I know that, on the face of it, we've had a good pre season scoring barrowloads of goals and conceding none.

However, I'm a little concerned that when the season starts we will have had  only one genuinely challenging match against Sheffield United and even that will hae all the hallmarks of a testimonial with numerous substitutions including a fair number of guest players.

Charlie and Donald obviously know what they are doing but  I'd have liked to have seen at least one other game against higher standing opponents.

Don't see anything to worry about myself.

We haven't really played 'higher class' opponents in our previous 2 pre-seasons in the SPL.

I'm sure County will give us a hard game as well

agreed..... The Tinks are always likely to give us a good game, I wouldn't be that worried

CC/Park seemed to have a very specific plan for pre-season and apart from the 2nd game in Italy where they had expected a slightly more challenging game it seems to be going well.

We already know the players are capable of performing at SPL level so their is little point, IMO, spending on playing "bigger" teams to test yourself.  We finished last season on a high and that will have carried with it a fair bit of confidence, so it makes sense to keep that confidence going by having players scoring goals and winning games.

Yes, it would be nice for the fans to see us taking on bigger challenges, but we are still a developing club and these "perks" will come with time.

Nobody that has moved on, or is likely to be moving on (keep your waffle to your own threads IHE) was a regular first team performer and we have added and are looking to add better quality as replacements.  So all-in-all things are moving in the right direction.

We were only a bawhair from the top 6 last season and I haven't seen any significant improvements in the teams who were around us come the split to suggest we aren't capable of challenging them for their top 6 spot this season.

CC seems to be keen to place his own stamp on the team, both in the players he is showing interest in and the fact he is eager to add pace to the centre of the park.  I get the feeling we could be in for more "entertaining" football from ICT this coming season - although saying that, anything has to be better than Brewsters "Get the ball and hoof it up the park to me" tactics.

If we can maintain last seasons league position and make more of an impact in the cups then I will be delighted and see that as progression.

well said!!

id like to see us aim for a uefa cup spot!  :005:

I thought this was an interesting comment from a piece about Aberdeen in the Herald

"The legacy of Sir Alex Ferguson may now seem like ancient history, but the more significant burden for Calderwood concerns his side’s failure last term to build on the platform created during his first campaign in charge. The Dons only just scraped into the top six, the manager conceding that Inverness Caledonian Thistle probably deserved the place more."

Lets all face feckin facts. Objective No 1. is to get a good run of games and points from the off, Objective No 2. is to quickly make a gap from the bottom, Objective No 3 is to start gaining points at home .. all 3 mean avoiding dropping into the relegation zone. After that is accomplished the main objective has to be a Top Six finish and we have to put in better Cup performance as a trophy is not beyond us. As long as we continue to improve which simply means the Top Six.

Personally i cant wait fer the January transfer window.  :015: :015: :015: :015: :015: