High's and Lows of a busy week

Aberdeen had 2 games the week the 1st being away to Alloa in the CIS Scottish League Cup.

Aberdeen dominated the game and got a well deserved 3-0 victory but at a cost.

Thanks to the artificial pitch Fraser Fyvie caught his studs and damaged knee ligaments.

He will now miss the rest of the season.

I was happy with the result, we never looked in trouble and controlled the game which is a nice change for Aberdeen against lower league teams.

Then onto todays game against Killie at Pittodrie.

With Aberdeen riding high and Killie struggling you would have thought that Aberdeen would have walked this game. But it was a tight affair which either team could have won, In the end Killie got the goal in the 93rd minute.

I was very disappointed but not angry, the did not play great but atleast battled. The real test will be bouncing back in the next game.

I feel the result could be a blow to Mcghee as I think he was probably in the running for August manager of the month.

Stand Free!

The 2 sides of Aberdeen

Last season there were 2 sides to Aberdeen, the team that battled and won and the team that gave up and lost. And normally both teams played a half each game. This season we have seen both sides of Aberdeen. The side with flair which ripped apart Hamiltion last week, and the team that grind. They played against a well organised Saint Johnstone team today and did not give up trying to get that winner. They were rewarded in the 86th minute with a Darren Mackie goal.

Last season they would have given up or made a stupid mistake to let Saint Johnstone score a goal but the defence stayed tight and they kept pushing.

I will admit that when I saw that Hearts had won 4-0 earlier against Hamilton I did wonder if Hamilton had made us look good last week. But after the performance in a game that pre season I had said I would settle for a draw my doubts were put aside.

Mark Mcghee has taken another step in giving me faith that he is the man for the job.

Stand Free!

Hamilton pay the penalty

It was a must win game, with season ticket sales down and many fans losing faith in Mark mcghee nothing less than a victory would do.

People just looking at the stats will say 3 penalties that's why we won but Aberdeen run the Hamilton defence ragged Aluko and Pawlett were using their pace and Mensing and Jack could not handle them, Aluko won 2 of the 3 penalties.

Paul Hartley took on the captains role by taking responsibility at the penalties, scoring all 3 and getting a deserved if not unusual debut hat trick. I was pleased with the team performance. there was not one player who was not trying or was not playing well. There was not one time the commentator said the word we heard so often last year, and the mistake by (insert Aberdeen players name) that led to the goal.

Howard in goal did well when called upon and even set up a few chanced with his long range kicks.

The defence looked solid which builds confidence amongst the whole team.

I am not Mark Mcghee's biggest fan, well thats not true, I like Mark Mcghee for what he achieved here as a player but said many times last season he was out of his depth. I had no confidence he could turn us around. I am not completely won over after 1 game even though it was 4-0 but this went along way towards Manager Mcghee winning me over.

I am not proud and I would love him to prove me wrong in my assessment of him after last season.

My only worry now is can they stand the pressure, no one expected much from the team, but after this performance and result, many people will be putting pressure on them to play like this week in week out. they have set the standards, now they must keep those standards.

Stand Free

New Season

Well the World cup is over and now we are back to the bread and butter of the Scottish Premier League.

Aberdeen have had an abysmal pre season but people keep saying it is the real games that count, So we shall see.

I am very pleased with the signing of Paul Hartley, I think he can be a good Captain, at least he does not have any big shoes to fill. I also think he will bring some bite that we were missing last season to our midfield.

I do not know enough about our other signing to have much of an opinion yet.

I hope that we can get off to a good start tomorrow because a loss against Hamilton at home is only going to put pressure on Mcghee and the team after the season they had last year.

Darren Mackie has being banging in the goals in my Football Manager game so hopefully that is an omen, but more than likely, like the game itself it is just a fantasy.

So come on Aberdeen give the home fans something to cheer about for a change and give us a great start to the season.

Stand Free