Match Thread (Scottish Cup) Aberdeen V St Johnstone (1 - 2)

[caledonia]

We lost

We are not the finished artical

onwards and upwards hopefully

[Sonoftherock]

Far more to today's defeat than just a minor error from Langfield. Fundamentally down to McInnes not being able to give the team more flexibility. Let's face it, if we only have one game plan, it's not difficult to respond. All credit to Wright in recognising it and changing his team at half time. In defence of McInnes, his options are limited and not having Hayes is a big handicap. And it was fairly obvious that St. Johnstone were a lot more up for it than we were today.

 

Agree with you entirely. Not a lot there that can be argued about.

 

As I've said before, with Weaver, Vernon and hopefully Zola and Magennis off the books and potentially a few others, then hopefully McInnes has room to manoeuvre. Big progress has been made this year. No reason to think we won't be better next season.

[Sonoftherock]

 

How many times have we been left lamenting missing easy chances? Langfield made a mistake, the team had a chance to rectify it but couldn't clear the corner.

 

 

 

Mate, I think you've missed my point. I acknowledge it wasn't the major mitigating factor. It's just one of a number of areas we need to improve on as we seek to continue our progress.

[Stoneybloke]

 

Agree with you entirely. Not a lot there that can be argued about.

 

As I've said before, with Weaver, Vernon and hopefully Zola and Magennis off the books and potentially a few others, then hopefully McInnes has room to manoeuvre. Big progress has been made this year. No reason to think we won't be better next season.

Agree with that too. Unfortunately the likes of Smith, Low and McManus still seem to be some way off from making any impact. Only way he could have brought any of them on today was if we were at least 2-0 up. Maybe even one or more of them could follow Megginson out the door, but I suppose they don't add a huge amount to the wage bill.

[Tord31]

Today is a disappointment but weve came a long way. It would have been first time we'd won at ibrox, parkhead and tynecastle in one season since 1970.

 

Were going in the right direction mcinnes is the man to take us there we have a young team all is good.

 

players and management will learn from mistakes today

 

now we must nail 2nd. stand free.

 

I do constantly get frustrated that we dont stick robson in the middle more but meh heyho

[strachanmcgheegoal]

Taking a longer term perspective though, take anderson (less so with consi dine) and robson (jack, low?) out due to age and it's a fairly major work in progress! I'll need to watch it back to decide where the lack of hunger creeps in from. Can't imagine it was either of those two mind!

[RUL]

I thought considine was useless at left back.

 

Decent game but missed chances cost us, mcginn and pawlett both missed sitters

[the sheep]

For me the weakest link and the reason we lost was Considine playing out of position. We need to play with actual left and right backs youngsters or not. Also Jack doesn't do enough for me. He has the ability to play in a similar way as Scot Brown has done for Hibs and Celtic over the years. He needs to crunch into tackles and put his stamp on the game. More importantly he needs to take responsibility in games and not look to pass back the way to Russell and Reynolds. How many times do we Russell taking on the oppositions midfield? That's f#cking Jacks job

[The Oxford Don]

For me I just knew today was jinxed as soon as it was confirmed that the game was being played at that fucking flea-pit of a stadium. I have literally NO happy memories of Ibrox, none at all, not even the Scotland games I have gone to there. Christ, even the '97 Scottish Cup final at Ibrox went against me (I was there with my Falkirk-supporting dad, Kilmarnock won 1-0). Cunt of a place. Tear it down. Tear it down, and get representatives of each of the world's major religions in to exorcise the place and the evil spirits that have made it such an accursed venue.

 

As for the game, Derek McInnes has to shoulder most of the responsibility. Failed to change things when it was obvious that Saints had worked out how to play us, failed to respond to the new threat which they posed when Uther Pendragon went and played wide left, made his first substitution in the 90th minute.

 

A very frustrating day, but I am nowhere near as downbeat as I usually am after such occasions. This has been a good season, and with the prospect of finishing second, it could still be a very good season indeed. If today is a wake-up call to management, players and supporters that we are miles away from being fucking complacent in such situations, then so be it. Tough lesson to learn, but we are on the right path. Hopefully.

 

All the best to Saints for the final, get it right up the gypsies.

[Stoneybloke]

For me the weakest link and the reason we lost was Considine playing out of position.

How on earth can one player be singled out for today's defeat. That is total madness. The reason we lost is down to several things. Our strikers missed at least 3 good chances, we had very little width and took more or less everything down the middle, St. Johnstone soaked it all up in the second half quite easily. The squad limitations gave McInnes no flexibility and he seemed powerless in adapting to the increased pressure after they changed their formation around at half time. Was he hoping for penalties again?

 

Definitely NOT the fault of Considine !!!!!

[80s Don]

Very disappointing....we should've taken control at 1-0, but we didn't. Rooney had one on one & fancied him, mcginns header should've been in...but in the end the result shows we lost, so forget it...consolidate 2nd,,we have a trophy in cabinet...there will be more cup finals to come.

[TopDon]

I wasn't impressed with that second half performance. Defence didn't look up to usual standard I'm used to seeing and this is the worst performance I've seen from Reynolds in a red shirt. He got turned inside out too easy today.

 

Every time I've seen Logan I haven't been impressed. Definitely a player there but he always looks for the easiest ball possible and if that's not available then he looks very suspect. Perhaps a confidence issue? Not sure if that would change if he was given more time to adjust to the teams playing style. Would like to see him take a shot when the opportunity arises also.

 

Absolutely nobody to stick on from the bench to make an impact either. Sticking Vernon on with a few minutes left was a waste of precious time.

 

Pawlett looked good to start but still not up to speed imo. Didn't like his dive either. The pawlett of old.

 

On the other hand attacking movement in the first half and passing on the deck was a joy to watch. Were unlucky not to get more goals on the sheet.

[the sheep]

What I was trying to say is that a major factor in losing today was playing with a central defender out wide. Not singling out Considine but the guy offers little going forward in the wide position. With all due respect to Concidine he is not going to put a decent cross into the box or overlap and cause to opposition problems. I think its time to go with one of the youngsters in that position and allow Considine to play or be cover in the middle of defence. I do rate Considine but as a central defender.

[strachanmcgheegoal]

Think your final sentence is key Top Don. Needed to be a lot more ruthless at 1-0. That was the time to stretch them with width which we simply didn't have (as the sheep says- fair play to consi I actually think we see more of him attacking than we really should. Can't help thinking moving May to their left was designed to coincide with robson tiring ahead of him.

[Stoneybloke]

Very disappointing....we should've taken control at 1-0, but we didn't. Rooney had one on one & fancied him, mcginns header should've been in...but in the end the result shows we lost, so forget it...consolidate 2nd,,we have a trophy in cabinet...there will be more cup finals to come.

I hope there will be, but there are still a lot of building blocks to put in place. It shouldn't be overlooked that a lot of this seasons success has been down to two players whose careers will be at an end relatively soon. And when are the new crop of youngsters due to come through, still a way to go there. McInnes will have a busy summer, but at least we are in a far better position now to attract established players.

[Stoneybloke]

We needed the presence and height of Zola on the field today. St. Johnstone would have had no answer to him. Where was he, is he injured?

[ericblack4boss]

The first goal it appeared Logan expected Clangers to come for the cross and as for the second the half hearted, lame attempt Jack made to tackle May was dire, he's outside the box with a striker who has scored over 20 goals, running at him he should make sure he gets either ball or man there was no danger of red as he was not last man, but there were others, Logan should've won the ball before it got that far,

[Stoneybloke]

Logan headed it out for a corner. The goal came as a result of sloppy defending from the resulting corner.

[Bamber]

couple of things for me

 

A bit like the cup game at partick - scored early against a team we should beat and then stopped playing done it in my opinion 3 times this season partick in the cup, ICT away in the league and today

 

Won 2

lost 1

 

quite lucky with the two we won that we did

 

bench was full of players we could bring on as a sub, but not one that I would bring on to change the game style. hopefully with the young bench that will change but all the players on the bench were a slightly worse version of a player on the pitch - there was nothing really different there

 

Game that either side could have won 4-0 and the other side couldn't have had a lot of complaints to be fair

[the sheep]

My problem with Jack is that he seems to be happy to stroll through the game without looking like he is breaking sweat. I appreciate the need to keep the ball and admire his composure. However, I would like Jack to show more passion and follow Flood and Robsons example. These guy's have little left at the end of a game. My normal opinion of Jack is that he could have done more to influence the game. He is talented but for me he is capable of doing far more coming from a defensive position. With the engine that Flood has got he would be able to cover for him breaking forward.

[Stoneybloke]

Jack's best performances this season were at the start when Robson was injured.

[Walt Flanagan's Dog]

I'm struggling to describe the feeling that I had on the way to that game today - from the 'Ibrox' call on the Underground tannoy, to walking out and seeing that vile pub across the road from the station then to walking round the corner and the stadium coming into view...I was surprised at the hatred I found inside myself for that place. And seeing *that* badge all over the place...I feel like 1000 showers won't get rid of the filth that's clarted me today.

 

Anyway, we should've buried the game in the first half. St. Johnstone were poor and we were in full control. 2nd half they got hold of the midfield and we didn't have an answer, and our players had no time on the ball at all. We're badly missing Hayes as we don't have anyone else to play on the wing (Wylde would be useful right now) that's anywhere near as effective as he is. Robson will do as much as he possibly can but he can't go past anyone and any right back who lines up against the team of Considine and Robson knows they aren't going to have to do a lot of running.

 

And who is Stevie May...he's a very very good striker who can go far in this game. He won't be at St. Johnstone next season, I'd like to see him at Pittodrie but I think his future is south of the border.

 

We weren't robbed, we weren't cheated, we were beaten by a better team on the day.

[True_Don]

On another day we would have been 3 up at half time. I thought once we went one up it seemed like the team wanted to stroll through the game and expected the win.

 

However if we finish 2nd plus having won the league cup it will be a succesful season and I fully expect McInnes to revamp the squad further as we do not have enough quality options to challenge the midfield and forwards and will need to sign some permanent full backs.

 

The dissapointment of losing this one should hopefully drive the players onto finishing 2nd and have another go next season at the Scottish Cup.

[the sheep]

Robertson for Considine and Low for Jack or Robson. I guess when they scored it left little time to change things but did anyone have confidence that Vernan coming on with 5 minutes to go would have any influence. With little time to go the the choice should have been Smith or McManus. Derek should have looked to take 2 players off the bench to have some influence as it was clear to me that St Johnstone were winning the game.

[Stoneybloke]

None of them would have had any influence. Not enough strength in depth.

[Bamber]

we do have strength in depth - its just similar to what we put on the park - what we don't have a great deal of is variation

 

oh for a Wylde, a Hayes or dare I even say it a Magennis available on the bench to have given us a different dimension. (apart from Hayes no better than what we had out today BUT would have offered something different)

 

So what we need in the summer is "something different"

[the sheep]

I think Low brings more energy and effort than Jack. It's hard to say regarding McManus but he has pace and in my opinion offers more than Vernan. Time to give youth a chance while we have the older guys in the team to offer support.

[Foster14]

Can't be bothered to go in to great depth.

 

Would just like to applaud the guy situated not too far away from me who was happy when we didn't take one of a few chances to make it 2-0 as that was what he had bet on, and if we'd scored then, we'd only get more...

[Stoneybloke]

we do have strength in depth - its just similar to what we put on the park - what we don't have a great deal of is variation

 

oh for a Wylde, a Hayes or dare I even say it a Magennis available on the bench to have given us a different dimension. (apart from Hayes no better than what we had out today BUT would have offered something different)

 

So what we need in the summer is "something different"

A handfull of relatively untried U20s is not what I would call strength in depth.

[Highbury Don]

tough one to take but always thought this was gonna be a difficult match, saints have been playing well lately.

 

A second goal from us would have finished them and overall I thought we played pretty decent stuff but really lacked the finishing touch.

 

We need a final push now to finish 2nd to cap what would be an excellent season - Compared to the horrors of the last few years, this is very bearable..

 

Crowd only just over 19k - Very poor turnout from saints.. I'm guessing around 17k dandies. Ideal for Easter Road but then again we wouldn't have been allocated 17k.. vicious circle.

 

Thought the atmosphere was decent and both supports tried their best but in a less than half full stadium, it's a struggle..