Match Thread Motherwell 1 - 3 Aberdeen

[DelMonte]

King Kenny was superb.

[BWG]

Just read the match report on the bbc site

 

Rooney has never been a player you would accuse of diving - but did he 'anticipate contact' to earn his side a penalty?

 

Samson spilled a long shot and as he scrambled for the ball he dived at the feet of Rooney, who went down, and referee Bobby Madden pointed to the spot.

 

Rooney took it himself, Samson saved and spilled again, but the forward was there to fire the rebound into the roof of the net.

 

Keith Lasley then went down under challenge from Mark Reynolds - another penalty, and this one looked more convincing.

Holy fuck like.

[robbojunior]

You mean the one where they conceded a goal?

Yes. What should our 6'5" defender have done differently?

 

Edit: nae trying to be contrary, just seems overly critical to me when it was just one of those moments of good improvisation that there's nae much you can do about.

[King Street Loon]

You like individual sentences and full stops min. :-)

I was pished, so it was the best i could do at the time.

[muttonhumper]

I was pished, so it was the best i could do at the time.

 

Good effort.

 

I was too pished to speak properly at that time, never mind form coherent and legible comments via keyboard or autre device.

[King Street Loon]

Are you confident it won't? Because I'm not.

No I'm not.

Don't think he can help himself and will over think it as he always does.

[BWG]

Yes. What should our 6'5" defender have done differently?

Edit: nae trying to be contrary, just seems overly critical to me when it was just one of those moments of good improvisation that there's nae much you can do about.

I'm not blaming only Taylor but for me it's poor defending. The cross is coming in and we have three defenders around McDonald ball watching. Taylor waits far too long to pick up McDonald and then when he does make his move he runs in behind him and gets dinked. It was a well taken goal but McDonald gets far too much space and time in our box.

[DD1903]

^ Shinnie was marking mcdonald, with Taylor and Logan watching the other two well players in the box. So, I'd put the blame on shinnie and not Taylor.

 

It was quite the finish though

[Dave Bus]

Rooney still not looking dangerous, Boyce in January please

[dave_min]

^ Shinnie was marking mcdonald, with Taylor and Logan watching the other two well players in the box. So, I'd put the blame on shinnie and not Taylor.

 

It was quite the finish though

There was a massive Jack shaped gap for the goal. Hardly his fault for getting binned.

[RAZOR]

Since the international break. McTim, RooDawg and Hayes have started together twice.

 

Yon 5-1 against Killie and last necht.

[KidCreole]

Was so happy to see Shinnie score fuck knows he tries

[rossafc92]

That was much more like it from the Dons last night. Wasn't convinced with the first half performance, but there was an assurance about the second 45 which was classic McInnes.

 

Some observations. Negatives first.

 

• Ash Taylor: rag-dolled by McDonald (who, by the way, could do a very good job for us still IMO) for most of the evening. Think he lost out on almost every contested header. Looked a total bombscare every time the ball came near him.
• Rooney: still just doesn't seem to be there at times. Had much more influence on the match than in recent weeks, however thought his penalty summed him up a bit at the moment. Hopefully he gets some confidence from still managing to score.

 

• Joe Lewis: a rock. What a great signing he has been. Depite Ash giving me the fear for most of the night, Lewis had a commanding and comfortable evening.
• Midfield: excellent, second half in particular. Something just clicked (perhaps the absence of Maddison). Kenny McLean in particular was absolutely superb. Ryan Jack had his best game for a while and Shinnie was everywhere.
• McGinn and Hayes: should always be starting together. Keeping them in the team along with Rooney means the goals should return for him. Hayes had one of those evenings where he was unstoppable. Thought McGinn played a clever game winning fouls. Cracking finish for the 3rd goal.

 

Overall, a very satisfying win last night. Felt more like a McInnes performance of the 13/14 and 14/15 season. Need to see more of that. Win the next two and I'll be confident of us having emerged from a really poor 3-4 weeks.

[Dunty]

Rooney still not looking dangerous, Boyce in January please

Despite all the sitters Boyce missed last night in their game?

[The Village Seagull]

That was much more like it from the Dons last night. Wasn't convinced with the first half performance, but there was an assurance about the second 45 which was classic McInnes.

 

Some observations. Negatives first.

 

• Ash Taylor: rag-dolled by McDonald (who, by the way, could do a very good job for us still IMO) for most of the evening. Think he lost out on almost every contested header. Looked a total bombscare every time the ball came near him.
• Rooney: still just doesn't seem to be there at times. Had much more influence on the match than in recent weeks, however thought his penalty summed him up a bit at the moment. Hopefully he gets some confidence from still managing to score.

 

• Joe Lewis: a rock. What a great signing he has been. Depite Ash giving me the fear for most of the night, Lewis had a commanding and comfortable evening.
• Midfield: excellent, second half in particular. Something just clicked (perhaps the absence of Maddison). Kenny McLean in particular was absolutely superb. Ryan Jack had his best game for a while and Shinnie was everywhere.
• McGinn and Hayes: should always be starting together. Keeping them in the team along with Rooney means the goals should return for him. Hayes had one of those evenings where he was unstoppable. Thought McGinn played a clever game winning fouls. Cracking finish for the 3rd goal.

 

Overall, a very satisfying win last night. Felt more like a McInnes performance of the 13/14 and 14/15 season. Need to see more of that. Win the next two and I'll be confident of us having emerged from a really poor 3-4 weeks.

 

I must agree with you regarding the 13/14 & 14/15 bits. It did feel a bit "vintage" so to speak. Might have been the experienced line up or every player in the team actually knowing what their role is on the night. We are far much better with McGinn and Hayes on the wings. We also play a lot better on the counter attack than trying to "manage" the game. A few times last night we invited Motherwell on to us and attacked at pace on the break. Our third reminded me a lot of McLean's second against Inverness with Hayes breaking at pace. In fact Jonny does this quite a lot and is at his best when against a backtracking, tired defence.

 

Although we rode our luck at times last night, it was a lot more pleasing on the eye and we played really well. I feel like we have got a lot our momentum back after last night and I am really upbeat going into the next couple of games.

[tightbreeks]

Great win. Twenty odd shots on goal is more like it.

 

2 bits from the highlights. Considine? #4 just after the penalty save when the ba' was pinging around, he sort of went like a diplodocus and half kicked with his standing leg. Looked mad.

 

Johnny Hayes stealing the ball for the third. Ouch.

[strachanmcgheegoal]

Taylor did seem to deal better with the unique challenge (read cheating hoor) that was Scott Macdonald than O'Connor.

[shut up meg]

We needed that, my enthusiasm was on the floor.

Not only was it a win, it was a good game to watch.

The likes of Regan, other prick and the media in general run our game down but last nights game was a belter to watch.

[The Lighthouse]

I agree with most earlier comments - good performance overall and deserved winners. Even diehard `Well fans must accept that.

 

Joe Lewis has been a terrific signing but to say he is our "best ever keeper" is stretching it.

 

Ash Taylor - deary me...

 

McLean - much better but lets consider his performances over the last 2 years rather than one match. Still not convinced.

 

Shinnie - what a player and attitude. I have been crying out for him to be playing at LB but on that form in midfield he is tremendous (out of his natural position).

 

Hayes - again, much better than recent matches. On his day he is almost unplayable.

 

Rooney - poor penalty but good awareness to follow up and finish the job. I did think he performed better than of late.

 

McGinn - I`m struggling to remember how effective he was overall but his goal was classic (after tremendous work by Hayes).

 

If he is going I will not lose too much sleep. I always felt that one game in every 7 or 8 he was brilliant and the rest of the time he was average or poor. His goals a few years ago under Brown were the main highlight of his career with the Dons. We should thank him for that contribution alone (plus first half at Tynecastle last year - superb performance).

 

Merry Xmas to all fellow Dandies.

[KingswellsRed]

 

McGinn - I`m struggling to remember how effective he was overall but his goal was classic (after tremendous work by Hayes).

 

If he is going I will not lose too much sleep. I always felt that one game in every 7 or 8 he was brilliant and the rest of the time he was average or poor. His goals a few years ago under Brown were the main highlight of his career with the Dons. We should thank him for that contribution alone (plus first half at Tynecastle last year - superb performance).

.

Sorry but I cannot agree with this. Mcginn and Hayes are the two most important players in our team. The difference when even one is missing is very noticeable. The last two games they both started were the 3-1 at Motherwell and the 5-1 against Kilmarnock. Also prior to that they both started during the 6 game winning run in September/October. To me it is no coincidence results were much poorer when Hayes was injured at the beginning of the league season and then again when Mcginn was benched recently.

[BungleJungle]

This ^ with fookin bells on. McGinn is invaluble an anyone who cant see that is a dumb ass

[Zander1903]

McGinn is the only 1 of the out of contract players i'd be gutted to lose