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Aye, it's frustrating. Thankfully we've got next week off, and we can relax watching Steve Clarke manage Scotland.

First post on here - one of the AbMad infiltrators, of a generally happy clapper rather than pant pishing persuasion. Oddly positive about this - as others have said, Well will be very open in their play and if we stick with the 3/5 at the back and the defensive solidity, plus pushing Armstrong into the 10, then I hope we can get a goal or two and keep another clean sheet. Will be interesting to see the line up in the next half hour or so. In/Oot - RedTV as always Pre - Sunday lunch Post - dunno, some more DIY or maybe an episode of Yellowstone. Prediction - 2-0 The Dons (Armstrong, Milne) COYR

Just when you think you can’t hate Darvel any more, they appoint Nacho Novo as manager

One positive from today, is that it is far easier to post my match thoughts in here than on Abmad. Just a pity the players couldn't provide a new forum bounce.

Really? We are pish. 3 subs in the 90th minute? Jesus wept Jimmy. I would really like to know why Clarkson is barely getting a look in.

Thanks TLG and all long term Donstalk posters for the welcome i think most of us want Jimmy to succeed and the Scottish Cup win has certainly bought him some time, but the goodwill will only last so long if we don’t start winning games and actually playing like we want to win a football match rather than not losing it. Many are questioning how long we stick with Thelin, but I am not there yet either although I question some of his decisions and don’t think he helps himself. defensively this season - and last- we have been awful- but we have become so afraid to lose that we have stifled all creativity that we had previously. We have tried to shore up the back so much but the players either aren’t good enough to play in a 4 or are just not getting on board with Jimmys “vision” we lack physicality in midfield and our wingers have stopped trying to get past full backs and getting to the bye line- no surprise Lazetic and Nisbet are both struggling whatever formation we play, we seem disorganised in the middle and more concerned about maintaining shape than pressing, harrying and getting in the faces of our opposition- we seemed to do this better at the start of last season, but could never do it for a full game- not sure if stamina is an issue. Another break beckons but hopefully the players are not off for a weeks holiday and are actually trying to sort this on the training pitch

I agree, many of our support doubt his ability. Don't mind what nationality you are but to be captain of your country, aged twenty four with forty caps, suggests to me he has something about him. Wish him a speedy and successful recovery.

You reckon we should play with 12?

That was really boring to watch. Very little movement from back to front. Polvara and Shinnie sat on the half way line when we went forward, so we were always trying to break Motherwell down without enough players to do so, and if we didn't catch them on the break, then plan b was to lob it into the box and hope it fell for us. Polvara and Shinnie were both okay defensively - Polvara won headers that probably none of our other central midfielders would. It's not that they had particularly poor games. But if they're sitting deep then someone else needs to go forward. The 3-4-1-2 / 5-3-2 (whatever you want to call it) would work better. So often we look a man short in midfield. I know Thelin came here with a reputation for his Elfsborg team winning games while not having much of the ball, but it's not a pretty watch.

Why put three subs on right at the end?

That puts him level with Ally Shewan and The King (Joey I, nae Charles III) on the all-time table.

He's 54 years old and hasn't played since 2011. We should be looking at younger players.

We're new in these parts. Hide your enthusiasm for todays game before they send us back to AbMad.

Damn right. Without rules, there's chaos, and nobody likes chaos.

Another AbMad here. Didn't post that much on AbMad, who knows what will happen here though.

Hiya folks .... I signed up here a long time ago but never posted. Known as NaeMairNeeps on AbMad, looking to shift my attention from AbMad to Donstalk. Look forward to chatting with you all, and hopefully contribute something of value ... as well as the usual silly crap

I only watched the first 20 minutes today as i was going out. and we were awful. They were killing us, particularly down the left hand side with Gyamfi posted missing and he couldn't seem to work out that that he had to fall back and track his man. The most worrying thing for me was that Jimmy did nothing about it which has been a pattern. The least I expect from a manager is that he can set a team up properly and if the tactics aren't working, for him to be decisive and change things to address the problems. Sadly it is becoming ever more clear that Jimmy can do neither of these things and i increasingly think that his time may be up. Thankfully I had to go out so missed the rest of the match and saved myself the misery of watching the rest of the game so i maybe missed a huge improvement. I do however doubt it.

On the flip side to that, went to Athens where we really needed to shut up shop and we went gung ho into a hiding need to know when to be aggressive going forward and when to pack the defence

Some folk don’t think he is very good- I think he has been genuinely unlucky with injury and wouldn’t have been against him playing as defensive midfielder in front of the centre halfs. whether he is good enough or not we may never know, but wish him well in his recovery

Think you're being kind there, Al, let's be honest!

As hard as Lazetic works up front, we are completely toothless. As said above, it’s moments of individual brilliance that are delivering our terrible goals tally. What a difference a year makes. All those cut backs into the box and goals from all parts of the team at the start of last season. Now, we can barely buy a goal. We could surely have gone 4-4-2 today after half an hour and made life harder for them and easier for us. Still, we’re picking up points. That’s the only positive I can find. Other than a site where you can actually use punctuation.

Decent first half in super Classico with Boca taking 1-0 lead just before half time. Some robust challenges but not the usual level of violence and a football match has even occasionally broken out.

I bet the Motherwell manager slated the FB...Karlsson is so one-footed that as soon as he runs at you you show him the outside 'cos he never crosses with his left foot (he got an excellent ball running to the byeline and no-one thought he was going to cross). Terrific strike and he actually put in a decent shift after that.

One of these lads sitting on the bench might be of more use in midfield,Topi,Kjartasson,Milanovic or the mysterious Bilalovic to give us a bit more drive/attacking intent,and getting out of defence quicker. Another thing to look at is how we manage to have 10 men behind the ball at times,but 'Well were still able to work thru us with ease

If one of thems a Judas,then aye why not

Aye, another fairly dogshite game and performance. We really struggle with these post Euro games, we look absolutely knackered. Fuck knows what JT thought he was watching that he held off on the subs. Polvara was fucked, as were several others. Clarkson would be best leaving. There's nothing worse than watching a good player on the bench when the manager doesn't fancy him. Interestingly, we seemed to start in a 3-5-2, with Karlsson central. Bizarre really, given Nisbet isn't afforded that setup. That changed soon after when it became clear that the midfield weren't working well as a three, with Armstrong (who was totally screwed from the tenth minute) moving forward to make the 3-4-3. Neither shape works particularly well with the personnel we deploy, from midfield to front.

I thought this was a reference to Darren and Derek

I see Abmad has been abandoned. A bit like our pride. How can Thelin think that is acceptable? On the positive side another undeserved point at home.

Crikey. One of them goal things

Old flatmate told me excitedly the week before that he'd signed up to the new fangled text updates on his phone. Day after he rings me at work to ask how to unsubscribe

Nisbet has been so anonymous that I haven't even seen him on the park E.D.

THAT game from Fir Park today's half time entertainment on Red TV Never tire of watching that. A totally fucking mental night that was

Just joined the flock- previously known as Kincorth Don on AbMad- infrequently post but happy to get involved from time to time- cheers for the welcome

Noooooooooooooo. It's nae fitba. Note the shape not Another thing to add to my list of preferences of here over AbMad - this topic lives in the right place Edit: This would wind me up way more than it should have

Looking forward tae this one .... nae idea far the goals are comin' fae, but encouraged by recent defensive displays. Ah reckon if we can shut up shop again, we might nick a 1-0 three pointer .... COYR.

Give Vintage a shout,and then delete the Abmad thread before that poultice RedJohn sees it...

700 tickets left.Decent turn out given our mixed form. Higher proportion than usual of decent sides in the league this season,including 'Well. We're picking up results,looked good in glimpses,but still not convincing enough. After their stuffing last weekend,an early goal might get things going.Looking forward to it... COYR

Aye David Begg is quite a prolific poster on X/Twitter and doesn't hide his Dons leanings. Jock Brown - I met him a few weeks ago when he was in to do the Sportscene anniversary show. Lovely bloke. Hopefully it's just a "you need to slow down" advice from the doctor and not anything too concerning.

From the days before Australian soaps became the last programme before the six o clock news

So despite my best attempts to screw up registering, I seem to have succeeded so just wanted to say fit like everybody & look forward to joining the fray & posting without the ridiculous carry on that AbMad has become. COYR!

Jimmy says that the team looks like it has turned a corner with recent results. So this means we're getting battered tomorrow.

I'm still a member here I think?

Probably of greater importance lads is to be wary of the village idiots that we take pity upon and allow them to post Isn't that right Rico

Quite busy in here these days. Just a little warning to the new posters, some of the guys on here can get a little bit precious about general board etiquette. Things like starting new topics where others already exist, instead of taking the time to search for it. I'm not one to get too bothered by such things, but beware the forum Nazis.

This with bells on. Would love it to be us that burst their bubble. I'd forgive Jimmy a lot of wrongs if we managed that.

In fairness Al you were still full of PTSD after the Athens experience Looking forward to this one but despite the recent turnaround I can't help but feel but this is still a massive game for Jimmy but from a more positive POV. A win, especially a convincing or even a solid win, and I think the support will largely draw a line under the shit start to the season and we can all just focus on moving forward rather than should we change the manager. It would also be a very nice to be going into the home game against Hearts post International break with a spring in our step cos I would fucking love to pop the Jambo bubble. Expecting changes due to euro efforts and I would defo be looking to bring Gyamfi in from the start. The little we have seen of him I've been pretty impressed and I think he would cope well with Maswanhise who looks to be the one that makes thinks happen for Motherwell. I would assume Shinnie will be back in but I have to say I thought Aouchiche did not to bad in the centre on Thursday. In A96 Main A96 3-1 dons and I'll go with 3 first goal of the season scorers in Nisbet, Keskinen and Milanovic to make amends for his miss in Cyprus and give it proper big licks.

Welcome to the board folks, great to have my some new members. I never really spent much time on abmad other than the time I went down a Walter Sobchak wyowyn rabbit hole (if you know, you know).

Aye, basically the story of Thelin's tenure. We fall short just before creating the opportunity in the final third and often don't get a shot away. Players getting blamed for results for missing good chances is a bit like blaming the ref (as an aside, last night's ref was very good). Milanovic could have won us the game, but the decisions you mention are equally culpable in not leading to a goal in my opinion.

Nah we played a lot of good football, but a lot of poor decision making at the crucial moments is why there are a lack of stand out chances. Notable examples: Someone passing to Milne in the box when they should have taken the shot on themselves, Keskinen passing to Milanovic just outside the box when he should have kept on dribbling, Karlsson inexplicably flicking the ball rather than just making a normal pass that would have got us in behind quicker.

I felt a great disturbance in the North, as if millions of fivers cried out at once and were suddenly silenced.