Jump to content
aberdeen-music

2017/18 Football Season Thread


Eupraxia

Recommended Posts

These threads sometimes begin with pithy debates about what constitutes the end of one football season and the start of the next. My post is primarily regarding season 2017/18, so I think it's relevant to start this thread.

Before I post anything about the English Premier League, which is usually the focus of these threads, I wanted to opine on, y'know, the most popular team local to this forum.

I think Aberdeen are in for a relatively difficult season, with the management team looking very likely to move on to more fiscally rewarding pastures, along with several players. Not squad players: key players. The McInnes and Docherty team will be painfully missed. Two driven inividuals who complement one another effectively; McInnes, in particular, presents himself as very astute in terms of selecting teams and assessing opponents in accordance with the vicissitudes of the season (or individual match), and always seems to say pertinent and worthwhile things in the media. A talented football manager with lots of potential; I hope he does well wherever he manages...unless he winds up at Rangers at some point. Then he can get (royally) fucked.

I think a move to Celtic will be great for Jonny Hayes. He deserves the opportunity to make some proper cash, as he's really developed his game over the past four years. He won't play very often for Celtic, which is the most frustrating part for me, but I think he'll register enough games for silverware. Fair play to him. Plus Celtic are weakening their most recent primary adversaries, an opinion which is as cynical as it is true.

Niall McGinn will be a substantial loss. Putting Celtic to one side, Aberdeen are losing the most compelling and threatening wingers in the country. That is going to hurt. I can't see Aberdeen recruiting two equally consistent and effective wingers, let alone one.

Ryan Jack. A very practical midfielder, excellent at receiving and retaining the ball in tight positions, and a good decision making leader. Another massive loss for Aberdeen, and again, I don't envision Aberdeen attracting a player of equal or higher calibre.

I always quite liked Peter Pawlett, and feel he was used relatively sparingly by McInnes last season, but McGinn and Hayes were dominantly consistent. Ironically, the forthcoming season could have been an excellent opportunity for Pawlett to make a real impression at Aberdeen. He rarely changed matches, but he provided some good moments. Will be missed by me, if nobody else.

Ash Taylor seemed to polarise the Aberdeen support, but I'm willing to bet that he has some of the best defensive statistics in the league last season. His technique is somewhat agricultural, but he is a courageous defender who will be difficult to replace. An option is to revert Considine to centre-back, and recruit a natural left-back, thus also keeping Graeme Shinnie in midfield, where he is usually outstanding at this level.

A lot of really important recruitment is required at Aberdeen over the summer. I think the club and fanbase should realistically expect to see the club finish fourth or fifth this coming season. Rangers are already stronger, I think Hibernian will impress in the top six, Hearts will probably find a little more consistency, and I also think St Johnstone will continue to operate in the top six. Given the personnel losses Aberdeen are incurring, next season will be a slog.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just dropped by to post about that! Excellent news. I trust McInnes to recruit intelligently, but still feel they will struggle to recruit to a standard equal or greater than what is departing. It's still brilliant to know they're staying put.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was reading some Tweets from Mackems earlier in the week, being annoyed that their 'big' club can't attract anyone of a higher calibre than McInnes, yet their supposedly smaller, inferior neighbouring club have a manager like Benitez, how they're doomed and destined for a consecutive relegation and that McInnes will be gone by Christmas. The same folk are now all raging that the McInnes deal has gone to pot.

That does please my irrational and rather baseless dislike of Sunderland. Shit club with shit fans who leave in droves as soon as they concede a goal. I hope they're right. A consecutive relegation would be a right laugh.

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2017-6-15 at 9:52 PM, Soda Jerk said:

That does please my irrational and rather baseless dislike of Sunderland. Shit club with shit fans who leave in droves as soon as they concede a goal. I hope they're right. A consecutive relegation would be a right laugh.

I'd really love them to do a Portsmouth - tumble all the way down the pyramid, then just rot down there forever. Not go out of existence entirely, as I'm sure there is a section of their support that isn't comprised entirely of dopes and weirdos, but far enough away for us to never have to play them in a league game again. They're a shambles, and I don't even take joy in their plight anymore.

They issued this mess of a statement the other day: https://www.safc.com/news/club-news/2017/june/update-on-manager-position

Ellis Short has been terrible for them, and any incoming board would obviously want "their guy" in the dugout, but the timing of this is just crazy to me. Entering a months-long takeover process during the most pivotal period of time in your club's recent history - a time that demands strong, assertive decision-making? Cool.

They're sleepwalking themselves into oblivion. I remember in January, when the board revealed there'd be no significant transfer budget, and Moyes said they wouldn't sign anyone who'd "make a difference." It's like they're perfectly cognisant of their situation, but don't want to do anything about it. Moyes had an air of defeat about him from the moment he walked in, and it got worse throughout the season. Now, the seemingly outgoing board are in the process of completely botching their new season, and if they stick around, there's no chance of the next manager being given a decent transfer budget.

With all that in mind, I'm not surprised McInnes said "no." Sounds like a disastrous environment at the moment. Definitely a tough season ahead for Aberdeen, though. Hayes' qualities are obvious, and I'm a big fan of Ryan Jack too, even though much of the support turned on him as soon as he became captain. I think McGinn will be the toughest to replace. He was inconsistent, and probably not quite as important to the team as a Jack or Hayes, but he was about the only non-Celtic player in the league capable of changing a game entirely on his own. If I were a PFM, I'd say something about "a little bit of magic." Very, very difficult to sign a player with his qualities on an SPFL budget.

Edited by Murrr
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I felt a bit sorry for Moyes in the end, even though I probably shouldn't have, as he was daft to go for that job to begin with, as there was no chance he would succeed. Glad he didn't just roll over and stay with them. It sounded like he was going to, but then ended up giving them the two fingers. Good on him.

He probably needs some time out for a while. Since leaving Everton, Moyes has had the look of a man who won the lottery, bet it all on one horse - the staggeringly obviously wrong horse - and lost. He bet it all on Fellaini, spiralled downwards in emphatic fashion, followed by disastrous campaigns with Sociedad and Sunderland. Two jobs he never should have touched. Who would even give him a job now?

Probably Sunderland.

He should have done what Brendan Rodgers is doing now, as he was linked with the Celtic job numerous times after he got binned by United. Rodgers is Football Manager personified, space-barring his way through the season with about 40% of his attention, fielding whoever is above 90% fitness and sticking to one tactic. The 'being better at football' tactic that he downloaded from another manager. That could have been poor, sorry Moyesy. Rebuilding his shattered managerial rep by reigning in the easiest of trophies, whilst having one or two gutsy performances in the Champions League against the big boys. That's what he needed, but instead he walked the proverbial plank. Going to a country where he couldn't speak to his own players, and then taking the job nobody else wanted.

In a few years, Rodgers will waltz back in to an top job in England or perhaps abroad (he might even be considered for an NT) with several medals around his neck, I'm sure, whilst Moyes will be slugging away at some relegation fodder in the Championship, continually reeling off his bemused "I don't know what we have to do to win" line, as his side just hopelessly hammer crosses in to the box.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So Celtic have drawn Linfield in QR2 of the Champions' League (providing Linfield get past a San Marino club side in QR1), with the first leg looking like being in Belfast on 12th July. I'm sure that will pass without incident, of course.

Aberdeen have drawn either a Kazakh side (again...) or a Bosnian side. Both probably quite horrible trips. Let's hope we can sign some players before then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Celtic for the treble again. So ahead of the rest, especially with the - admittedly, cynical - signing of Jonny Hayes. Please don't @ me re: budgets, I just don't care. I'd like to see us get decent cover for Gordon as de Vries just isn't good enough and despite how good Gordon's been, I can't help but worry about him picking up injuries. I've become increasingly worried about Dembélé heading off so a decent striker is probably near the top of the list. I'm sad to see Roberts go, but that was inevitable. It'd be good to see Johnstone getting more first team action in his place.

I'm pretty certain that Caixinha is currently doing what's known as "a Le Guen". It was obvious Rangers needed an overhaul but has the man not played FM? Too many players at once is bad, man! Still, getting shot of "we've got" Joey Garner was probably a master stroke and I don't know what'll happen to Waghorn but I genuinely hope he stays. He's hilarious.

I think Aberdeen and Hearts are decent bets for 2nd. McInnes just gets the league. He recruits well and it'd be interesting to see if he'd go for a player like O'Halloran or Mackay-Steven to bolster the sparse midfield. As for Hearts, if they get players like Calum Paterson playing again and, I hate to say this, a goal scorer like Kyle Lafferty on board then it's hard to see them not chalking up points more often than they don't.

Genuinely gutted that Accies didn't go down. 

 

As for non-Scottish stuff, the situation at Real Madrid is genuinely interesting. Does Mbappé's fee only become realistic if Ronaldo actually leaves? And if Ronaldo does go back to Man Utd, is the Mourinho-Ronny relationship likely to last? Are paragraphs constructed mostly of rhetorical questions annoying to read? 

 

Anyway, football: pretty good, imo 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, waltz said:

 

I think Aberdeen and Hearts are decent bets for 2nd. McInnes just gets the league. He recruits well and it'd be interesting to see if he'd go for a player like O'Halloran or Mackay-Steven to bolster the sparse midfield. As for Hearts, if they get players like Calum Paterson playing again and, I hate to say this, a goal scorer like Kyle Lafferty on board then it's hard to see them not chalking up points more often than they don't.

 

Paterson's gone to Cardiff. Mackay-Steven would be a good signing on a free if Aberdeen could keep him fit!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2017-6-15 at 9:52 PM, Soda Jerk said:

That does please my irrational and rather baseless dislike of Sunderland. Shit club with shit fans who leave in droves as soon as they concede a goal. I hope they're right. A consecutive relegation would be a right laugh.

Long post ahead - don't read it.

I'd really love them to do a Portsmouth - tumble all the way down the pyramid, then just rot down there forever. Not go out of existence entirely, as I'm sure there is a section of their support that isn't comprised entirely of dopes and weirdos, but for enough away for us to never have to play them in a league game again. They're a shambles, and I don't even take joy in their plight anymore.

They issued this mess of a statement the other day: https://www.safc.com/news/club-news/2017/june/update-on-manager-position

Ellis Short has been terrible for them, and any incoming board would obviously want "their guy" in the dugout, but the timing of this is just crazy to me. Entering a months-long takeover process during the most pivotal period of time in your club's recent history - a time that demands strong, assertive decision-making? Cool.

They're sleepwalking themselves into oblivion. I remember in January, when the board revealed there'd be no significant transfer budget, and Moyes said they wouldn't sign anyone who'd "make a difference." It's like they're perfectly cognisant of their situation, but don't want to do anything about it. Moyes had an air of defeat about him from the moment he walked in, and it got worse throughout the season. Now, the seemingly outgoing board are in the process of completely botching their new season, and if they stick around, there's no chance of the next manager being given a decent transfer budget.

Anyone, enough about those wretched cunts.

Interesting season ahead for Newcastle. Our squad isn't even close to good enough (personally, I don't even think we had the strongest group of players in the Championship last season), but we can't afford to do what we did last summer and turn 40-45 players over. We made a slow start to the league campaign as a direct result of that, and those lost points will be much harder to reclaim in the Premier League.

I feel like Rafa's brand of football will fare better against the PL's superior opposition, though. Last season's greatest struggles came when teams parked the bus and shut us out. Our system is quite reactive, and relies on staying disciplined while opposing teams attack, before moving forward and capitalising on any holes the leave behind. Obviously, teams will be more inclined to do that against us in the Premier League, which will probably see the squad overachieve somewhat.

Think we'll finish somewhere between 12-15th. For my money, we need a goalkeeper, centre back, left back, central midfielder, attacking midfielder, and left winger, plus a couple of extra bodies for the squad. A left flank of Dummett and Atsu/Gouffran won't cut it at this level. Shelvey needs a beefy partner who'll sit back during his forays. Happy to give Gayle a shot up front, as he was averaging a goal every 95 minutes (or something daft) in the Champ.

As long as we don't get relegated again, I'm happy tbh.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

So, is this Neymar to PSG for £250,000,000,000,000,000,000 really happening? It sounds like it is.

And why? Playing for arguably the most prestigious club in the world, part of what is currently the best attack in the world, to then move to a weaker league. Is it all about the £££? Though he's probably already one of the top earners in the game where he is. PSG, even with Neymar, are still less likely to win the Champions League than Barca, so it can't be for a better chance of that.

It makes zero sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fair point, but I still don't think him being the best player at PSG will dislodge Messi and Ronaldo as #1 and #2 in the world in the next few years. PSG would have to win the Champions League, and he'd have guide Brazil to victory in a Russia next year. Neither of those seem too likely. Barca and Madrid are still better sides. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Soda Jerk said:

Fair point, but I still don't think him being the best player at PSG will dislodge Messi and Ronaldo as #1 and #2 in the world in the next few years. PSG would have to win the Champions League, and he'd have guide Brazil to victory in a Russia next year. Neither of those seem too likely. Barca and Madrid are still better sides. 

I totally agree, but it probably gives him some focus. Also he will likely think that he'll 'slay' in the French league (as the kids say).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...