Aberdeen Save 2022

[REIDZER2020]

@stonecold always good to read the Aberdeen saves, currently half way through my first season and its been up and down but holding second place behind Celtic. Noticed quickly that some decent tactics goes a long way as new signings have been a struggle.

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Our broadband connection died on Tuesday so i have a major dump of updates coming

 

[Mr_Grieves]

@stonecold always good to read the Aberdeen saves, currently halfway through my first season, and its been up and down but holding second place behind Celtic. Noticed quickly that some decent tactics go a long way as new signings have been a struggle.

Every year gets tougher to buy players for poor old Aberdeen. I'd usually have a full squad of players i bought in that was upgrades no what we had by now but its hard to see more than 2 of these guys that could be long term starters

 

[Mr_Grieves]

League Run In

Were in a similar spot as last year but with a bigger gap to turn around. We probably need to win all 5 of our games and need the old firm to drop points along the way


Match 34
Aberdeen 3-0 Hearts

No issues for the Dons as we sweep Hearts aside. Rangers drop points right out of the box with a goalless draw with Hibs. Hannibal led Celtic to an easy win in Dingwall.

Match 35
Celtic 2-1 Aberdeen

This was not the day Celtic won the league but was certainly the day we lost it. Even 2nd looks is very difficult from here and i have nothing to add to the disappointment of letting a lead slip to defeat in a must-win game.

Match 36
Aberdeen 3-2 Ross County

It was time for the kids and a very good start as they raced into the lead. Ross County came back but wasn't enough.

Match 37
Rangers 2-1 Aberdeen

We played a mixed team and almost pulled off a result but that's the season over as we're locked into 3rd.

Match 38
Hibs 1-1 Aberdeen

Neither side had anything to play for so backups were everywhere.


Table

Shame we faded away but Celtic was uncatchable.



Scottish Cup Final
Celtic 1-0 Aberdeen

I thought i'd put all the misery into one post. Celtic was the better team but to be beaten by an 89th-minute strike in the last game of the season is a new form of disgusting.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Season 2 Review


SPL - 3rd
Scottish Cup - Runner Up
League Cup - Runner Up


SPL Final Table

Celtic are back with a bang The strongest squad in the league asserted their dominance in no stronger way than by beating Old Firm rivals Rangers 4-0 in the final game of the year. They ended the year in dominant form after a run to the Europa League semi-final where Roma got the better of them. Rangers also cleared 90 points but even Luis Suarez couldn't get them over their old firm rivals. Hibs were sitting in no man's land for a comfy 4th place. Hearts & overachieving Ross County join us in the top 10. St Mirren leads the bottom half of the table with Dundee Utd. Motherwell made a fantastic recovery once changing manager and should feel better about pushing for a top-half finish next year. Livingston had a fair come down this year just ahead of Killie & Queens Park who end their one-year stay in the top flight despite a very brave effort considering they were in the bottom tier less than 5 years ago. Note the top scorer who started the year in the u19s as our 4th choice striker.

Playoff

We will have 2 new teams in the top flight next year with Inverness joining St Johnstone with promotion.

Managers

Campbell for Levein mid-year was the only change in the season. Very unrealistic! There was a bombshell after the season was over when treble winner Ange Postecoglou just left at the end of his contract with no new job to walk into. Big names like Paulo Fonseca & Julen Lopetegui have been linked


Champions League Final
Real Madrid 2-2 Man City, Man City win 4-2 on pens

our group got past the quarter-finals


Squad review

GK

Luiz Junior has done a great job of keeping the No1 and will be that guy for as long as i can keep him. Great to turn Pep stealing Trafford back from me after his bizarre loan request that could have ruined our season.

DEF

Looking back the defense was a bit of a letdown for me this season. Sildillia & Taylor as the starting wing-backs were both below expectations, especially Taylor who should be doing better in a league he's more than used to. Willems & Esteves will be getting more opportunities to start for next season while there backup Jayden Richardson will probably have to leave for regular football. At Center back Magallan & Hector separated themselves as my top two CBs. Helander was my worst-rated CB and along with McCrorie may be looking for pastures new. Dexter Sneddon is 16 and got a run-out at the end of the season.

MID

Connor Barron has separated himself as the class player of this bunch. Chalobah, Pereira & Besuijen were solid starters but non showed any kids of long-term prospect Ryan Duncan showed enough to get more 1st team chances next year especially if the starters don't step up. The rest are all sitting as acceptable but not good enough to start. Shayden Morris has his stats inflated by playing easier games.

ATT

Duk and Miovski started the season as they left off but i simply had to start using Bavidge as a starter before mid-season he had outscored both of them as a sub. Winning the league golden boot backed up my decision. Adding Rijkhoff as my reserve forward turned into a mistake as he barely made it through his first month before being injured for 6 months. Either way, Ethan Laidlaw proved to be a more than reliable backup while it's still too early for Alfie Steward & Jamie Wright


Players for life
Here at Aberdeen, we love one of our own coming through and thriving. There are quite a few current Dons i hope to keep long-term so let's have a look at how the spine of our squad is doing in more depth after our first season.

Connor Barron - MC

The undisputed star of this side. How he's not got a Scotland cap yet is beyond me.

Alfie Stewart - MC

Stewart's start seems to be progressing better than Bavidge but perhaps a lack of first-team action his holding him back he's never performed when given a chance. So far

Ryan Duncan - MR

A stepping stone season where he showed his worth for the first team. Hard to give him the starting job even if Busuijen was to move on.

Alfie Bavidge - ATT

What an incredible jump Bavidge has made in his 2nd season winning the golden boot at 18 years old and securing a starting spot at Aberdeen and a place in the Scotland squad. Golden boot, 2 goals on his Scotland debut, and a goal in the Nou camp. Will be hard to top this season.


Rankings

Club Ranking - 135

A 79-place jump. Amazing what 6 champions league games can do for you

National League - 8th

No significant changes

National Team ranking - 39th

Only a 3-place rise despite qualifying for the Euros


Awards

Player of the Year
Lisandro Mangallan

Was nice to see us win a player of the year but how it didn't go to one of the half-dozen Celtic players who did better?

Young Player of the Year
Alfie Bavidge

Our striker held of competition from two players loaned in from the English Premiership

Top Scorer
Alfie Bavidge

We ended up with the top two in the golden boot race and not an old firm name in sight.

Manager of the Year
Ange Postecoglou

The right man won it

Team of the Year

Rangers turn this year to be totally ignored for the team of the year.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Season 3
Aberdeen 2024
3rd season at Aberdeen follows on from a trophyless campaign last year. Again we've been busy in the transfer window but very few changes to the starting 11


Squad
Only 1 new starting player joins and only 2 for the first team squad. Spent most of my money on u19s

GKs

Luiz Junior is my locked-in No1. Yusufu joins to be the backup and cup keeper. I thought he was a u18 but is already 19 but not to bad as the keepers develop later.

Defense

The defense is fairly settled with my best 4 starters all coming back for season 3. Chances are Hector will be moved to the bench for new signing Laborda. Helander who i brought in to start last season was awful. So bad i couldn't give him away for anything so he joins Dundee Utd on a loan

Midfield

The dream of selling my center midfielder for around £10m, this time with Chabalobah didn't come close and we barely made a profit off a player who played in all the champions league games. Still, he underperformed and there is plenty of youngsters waiting to play. Erhan looks like being promoted to starter with Connor Barron with Levitt joining from Dundee Utd to be back up with youngster Lewis O'Donnell. One change in the wingers as the very capable Shaydon Morris was sold with the promising u19 player Adam Emslie looking to live up to his 4* potential.

Strikers

No new players up top. Duk is sold to make way for Laidlaw & Rijkhoff to fight over the 2nd forward spot when we sell Miovski


Summer Transfers & Other notes

Neither old firm spends big. Signing a 33 year old Marcos Alonso. Rangers signed Elneny & Brandon Williams on frees from Arsenal & Man Utd. They should have fun in the SPL.


Celtic Manager

Kjetil Knutsen of Bodo Glimt fame makes the step up to Celtic. I Was offered an interview but of course, turned it down.


Euro 2024
Italy 2-1 England

Not much changed since the last Euros. Scotland getting to the last 16 is not good for me ever getting that job​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

August


Fixtures

The season started well with strong wins over newcomers Inverness & Livingston. The reserves put Ross County out of the cup then we had 2 games against the Old Firm. We were well beaten by Celtic and then had Rangers beaten till a Morelos strike right at the death saved Rangers blushes.


League

Europa League Draw

The new layout for the major competitions. No idea how it works but i hate it.

Transfers


Aberdeen
I couldn't get the players i wanted so i emptied the coffers on youngsters. Dorsaz & Aznou dropping from Liverpool look like stars.

 

[Mr_Grieves]

September


Fixtures

A winning month. My favorite. All the wins were a tough fights except Antwerp in the Europa League. As was the League cup with Hibs to be fair. We were 2-0 with a half strength team so put on 5 more backups who turned it around, forced extra time, and then won on Pens to set up a Semi Final with Rangers.


League

Great starts from Hearts & St Mirren who we split in chase of a scary-looking old firm duo.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

October


Fixtures

Two messy results around the Europa League game saw a shambolic defeat to St Mirren and a poor draw with a late goal from Ross County. We turned it around and got 6 points from short trips to Perth & Dundee to save the month. In Europe, We got a stunning win at home to Roma before getting some revenge on Knutsen by beating his former side 3-0. In both games we had a red card help us out. Could be doing with this luck carrying us all the way to the final haha.

Table

Celtic looks us unbeatable as ever under Knutsen and Like Rangers ahead of us are both yet to be beaten.

Europa League

3 wins from 3. No idea if we're close to securing a last 32 or last 16 places. Hate this format​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

November


Fixtures

Christ on a stick what a month that was. 3 wins from 3 in the league. Beat Celtic in the League and Rangers in the cup and two more Europa League wins including at Leicester

League

Rangers drew a game while Celtic lost twice back to back to open the doors. The top 3 all closed up again as it should be.


Europa

More than halfway through and were in the top 3. 1 more game in December before two more games in the new year. What a stupid setup

The Leicester game will go down as my best result of the season. Following on from games with Celtic and Rangers i was sure this is where it would go wrong and we were not worth our win on the stat sheet.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

December


Fixtures

Aberdeen was robbed at Ibrox. Not a shock and not how we needed to start the busy month. We recovered to win away to Livingston before the squad suddenly hit exhaustion and we lost back-to-back games with Hibs & St Mirren. A bit of rest and they came back flying against Hearts & Motherwell to end the year on a high. In Europe, we had a shattered squad but somehow held out for a draw.


League Cup Final

We regain the League cup. Can we repeat season 1 and go on to wrestle the League from the Old Firm too?


SPL

The old firm were relentless through my struggles and pull away at the top. Will need to clear 90 points to win this title which is beyond us at this point i think.


Europa League

Almost locked into that top 8 spots. 1 win secures it. I think


European Golden Boy

Shame he celebrated this by getting injured for over a month
​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

January


Fixtures

Our domestic season came crashing down earlier than ever before. Even more frustrating is we had a better run of form getting 4 points from the Celtic & Dundee Utd games before the computer crashed. Anyway in this version of events we had a pathetic draw home to Dundee Utd which was the domestic high point of the month other than walking over St Johnstone. The Celtic game was so shambolic it will get its own feature then in our first Scottish Cup game of the season we were shamed by Partick in a match very familiar to us watching the world cup. Dominating 1st half then sucker-punched in the second. Far better news from the Europa league where all our good form has been this season. Wins over Zilina & Strasbourg secure a spot in the last 16

Celtic 2-0 Aberdeen

This game was the end of the road for this Aberdeen team. I was so furious with backup wing back Esteves getting sent off he was sold before the next match. It was must win but defeat leaves us miles off Celtic and no chance of the league. More on the other clearout players later.

SPL​

We are 17 points behind after 23 games so we will first focus on getting 3rd with 4 teams suddenly on our tails before sending out the youth players to finish the season.


Europa League

Not only are we through but we finish top of the 36 teams. The only league we are topping this term.


Transfer Window

I'm struggling to believe i only bought 2 players and sold 3 with the amount of time i spent bidding on and searching for players.
The leavers are less controversial. Julian Rijkhoff showed no signs of breaking through even after i sold Duk. The Dutchman was for some reason valued at £5m so while evaluating the squad he was the first player i put out for sale. The second was my first-ever signing Jetro Willems who at 30 was starting to fall down the pecking order so i took the chance to cash in on him with him soon to turn 31 and a few good backups on the way through

In

Josep Junco - MC

Spanish youngster who fell into the demographic of being capped at u19 playing for a team i've never heard of. Third Spanish starlet, I've managed to sway into joining the Dons in 6 months. Not sure why they are suddenly interested.

Suphanat Mueanta - ATT

This one i have to hand to the scouts. Better than anyone forward i have on the squad with a release clause of under £1m. Can also play wide if i need someone in a gung-ho ending to a game.
​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

February


Fixtures

With a last 16 place secured in the Europa, we had a month of nonstop SPL games. The one tricky game was away to Hibs where we eventually ran out 2-1 winners. 4 wins were expected from our other 4 games but it looks like i over-rotated the squad for the Livingston game which was after a 14-day break.

SPL

Celtic are away and we are 6 points being Rangers in our only real hope of doing something is to catch them. Bavidge returns after 2 months off to try to beat unlikely golden boot leader David Turnbull

Europa League Draw
Feyenood vs Aberdeen

Not the worst draw and beatable going by our group stage form​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

March

Fixtures

A month of results i will take. Dropping points at Hearts is not ideal but was between Europa games. Away wins at Motherwell and Ross County were hard than expected due to missing 6 starting players for the whole month


Table

Rangers are doing all they can to give us a shot at 2nd place with the danger from Hearts almost as distant as Celtic away at the top.


Europa League Last 16

1st Leg
Feyenoord 3-2 Aberdeen

Our side full of backups rescued a 3-2 defeat to give us a decent shot of progression back at Pittodrie. Lots of yellows rule out even more players for the 2nd leg

2nd Leg
Aberdeen 1-2 Feyenoord

Down to Bavidge as the only fit striker, Neither starting wingers, and the 2nd and 3rd choice wingers, we took the leaf and played very well but in the end, 5 teenagers starting a last 16 tie showed up and two quick goals from the Dutch side ended our latest European adventure and show that i will have to consider how many youth players hang around for next season with 5/6 of this team more than good enough to go deep in this competition.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

April


Fixtures

We're flying by thrashing Rangers and the youth team beat Inverness and ending with a win over Hearts. Perfect


Table

We play Rangers next and if we win then suddenly we have walked to 2nd place​

 

[Smee135.]

Jeez Celtic flying. What formation do they use in your save now?

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Jeez Celtic flying. What formation do they use in your save now?

This is what we usually come up against. Have seen them use 2 DMC and 1 MC but front 3 has always been shaped like that unless they've changed it at the end of games​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

SPL Split

With no title challenge on our behalf, there was no point in a game by the game breakdown and very quickly that proved to be a correct move.

We beat both old firm teams back to back to secure 2nd place and the champions league qualifiers for the start of next season. St Mirren and Hibs then saw our u19s as i had a look at who is staying, who is getting sold, and who is starting next season.


SPL Final table

Bavidge came back from 6 weeks out in the new year to secure a 2nd golden shoe.​

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Season 3 Review


SPL - 2nd

Celtic retain the Scottish title despite changing manager they matched the 97 points from a season ago. The biggest difference was 2nd half of the season's Rangers who went from right on Celtic's tail to being over 20 points behind and even losing 2nd place to us. Hibs had a solid end to the season helped by playing our u19s in the last game of the season but they would have got there without that assistance. Ayr will be returning for their 1st season in the top flight since 1977. Doing so after becoming champions with a +5 goal difference after a 36 game season


Playoff

As thrilling a playoff as you could imagine. Dundee was all but up with a 3-1 first-leg lead. St Johnstone got an identical result secured with a 89th-minute goal to force penalties which they won

Managers

Inverness tried to change manager and it didn't quite work. As for Dundee Utd it made no difference to thier abysmal end to the season. Few managers may leave at the end of the season again.


Champions League Final
Bayern 1-0 Barcelona AET

New system but the last 16 looks very familiar


Squad review

Goalkeeper

Luiz Junior completed his first full season as our no1 and he did an adequate job. We let in too many but his rating suggests he's doing ok. Yusufu is the backup and cup keeper and we now have 3 great prospects for GK with our only solid youth intake player in the last 2 years.

Steven Kingsley

Defense

Maybe the reason for the Keeper having a decent rating is how much rotation went on at the back this year mostly due to injuries. Sildillia & Laborda who both also lost almost a month to injury were our most regular players while our best defender Magallan has been out since New Year with a cruciate injury. Hectors at 32 have hopefully played his last game for the club with Williams showing up well when he's got a chance to play while the plan was to replace him in the 1st team with Lacruz who has been my worst-rated CB. Lots of good prospects in the u18. How many will make it to a regular starting spot. On the left, it is still Greg Taylors job, for now, but Aznou is coming.

Midfield

Connor Barron remains the star here. Only Henrique Pereira has developed into a reliable starter. The youngster also seems to be failing to develop although i am expecting to start Josep Junco in MC next term alongside Barron. The right could see a total change with Besuijen never improving from the solid SPL player but not doing anything special and Ryn Duncan who has totally flopped this season after glimpses last season will be on the transfer list this summer. Adam Emslie has done more than enough to keep a place in the 25 for next season. I'd like a better player starting than him but if needs must. MC is the most overfilled spot for depth. Definitely have decisions to be made with the youth with sales and loans a must.

Attack

Bavidge & Miovski led the line and that seemed to be that. However, the scouts found a gem in Suphanat Mueanta who has taken Miovski's spot up top leaving me with a very tough call on what to do with Miovski. His low wages have me leaning towards keeping him as the back up which will hinder Laidlaw & Wrights's development.


Players for life
Here at Aberdeen, we love one of our own coming through and thriving. There are quite a few current Dons i hope to keep long-term so let's have a look at how the spine of our squad is doing in more depth after our first season.

Connor Barron - MC

The star of the squad. Barron is a spectacular box to box player that carries the team with him. I am failing him by not making a better squad around him to compete in Europe and the League.

Alfie Stewart - MC

I had the option of him being out on loan or my 4th choice MC. Sending him to Queens Park in the championship i think was the right choice which has seen him develop better than the players here. Might see him go out again next season. Lots to choose from.

Ryan Duncan - MR
The End?

1st Player likely to be cut from this list. He made over 30 appearances this past season and despite this and his stats looking reasonable, the statistical numbers are amongst the poorest in the club.

Alfie Bavidge - ATT

The star of the system shows no signs of slowing down with another great season and a return to the Scotland squad. His development was held up with injuries in the second half of the season but hopefully just a bump in the road.


Rankings

Club Ranking - 67

Another huge jump after our best season in decades in terms of points.


National League - 10th

National Team ranking - 46th
Defeat to Kazakhstan help Scotland drop into the 40s

Greece has a mega season that sees us drop out of the top 9 so 2nd place has an earlier start in the Champions League spot after this season.


Awards

Player of the Year
David Turnbull

Young Player of the Year
Alfie Bavidge

Top Scorer
Alfie Bavidge - 19

Manager of the Year
Kjetil Knutsen

Team of the Year
Rangers ignored again. Brilliant

 

[Mr_Grieves]

Season 4
Aberdeen 2025
A 2nd League cup win and a run to 2nd in the league and a last-16 spot in the Europa League showed signs of us improving to the next level. Still deep in transfers but this is what we have to work with so far.


Squad
3 in and 3 out from the first team but we have not managed to sell as many players as i hoped to. Squad looking stronger with at least 1 more player to come.


GKs

Luiz Junior was the locked in no1 and no interest in him appeared while i accidentally sold both backup keepers so working on a replacement no2

Defense

The Center back spot is overflowing so watch us get no injuries this season. Taylor is still ahead of Aznou for now while our backup DR Tom Symons is our only weak spot.

Midfield

We've added Doyle to make the depth of our MC even better. I've yet to add a stronger MR to match with Pereira but 2 players are currently in talks.

Strikers

They love adding midfielders to the striker's section don't they? Mueanta & Bavidge to lead the way again


Summer Transfers & Other notes

Not a big window for spending but in the Free market Celtic grab Conor Gallagher and Rangers got Lucas Moura from the Premiership​