Aberdeen Semi Final - Umar Sadiq

Albertz_Was_King

Well-Known Member
I am not one to laboriously reflect on the "but what if" when it comes previous results, however this game is one that I think really does stand out as we look back over the season as a whole. The League Cup Semi-Final against Aberdeen was our chance to get to a cup final, the first one on offer, against a pretty poor Aberdeen side who looked painfully average in the lead up to the game.

The obvious issue was that we would be without Alfredo Morelos and Kyle Lafferty.

So it left us with very few options. Umar Sadiq was in cold storage, not even making first team squads for the majority of the games in the lead up to the match. Obvious opportunities to give him a token "run out" were shunned by the manager, rumours about his lack of effort and motivation were touched upon by the manager in press conferences on a couple of occasions.

We needed a striker, a goal threat and needless to say Sadiq was abysmal in the match.

Rumours during the week prior to the game suggested that young Andrew Dallas was involved in the training sessions with a view to starting him at the weekend. He unfortunately had an ilness and was ruled out. I wonder the veracity of those rumours , however there was a strong feeling he had a chance to make his starting debut.

Glenn Middleton was the intriguing one for me. At this point his stock was high, this was previous to his dip in confidence and he clearly had the pace to threaten their back four. He showed in games previous that he had an eye for goal but interestingly since he has displayed an incredible quality of finish whilst playing for the reserves.

I know it's all "if, buts and maybe's" but that dat if we played Middleton it could have been all so different.

Did the manager do the right thing selecting Sadiq?

Would Middleton, a young player playing out of position as the striker, have made a difference?

What else could Gerrard do to change the course of that match from the kick off with our main two strikers out?

Just a little light-hearted debate folks.
 
If the question is did the manager do the right thing playing Sadiq then the answer is clearly no he didn't. Posted on a thread the other day I'd have liked to have seen Middleton.
The manager at the time possibly viewed that as a risk but I'd have said even before the game it was a bigger risk playing Sadiq as although he was down as a striker he was clearly a lump of wood.
 
I am not one to laboriously reflect on the "but what if" when it comes previous results, however this game is one that I think really does stand out as we look back over the season as a whole. The League Cup Semi-Final against Aberdeen was our chance to get to a cup final, the first one on offer, against a pretty poor Aberdeen side who looked painfully average in the lead up to the game.

The obvious issue was that we would be without Alfredo Morelos and Kyle Lafferty.

So it left us with very few options. Umar Sadiq was in cold storage, not even making first team squads for the majority of the games in the lead up to the match. Obvious opportunities to give him a token "run out" were shunned by the manager, rumours about his lack of effort and motivation were touched upon by the manager in press conferences on a couple of occasions.

We needed a striker, a goal threat and needless to say Sadiq was abysmal in the match.

Rumours during the week prior to the game suggested that young Andrew Dallas was involved in the training sessions with a view to starting him at the weekend. He unfortunately had an ilness and was ruled out. I wonder the veracity of those rumours , however there was a strong feeling he had a chance to make his starting debut.

Glenn Middleton was the intriguing one for me. At this point his stock was high, this was previous to his dip in confidence and he clearly had the pace to threaten their back four. He showed in games previous that he had an eye for goal but interestingly since he has displayed an incredible quality of finish whilst playing for the reserves.

I know it's all "if, buts and maybe's" but that dat if we played Middleton it could have been all so different.

Did the manager do the right thing selecting Sadiq?

Would Middleton, a young player playing out of position as the striker, have made a difference?

What else could Gerrard do to change the course of that match from the kick off with our main two strikers out?

Just a little light-hearted debate folks.


It is all ifs and buts though mate.

What if McGregor had come for the corner in his 6 yard box, as he should have?

What if Arfield had been fit?

It's gone and we must look forward with positivity.
 
Sadiq wasn't absolutely awful in that game, in fact he was pretty low down in the reasons for us losing.
I’d agree if it wasn’t for the decision to dive instead of having a tap in, I remember arguing with my dad about this who thought he was completely awful.
 
Tbh I may be remembering it wrongly but I can't remember Dallas or Middleton being really discussed as viable options at the time.

From what I recall the debate at the time on here was play Sadiq or play Grezda as a false 9. Neither is ideal.
 
I’d agree if it wasn’t for the decision to dive instead of having a tap in, I remember arguing with my dad about this who thought he was completely awful.

A 'tap-in'? Don't think so (unless my memory serves me very badly).
 
Kent should have played as the false 9 with Candeias and Middleton on the wings.

Sadiq, hopeless dive apart wasn’t really the reason we lost.
 
He put the ball past the keeper and went down instead of following it for an open goal iirc

I think he had a bit more to do than that but certanly shouldn't have gone down. Maybe someone will resurrect the footage.
 
I am not one to laboriously reflect on the "but what if" when it comes previous results, however this game is one that I think really does stand out as we look back over the season as a whole. The League Cup Semi-Final against Aberdeen was our chance to get to a cup final, the first one on offer, against a pretty poor Aberdeen side who looked painfully average in the lead up to the game.

The obvious issue was that we would be without Alfredo Morelos and Kyle Lafferty.

So it left us with very few options. Umar Sadiq was in cold storage, not even making first team squads for the majority of the games in the lead up to the match. Obvious opportunities to give him a token "run out" were shunned by the manager, rumours about his lack of effort and motivation were touched upon by the manager in press conferences on a couple of occasions.

We needed a striker, a goal threat and needless to say Sadiq was abysmal in the match.

Rumours during the week prior to the game suggested that young Andrew Dallas was involved in the training sessions with a view to starting him at the weekend. He unfortunately had an ilness and was ruled out. I wonder the veracity of those rumours , however there was a strong feeling he had a chance to make his starting debut.

Glenn Middleton was the intriguing one for me. At this point his stock was high, this was previous to his dip in confidence and he clearly had the pace to threaten their back four. He showed in games previous that he had an eye for goal but interestingly since he has displayed an incredible quality of finish whilst playing for the reserves.

I know it's all "if, buts and maybe's" but that dat if we played Middleton it could have been all so different.

Did the manager do the right thing selecting Sadiq?

Would Middleton, a young player playing out of position as the striker, have made a difference?

What else could Gerrard do to change the course of that match from the kick off with our main two strikers out?

Just a little light-hearted debate folks.

Not sure why the focus is on this game , we failed to beat Aberdeen numerous times this season including getting knocked out at home in the SC quarters. So wasn’t just down to having no decent striker available.
 
He played the whole game I think. Crazy.

But the whole team was poor. Didn't create a change the whole game.

And in the round before Morelos inevitably lets us down with yet another booking for dissent. Gerrard should have seen that risk and rested him though.
 
It was mental.

Kent as a false nine or slipping balls down the channels for Middleton.

No excuses, it was a shocking decision. He’ll learn. It was naive and poorly thought out.
 
I said at the time I would have played Middleton.

But it wasn't the only game this season we failed miserably to create and score against Aberdeen, these games have been lost in midfield.
 
I am not one to laboriously reflect on the "but what if" when it comes previous results, however this game is one that I think really does stand out as we look back over the season as a whole. The League Cup Semi-Final against Aberdeen was our chance to get to a cup final, the first one on offer, against a pretty poor Aberdeen side who looked painfully average in the lead up to the game.

The obvious issue was that we would be without Alfredo Morelos and Kyle Lafferty.

So it left us with very few options. Umar Sadiq was in cold storage, not even making first team squads for the majority of the games in the lead up to the match. Obvious opportunities to give him a token "run out" were shunned by the manager, rumours about his lack of effort and motivation were touched upon by the manager in press conferences on a couple of occasions.

We needed a striker, a goal threat and needless to say Sadiq was abysmal in the match.

Rumours during the week prior to the game suggested that young Andrew Dallas was involved in the training sessions with a view to starting him at the weekend. He unfortunately had an ilness and was ruled out. I wonder the veracity of those rumours , however there was a strong feeling he had a chance to make his starting debut.

Glenn Middleton was the intriguing one for me. At this point his stock was high, this was previous to his dip in confidence and he clearly had the pace to threaten their back four. He showed in games previous that he had an eye for goal but interestingly since he has displayed an incredible quality of finish whilst playing for the reserves.

I know it's all "if, buts and maybe's" but that dat if we played Middleton it could have been all so different.

Did the manager do the right thing selecting Sadiq?

Would Middleton, a young player playing out of position as the striker, have made a difference?

What else could Gerrard do to change the course of that match from the kick off with our main two strikers out?

Just a little light-hearted debate folks.
An absolute howler from Gerrard that day
 
Of the errors made this season, this was the least understandable and the one that still frustrates me. Throwing Sadiq into the game was only going to end one way - even though there were quite a few posters on here supportive of the decision.

Middleton scored while playing through the middle vs. Ayr. We had weeks to plan for it. Instead SG selected a player he had no confidence in and had publicly criticised. It was a poor decision.
 
He played the whole game I think. Crazy.

But the whole team was poor. Didn't create a change the whole game.

And in the round before Morelos inevitably lets us down with yet another booking for dissent. Gerrard should have seen that risk and rested him though.

Go find the clip for that and come back saying it was Morelos fault

Bobby Madden was a complete twat.
 
Go find the clip for that and come back saying it was Morelos fault

Bobby Madden was a complete twat.

Amen. He got a booking for something that not one other player in Scotland would have been booked for.

Sadiq was horrible in that semi though, not the sole reasons we lost but he offered nothing apart from offsides.
 
He played the whole game I think. Crazy.

But the whole team was poor. Didn't create a change the whole game.

And in the round before Morelos inevitably lets us down with yet another booking for dissent. Gerrard should have seen that risk and rested him though.

Morelos booking in the previous round was an absolute joke, he was on the end of an awful tackle that went unpunished. His reaction was nowhere near over the top.
 
Its all fine and well saying this months down the line when Middleton is playing as a striker and scoring in the reserves. It wasn't even a suggestion at the time.
 
Sadiq was far from our worst player on the park that day. The decision to play him in the first place though was as equally honking as some of the performances.
 
It was asking a lot of sadiq. We were still settling the team. We've struggled to find a way of defeating Aberdeen all season. We didn't do enough to win and haven't in other games too.

I find it hard to blame sadiq based on our other results, although I don't think sadiq had it or has it.
 
If we were always going to play Sadiq then he should have had game time before being thrown in from the start.

He got 10 minutes or so in the league cup at Rugby Park (August) then was never seen again until the league cup semi final.

The talk for weeks prior to the game was an inter changeable front three. That's what we should have done.

For me the team froze on the big stage, we were absolute dog shite but Sadiq stays on his feet and he has a tap in.

FWIW, there was contact and we should have been screaming for a penalty. VAR would have been interesting.
 
Manager made a mistake and we lost. Simple as that.

I'd agree with that in principle, but the way we were left threadbare and without ANY strikers at all available wasn't ideal.

Anyway, no point picking over old bones.

Onwards and upwards, Rangers
 
The manager was still trying to determine what worked and what didn't. So a lot of ifs and buts however lessons have been learned and we're now closer to the established team that will be needed to challenge for silverware.
 
He was our number 9.

God, it’s been a long season. Genuinely laughed out loud at his ‘highlights’ reel. Got called a Tim for saying he looked shite, because others “had a feeling”.

Not quite sure how we’ve ended up signing Umar Sadiq, Andy Firth and Jermaine Defoe in the same season.
 
Gerrard admitted his mistake in striker choice for both the Ayr game and the semi-final. He might be a rookie but he has the balls to recognise his mistakes and learn from them. But looking back we hadn't really gelled as team back then, we had had some good results but it was very early days for us.
 
That game was there for the taking and the only one to blame for that was the gaffer :/

If we had went in with a countering game and shut up shop looking to take them to a replay when we had a better selection avail or even nick a win we'd have fared much better. Out-boringed them, so to speak.

Sadiq was shite, 100% Medube, MIddleton would have been much better options imo.
 
I thought Grezda having just played two games as a striker for Albania prior to the semi final was the obvious choice without Morelos and Lafferty.

With hind sight and the way he has shined in the reserves in that role Middleton might have been the option.
 
Tbh I may be remembering it wrongly but I can't remember Dallas or Middleton being really discussed as viable options at the time.

From what I recall the debate at the time on here was play Sadiq or play Grezda as a false 9. Neither is ideal.

I think we got to as far as Kent being in that role but never discussed Middleton or Dallas.
 
Big umar lad you had the chance to slot it home but dived instead , he’d of been an instant hero and nothing that followed would’ve mattered if he’d just scored that goal!
 
If the question is did the manager do the right thing playing Sadiq then the answer is clearly no he didn't. Posted on a thread the other day I'd have liked to have seen Middleton.
The manager at the time possibly viewed that as a risk but I'd have said even before the game it was a bigger risk playing Sadiq as although he was down as a striker he was clearly a lump of wood.
Did you say at the time?
Reasoning asking as I did and I can’t remember anybody agreeing with me!
 
When listening to the team on the way to the game I thought hell what has he done and then came round to the fact that perhaps playing a recognised striker was maybe the best way forward so to speak.

But his performance was absolutely abysmal for a professional football player. As others have said the entire team just never got to grips with the game against a mediocre Aberdeen side. A very bad day at the office all round.
 
When we beat Rapid early in October, it's safe to say we realised this was going to be a memorable season, everything was on (I did anyway). That defeat at Hampden just 3 weeks later was a kick in the haw maws and we never reached that 'feelgood feeling' again after that.
A sorry loss that day.
 
The big mistake was playing Alfie against Ayr imo

it wasn't. we didn't have Defoe at the time remember and Lafferty was cup tied

Ayr United were top of the championship and good for it

The job in hand was making sure we beat Ayr and got to the semi final, yes we beat them comfortably but it was never a given before the game started
 
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