On Friday I woke up to the news that Paul Hartley had retired from the game to concentrate on getting his coaching badges and move into management.
For a while the talk has been that Paul no longer had the legs for top level football, but you could see the football brain working as he directed the players around him.
I think Paul made the correct decision and would love to see him stay on as a coach but listening to the interviews he is looking at becoming the main man, even if it means getting his hands dirty in the lower leagues.
Hartley was one of those players you loved to hate when he played against you, but that is a credit to him as like our own Willie Miller he was a fighter and went in hard for every ball and his own fans loved him while our rivals hated him.
I am sure all Aberdeen fans as well as Scotland Fans and the fans of the clubs who have been lucky enough to have Paul in their ranks over the last 17 years will join me in wishing Paul all the best for the future.
Today the news was Jamie Langfield has signed a new one year contract, my thoughts are yes Jamie makes mistakes but which keeper does not.
The ones who make very few mistakes cost millions, Jamie is one of the best keepers outside the old firm in the SPL.
There are other area's of the team that need new players brought in before our goal keeper.
Saying that if we move on Howard and bring in a decent back up, who knows what might happen, maybe that's why it is only a one year deal.
I am one Aberdeen fan happy to see Jamie stay.
Stand Free
Showing posts with label Paul Hartley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paul Hartley. Show all posts
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Aberdeen Stop Hearts
I said in my previous blog that I would be happy with a draw from today's game with Hearts, but after the game I think we had enough chances to win the game and the Hearts Keeper kept them in it.
People who don't follow the game never get it when I say you can get a good nil nil draw, but this was one of those games. It was far from a bore and Aberdeen were constantly looking dangerous and even though we were never really in any danger Hearts did get a break away now and again and look dangerous.
I felt a bit sorry for Young who has played well in recent weeks and was dropped to the bench for Hartley to come back into the starting line up.
I was pleased with Andrew Considine who came in to replace the injured Zander Diamond, in my opinion Zander has been a liability this season and may struggle to get back in the team if the defence keep performing like they did today. I know going by reading what people are saying on Donstalk that I am not alone in thinking it would not hurt Aberdeen if Zander was to move on at the end of the season.
The point puts us level on points with Dundee United and Saint Johnstone, Dundee United who as I write this are down 1-0 to Hamilton and Saint Johnstone who play Rangers on Sunday and have a very slim chance of coming away from Ibrox with anything.
We play both teams over the next 9 days.
So apart from the Celtic game which a win would have been a bonus the only real blip in February was the defeat to Motherwell. If we had won that game Craig Brown might have been up there as a contender for Manager of the month.
Oh how times have changed from the dark days of 2010.
Stand Free
People who don't follow the game never get it when I say you can get a good nil nil draw, but this was one of those games. It was far from a bore and Aberdeen were constantly looking dangerous and even though we were never really in any danger Hearts did get a break away now and again and look dangerous.
I felt a bit sorry for Young who has played well in recent weeks and was dropped to the bench for Hartley to come back into the starting line up.
I was pleased with Andrew Considine who came in to replace the injured Zander Diamond, in my opinion Zander has been a liability this season and may struggle to get back in the team if the defence keep performing like they did today. I know going by reading what people are saying on Donstalk that I am not alone in thinking it would not hurt Aberdeen if Zander was to move on at the end of the season.
The point puts us level on points with Dundee United and Saint Johnstone, Dundee United who as I write this are down 1-0 to Hamilton and Saint Johnstone who play Rangers on Sunday and have a very slim chance of coming away from Ibrox with anything.
We play both teams over the next 9 days.
So apart from the Celtic game which a win would have been a bonus the only real blip in February was the defeat to Motherwell. If we had won that game Craig Brown might have been up there as a contender for Manager of the month.
Oh how times have changed from the dark days of 2010.
Stand Free
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Maguire makes Hamilton pay the Penalty
After a five star performance on Saturday against Kilmarnock, I thought today's game would be a hard battle.
Hamilton are scraping for points and I knew they would try to do anything in their power not to lose the game.
Chris Maguire calmly stepped up and took the penalty that turned out to be the only goal of the game.
After the way the team played on Saturday I was glad to see Paul Hartley did not walk straight back into the starting line up. The players that played on Saturday earned their start for tonight's game.
It was a nervous game at times and it sounded like Jamie Langfield once again made a few good saves to keep us in the lead.
The last five minutes Hamilton were really putting on the pressure but out defence stood strong and took the three points.
With fifteen points between us and bottom place Hamilton I think we can safely look up towards the teams we are chasing and not down at the relegation dog fight.
Craig brown has made us tough to beat and I look forward to Saturday's game against Hearts.
Hearts are going well at the moment and are running away with third place, it is going to be a tough game and I would be lying if I said I would not be happy to take a point from this game.
Stand Free
Hamilton are scraping for points and I knew they would try to do anything in their power not to lose the game.
Chris Maguire calmly stepped up and took the penalty that turned out to be the only goal of the game.
After the way the team played on Saturday I was glad to see Paul Hartley did not walk straight back into the starting line up. The players that played on Saturday earned their start for tonight's game.
It was a nervous game at times and it sounded like Jamie Langfield once again made a few good saves to keep us in the lead.
The last five minutes Hamilton were really putting on the pressure but out defence stood strong and took the three points.
With fifteen points between us and bottom place Hamilton I think we can safely look up towards the teams we are chasing and not down at the relegation dog fight.
Craig brown has made us tough to beat and I look forward to Saturday's game against Hearts.
Hearts are going well at the moment and are running away with third place, it is going to be a tough game and I would be lying if I said I would not be happy to take a point from this game.
Stand Free
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Aberdeen's Fantastic Five Killie off Kilmarnock.
This was always a potential banana skin of a game, Kilmarnock are a tough side to break down. Aberdeen have not really been playing well in recent weeks.
Scottie Vernon and Birthday Boy Sone Aluko had given us a nice cushion with only 25 minutes gone.
Rob Milsom looks like a great signing. I think we missed him on Tuesday night more than we have missed Paul Hartley when he was out suspended, we certainly never missed him today.
Was nice to see Big Josh Magennis getting his first SPL goal of the season. He certainly has the potential to be a big player for the Dons.
Chris Maguire and Rory McArdle also got on the Score sheet. McArdle has scored a few goals this season.
We were never really troubled by Kille and Jamie Langfield had very few saves to make.
This was a big win for us, a defeat today would make the top six almost impossible. What was more pleasing is this is not a team who are struggling down the bottom, Killie have done well and currently sit fourth in the SPL.
I said in the last blog that Craig Brown had to get the players playing like they were when he first arrived, and he did just that. 5-0 is our biggest win of the season and the whole team played well.
Aberdeen need to carry on the good work on Tuesday night when they play bottom of the table Hamilton.
This will be another tough game with Hamilton hoping to pull us back into the relegation dog fight.
I cannot see a massive crowd coming out for the game, especially if the weather conditions don't improve over the next few days, but hopefully we can play well despite the lack of atmosphere.
Stand Free
Scottie Vernon and Birthday Boy Sone Aluko had given us a nice cushion with only 25 minutes gone.
Rob Milsom looks like a great signing. I think we missed him on Tuesday night more than we have missed Paul Hartley when he was out suspended, we certainly never missed him today.
Was nice to see Big Josh Magennis getting his first SPL goal of the season. He certainly has the potential to be a big player for the Dons.
Chris Maguire and Rory McArdle also got on the Score sheet. McArdle has scored a few goals this season.
We were never really troubled by Kille and Jamie Langfield had very few saves to make.
This was a big win for us, a defeat today would make the top six almost impossible. What was more pleasing is this is not a team who are struggling down the bottom, Killie have done well and currently sit fourth in the SPL.
I said in the last blog that Craig Brown had to get the players playing like they were when he first arrived, and he did just that. 5-0 is our biggest win of the season and the whole team played well.
Aberdeen need to carry on the good work on Tuesday night when they play bottom of the table Hamilton.
This will be another tough game with Hamilton hoping to pull us back into the relegation dog fight.
I cannot see a massive crowd coming out for the game, especially if the weather conditions don't improve over the next few days, but hopefully we can play well despite the lack of atmosphere.
Stand Free
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The Honeymoon is Over as Dons are Well Done
Once again Aberdeen failed to win in front of their home fans, as they were defeated 2-1 by Motherwell.
These are the games we need to be winning if we are going to be getting into the top 6 this season.
It all started well with a cracking goal by comeback kid Sone Aluko after three minutes. Motherwell then got the equalizer from Francis Jeffers. Things got worse for Aberdeen when Paul Hartley was stupidly sent off.
I though the Motherwell player Lasley should also have been shown a red card, with is assault on Hartley,
He jumped into Paul and caught him with an elbow, how Stuart McCall could say it was not even a foul is a joke, of course McCall played along side Mark Elbow's Hateley so is used to seeing this type of thuggery on the field.
Motherwell were the better team but seem to have that nasty streak, even if Lasley was not sent off there were numerous others who could have been, the ref really lost the plot.
But for Aberdeen we need to get back on track starting with 3 points against Killie on Saturday, failing to do so could see us dragged back into the relegation battle.
Aberdeen have in reality been poor for the last month, they did not play well against Dunfermline or ICT even though they won and even against Celtic in the 2nd and 3rd games looked poor at times.
Craig Brown must now try and get the confidence back and get us back to playing like we were when he first arrived. So Craig the Honeymoon is over, get your finger out and get the team playing the way we all know they can.
Stand Free
These are the games we need to be winning if we are going to be getting into the top 6 this season.
It all started well with a cracking goal by comeback kid Sone Aluko after three minutes. Motherwell then got the equalizer from Francis Jeffers. Things got worse for Aberdeen when Paul Hartley was stupidly sent off.
I though the Motherwell player Lasley should also have been shown a red card, with is assault on Hartley,
He jumped into Paul and caught him with an elbow, how Stuart McCall could say it was not even a foul is a joke, of course McCall played along side Mark Elbow's Hateley so is used to seeing this type of thuggery on the field.
Motherwell were the better team but seem to have that nasty streak, even if Lasley was not sent off there were numerous others who could have been, the ref really lost the plot.
But for Aberdeen we need to get back on track starting with 3 points against Killie on Saturday, failing to do so could see us dragged back into the relegation battle.
Aberdeen have in reality been poor for the last month, they did not play well against Dunfermline or ICT even though they won and even against Celtic in the 2nd and 3rd games looked poor at times.
Craig Brown must now try and get the confidence back and get us back to playing like we were when he first arrived. So Craig the Honeymoon is over, get your finger out and get the team playing the way we all know they can.
Stand Free
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Vernon is Double Trouble for St Mirren
It seems so long ago that Aberdeen were sitting top of the SPL after the first two game of the season.
Since that first game against Hamilton till his last game in charge against Kilmarnock, Mark Mchgee only managed to get ten league points on the board.
With wins against Hibs, Hamilton and now St Mirren, and also the New Years Day draw against Dundee United, Craig Brown has now equaled that tally. That in itself is a remarkable turn around.
To be fair we have not played any of the top teams yet, we have beaten the teams who were on or around the same points as we were, these are the teams we have to beat, the upcoming three games in ten days against Celtic will show us how far we have come.
We may not win any of the games against Celtic, but improved performances and a more respectable result will show us where we stand.
Some of the games have not been pretty in fact they have been scrappy, but in our situation fancy football does not always win games, fighting for every ball and scraping wins is what is needed. Craig Brown, as many said when he first arrived, has made us hard to beat.
There seems to be a buzz around Pittodrie again, Scott Vernon is scoring for fun, Chris Maguire is enjoying his football again and the players seem to be creating a bond amongst themselves, from helping each other out when under pressure to celebrating goals as a team, in one game recently Jamie Langfield ran the entire length of the pitch to join in with the after goal celebrations.
Ryan Jack played well again today and was unlucky not to get on the score sheet, he seems to get better with every game he plays, although he did not score today Chris Maguire played a fantastic game setting up both Scott Vernons goals.
Robert Milsom made his Debut today and looked solid, he seems to like taking shots from long range and it is only a matter of time before they start flying in.
I also look forward to seeing Blackman our other new signing this week, the paperwork is all done but he has been ill and has not joined up with his new team mates yet.
St Mirren had a few chances but did not take them and Aberdeen got a deserved three points.
Aberdeen were missing Sone Aluko and Captain Paul Hartley today, which is always a worry when these players are missing, but the rest of the team did well in their absence today.
Ten Points and still unbeaten in 2011, if someone had told me that would be our situation in Mid January a couple of months ago I would have been calling the funny farm to book a room for them.
Stand Free
Since that first game against Hamilton till his last game in charge against Kilmarnock, Mark Mchgee only managed to get ten league points on the board.
With wins against Hibs, Hamilton and now St Mirren, and also the New Years Day draw against Dundee United, Craig Brown has now equaled that tally. That in itself is a remarkable turn around.
To be fair we have not played any of the top teams yet, we have beaten the teams who were on or around the same points as we were, these are the teams we have to beat, the upcoming three games in ten days against Celtic will show us how far we have come.
We may not win any of the games against Celtic, but improved performances and a more respectable result will show us where we stand.
Some of the games have not been pretty in fact they have been scrappy, but in our situation fancy football does not always win games, fighting for every ball and scraping wins is what is needed. Craig Brown, as many said when he first arrived, has made us hard to beat.
There seems to be a buzz around Pittodrie again, Scott Vernon is scoring for fun, Chris Maguire is enjoying his football again and the players seem to be creating a bond amongst themselves, from helping each other out when under pressure to celebrating goals as a team, in one game recently Jamie Langfield ran the entire length of the pitch to join in with the after goal celebrations.
Ryan Jack played well again today and was unlucky not to get on the score sheet, he seems to get better with every game he plays, although he did not score today Chris Maguire played a fantastic game setting up both Scott Vernons goals.
Robert Milsom made his Debut today and looked solid, he seems to like taking shots from long range and it is only a matter of time before they start flying in.
I also look forward to seeing Blackman our other new signing this week, the paperwork is all done but he has been ill and has not joined up with his new team mates yet.
St Mirren had a few chances but did not take them and Aberdeen got a deserved three points.
Aberdeen were missing Sone Aluko and Captain Paul Hartley today, which is always a worry when these players are missing, but the rest of the team did well in their absence today.
Ten Points and still unbeaten in 2011, if someone had told me that would be our situation in Mid January a couple of months ago I would have been calling the funny farm to book a room for them.
Stand Free
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Paw Broon and Oor Wullie join forces.
So Aberdeen look to have ended the search for Mark Mcghee's successor, with Craig Brown and Archie Knox resigning from Motherwell late on Thursday night, they look set to be announced as the new Aberdeen management team in the morning.
I am quite happy with the appointment as Brown is vastly experienced and is just the sort of man we need to steady the ship and build a foundation that can be built on in the future.
It would not surprise me if Paul Hartley was made part of the coaching staff and mentored by Knox and Brown as a possible future manager.
Brown and Knox did not have a contract at Motherwell so there will be no fee paid to Motherwell, although Motherwell are filing a complaint with the SPL about Aberdeen's conduct.
Another boost for Stewart Milne is that Craig Brown will not need a company car as he can just use his free bus pass. (Someone had to make an OAP joke)
So welcome to the good ship AFC Craig Brown and welcome home Archie Knox.
Okay the Honeymoon is over, get to work lads.
Feel free to comment on your thought of the new Pittodrie Management team.
Stand Free
I am quite happy with the appointment as Brown is vastly experienced and is just the sort of man we need to steady the ship and build a foundation that can be built on in the future.
It would not surprise me if Paul Hartley was made part of the coaching staff and mentored by Knox and Brown as a possible future manager.
Brown and Knox did not have a contract at Motherwell so there will be no fee paid to Motherwell, although Motherwell are filing a complaint with the SPL about Aberdeen's conduct.
Another boost for Stewart Milne is that Craig Brown will not need a company car as he can just use his free bus pass. (Someone had to make an OAP joke)
So welcome to the good ship AFC Craig Brown and welcome home Archie Knox.
Okay the Honeymoon is over, get to work lads.
Feel free to comment on your thought of the new Pittodrie Management team.
Stand Free
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Mcghee continues to smash the records at Aberdeen
The fact that I had predicted 7-1 in the Donstalk match predictor already meant I was not expecting much from this game , in fact I was expecting a hammering, it still hurt to see 9 goals fly past Jamie Langfield in the Aberdeen goal. Not since the days of Ebbe Skovdahl and Steve Paterson had Aberdeen witnessed defeats like this at Parkhead. This was actually worse than any of the previous results and is a new SPL record
I said after last weeks match at St Mirren we are at the lowest of the low's and some people told me it was not that bad, well if this is not the lowest point I am fearful of the future.
Aberdeen were never really in the game and came to try and stop Celtic playing. We had a couple of chances early on but when Hartley got sent off and we went 1-0 down the heads just dropped.
I think the ref called the game as he saw it today I had no complaint about the penalties or the sending off.
Langfield may have been a little lucky but I think there were defenders covering and thats why he never saw red.
Celtic deserved their victory but Aberdeen made it easy for them, that has to be blamed not only on the players but on the tactics that were used. The wrong tactics have been used too many times not only this season but last season also.
The big question is, where do Aberdeen go from here? They play the other half of the Old Firm next weekend with Caley in midweek. I really cannot see Mcghee go on from here and would not be surprised if there is a Pittodrie press conference on Monday if not sooner.
I have nothing against Mcghee, he was a great player for us in the 80's and I even find some of his comments on Red TV amusing, but he is clearly out of his depth.
Please do the honorable thing and walk now.
Stand Free
I said after last weeks match at St Mirren we are at the lowest of the low's and some people told me it was not that bad, well if this is not the lowest point I am fearful of the future.
Aberdeen were never really in the game and came to try and stop Celtic playing. We had a couple of chances early on but when Hartley got sent off and we went 1-0 down the heads just dropped.
I think the ref called the game as he saw it today I had no complaint about the penalties or the sending off.
Langfield may have been a little lucky but I think there were defenders covering and thats why he never saw red.
Celtic deserved their victory but Aberdeen made it easy for them, that has to be blamed not only on the players but on the tactics that were used. The wrong tactics have been used too many times not only this season but last season also.
The big question is, where do Aberdeen go from here? They play the other half of the Old Firm next weekend with Caley in midweek. I really cannot see Mcghee go on from here and would not be surprised if there is a Pittodrie press conference on Monday if not sooner.
I have nothing against Mcghee, he was a great player for us in the 80's and I even find some of his comments on Red TV amusing, but he is clearly out of his depth.
Please do the honorable thing and walk now.
Stand Free
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Elvis suffers late Hart(ley)break
I said after the last game against Hibs I still had concerns about our team. I also thought Falkirk would give us a much tougher game then Hibs did on Saturday.
I was not totally surprised when Falkirk took the lead as we had not really created many chances.
I was disappointed with the lack of fight our team seemed to have after Mcghee and the players had been in the press all week saying how important the game was and how it was time to pay back the fans for our support.
In the 2nd half we seemed to play better and it was good to see Hartley get a goal from open play. After we scored I thought we would keep at them but then we went back to how we had played in the 2nd half.
Then Hartley took the game by the horns like a man possessed. He was telling the other players where to position themselves and what there jobs were. It was great to see the Aberdeen captain do the captains job. Mark Kerr would have run and hide. I think Hartley is one of the best captain we have had for many years. Possibly the best since we had Mcleish.
I missed the end of the game as I was working and had decided I was not staying late to listen to the game as I had a feeling if anyone was going to score before extra time it was going to be Falkirk .
I was pleasantly surprised to come home and find we had won via a late Paul Hartley penalty.
It is also great to get one up on Pressley the Falkirk Manger who I and many other Aberdeen fans cannot stand.
I was not happy with the performance and we really need to buck up our idea's as I think most SPL teams would have beaten us tonight.
So once again Mcghee lives to fight another day.
St Mirren in Paisley is our next big must win game. It will be interesting to see how we approach this game.
But for now I am just going to enjoy the evening and enjoy the fact we are in a cup semi final.
Stand Free
I was not totally surprised when Falkirk took the lead as we had not really created many chances.
I was disappointed with the lack of fight our team seemed to have after Mcghee and the players had been in the press all week saying how important the game was and how it was time to pay back the fans for our support.
In the 2nd half we seemed to play better and it was good to see Hartley get a goal from open play. After we scored I thought we would keep at them but then we went back to how we had played in the 2nd half.
Then Hartley took the game by the horns like a man possessed. He was telling the other players where to position themselves and what there jobs were. It was great to see the Aberdeen captain do the captains job. Mark Kerr would have run and hide. I think Hartley is one of the best captain we have had for many years. Possibly the best since we had Mcleish.
I missed the end of the game as I was working and had decided I was not staying late to listen to the game as I had a feeling if anyone was going to score before extra time it was going to be Falkirk .
I was pleasantly surprised to come home and find we had won via a late Paul Hartley penalty.
It is also great to get one up on Pressley the Falkirk Manger who I and many other Aberdeen fans cannot stand.
I was not happy with the performance and we really need to buck up our idea's as I think most SPL teams would have beaten us tonight.
So once again Mcghee lives to fight another day.
St Mirren in Paisley is our next big must win game. It will be interesting to see how we approach this game.
But for now I am just going to enjoy the evening and enjoy the fact we are in a cup semi final.
Stand Free
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Aberdeen show no Heart
It was my hope with the international break that we would get some of our injured players back and get some kind of good form going. Hearts have not exactly been setting the heather on fire this season either so this was a chance to get 3 points at home.
We did get Aluko and Hartley back Velicka made his long awaited debut.
In reality it sounded a really poor game with very few clear cut chances form either team. And a draw probably would have been a fair result. I thought Hearts were really dirty at time and Kevin Kyle was lucky to see the end of the game.
Aberdeen really created nothing and with 1 point out of a possible 18 and now Hibs who just fired their manager climbing above us Mcghee must be starting to worry.
I have said it before and I will say it again I really believe Mchgee is out of his depth.
What I really did not understand was when we were 1-0 down with 8 minutes left, we had Micheal Paton on the bench who looked good and brought some life to the team last time out until he was wrongly sent off.
We even went to the hassle of getting his red card wiped off the record so he would be available for this game and we bring on an untried 16yo. No disrespect to the kid who I have read has been playing well for the U19 team, but was this really the right moment to give him a run out in the 1st team.?
I think time is really running out for Mcghee and defeat next week against Hibs maybe the final straw for some.
I would be surprised to see Mcghee in the dugout come 2011 unless things improve dramatically.
What are your thoughts on Mcghee? How long would you give him?
We did get Aluko and Hartley back Velicka made his long awaited debut.
In reality it sounded a really poor game with very few clear cut chances form either team. And a draw probably would have been a fair result. I thought Hearts were really dirty at time and Kevin Kyle was lucky to see the end of the game.
Aberdeen really created nothing and with 1 point out of a possible 18 and now Hibs who just fired their manager climbing above us Mcghee must be starting to worry.
I have said it before and I will say it again I really believe Mchgee is out of his depth.
What I really did not understand was when we were 1-0 down with 8 minutes left, we had Micheal Paton on the bench who looked good and brought some life to the team last time out until he was wrongly sent off.
We even went to the hassle of getting his red card wiped off the record so he would be available for this game and we bring on an untried 16yo. No disrespect to the kid who I have read has been playing well for the U19 team, but was this really the right moment to give him a run out in the 1st team.?
I think time is really running out for Mcghee and defeat next week against Hibs maybe the final straw for some.
I would be surprised to see Mcghee in the dugout come 2011 unless things improve dramatically.
What are your thoughts on Mcghee? How long would you give him?
Friday, August 13, 2010
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
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