Arriving in the Box

Plan A

Amid the darkness of winter, there seemed to be some reminders of late summer sunshine at Pittodrie on Sunday. A Pape Gueye headed goal, a right back finding the net, new faces making their debuts, Shady Mo making an impact from the bench, and Aberdeen, actually winning a football match. Following the win over Dunfermline, the Dons will host another side desperate to add to their haul of Scottish Cups when Queen’s Park visit for the second time this season.

It was a nice pick-me-up for Jimmy Thelin and his team, with echoes of the League Cup group stages at the start of the season as he looked to implement his tactical ideas. This was a good guide for his ideal Plan A, me thinks.

Arrived in the Box

“In the first half we saw some more directness in the game, how we arrived to the box, how we attacked them, the things we have worked on for weeks now. It was good to see that we saw some clear signs of how we want to look in the future and going back to this attacking approach.” Jimmy Thelin post-match

Jimmy focused on this attacking element in his post-match and Sivert Heltne-Nilsen echoed the sentiments in his RedTV interview.

The problem of players getting into the box was one I highlighted following the Hibs match, although it was no great insight, the issue has been glaringly obvious for some weeks now. The obvious question is what was different on Sunday to allow more players to get forward and into the 18-yard area? I’ve identified four factors that can help explain the change, beyond just the fact we were playing Dunfermline at home (that is one of them).

Ballers at the Back

For the first time this season, Jimmy could play a right-foot/left-foot, ball-playing combination at the heart of the defence. As expected, given his education, Mats Knoester, looked comfortable with the ball at his feet and Tobers continued to show this aspect of his game.

Palaversa and Nilsen were in typical positions deeper in midfield and the four players created the box shape around the first line of the Dunfermline press. They were comfortable connecting passes, to find the free man to progress the ball forward.

By having two centre-backs comfortable playing out, it makes it harder for the opponent to press. Knoester and Tobers took up fairly deep positions which means that teams would need to be willing to commit a lot of numbers forward if they wish to stop their passes and lock on to Nilsen and Palaversa.

Tobers completed 9/10 progressive passes and his Dutch partner 17/18, with 7/8 successful passes into the final third for the former, and 10/11 for the latter. Line-breaking passes from deep was a feature of the game, like the exchange below between Tobers and Jensen.

So it seems, at least on a small body of evidence that Jimmy now has two centre-backs who will not be uncomfortable applying his building-out-from-the-back tactics.

Full Backs High, Wingers Inside

The confidence to retain the ball at the back also assisted the most discussed element of the game, the involvement of the full-backs high up the field. I noted some of the conservative elements of Nicky Devlin’s play against Hibs and there was a clear difference on Sunday in the team’s approach. Whether this was down to Alexander Jensen replacing Devlin, or the full-back just being given the license and opportunity to roam, is up for debate, but it clearly illustrates the importance of the full-backs being high up the field in making this whole plan work.

It was also nice to have the balance of Jack MacKenzie back on the left. Might be an unpopular opinion but I’ll miss Jack when, as seems likely, he goes in the summer.

So again, keen readers and watchers of the games will note, Keskinen tucking inside as Jensen practically played as a right winger at times, as you can see from the image below.

It meant on occasion, Aberdeen were occupying all four centre backs, and automatically more people in the box for crosses. You can see in the image below the number of players forward and the stress this is putting on the Dunfermline backline.

Lot of men attacking

So with these elements combined, we get more people attacking the box and Jimmy gets images like the one below to keep him happy on the cold winter nights.

Bodies in the box

The commitment to getting forward is highlighted with Jensen’s goal. Devlin did get involved in the attacks but mainly on the same side by making underlapping runs. It wasn’t too often that he came in at the back post like Jensen did (Dundee Utd at home maybe?).

Pape Factor

The opening goal however came from a set-piece (remember them?) and the head of Pape Habib Gueye, who scored his 7th goal of the season.

It was the first time since his return that he played in the position that has brought him and Aberdeen the most joy - the #10. Juan Carlos Valeron of the Deportivo La Coruna side of the late 90s, he is not. Connecting the play and slipping through balls in behind the defensive line is not what we should be expecting from him. Pape is there to do damage in opposition boxes and help defend his own, effectively a second striker, central winger and actual occasional winger.

He’s easily the biggest enigma in the team capable of going from the sublime to the ridiculous in the same period of possession. I’ve now accepted those bad first touches are a trade-off that we all must endure. In a team where positional discipline is so highly prized, Pape adds Aberdeen’s own element of chaos that other teams can’t quite handle.

What’s most interesting to me is how different a ‘profile’ he is to Clarkson, who has been his replacement in that position. The young Scouser takes up very different positions (e.g. pulling out to the left) to Pape, and tries to do very different things, progressing the ball through passing rather than dribbling.

Gueye and Clarkson positional Heatmaps via Sofascore

This does beg the question as to what Thelin is looking for long-term in that role. It may change game by game, but it’s a pretty significant member of the team and you’d think Jimmy would have a clear idea of the type of player he wants in there. In the short term, however, Gueye is the clear choice.

Dunfermline Play the Game

The Pars played their part in the fixture in helping Aberdeen find their feet and play how they wanted to play. I certainly wouldn’t want to criticize any manager or team who believes in his players and tries to pass the ball, never mind one from a lower division, but I’d be surprised if Queen’s Park and Callum Davidson approach the quarter-final in the same manner as Michael Tidser did.

Primarily, I think (another similarity to the start of the season) Dunfermline didn’t get their out-of-possession structure right until it was too late. For the first 55 minutes or so, they went with a 4-3-3 but they didn’t really press too high on the centre-backs nor lock on to the two holding mids and this certainly aided Aberdeen’s ability to build up and commit numbers forward.

What was noticeable however was that when they switched to a 4-2-3-1, added some more pace up front, and matched up more closely with Nilsen and Palaversa, they had their best spell of the game and created some very good chances…

Dundee (A)

Simon Murray, Ibrox-bound Lyall Cameron, Clark Robertson at the back, Tony Doc in the dugout. Sure, Sunday was nice. Sure Dundee have taken a couple of pastings, but all this pretty stuff we saw is about to face a heavy dose of SPFL reality on Saturday.

At Dens, we witnessed the game that launched a hundred articles. Thelin’s transitional tornadoes. In retrospect, it was an outlier, not a sign of a revolution to come. In that game, Dundee battered Aberdeen with crosses in the second half and Rubezic (remember him?), Molloy (remember him?) and Mitov (remember him?) all stood up to the task superbly.

Dundee played a 3-5-2 that day but went to a back four at Pittodrie. I’d expect the latter on Saturday, or maybe a 3-4-3, in which case I doubt it will be as easy to play out and I can’t see Jensen getting the same space. Defensively, Aberdeen struggled with this movement in behind the full-backs

Dundee had success finding runners in behind full-backs at Dens

It really will be an intriguing tactical battle. If the Dons can enforce themselves on the Dark Blues it bodes well for the remainder of the season. But, this is Scottish Football. The ball is not always that important. I’m worried about those two lads at the back.

Same team for me, unless Mitov’s fit. Okkels is on a last warning. Our man from Palestine to come off the bench. A win would be huge and with the new faces, build on the idea that this is a fresh start. Eight games to the split.

Enjoy the game. COYR.

P.S. Recommending this post by Will Glavin comparing the start of the season to the last 14 games from an attacking and defending perspective with supporting data, from what I believe is StatsBomb, who are, I think, considered the gold standard for xG models.