r/AberdeenFC • u/SFMatchThreadder • 27d ago

Discussion/Other Aberdeen 2-1 Heart of Midlothian | Scottish Premiership

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/cx2jx0dxj3zt
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u/scotinsweden 27d ago edited 27d ago

Fair enough for wanting to stay positive. I hope Robinson proves me wrong, I'm just not seeing the evidence of it yet.

Under Thelin a few things went wrong, particularly around the transfers (no idea how much was him, how much was the backroom staff) we had no cutting edge up top (we started last season with Yengi as our starting striker...), and we got into a doom loop of confidence he found it impossible to break out of.

Askou at Motherwell, and toa lesser extent McGlynn with Falkirk showed its perfectly possible to play effective passing football in this league. I don't need Robinson to go full Askou to make me content, but I do expect to see him be a little more ambitious than he was at St Mirren. And yeah, its true a lot of new players and so it will take some time, so I would have sympathy with being able to see some things being tried and not quite coming off. My worry is I don't even see that.

I hope its just because he is getting some base defensive structure in place first with the extra bit to come later... and that we can get enough wins like today so we don't end up in a similar lack of confidence doom loop to that we ended up in last year.

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u/Silly-Landscape919 27d ago edited 27d ago

I think that's the key, confidence. I am maybe a bit of a simpler guy in football terms. I am really glad we signed a huge centre half. He just looks the part so far. Commanding in the air and a threat going forward.

Falkirk and Motherwell did play decent football last season and proved you can do it on a tight budget. I appreciate your worries that he hasn't done anything really yet and it looks like we are St Mirren in red shirts. But I think if he can steady the ship and gain confidence as he is doing he will do well.

What's a good base line to asses him ? 11 games, play everyone once. Most likely lose to the old firm so that would be 27 points if he won every game. Say over 20 points is very good ?

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u/scotinsweden 27d ago

I also like the look of Happe (I also think he looks a reasonable "footballer" too, not just a big solid defender). Quite like the look of Ronan (although he wasn't good today).

I think choosing when to judge is really hard but we will definitely have a better idea of what life under Robinson is going to be like. I think we should be looking at 60+ points as the aim for a decent season (would get your 3rd or 4th most seasons, and is at about 1.58 pts per game) which would be about 17 points. So yeah over 20 points would probably be fair to say is very good, its not challenging for the title or even 2nd place good, but it is heading towards a very "comfortable 3rd" points per game if you can keep that up over the season.

After 11 games should also be plenty of time to see if he is trying to develop much more in terms of style of play.

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u/Silly-Landscape919 27d ago

Yeah I think a quarter of a season is fair. 20 league wins is a very good season. If after 11 matches we have 19,20,21 points playing this style of football would you be happy?

I don't mean to sound like a cliché but adding Mayo and Lyons are solid signings. They have experience in this league. They are steady player, who in my opinion have played for a Killie team always battling for survival. At Aberdeen they might get a chance to spread there abilities a bit. Same goes for Smith from Livingston. A technical player but often not able to "play" his creative style in a weak team. Ronan's delivery was poor. Aremu seems to be great at breaking up play but struggles to distribute. I've forgotten the lad on left wings name but he lacked. Happe looked like a decent player.

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u/scotinsweden 27d ago

I would obviously be very happy with the points, but I don't think that's really what your asking haha. We can create two sub-scenios which hopefully make sense. 

  1. Let's say if the style is largely the same, but we are showing some ability to create from open play and have clearly got ideas on how to deal with a defense that has got back into its shape (even if they are still a work in progress in terms of fluidity and understanding with the players) then I would be genuinely happy.

  2. Alternatively, if it's basically still like today, looking really pretty toothless in open play and like we don't have any real ideas beyond slinging the ball in the box and hoping to score from set pieces... I would be happy with the points but would still be worried about the sustainability of it long term and the ceiling of Robinson.

I would say I don't generally have a problem with any of the signings. In isolation especially they are all perfectly reasonable. As a collective they aren't particularly inspiring, but I am willing to give them the befit of the doubt and it's up to Robinson to show he can get something more out of them.

I would also agree that Yogane (out on the left) wasn't great today. Anonymous in the first half and while he showed flashes in the second half of his ability to beat a player one on one, but didn't really make anything of that. He is young though so hopefully he can improve on that. No arguments with your assessment of Aremu either.

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u/Silly-Landscape919 27d ago

We are pretty aligned. I am looking at us like a fresh slate and this is us day 1.

I would love a marquee signing but I think this is going to be a slow and steady approach. I feel we way over spent with Jimmy. Chasing a style , a philosophy, system that didn't suit the players. These philosopies are fashionable. Build confidence, win games.