The Dons Debrief: St. Mirren (H)

Two wins from two for Thelin

The Dons continued their perfect start to the new season with a 3-1 win over European qualifiers Saint Mirren on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the North East.

Goals from the unlikely sources of Pape Habib Guèye and Vicente Besuijen sandwiched a more predictable effort from Jamie McGrath as Bojan Miovski made an emotional farewell to the Pittodrie faithful.

Lineups and Ratings Provided by www.fotmob.com

Pressing

This week I’d like to take a greater look at how Aberdeen pressed Saint Mirren. We saw two shapes out of possession: a 4-4-2 which has been more common throughout Thelin’s tenure and a 4-2-3-1. Guèye flitted between pressing alongside Sokler and dropping in on Saint Mirren’s #6 Boyd-Munce.

In the first half Aberdeen were quite happy allowing the Saint Mirren back 3 the space to build up. What was clear was that they did not want it with limited options they invariably ended up going long. Molloy and Rubezic again dealt well with twin strikers and Nilsen and Shinnie were quick to sweep up the second balls.

See this example below.

1. Sokler and Gueye create a two and drop off the St. Mirren back 3 whilst screening the pass into the #6 in midfield

2. Fraser and Gogic exhange passes and neither wants to progress the ball forward

3. McGrath makes his move on Fraser

4. Fraser gets in a muddle and his forced to play back to Gogic who’s now under pressure from Sokler

5. Gogic hammers the ball away and the Dons recover possession

The St. Mirren goal, poor as it was, actually came from another good pressure sequence and it was a hit and hope that Aberdeen on a rare occasion failed to deal with. As the defence plays more often together, these instances should be few and far between. Hopefully.

In the second period, Jimmy pushed the team up a few more yards and there was certainly more intensity and a higher line of confrontation as he noted in his post-match comments to BBC Scotland, when he said there was a ‘better press’ and players ‘connected better with each other’. This sequence below was a good example.

1. Iacovitti is closed down by McGrath who invites him to play wide

2. Devlin steps up on the wing back and wins the ball back

3. Dons have possession in attacking third and Saints are out of position. An overload in the box is on its way

Possession

The possession stats show that St. Mirren had more of the ball and according to Stephen Robinson his side were in ‘total control’. They may have had more possession but this was mainly in these sequences knocking it between Gogic, Fraser and Iacovitti which clearly Aberdeen were happy to allow.

Not that the Dons were playing peak Tiki-Taki themselves. This was a scrappier game than Monday and the men in Red were more than content to go longer from the back.

Thelin it seems is not too obsessed with having the most possession. That may take some getting used to in home games but it will be fun to see how teams that don’t want the ball have to adapt. It is clearly done with a purpose. The focus is on quick transitions, or as was the case in the second half, moving the ball quickly from side to side in the opposition’s half. Negative passes from Aberdeen were few and far between.

Having two center backs that can defend is so vitally important as we will see a lot of opposing teams run out of ideas and send it long. It’s not surprising that the club is looking to strengthen in this area.

In terms of creating goalscoring chances, there were less than in Perth and, as the stats bear out, in front of goal it was a closer game: (1.6 to 1.13 in xG, 11 shots to 10). From the old fashioned eye test, the Dons carried the greater threat. There can be few neutral observers who didn’t think they were worthy winners.

Additional Thoughts

Sokler, Ambrose, Gueye - Are they up to it?

With Miovski now gone, reality is hitting and Sunday did not provide any assurances that the gap will easily be filled. Sokler had a disappointing game on the ball at least, going down easily early on when played through by Morris. Pape got his goal and did have some positive moments but there were as many bad touches and possession giveaways as there were good. Ambrose did nothing at all, physically struggling and failing to get a hold of the ball.

Miovski is obviously going to be a hard act to follow and maybe Sokler will grow into the role but he seems short in terms of 1v1 finishing, pace and connecting the play. With cash in hand and the new additions of Ante Palaversa and Topi Keskinen the squad does look stronger in the midfield and wider areas so maybe there’s room for a striker to come in.

Sensational Shinnie

The captain was again a standout on Sunday and is rolling back the years with his performances. His ball winning qualities have never been in doubt but his quality on the ball has been very impressive, highlighted by his wonderful cross for the third goal.

The partnership with Nilsen is blossoming. They are winning second balls, connecting little passes, swarming the opponents in midfield, making the right tactical fouls. Earlier in the summer I asked - ‘can we afford to have two thirty-somethings running the midfield?’ At the moment, it seems only suspensions can stop them.

Where’s the young lads?

On the opposite end of the scale, and possibly the biggest black mark on the Thelin-era so far is the complete absence of our youth products. In particular Fletcher Boyd we have seen very little of, although he was an unused sub at the weekend.

Alfie Bavidge seems to have fallen completely out of favour, highlighted by the embarrassing episode which saw him not initially given a squad number. It is sad to see for a player we’ve had such high hopes for and he surely must be frustrated seeing Ambrose and Guèye play so much. Of course prolific strikers in the youth ranks are not always capable of making that step up, but even the two who spring to mind in recent years; Lawrence Shankland and Bruce Anderson, have both gone on to have good SPFL careers.

Time is now ticking for the young loon and if he is to be loaned again, it would have to be at the Scottish Championship level you would hope.

Thanks for taking the time to read. All feedback is welcome. It’s a great time to be a Dons fan right now. COYR.