Motherwell 2 Aberdeen 0

Match summary, key stats and talking points from yesterday's match at Fir Park.

A new posting schedule this week. A quicker post-game piece with important stats and discussion points. This will be followed up by an analysis piece mid-week with a preview on the Hearts match on Saturday morning. All feedback is welcome.

Jimmy Thelin’s Aberdeen fell to their fifth defeat in a row at Fir Park on Sunday. First half goals from Ewan Wilson and Tawanda Maswanhise either side of a Slobodan Rubezic red card gave the Dons a mountain to climb in the second-half. Despite a commendable performance, the 10-men were unable to find the net. The Dons remain in 4th, level on points with Dundee Utd.

Lineups and Tactics

As was the case on Thursday, there was a team news injury ‘surprise’ with Gavin Molloy nowhere to be seen. The young Irishman will be out for an extended period with what appears to be a shoulder injury. Ester Sokler was also missing and is also likely to be absent for a number of weeks.

Accordingly it was much as we might have expected apart from the midfield. For the first time this season, Thelin played Nilsen, Palaversa and Shinnie in the midfield. Shinnie seemed to operate in an advanced position but more on the left and was not completely balanced out by Palaversa on the other side.

Motherwell went with their typical 3-4-2-1 and the runners from in behind the striker caused the Dons some challenges.

Game Summary

The Dons started well and imposed themselves on the game from a possession perspective. Keskinen got in behind early on and Duk had a solid effort saved. Warning signs were offered when on 20 minutes Dan Casey headed wide from close range when he gave Shinnie the slip from an Andy Halliday cross.

Nicky Devlin had a great chance to put Aberdeen 1-0 from Palaversa’s cross but his header was straight at Austin Oxborough. On 35 minutes Motherwell went ahead. A long ball over the top and through the middle, eventually led to a cutback which teenager Ewan Wilson slammed into the roof of the net.

With half-time on the horizon, the main talking of the match occurred. Rubezic and Tony Watt tangled on the sideline. The Montenegrin pushed his head into the Motherwell man who took every opportunity to exaggerate the contact. However we all know the rules and Rubezic’s failure to keep calm was naive in the extreme.

Within seconds it was two. As has been common this season, the defence could not handle a ball over the top and the pacey Maswanhise controlled and finished well. MacDonald who was culpable for the first was almost entirely responsible for this one and he paid the price at half-time, getting hooked for Dante Polvara.

The Dons performed well in the second period, controlling possession again with ten men and coming close on a couple of occasions but the damage was done well before that.

Possession, yes. Control?

This was certainly a more dominant Aberdeen start to the game in terms of possession and field territory. It was easy to feel the Dons were in ‘control’ of the match. However, this was not to be entirely unexpected. Motherwell have the lowest average possession in the SPFL at 38.8%. Unlike the majority of teams who have played Aberdeen recently, the ‘Well did not really attempt a high press either so it’s hard to assess if building out of the back was much improved.

I don’t want to be too unfair to the team. They played well, were good to watch and who knows how the game may have developed. It was better, a lot better than recent weeks and in the long run I think this approach will pay dividends.

However, it did feel like Motherwell’s opening goal was coming. Casey’s miss was a sitter and there were a few more sniffs around the penalty area before Wilson’s opener. Yes, Aberdeen had a man sent off but they were already 1-0 by then. They may well have come back from 1-0 down to win the game, if they’d remained with a full complement but recent history suggests otherwise.

Offensive Struggles

A common theme in these pages has been the failure to turn possession into meaningful chances and in consideration of the above, there was not a lot to show attacking wise in the 35 minutes before Motherwell scored. The Dons had one shot in open play, Duk’s speculative effort from the edge of the box. They had a lot of the ball but, just like against Dundee United, this did not correlate into better goalscoring chances

There were quite a few times when the wide players or full backs got into crossing positions but the final pass or the movement in the box was not quite there. Most notably, early on Keskinen played a cross into the typical penalty spot cutback zone, but all three players in the box had ran into the six-yard box.

It may have been the wrong choice from the Finn (although he may be following orders by cutting it back) but at least one of Shinnie, Nisbet or Duk should have held their run and it’s symptomatic of a lack of cohesion in the final third.

If we’re being positive, with time, hopefully these relationships will continue to develop and moments like this will result in goals being scored but in the short term it’s four goals in the last eight games.

At the time of writing the Dons have added Preston (and former Elfsborg winger) Jeppe Okkels, a right footed left winger on-loan until the end of season. Increased options on the front end will defintely help although, it does seem like the opposite (left footed, right winger) may have been a better fit. From a brief view of his highlights, he looks like he has sweet right foot, capable of dipping inside and delivering dangerous crosses.

Defensive Crisis

Talk about burying the lead. Angus MacDonald was making his 50th appearance yesterday but one wonders if there will be many more. I already spent some time looking at his decisions on the ball against Ross County but you can make some allowances that building out of the back may be out of his comfort zone.

Defending long balls, maintaining a consistent defensive line, however should be his bread and butter. For the first goal he seems to get distracted by Tony Watt and allows the space in behind. In my opinion he should be the deepest defender in that situation and both he and Rubezic should not be looking to play a high line. You could also lay the blame at Jack MacKenzie should also be recongnising the danger. His body position is closed off and he does not have eyes on the Motherwell attacker either.

The second goal is as basic as it gets. There had been plenty of reminders up to that point about the pace Maswanhise and allowing a ball over the top and being able to be taken down in the penalty area suggests something major has gone wrong.

Polvara came in and did fine but that’s unlikely to be a long-term solution. With Molloy out, Rubezic facing suspension and MacDonald clearly struggling, there surely needs to be reinforcements coming in over the next few weeks. It was October 26th, the last time Aberdeen kept a clean sheet, one of only three this season.

Midfield Three

It did feel like the team had more bite in the midfield with Shinnie playing a little higher to win the ball back and there were quite a few instances in the opening twenty minutes when they created chances through high recoveries and winning second balls.

There was also some fluidity between the players and their movements to find space to progress the ball forward. They were not overly tested in progressive build-up by the Motherwell press.

Palaversa and Nilsen are both high volume, high accuracy passers and in these games when the team is looking to establish the control Thelin so desires, it’s hard not to see how having them both in the team is not an option. I think this was a positive, to see how the team was able to operate with the three in there, albeit it was only for 45 minutes.

Nilsen’s forward pass numbers here obviously impacted by his positional change. I also note that these totals don’t match the total passes, there are other types (progressive, long) but not easy to correlate the overlaps, these are clearly separated.

Keskinen Continues to Improve

Despite the poor results, Topi Keskinen has been a bright spark over the last few games. His ball carrying abilities over long distances were again shown for the chance he created just after half-time for Duk and he looked bright throughout. We’ve seen more of him on the left and he looks more comfortable and more dangerous

In terms of end product, he’s still not quite contributing as much, he’s 44th in the league right now for Expected assists (1.8), from an actual of 2.0. But for his first season, four goals and two assists thus far is not a bad record. Hopefully he will add more as the season progresses.

Expected Points

We are now currently right on track for around a 60pt season assuming we continue our current points per game average of 1.62. Probably enough for third this year but whether it’s achieveable for the Dons right now, is another story.

Manager Reaction

All data via FotMob or Wyscout.