s finish for his goal is very aesthetically pleasing. He could’ve scored with a far inferior finish but the accuracy is tremendous. Celtics defence is mercifully garbage though, I don’t remember us having so many chances against them in a game at hampden. We’ve basically scored the same goal twice with someone just drifting in at the back post, presume Liam scales is at fault for that.

Move away from the match thread to get away from referee chat and find in here we’re back to st Mirren Time for bed.

That was an absolutely epic game of football. A refereeing decision that objectively hasn’t materially impacted the result should not be the focus of the chat.

Just back and it’s nice to feel a bit of pride in the team but gutted. Felt like it was just our day at points but oh well. I have to credit the resilience, I thought the James Forrest goal would be it for us as Celtic had a grip of it even before that goal and I can’t say I trust the character of this dons side. But it wasn’t smash and grab in the end, we had a few good chances before sokler finally finishes it. I haven’t seen the pen shout back other than the actual foul on hoilett which is as obvious a foul as you’ll ever see and this lubo guy is behaving very oddly about it. Can’t comment on whether it’s a foul in the build up…yet. But ultimately we equalise anyway so not the travesty some are saying. Thats the last I’ll say on refereeing decisions, Robertson was ‘ok’ today I thought. Fair play to leven too, I didn’t think he had much way of recovering us at 2-1 but his changes worked brilliantly. Hoilett was fantastic (cheers Neil) and sokler was as good as I’ve seen him tbh.

We look fucked which is illustrated by the goal. Can’t see us coming back this time.

Hope kris Boyd is proud of us so far, that’s all that matter.

And there it is

Second half hasn’t started well. We’ll lose comfortably if this continues.

I suppose someone needs to be optimistic, why not a Ross county fan

Chicken and egg stuff, but clearly the latter. If someone were to have political beliefs based on their own values and then found a club that aligned to it then that’s better than the other way. However, suspect the lines are more blurred than that as these things as passed through generations. Suppose the better question may be - what’s more tinpot, adopting your political beliefs and football team as one in the same thing and making it all part of your identity, or trying to completely separate the two and pretending supporting the football team is entirely independent from the entire culture the club has built.

Not saying I support it, but It isn’t actually that ridiculous in the context of a semi final. If today was being held at Easter road then we’d likely have a proper 50/50 sell out in a far more convenient location for one team and hardly inconvenient for anyone coming from Glasgow. Youre saying it’s ridiculous because the overall number of tickets sold is less and thousands of your own fans would miss out. Yes, a factor but not so pervasive to call it ridiculous. It’s classic short term thinking that we just go with whatever suits the OF because the ticket sales are guaranteed.

There was a PLZ clip of a few guys saying we should’ve gone for the likes of mackay etc. clickbait stuff. I agree though, the reaction on the whole is pretty positive or at very least intrigue. I don’t think the article is great.

Excellent, we all agree then.

Not that I support his suggestion, but how does a bigger stadium help neutrality?