The Dons Debrief: Hearts (H)
Stress Test
A joyful Pittodrie witnessed Aberdeen reach a magnificent seven league wins in a row this past Sunday. After the best start possible, the Dons found themselves behind for the first time since July 23rd. Two fine goals from Nicky Devlin and Ante Palaversa turned the game around and the Dons remain level on points with Celtic at the summit of the SPFL Premiership.
In many ways I think this was a best case scenario. Aberdeen got the three points but they were also sent away with some homework. They were posed some new challenges and did not pass every test with flying colours. It can be easy to forget amid all the euphoria that we are only a few months into Thelin’s tenure and he is at the very early stages of his team-building process. We did not expect it to be perfect.
In this week’s debrief, I’ve decided to explore three themes from the game:
Dealing with the high press from Hearts
The chances Hearts created
Penetration: Passers v Dribblers
Tactical Setup
Aberdeen kept an unchanged line-up from the win over Dundee. Hearts played a 4-3-3/4-1-4-1.
Dealing with a Press
So far this season Aberdeen have been able to build out of the back with relatively little trouble but immediately Hearts showed their intent to try and stifle the Dons build up. As the image below shows, Blair Spittal (CM) is pressing Shinnie aggressively who drops it off to Rubezic.
The Dons were able to work this out and work the ball up the field through a combination with Devlin and Shinnie.
This shows the advantages of building out against a high press. If the combinations are quick and accurate, space will open up in behind. Shinnie is then able to progress the ball forward and though Aberdeen lose possession, they win it back quickly again (counter-press). McGrath shows his strength and ability to create space to play in Keskinen. The Finn’s shot takes a big deflection and the Dons are one ahead.
However, it was not that easy moving forward and within a couple of minutes, Lawrence Shankland was presented a great chance. The image below shows the Hearts pressing structure immediately after a goal kick for the Dons. The Jambos have their front five squeezing on Aberdeen’s back seven.
Nilsen is in possession. He has an option potentially for a one two with Shinnie (shown with the arrows), potentially a longer pass to Keskinen (also highlighted) or to go back to Mitov/Rubezic/Molloy. All of these passes involve an element of risk. In the end, Nilsen opts for the safest one, to Molloy but I believe the Norwegian could have opted for a forward pass instead of turning back.
Nilsen takes his time, and Jorge Grant is able to squeeze the young Irishmen very hard once the pass is made. Molloy doesn’t angle his pass enough to avoid the pressure. It breaks to Shankland who should score.
The longer pass/clearance was probably the best option but I think MacKenzie could have created a better angle for a short pass that could then be bumped to Nilsen. These are the fine details and the extra pass that allow you to break the press. In his post-match interview, Jimmy mentioned working on players positioning and this may have been one area he was referring to.
I’ve highlighted a few more instances that Hearts were able to force Aberdeen into long passes and giveaways through co-ordinated pressure as shown below:
In both situations above, Aberdeen go long and the ball came right back at them. Nisbet did his best but he is not a natural target man.
Should Aberdeen abandon playing short?
Firstly, it wasn’t all negative. The passing sequences where they lose the ball tend to stick in the mind a bit more. A minute after his giveaway, Molloy himself played a great pass into the feet of Nisbet who flicked it to Clarkson who then played a through ball to Keskinen who just couldn’t got on the end of it. There were quite a few more if you watch the game back.
A lot of the mistakes came from either indecision or misplacing a first time pass. I think both of these will be worked on in the training ground, with more regimented patterns and movements. As we said before, Aberdeen have not been pressed too high this season and the players are not fully comfortable. Additionally, the crowd can quickly get nervous which surely transmits to the pitch. In a lot of these cases, it was the pass prior that could have been quicker that encouraged the press and put another teammate in trouble.
Mitov is getting better at hitting those second line passes which can be a big asset, usually to the wide areas around half-way e.g. Jack MacKenzie back heel or the one to McGrath on 26 minutes.
We did some mistakes today, that’s football, football is a game of mistakes, you have to reduce them but still be brave. (Thelin post-match interview).
Unfortunately, up front there is no great outlet. Nisbet might be able to hassle and harry but he struggles to compete in the air with two aggressive centre-backs like Kent and Rowles. Maybe we could see what JET is up to?
Celtic are likely to come at Aberdeen with great relish. They will need to be sharper, better prepared and more coordinated if they are going to break through the green and white swarm in a couple of weeks. Or, they may need to go with Plan B.
Hearts chances
This game was not unlike the Dundee match with both teams having longer spells of possession. Aberdeen made more passes than the visitors but the majority were in their own half during the first period. When they did get forward they struggled to find the final ball (more on that later).
Where Hearts did dominate was in terms of goalscoring chances and maybe this skews the perception of Aberdeen’s performance a little. We already mentioned Shankland’s opportunity on five minute. See my full list below.
Hearts created most of their chances from set-pieces and crosses into the box. Both Spittal and Dhanda were able to combine well on the left-side and deliver dangerous in-swinging balls, whether from corners, free-kicks or in open play.
Last week Aberdeen dealt with Dundee’s threat from wide very well but Hearts presented a different challenge and had a lot of success. They were able to work the ball into wide areas quite easily as Aberdeen pressed narrowly. In Dhanda they had an inverted winger who was able to take possession in a tight space and then open the play up. They showed a willingness and ability to retain possession in order to find the right crossing option.
Mistakes
We could also attribute the first Shankland chance to an error but certainly Vargas’s chance was a mistake and should definitely have led to a goal. This was a slice of luck.
Molloy is the common denominator and not for the first time this season. He’s unfortunate in that he plays a position where mistakes can lead to goals in rather short order. But he is young, has made a big step-up and has shown a lot of positive attributes. I do hope as he becomes more comfortable with his teammates and fully adjusts to the pace of the league, these errors will disappear.
Corners
Both goals could have been dealt with better. For the first there are multiple chances to clear from the initial corner, just before the goal. Then it’s a mix-up between keeper and defender. In my opinion Mitov needs to get more on his flap. Shankland reacts well to find Kent for the tap-in. For the second, there’s just not enough urgency to go out and press the ball.
One thing that was noticeable against Dundee was that Aberdeen are only sending one player out to deal with a short corner. The attacking team is quickly working the 2v1 or sometimes 3v1 to create a better angle to deliver the cross.
Penetration: Passers v Dribblers
In such an action-packed game it’s hard to recall everything that happens, especially in the first half. But again Aberdeen had quite a few well-worked passing sequences.
Where things tended to break down was in the final pass. Hearts did a good job of dropping into their shape when Aberdeen had established a foot-hold in their half and there was a lot of passing from side-to-side to try and find the opening. This great pass by Nilsen (below) was probably the best one but Nisbet’s shot was blocked. It was that level of intricacy that was required. You can see why Jimmy likes counter-attacks.
After 60 minutes our long-lost friend Luis Lopes made his return and took up a spot (much to his agent’s chagrin) on the left wing but it was on the other side where the Dons goal came from.
From a stationary free-kick, Shinnie finds Devlin who gets a run at the Hearts defence who are scrambling back. He is able to play Keskinen in. This was a fast break that did not allow Hearts to get set. The through pass is easier and Keskinen makes the right decision to cut the ball back. Devlin’s quick reaction to volley home gets Aberdeen right back in the game.
Shayden Morris is then brought on and Aberdeen now have fresh legs with pace and ball-carrying ability on both flanks. Ten minutes later, Jorge Grant gets sent off and Hearts naturally look to defend their point. The second yellow is the product of a Duk run and the winning goal was vintage Lopes. Picking up wide, slowly building up pace, getting to the by-line and cutting it back. Palaversa is on hand to finish after Sokler, thankfully on this occasion, fluffs his lines.
It was another example of Thelin making the right subs at the right time, changing the dynamic and forcing the opposition to deal with a new problem.
Earlier this week I shared a post from The xG Philosophy on twitter, see below regarding what is seen as the best place to cross the ball from (see below).
We’ve seen this already from Aberdeen a lot. Nilsen, McGrath and Clarkson are all adept at picking a lock and getting the ball in behind a backline to get to those crossing zones but sometimes it’s a lot easier if you can give it to someone and they can do all the hard work themselves. It’s understandable that Thelin might have been willing to forgive and forget our favourite Cape Verdean.
Morris is another who can penetrate and is now adding end product. And we saw what Keskinen can do in this game and last week. The mix of passers and dribblers and outright speedsters gives Aberdeen good options.
Summary
The Dons were tested in this game. Indeed they’ve been tested in all their games but they still keep on rolling. Ross County was brilliant but I think this was the sweetest win so far.
It did flag up more areas that need to be improved but I think we can trust the management team are well on top of those. We are, perhaps, getting the rub of the green on occasion. No doubt the tide will turn at some point but the points, all 21 of them, are on the board.
Celtic can wait. For now, as Jimmy says, we ‘enjoy these victories.’
COYR