Craig Fraser

If rumoured deals go through will this be a record spend for clubs in a January window(excluding the obvious 2)? Suspect the total may be over £2.5M by the time the window closes.

The hearts fans criticising Aberdeen for splashing cash on Tobers will presumably be fuming that they are now splashing similar for Steinwender...

Wow didn't see this coming from Aberdeen. Simply have to change the Shinnie/Nilsen midfield. Not sure if Thelin is proving a point but Ambrose should not have been starting either. Dundee Utd now a massive game for 3rd which it never should have been.

Think one of those left backs has to be able to cover the right. Would also say anchor midfielder can wait til summer, we just need to rotate Shinnie/Nilsen and put Polvara or Palaversa next to them. Stewart may be worth a look at anchor? Blair Mckenzie recalled as 1 CB?

How have we fallen behind Switzerland? If we started the week ahead of them then our 2 draws and their 1 win would give us equal coefficient points and keep us ahead?

AGM readout was pretty interesting. Glad to hear focus on youth players making the grade. Don't believe the Kingsford move is a real possibility, more of a chess piece to bring Aberdeen CC back to the table. Murmurs of money to spend in Jan is also very promising.

Gap is currently 4 pts. Rangers playing 5/8 away from home with Celtic being one of the home games, I don't expect them to close the gap before the 15th.

Rangers league fixtures for same period:
County (A)
Dundee (H)
St Mirren (A)
Motherwell (A)
Celtic (H)
Hibs (A)
Dundee (A)
St J (H)

Aberdeen league fixtures before Ibrox:
St J (H)
Hibs (H)
Killie (A)
Dun Utd (A)
County (H)
Motherwell (A)
Hearts (H)

Ah OK so comparing him vs Devlin, McGarry, Milne from this season and maybe some past season full back data for us as well? Be interesting to see how our average compares with other teams averages for the same roles/positions if that works.

Rangers v Aberdeen on the 15th Jan. Just over 5 weeks away now with a lot of football in between. I fancy Aberdeen to still be in 2nd by the time it comes around even though Rangers have an extra game. 🧵

This looks really interesting, just trying to wrap my head around what each stat means and at what point figure players can be deemed a good match for their role. Like why is Mackenzie a bad fit as a full back and what is the best role for him based on the model?

Thought we were really good tonight. Think a draw would have been fair. Clarkson chance was the one. McGarry MOTM after keeping the best player in the league quiet all game. Doohan was excellent. So good to see Polvara back as well. Teams in a good place.

Having pitchside interviews in that weather would have been funny.

Hope the news about Mitov and Mackenzie hasn't sucked too much enthusiasm out of tonight's game. Should still be a really good match.

Is this based purely on this season's figures?

Celtic are simply not going to drop enough points for someone to challenge them this year. They look capable of hitting 100pts sadly.

Looking at fixtures, Stuttgart and PSG are probably the only sides not in the top 24 who could overtake Celtic. Not obvious who drops out of the 24 for those 2 sides though and feels like 9pts won't be enough to go through.

To get to 85 (2nd place last season) we need a PPG of 2.12 in remaining fixtures but I don't expect 2nd to need as many points as that this season given Rangers form (currently at 1.92 PPG compared with 2.38 last season).

Aberdeen's PPG this season of 2.46 is higher than Celtic's across last season (2.45). To reach 68pts (3rd place last season) we need a PPG of 1.44 in remaining fixtures, roughly win half, lose half of our remaining fixtures.

Maybe we can't win by scoring acrobatically. See Duk v County for more evidence.

As bad as that 3rd goal was, you have to credit Hibs for not folding when Sokler scored. For a team in their positon and having only just got level, I was shocked they still had some fight in them (sadly so was our entire team).

Not sure, feel like neither team has done enough. Draw a better reflection. We are lacking energy.

Brilliant article. Nice to finally have a manager to capitalise on the good work happening off the pitch.

Looks like St Mirren have made an active attempt to get this game postponed.

The new asda initiative to tackle plastic pollution 🤦‍♂️ have to imagine the box was created in isolation.

Wonder if we will start to see Shinnie/Nilsen rotate one spot and Polvara/Palaversa the other to give us a wee bit more creativity.

LCB would be my priority. Would be keen to see Milne get more mins at RB ahead of the window to see what he's like as cover.
Stewart is the young CDM i think. Can also see Shinnie & Nilsen only used together in some games going forward with Polvara & Palaversa taking the other spot. More creativity.

Several contenders:
Smith v Copenhagen
Walker or Aluko v Bayern
Hedges v Hearts (Edinburgh based so this felt particularly sweet)

But in the end it's these 2. Ferguson after all the build up to that game. Quinn after going down to 10 to keep the winning streak. Both just hit different.

🤯 This means that if there's an obviously easier WCQ group for the "loser of QF 3" Vs a group of death style group for the "winner of QF 3" - then it would be within the interest of these countries to DELIBERATELY LOSE their Nations League QF to make WCQ easier.

Insanity.

Great work, UEFA 👍