Aberdeen v Livingston Countdown to Kick-Off Preview Show.

This is a pre-recorded show looking ahead to tonight’s game against Livingstone at Pittodrie.

Countdown to kickoff is brought to you and supported by saltire energy the global market leader in specialist drilling equipment rental and also by Craig International who wish to thank all their suppliers and customers and wish them all a very happy Christmas and the very best for

2024 the dawns are back at pitre this evening as they take on bottom side Livingston no time to dwell on Sunday’s Cup final defeat it’s back to League business and it’s time we started climbing the table kickoff at py tonight is at 1945 UK time so in terms of the table we

Currently sit 10th but with a win tonight we can climb the table and then start making significant tracks towards the top six but we have to start getting on a consistent run of winning games hopefully starting tonight against Livingston hi everybody a very warm welcome to abtv this Wednesday so this

Is a pre-recorded countdown to kickoff show unfortunately I’m still having issues with the software and the internet which I’m currently trying to fix at the moment so please forgive the pre-recorded show but I hope it doesn’t SPO your fun and enjoyment this evening so what I did earlier today was ask for

You to leave your comments and your thoughts about about tonight’s game on social media and what I will do is as we go along today I will read out as many comments as I possibly can so let me tell you what we’ve got coming up on the show

Tonight so I’m going to try and predict the team lineup um many of you are asking for changes and many of you are hoping that Barry is going to be brave with his team selection tonight so we’ll predict the team in just a moment I will

Bring you the match stats as well we will look back on this day in the club’s history because it is significant we’ve also got the thoughts of Barry Robson and then as I promised I will read out as many of your comments as I possibly

Can so just let me clear the timeline so that I can bring in all the other information for you so we’ve done that we’ve done that we’ve done that let’s get Barry’s pre-match thoughts in so we can get that ready ready for you there we are I’ll also bring in the match

Stats cu the match stats actually make for quite interesting reading not good for Livingston I have to say but for us they make quite good interest uh interesting reading okay I’ll just bring that last one in as well while we’re here and then we can crack on right so let’s try and

Predict the team lineup so this is the team that I’m actually hoping Barry will start with tonight I don’t think it will be but this is what I’m hoping now Slobodan rubich is suspended for tonight’s game so I fully expect Angus to come in and play in between Richard

Jensen and Stephen Garten man further up the pitch this is what I’m hoping four across the middle with um James I’m then hoping that Connor will start with Dante so big call to drop Johnny Hayes and the skipper and play Nikki out on the right with Jamie playing just in the hole and

I’m hoping again Barry’s going to be bold stick two up front with Juke and meowski it could go any number of ways but that is roughly the side that I’m hoping he will pick tonight this is what Barry had to say so we can’t wait to get going again it’s

Good when a game comes around again really quickly it’s a home game we’ve got the fans behind us and it is a game we want to go and try and win we’re really looking forward to it they’re a good group who want to do well for the football club and they’ve always been

Really positive so we will just have to wait and see the team lineup for later this evening so before I start reading out some of your comments let me just um give you my own thoughts on how we see tonight’s game going so we all know what

We’re going to get from Livingston later this evening they will sit in and they’re going to attempt to frustrate us and hit us on the counter whenever they can I hope we get back to playing football tonight by keeping the ball on the deck um and we need to get our wing backs

More into play and being more having more of an impact going forward so I’m hoping with James on one side and Nikki on the other they can almost like hug the touch line and get forward and get these dangerous balls into the box for Juke and my off skate or whoever will

Play tonight to get on the end of it because that’s where I think we are at our most dangerous when we can get our wing backs forward and get the balls into the box what I really hope for tonight is that we do not bypass our

Midfield um let’s get them on the ball and playing football it’s it’s vital tonight that we’re not passive um in possession this evening we need to be um able to break Livingston down otherwise if we don’t break Livingston down we are going to be in for a very very long evening I fear

So let’s um let’s bring in these match stats for you um because where did I put it there we go okay so let me just clear that out the way and let me clear that out the way and let’s give you the match stats so abdine come into this game having won

Two from their last five Scottish premiership games Livingston have failed to win in eight Scottish premiership games and David marale side have not scored a goal in their last seven games Livingston have only won one of their last 16 away Scottish premiership games Nick Walsh is the referee and on V

Is David Dickinson if you can’t get along to the game tonight this is what the program cover looks like from Dolly digital Dante on the front they’re ding the front cover and as always as most of you know it continues to be an award-winning program with the very best of content

Right I’m now going to start reading out some of your comments what I want to do though is just bring in the last couple of things that I wanted to show you and then we are all done and I don’t have to mess about anymore with getting

Stuff onto the timeline so we can just crack on with the show okay one last thing to bring in which we’ll do a little bit later there we are right we’re now good to go right let’s start reading out some of your comments that you have left on social media um today

So let me find there there we go right so Simon Roy hi Simon how are you I would like Barry to go same as Sunday but replace shinny Ruby and Hayes with McDonald pvar and mgar I am not sure about starting ban I’m not convinced

He’s 100% so maybe Juke and Saka up top but we need points on board now and we need to stop playing negative and go at it from the off Jamesy Thompson hi Jamesy tonight’s game we should be winning easily but if we plan this same formation um we’ll struggle to break

Them down and resort to hoofball which will be bread and butter to them David gal has said this is a cup final for Livy tonight they will fight so no excuse about Sunday taking out a lot of us also if the Buns go too up tonight you can bet St Johnston get a

Pen H Mark Smith has said a win is the bare minimum required tonight if we can’t get three points at home to Livy then top six is over let alone Europe Gordon Richie had said a nice 2N win as we did 40 years ago would be perfect

We’ll come on to that in just a moment Fraser Monroe has said four wins between now and the end of the year are must if if we have any aspirations of third place I completely agree so even though we do have a number of tricky games

Coming up you know the like there’s no reason why we can’t take 15 points from 15 I don’t think we will but there is every opportunity to do so John D hi John I must win or else we really are in a dog fight at the bottom

We need to match them physically in Midfield and defense uh use width and play on the deck to score maybe Morris needs to start yeah a few of you have actually said that you would like to see shayen Morris start tonight uh Brian civit has said six

Pointer this early is not good needs to change the formation as it doesn’t work often enough and his loyalty to certain players does not help Matthew cool hi Matthew how are you we should be winning tonight I would like to see McDonald mcari pvar starting and baron some game time

John Grant is here hi John maybe time to give shinny Hayes mcra and bjan a rest so they are 100% fit plenty of players should be should be capable of stepping in he said uh Paul Donaldson is on hi Paul Europe is over and The League Cup Final

Is done there really are no more excuses for a poor performance and a poor result tonight we’ve got five games over the next two weeks that are all winnable realistically I would be looking looking for a minimum of 10 to 11 points from the next possible 15 tonight really is a

Must win and if we can’t beat the bottom team in the league at home then there is something drastically wrong at our football club he goes on to say it really does feel like this next run of matches is make or break for Barry Robson every time we’ve said that so far

This season somehow he’s managed to pull something out of the bag and he’ll have to do the same again tonight Ian Douglas has said we have to go for the throat tonight or Barry has to go I love him he’s one of our own but we need to start progressing

Fast Mark Smith I said um I can’t say I’m optimistic about tonight we seem to turn up 50% of the time I really hope he goes with the same lineup we used against Frankfurt though I would sacrifice Ruby for an additional Striker we don’t need five at the back against

Livy um and he W he goes on to say I don’t want to hear about the number of big games tired players and poor VA V decisions tonight that won’t cut it for me we need to go out and earn a good win regardless of the officials which I completely and

Wholeheartedly agree with so actually while we were just talking about these runoff fixtures um I think I still have that yeah there we are so let’s just quickly remind ourselves of exactly what the state of play is so obviously Livingston tonight then on Saturday we’ve got a very tricky

Game against dunde at dens Park 3:00 kickoff next Wednesday at home to motherwell again a 1945 kickoff and then after that towards the end of the month just before the new year again again we Face a tricky game at home at Padre kickoff 3:00 against highflying Sint minin so that’s what our December

Fixtures look like okay let’s um remind you of what’s happened on this day in the football club’s history because it is a very significant day let me Chuck it in for you there we are so the 20th of December abdine defeat defending European Cup winners SV Hamburg 2N at

Padre to win the UEFA super cup Neil Simpson and Mark McGee with the all important second half goals and also on this day back in 2007 abadin reached the knockout stages of the UEFA cup after beating FC Copenhagen 4-0 at Padre so you know I posted about the

Super cop Triumph um earlier today on my social media and as you can imagine it’s been received very well um a phenomenal achievement which I doubt we will ever see the likes of again particularly in my lifetime I was very fortunate to be at P for the second game went with my

Late father I’ve told the story many times that when uh we scored our second goal the decisive goal it was the one and only time that I really saw my father lose control when celebrating and I actually put my own celebrations on hold to watch him

Because I was quite a gas um with the way he was celebrating he was punching his fist through the air shouting yes yes yes at the top of his voice and it was a it was a purely magical moment that I think will stay with me forever

Because you know my father was quite uh he was a very laidback passive um kind of of supporter he was a very polite football supporter he would never overly celebrate abine goals um you know he’ always he would always jump up and clap and cheer and all that kind

Of stuff but he would never go absolutely mental like me and my brother would do um so it was it’s a fantastic memory to have and it’s uh you know it’s an incredible achievement from that group of players who then obviously went on to be awarded best team in Europe

Europe just uh just a few weeks later hence why we now have our two stars above our badge can you believe 40 years ago and then obviously the Copenhagen game as well which is obviously um a closer um you know in in times of time frame and you know I watched it

Live from my home in Singapore i’ had not long moved to Singapore watched it on red TV uh in the early hours of the morning and just you know was fearing the worst at half time and then the way we came out in the second half and absolutely blew them away and two

Magnificent goals from Jam Smith and uh yeah just a magnificent night magnificent that um an era and a generation of abine fan were able to witness such a fantastic win so it really was it’s a special day in the club’s history today now if you are

Going to the game tonight I suggest you wrap pop because they are expecting very Gusty wins in and around pitre tonight they’re expecting uh it to be roughly sort of 10 degrees this evening come kickoff time so uh so yeah so not too cold but Gusty winds coming off the

Northeast so as you would expect wrap up nice and warm so a little bit of housekeeping for you if you haven’t already subscribed to the channel I’d be absolutely delighted if you please would consider all you have to do is press that little red button it won’t cost you

Anything there’s no fees to subscribe to uh this Channel on YouTube and as I said we’re edging ever closer to 3,000 I think we’re only about 14 away so if we can achieve 3,000 subscribers before the end of the year I’d be absolutely over

The moon um now while we’re at it um for all of you who are members of abtv just to let you know that YouTube have set up what is basically um a new initiative where I’m going to be able to send you exclusive video content where only

Members will be able to access the content so the aim is going forward if for example I do a question and answer session um I will post that video exclusively for you to be able to watch firsthand and then obviously later on we will put it out to the general public as

Well so that’s just one perk of being a member of abtv there are other perks as well um the me membership means that you pay a very small monthly subscription and what it does it just helps me massively in terms of monetizing the channel up excuse me upgrading the

Software upgrading the graphics um and just generally trying to make the channel an awful lot better for you so as I keep saying we we continue to have big plans obviously I’ve had to put some of these plans on hold due to my illness um but as I continue to fight this

Battle you know the aim is to bring you more and more engaging content and being a member helps me massively so continued thanks to those of you who continue to pay your monthly subs and are a member of abtv okay so we’re coming up to 20

Minutes um I think that that’ll do for tonight’s show just wanted to keep it short and sweet um we will do a review show if I get my issues sorted with the live streaming I will bring you a live show tomorrow night if not once again I

Will let you know in the morning whether I can do it live or not if I can’t do it live then I’ll put a post out on social media and I will ask you to leave your comments about tonight’s result and performance um on the the the Facebook

Post and then I will read them out once I start pre-recording the show so all that’s left to say is let’s get back to winning ways let’s get back to playing football the way that we want to play football let’s now try and use tonight as a springboard to

Go on a decent run of consistent performances and results because we have to start climbing this table we have to start competing at the top end of the table and we have to start playing more consistently well so the very best of luck to the lads tonight get stuck right

In don’t let them frustrate you and let’s Come Away with the three points guys thank you so much for watching tonight I hope you’ve enjoyed the show and I will see you tomorrow for the review show stand free