weeyin

For anyone questioning what "get the ball in front of AP" means, his fist goal is a perfect example of that.

The manager doesn't need lessons in game management - the players do. JBA has been quite clear that it has been one of our issues that needs work, and continues to need work. Like every other part of the new approach, it takes time for it to become automatic. We improved when Welsh started, but obviously did not have that advantage today. When you have guys like McGinn, Gordon and SOD together, some of the old habits are going to surface. It's one of the reasons I wanted a few new faces in there over the summer.

Now take your pick...

You could have bet your mortgage that they'd get a VAR call today after all their complaining about it in midweek.

You're probably right, though

Hearts are doing now what Aberdeen did at the start of last season, so I'll not be surprised if they start slipping down the table by the end of the year. It's never a bad thing, however, for the OF to be struggling (by their standards). Celtic have enough experience in their team to grind our results in important games, so I'm under no illusions that this will be anything other than very difficult. If we play our best, however, we have a chance of picking up a point or two (well, maybe not two). I'm looking forward to seeing how we match up in this one, and hoping for our improvement to continue. The biggest frustration is we now head into another international break.

The realism is that we have been in the top flight since 1985 and we sometimes win, sometimes draw, and sometimes lose games. That's not possible if you lose every game, and the data does not realistically support that notion.

I'm not convinced predicting a defeat in every game is realistic.

Sounded like it may be more than McGinn back too, depending on late fitness assessments. If McGinn isn't ready to start, I'd be more inclined to have Johnny K, SOD, Longelo and Gordon as the back 4 rather than put in Balmer - but I'm sure JBA has already figured out what he wants,

He's our assistant manager who, in the Meet the Manager session, said he also wants to play the same style of football and has ambitions to be a manager.

Jake Hastie moves to Airdrie on a 4 month loan (being made permanent next window).

Managers' spells typically end by being sacked when they fail or being poached when they succeed. I know which one I prefer.

No doubt, but if Johnston had played the same way for Motherwell as he did in his last Scotland game, we'd have been thinking about dropping him too. He's not been great at Derby either, from the games I have seen. Hopefully he'll regain his form soon, once he's settled in to his new team.

Johnston did himself no favours in his last appearance. He was very poor.

Do they call it a Texas Scramble in Texas?

It just amuses me when people have to let the world know that they don't like something.

Luckily there are no overpaid arrogant arsehole football players or you'd need to give up watching the game.

I remember watching Charlie Cooke playing for Chelsea and Scotland. They used to say "when he sold you a dummy, you had to pay to get back into the ground".

JBA made a cryptic comment about some injured players maybe being available for this game, but no other hints given. If Just is fit, that would certainly help.

To be fair, for Aberdeen to have played 6 league games, scored zero goals, and sit 12th in the league (one place below Rangers) is quite newsworthy.

They're not as good as they were last year, but will still be a very tough game. Just stick to the plan and see what happens. The way the Celtic fans are right now, an early goal for us could turn the crowd.

Knowing Celtic, they'll be looking for a sizable fee they can fail to reinvest in the summer.

He's under contract until the summer of 2027, unfortunately.

Welsh is exactly the kind of central defender we were needing and has been performing well. Even without Slattery and Just, the midfield was excellent again, and Watt edged it again for me. Will be interesting to see what JBA does next week without Welsh. Start Koutroumbis and play him or SOD out of position, or start with Balmer.

Often takes a wee bit of luck to get a win regardless of good play. The key is to keep at it. Another Aberdeen keeper's howler for the scrap book - although the conditions didn't help him. I'm actually looking forward to next week to see how we match up.