In the cold light of day...

[Hewitt1983]

...not feeling too bad actually.

 

I was absolutely devastated at full-time yesterday but have to say that feeling has worn off somewhat when you think about the progress that has been made this season.

 

When I've experienced semi-final defeats in the past it's almost felt like the world is going to cave in (QotS being the worst) but I don't feel like that this time.

 

The Club is going in the right direction, we have ended our trophy drought and will secure a return to Europe shortly. I think we can safely say we'll still look back on season 2013-14 very fondly.

 

I'm already looking forward to next season and will be intrigued to see who Derek brings to the Club in the summer.

 

We'll get another crack at this Cup, I'm very optimistic

 

COYR

[Dynamo]

Yesterday just shows we're far from the finished article.

 

Hopefully we have the money to bring in 3/4 quality players this summer whilst also shipping out the duds like Vernon and Zola.

[a don in oz]

I wasn't devastated after the game. Disappointed but that second half we didn't turn up so St Johnstone deserved it. They were hungrier. I hope they go all the way.

 

But this season has been a *massive* improvement in us and if McInnes can not repeat the Zola mistake and get a few in and ship some out then I think next season is one to be positive about. A wee bit of money in from Europe if we can last more than just a couple of prelim games would be good too.

[the_shrimp]

We are absolutely heading in the right direction.

 

I never expected to have a season like we're having. Ok, we didn't win yesterday but now we can focus on the league - we've not been consistent but I believe we can win every game from now to the end.

 

As for getting 3/4 quality players in the summer and shipping out the duds - that's a given. If we want to continue competing at the very top we need to have the right team in place.

[True_Don]

Na, still gutted, after beating Celtic this was a great opportunity to do a cup double.

 

But the deficiencies of the squad have been highlighted and whilst we missed chances, we never kept up the intensity and we have to have the option where we only play 2 of the 3 out of Robson, Flood and Jack and add another creative goal scoring midfielder - Hayes was a miss, but injuries will happen, we need a different option in there.

 

Playing Robson on the wing also slows things down, cutting back onto his left and without pace to go past players. Central mid is his best position for me.

 

St Johnstone exposed the lack of his pace by putting May out on the wing and Logan was left too often one on one and O'Halloran's pace caused issues for Considine.

 

Any team that watched that will see the weakness, although we could have steam rolled them in that first half and been 3 up.

 

OUT= Magennis, Zola, Vernon, Tate, Logan (although i'd be happy to keep him at RB for next season).

IN= Right back, Left back, Centre half, Attacking midfielder, Winger and another decent striker.

 

That's 5 out and 6 in, let's be optimistic that McInnes can recruit quality and further improve the squad.

[TwoStars]

Yesterday just shows we're far from the finished article.

 

Hopefully we have the money to bring in 3/4 quality players this summer whilst also shipping out the duds like Vernon and Zola.

Agreed.

 

Though it has been a good season it shows how far we've got to go.

[the_shrimp]

Buy Steven May?

[barassie_afc]

Stevie May will be off to the championship

[spamspamspam]

A bit of reality was needed and brought yesterday, there's still a lot to do to secure a European spot this season and even more to make sure we improve next.

 

As long as we dont capitulate and end up 5th I'm going to be extremely happy with our season.

 

1 Cup

Good league position

Marked improvement on the season before

 

Get in 3 or 4 good players next season and it could be a great one!

[robbojunior]

As disappointing as it was to lose, even though our level dropped massively in the second half, we still created enough chances to win the game. Robson header straight at the keeper, McGinn header, on another day we'd have got one of those and the game would have been ours.

 

Just one of those days. Don't think you can really be too critical of the manager. Even though there were tired legs out there and he could have freshened it up, if one of those second half chances (not to mention first half chances) had been taken then everyone would be on here saying how much of a legend McInnes is.

[elephantstone78]

Agree with that.

He didn't miss the chances that ultimately cost us.

So frustrating.

Today am still annoyed. Hungover and annoyed.

[oilcat]

Might sound strange but when we went 2-1 down, Zola might have been the answer to go up front with Rooney and rumble the two StJ centre halfs up

 

Second half was waaay too predictible with too many players passing the buck.....in saying that if either Rooney, Robson or McGinn score with their chances, we win the game

[TwoStars]

Might sound strange but when we went 2-1 down, Zola might have been the answer to go up front with Rooney and rumble the two StJ centre halfs up

 

You really should not smoke crack on a Monday morning let alone ever.

[strachanmcgheegoal]

Na, still gutted, after beating Celtic this was a great opportunity to do a cup double.

 

 

OUT= Magennis, Zola, Vernon, Tate, Logan (although i'd be happy to keep him at RB for next season).

IN= Right back, Left back, Centre half, Attacking midfielder, Winger and another decent striker.

 

That's 5 out and 6 in, let's be optimistic that McInnes can recruit quality and further improve the squad.

 

I would almost compare to the 'lost' cup double to the Ibrox SPL showdown - it was lost, no question, and fucking hard to take at the time but did we really deserve it as such?

 

As others have said at length, completely different feeling to the QoTS debacle.

 

On your transfer list - if budget is an issue (and assuming Logan would stay - possibly the biggest impact of yesterday) then the other 'keeper' no pun intended might actually be Josh.

 

In terms of coming in (again assuming Logan stays) then a left back option is first up moving Consi to centre half cover for Russell. Regrettably the midfield will sort itself as Robson's legs look to be going leaving Flood and Jack so next up is probably an attacking midfielder although that's maybe greedy with Pawlett, Hayes and McGinn all in there so maybe you leave them, bin the Josh suggestion because obviously we're loaded and buy a striker to go alongside/compete with Rooney.

 

And yes a keeper that would leave his goal line would be nice.

[don corleone]

I echo what many others have said. Gutted that we were beaten but definitely not feeling the same gut wrenching pain of previous semi defeats. The atmosphere after the final whistle was completely different than any of the recent disasters and the vast majority stayed to applaud the players and management and rightfully so. The club have come a long way in 12 months, there is still a lot of room for improvement but at the start of the season if you'd told me we'd have 2 good cup runs one of which we would win and be sitting second with 5 games to go I would have thought that wildly optimistic.

[Crossbow]

We have won one trophy in the last 19 years - for a club like Aberdeen that is poor - we have just lost in a semi final in part becuase the team were not hungry enough in the second half - seeing Jack and Pawlett in particular jog back to defend too often and indeed the lack of pressure the whole team can generate on the opposition - the side that beat Celtic just didn't appear.

 

Don't know why - but the players need to give themselves a damn good shake - they aren't so good wthey can win without trying and given the next cup conmpetitions will have the gruesome twosome (though not too worried about the blue bigots at present) we may be waiting quite a while before we get such a good chance again.

 

I'm delighted we won the diddy cup - annoyed as hell we weren't fired up the big one. We should be setting better standards.

 

Good old plucky St Jonhstone - well they and Stevie May stuffed us and made a fool of us - we got what we deserved for a lacklustre display - and a display well below what we are capable of.

[rossafc92]

Similar feeling to many here in that I'm not as gutted as I have been in previous semi-final defeats. From a personal point of view, defeat at the semi-final stage meant another chance had been spurned for me to experience, properly, my first final. That was rectified and more with the League Cup this year. The overriding feeling about yesterday is that it's a shame to have missed an opportunity to have a go at doing a historic double. Disappointed but not despondent.

 

I'm not it total agreement about St Johnstone wanting the game more. It was a tactical change that, in the main, cost us the game yesterday - that being Tommy Wright changing to a 4-3-3. People have rightfully pointed out that we lacked a plan B. Without Hayes, it means we lack a game-changer, or at least one of Pawlett or Robson for example to be left on the bench to then be that 'game-changer'. Contrary to what many in the media and at other clubs might think, we're not blessed with strength in depth. We had players on the bench yesterday who have had a lot of game time, but don't offer too much that is different to what was already on the park. Credit to Tommy Wright for being able to recognise that. I don't believe that St Johnstone won yesterday because they wanted it more.

[Don Fonte]

Was gutted after the game. Numbed the pain with a huge amount of alcohol in various pubs as I made my way home from our supporters club drop off point in central Edinburgh. Normally a 15 walk home took about 5 hours. Some funny looks from the natives as I sung about McGinn on the stagger home.

 

Woke up this morning terribly hungover and still pretty damn gutted. On the whole great season if we can secure second place.

 

Positives - Mcginn looked back to his best in spells. If he buries that header I think we win game and he cruises man of the match. Thought we played well first half in general.

 

Negatives - though Considine was terrible, never a full back. When Robson ran out of steam at about 60 minutes we stopped playing. I think we badly needed a fresh pair of legs, guess it shows how much faith our manager has in the guys on bench. I'd have brought on Low probably. It shows how light our squad is in depth.

 

In summer I guess Vernon, Zola (if we can manage), Magennis, Tate, Logan (would keep but can see him heading back to England) and Low will go. If they all go and we get a right back, left back, attacking midfielder and a striker in I'd be happy, plus take Shankland back.

[Crossbow]

 

 

I'm not it total agreement about St Johnstone wanting the game more. It was a tactical change that, in the main, cost us the game yesterday - that being Tommy Wright changing to a 4-3-3. People have rightfully pointed out that we lacked a plan B..... I don't believe that St Johnstone won yesterday because they wanted it more.

Agree we lack variability - Low for Jack or Pawlett could have brought more energy to the midfield which was sorely lacking.

 

We did not track back as hard as we have done - seeing Pawlett jogging gently back to centre mid whilst the game zips past him is not what we should be seeing.

 

Finally Stevie May wanted it more than Ryan Jack.

 

We lost.

 

We deserved to.

 

We shouldn't have.

[StandFree1982]

We can't, won't and shouldn't expect to win every game. I'm disappointed, but this wasn't even close to some of the previous semi final defeats where we had a team of bottlers where we didn't even look like winning the game.

 

The game could have went either way with the chances that were created by both teams. It went to St Johnstone because they just wanted it more on the day, or rather Stevie May wanted it more!

 

Roll on next season. We've got a great platform to build from so hopefully we can add to that in the summer and give us a good depth of squad that should see us challenging for Trophies again next season.

 

Congrats to St Johnstone though. They probably deserved it more than us over the course of the game. I hope you pump the Tangerine bastards next month.

[Tord31]

It was a big opportunity missed for this team to be one of the greatest ever AFC's team. End of the day when you really think about it they probably do come up short (obviously) and shows although we have plenty to build on we are far from the finished article.

 

Gutted now to see that for instance if United were to go undefeated next six games. United are the team of the season McNamara is manager of the year. End of. That is the way the cookie crumbles. The difference between a header going either side of the post.

 

Talk of McInnes getting an 'Old Firm' job or english premiership post can be put to rest for the forseeable - hopefully not a bad thing.

[Crossbow]

Hate to bring Fergie to the we done alright this season party - but he'd be raging at the attitude of the fans who say they've had a good season and it's onwards and upwards - why - we just lost. We got kicked out of the cup - who cares if we got to a semi final if all we do is fail there.

 

Nothing in football is guaranteed - you have to go out and play every minute as if it isa your last chance. For some of those players yesterday it will have been and they might not be simply the more senior members of the squad.

 

The sheep were not on fire - the sheep were eaten,

 

The "Who the fuck is Stevie May?" chant sums up the crowds and players attitude.

 

We got to eat that chant by the end of the game alright.

 

I hope the right people learn.

 

19 years of recent history does not make me optimistic.

[StandFree1982]

Onwards and upwards because there is fuck all we can do about the defeat now! Would you rather we just spent the next few months dwelling on a defeat? or we learn from it and kick on?

[Tord31]

For me one positive from not winning the double is our target for next season remains the same but the media and the '1 game in 10 seasons' merchants won't be in on it. No Alex Smith town house moment of 'next season the treble!!' and the sack within 18 months.

 

The target is simply:

 

AFC to challenge for the league title with the end result of winning the title or finishing within 10 points of the winners.

 

There will be no additional pressure than the pressure we put on ourselves for at least the first 3-4 months of the season.

 

Any cunts who think the target is shit can GTF. We will try our best and we will try to win every competition we enter but the end of the day the 'closing the gap' target is our focus for next year it is not a defeatist attitude but it is what is required to propel us forward and maintain what has been started.

[boboisared]

Hopefully one day we're looking back on this weekend with great hindsight that losing this game was a blessing in disguise.

 

It shows much more work is to be done and that we need some more depth to the squad.

[StandFree1982]

Every game we go into we should be looking at winning. With that in mind, the league should be a target. We won't win every game as there will always be off days, slip ups or the other team was "better" but we've got to have it in our minds that we are capable of beating anyone on the day and this should be the mantra before EVERY game.

[Crossbow]

Onwards and upwards because there is fuck all we can do about the defeat now! Would you rather we just spent the next few months dwelling on a defeat? or we learn from it and kick on?

 

Learn from as I said - learn why it happened and make the changes to players attitudes (and if they cant change get rid) and to the options available. There is nothing we can do about it except rue the lost glorious chance to do a cup double. It is good we won a cup this year and the team is playing better but these chances don't come round too often and it is gutting that we blew it. Watching the game yesterday one team and one set of fans really wanted it more than the other - I just hope that glorious day at Parkhead is not all we have to show for a good squad with a competent manager.

 

We will lose, all teams do - to win consistently we need winners, people who are gutted at the idea of losing, who work every second they have to win - I didn't see enough of those yesterday - so yes we will will again but the frequency depends both on ability but also desire. I'm sure everyone in the squad wanted to win the cup - I'm sure all the fans did - but as you'll have noted from the comments they are by and large happy with the season and satisfied. We lost the Scottish Cup yesterday. We didn't screw our courage to the sticking place and close the wall up with our Aberdeen dead. We lost - we gave 95% when they gave 100 because giving 100% really hurts.

 

To all the folk who say they are pleased we didn't win the Scottish Cup - what genuinely are you expecting us to win next season (or indeed the season after that) that is bigger than that?

 

Get a grip.

[tightbreeks]

I've always liked a toe punt finish, very romario.

 

we still shoulda, coulda, woulda won that.

[Hewitt1983]

 

To all the folk who say they are pleased we didn't win the Scottish Cup - what genuinely are you expecting us to win next season (or indeed the season after that) that is bigger than that?

 

Get a grip.

 

No-one is saying that.

 

I think if anyone needs to get a grip it's you.

 

I'm gutted we lost yesterday, it's a massive opportunity missed. However, all I am saying is that I'm optimistic for the future.

 

You know they are running this competition again next year. You're acting like it was our last opportunity to win it or something

[rossafc92]

Hate to bring Fergie to the we done alright this season party - but he'd be raging at the attitude of the fans who say they've had a good season and it's onwards and upwards - why - we just lost. We got kicked out of the cup - who cares if we got to a semi final if all we do is fail there.

 

Nothing in football is guaranteed - you have to go out and play every minute as if it isa your last chance. For some of those players yesterday it will have been and they might not be simply the more senior members of the squad.

 

The sheep were not on fire - the sheep were eaten,

 

The "Who the fuck is Stevie May?" chant sums up the crowds and players attitude.

 

We got to eat that chant by the end of the game alright.

 

I hope the right people learn.

 

19 years of recent history does not make me optimistic.

 

 

Learn from as I said - learn why it happened and make the changes to players attitudes (and if they cant change get rid) and to the options available. There is nothing we can do about it except rue the lost glorious chance to do a cup double. It is good we won a cup this year and the team is playing better but these chances don't come round too often and it is gutting that we blew it. Watching the game yesterday one team and one set of fans really wanted it more than the other - I just hope that glorious day at Parkhead is not all we have to show for a good squad with a competent manager.

 

We will lose, all teams do - to win consistently we need winners, people who are gutted at the idea of losing, who work every second they have to win - I didn't see enough of those yesterday - so yes we will will again but the frequency depends both on ability but also desire. I'm sure everyone in the squad wanted to win the cup - I'm sure all the fans did - but as you'll have noted from the comments they are by and large happy with the season and satisfied. We lost the Scottish Cup yesterday. We didn't screw our courage to the sticking place and close the wall up with our Aberdeen dead. We lost - we gave 95% when they gave 100 because giving 100% really hurts.

 

To all the folk who say they are pleased we didn't win the Scottish Cup - what genuinely are you expecting us to win next season (or indeed the season after that) that is bigger than that?

 

Get a grip.

 

How, exactly, does the feelings expressed by fans on an internet chat forum impact on the way the manager and players view yesterday and how they go about the rest of this season and into next? I'm pretty sure in '83 a lot of fans will have expressed similar sentiment had we lost the Scottish Cup Final to Rangers just after Gothenburg, but that wouldn't have changed Fergie's outlook.

 

I'll agree, to an extent, on the Stevie May chants. Of course it was going to come back and bite us at some point, but prior to his first goal he was having a stinker. Almost every touch he took or pass he made was to a red shirt or out for a throw-in or goal-kick. The stick seemed to be working. It's only a bit of banter, anyway. I don't think we'll be singing it again, though.

 

But the fans didn't 'fail' yesterday, the team and management did - but it's understandable. They were outdone by a tactical switch by the opposition. You can pinpoint certain areas where St Johnstone looked like they 'wanted' it more, but I don't think that was what the game was won and lost on. It's the first proper disappointment we've endured under McInnes and Docherty, and it's come with them in the job for over a year. It is pretty good going, and in the context of where we've been for the past few years, this has been a good season, will be a great one should we finish second, and will be one that most of us look back fondly on.

 

Nobody will actually be pleased we were knocked out yesterday - surely you realise that? Some people prefer to deal with defeat by trying to conjure some sort of silver-lining, others prefer to dwell on it. Whichever one you or I choose will not have an effect on the rest of this season or next.