bdu98196

Only the club, SFA or Dean himself have the right to criticise the speed and behaviour of the medical cover - not the fans as in no way is anyone on here part of the contingency plans put in place or involved in developing the protocol across football (or other sporting events).

Is the process not that the player gets injured, then the ref stops play and allows on the physio/doctor then its for them to call on the stretcher? So in effect they dont respond until summoned - if not would they not just be running on every time a player goes down 'just in case'?

Too slow, tepid and far too many pass backs and play through the middle. No runners behind the defence or down the wings, no crosses into the box and nobody brave enough to shoot. The team looks like it lacks bite and confidence which is a worry and nobody wants to take control. Draper and Tansey no longer boss the middle of the park, goals have dried up and yogi no longer seems to know who the creative midfield should be from doran, Ross, watkins, williams, Christie plus we still have kink to consider. Not looking forward to the celtic games as if we play like this they will really hurt us badly.

He elected to punch several crosses and each attempt was poor at best, fumbled and was caught out a few times where we were lucky not to concede. There were some good saves though and in a poor tepid display I agree he did play a more memorable role than some. Time for Brill to be recalled if fit though.

From BBC site Celtic's Ronny Deila says he voted for Inverness Caledonian Thistle's John Hughes as Scotland's manager of the year because of the style of play he has encouraged. (Daily Record, print edition) Good to hear JH getting some recognition from his peers for what he is trying to introduce which is a bit of a deviation from the traditional Scottish style of play.

Essons distribution isnt as good, he always punts the ball long and high, we rarely have a keeper clearance or kick out where we retain the first ball when Esson is in goal. Brill tries to kick long but also throws and distributes to build from the back - when Esson plays our build up play changes to trying to pick up the ball or regain possession lost from goal kicks. The rest of their play is comparable, but perhaps just based on length of time playing together we look stronger as a defensive unit with Brill.

Nah, mind tricks, let Celtic beat us 6 or 7 nil then they will go into the semi thinking we have collapsed and it will be a walk over then hit them hard and march to the final, beating them will only make them angry and want to hump us in the cup lol. Game on Sat was just really flat, Shinnie was stand out and Nick Ross played well other than that I remember very little.

Brill Raven; Meekings; Warren; Shinnie Draper; Tansey, Ross Christie, Williams. Watkins For me Essons distribution is poor at times and is nothing more than lumping the ball aimlessly upfield rather than build from the back. Ofere flaters to decieve, he is big and strong but clumsy and might work well as a traget man but thats not how we play because we dont whip balls into the box from the wings enough. Watkins has pace to get behind a defence if our midfield created a bit more. Nick Ross had a good game on Sat so deserves to stay in the side, Doran didnt and Williams offers more.

Some big names from Scandanavian football I'd want to avoid in early round and many teams from Eastern europe which are just too unknown. A nice trip to Iceland would do, lovely country or I'm still hoping that we could get a Cypriot or Malta team for a nice wee summer hols

There was a documentary on ITV4 a few nights back about him, only saw the last 5 mins but thats what he spoke about and how clubs like Celtic never gave him a chance. It had some other of his contemparies backing him saying it was unfair and he was never given the same opportunities for success as other coaches especially at Celtic where he was a great fit - althought they all overlooked that King Kenny was there with him making an arse of it all. While I dont disagree with some of his points that there is a disporportionaly low number of black or managers from other ethnic groups in not just England but European management, it doesnt hide the fact his record at clubs was awful and he was utter bobbins!!!!

Not sure that last season would even come into consideration so would fully expect Celtic away as they shouldnt be expected to have to travel all this way being champions elect for an extra away game and something like St J or Dundee as our 2nd home game.

Its all gone a bit quiet at the club for contracts with Ross, Watkins and Raven - should we now be assuming as nothing has been forthcoming for a few wks they will all be off :(

TV is ruining the game for fans with these incresingly ludicrous kick off times. Not checked the regular timetables but I'm assuming there will be enough trains from Central to Mount Florida on the day for all?

Is that an advantage for us or them though lol So this will be 2 games V's Celtic in consecutive wknds.......

My only concern playing Celtic is that we will most likely get allocated a very small number of tickets, which on balance would be fair considering we only have home gates of 3k, but given what we took to Hampden before and the LC final we could probably sell 7k+. So long as loyal fans dont miss out on tickets then fair enough, but obviously if we play DUtd then we will get a lot more tickets from the outset.

It will be Hampden, but if there was any circumstance for an alternative venue it would be Easter Road, none of the sponsors or beaks would want to come up to Aberdeen lol

Hopefully we can beat Raith on Tue, I'm excited now by the draw and quite happy to face either D Utd who I think we areas good if not better than or a Celtic team we are capable of giving a very hard game and winning. So play Celtic in consecutive wknds then face Hibs in the final. That'll do nicely.

Wow, people seem really offended by the view that if a team GB exists then my personal view is it should have a equal split of players from all nations and yes I am being serious and agree this should be the way for most team GB sports. Although I will conceed that events such as athletics or swimming you do have a direct competition to allow qualification or selection thus allowing fastest, strongest etc to be selected. But in the case of Football or other team sports what is the selection criteria and who decides - a board made up of members who decide which is fine if done without bias but a representative from each nation will have a vested interest and quite rightly so. What history shows is that England have a higher percentage of players which may longer term help the transition from U21 to senior as its another platform and playing together longer, for the other less well represented nations other than have a single or few players get experience of a tournament when there is potential oppertunity at U21 and senior level it does not help longer term development of football in that nation. There does seem to be an agenda within this thread that if you disagree with the organisation behind or the structure of a team GB then it makes the poster a xenophobe. At no point has any comment I have posted place any anti-English statement or personal insult only my opinion on the topic of Olympic football and a Team GB, therefore if anyone wishes to suggest or comment further I shall report them to moderators and ask for a ban as I feel that name calling, accusing and deformation of a character is totally uncalled for just because a personal opinion differs. If there is a Team GB at the Olympics then maybe it will be a sucess, however based on the 2012 showing it highlights that picking the cream of the crop from these shores still falls a long way short of other footballing nations and I have yet to see what positive impact that team had on football within the UK in terms of talent progressing to senior levels.

Based on population I would class that as proportional representation which based on your figures I argee but not the concept in this scenario which I believe should be equal hence 25% each - think there is a difference in what people consider the context of the terms equal or proportional. Its neither xenephobic or any other discrimination from my perspective no matter how you wish to try and spin it. I could state how N Ireland dont have as much population or football quality as Scotland but wont - I believe that they would as equal to 25% representation in a GB team as anyone else. If based on the logic you propose then there is no motivation for any of the nations other than England to be involved. Based on populus we would each get 1 or 2 players to supplement and England select? It seems that if anyone is promoting a xenephobic approach its those who wish to have a team GB dominated by only England players. At least with othere Olympic disciplines within team GB there are qualifiers to decide who is the 'best' - whats the criteria for football to be done this way?

Whats xenophobic about equal representation? If that's the most constructive response you have the the debate you started then I'm sorry for not agreeing with you and suggesting equality over dominance but I take offence at being tarred as xenophobic when not one comment I see can substantiate that view?

Yes, questioning the motivation of the English FA being the only body that really seems to want to push this forwards. The EFA benefit from self promotion and dominating the team with an over disporportionate representation of players based on the argogance of population bias - so I ask again what is the motivation for other home nations? I'm not English so I dont want to see an English dominated team I'm asked to support - if I am to back team GB I want to see 25% of the players in the squad and on the pitch at any time being Scottish and I expect anyone from Wales or N.Ireland is the same or another way no more than 25% English representation. As for the comments regarding FIFA, do you think the IOC are less corrupt. Do you think that Olympic venues are selected only on the basis of cultural diversity and global sharing, not on who is offering the most incentives? Why are the venues historically dominated by North America and Europe with some token Asian hosts - why can hosts introduce and drop events to make them more successful in sports the already are strong in, but to gain domestic appeal. Its no surprise that any host always over exceeds in a medal haul which is disproportinate to historic or future performances - the IOC set it up that way. Are they are corrupt as FIFA, perhaps not or perhaps they just have never been exposed as often (yet).

Great news there if thats all true. Any criticism aimed due to not replacing billy quick enough should be cancelled by that fantastic work securing 2 established first team players and such good squad and future prospects. Excited for this to come through officially.

Whats the motivation behind this though? We already have a world cup and Euro champs so a major tournament every 2 years with qualification phases, there are also equivilants for the U21's. So what does fielding a team of U23's with a few older players actually get for the home nations? If you are any other nation, France, Germany, Spain its a few extra years for young players to stay together and transition into the senior squads but for a 'Team GB' its fragmented individuals where 2 or 3 per nation (at best) will play together longer - there is no real incentive I can see for why this is needed or of benefit? While I accept that some players choose not to play as part of Team GB 2012 from Scotland, the stats are there out of the 22 man squad only 5 were Welsh, the rest English. Based on fair representation the squad should have 5 per nation, so why when Scotland and NI chose not to partake did England get the extra 10 slots, surely it should have been equal split. This is where I see a problem in future years - regardless of what makes the best team, if its a team GB then it needs to be equally representative but alas we know its not, this is just an English FA vanity project to try maintain interest in their National team in the face of dwindling quality and the foreign EPL invasion.

Ah, my mistake, I thought it was just league games.

We play our strongest possible team, including defnece irrespective or future suspensions. The club and players have to want to win this for a semi place. So Warren back in defence, also I think Watkins has done a good job up front with a decent goal return, I'd be tempted to start with him up there and bring on Ofere later in the game. Esson Raven Meekings Warren Shinnie Draper Tansey Williams Christie Ross Watkins