The Dons Debrief: Motherwell (H)

Five wins from five in the SPFL but Dons made to work

Aberdeen won again on Saturday, retaining Jimmy Thelin’s 100% record. It is now five wins from five in the league. The best start to a league season since 2015/16 when the Dons won their first eight games.

Both goals again came from Pape Gueye, the first a brilliant solo strike, the second a poacher’s goal. Motherwell pulled a goal back on the 87th minute and came close to equalising in stoppage time. There were echoes of the St. Johnstone match on the opening day with a late goal creating nervousness.

Motherwell’s Poor Press

In the preview I wondered whether Aberdeen may have success in the wider areas based on Motherwell’s 3-4-2-1 shape and it bore fruit. But it was not just there. It was everywhere.

The Dons lined up in the usual 4-2-3-1 with Ante Palaversa stepping in for Shinnie, who was unwell.

The visitors did not seem to have a clear and coherent plan to stop Aberdeen playing, unlike Ross County last week, who did their homework. Their box structure in midfield (Halliday and Zdravkovski in central midfield, Miller and Maswanhise higher up) led to no one taking responsibility. Nilsen and Palaversa were happy to receive, drop off, receive again. They had the confidence to get the ball in tighter spots but were not pressed aggressively when they did. Neither really moved out of their zone, why would they when they were effectively occupying four midfielders?

The two attacking midfielders didn’t know whether to go with Aberdeen’s two holders or press the centre-backs or even go out to the full-backs. The wide midfielders were often pushed back by their Aberdeen counterparts. Hence you get this situation below where Jack MacKenzie has the freedom of Pittodrie to move the ball up-field. O’Donnell has to make a decision to go with McGrath and MacKenzie is open. This is pretty basic stuff.

Aberdeen thus had control of possession for the majority of the first half with Motherwell doing very little in the way of attacking.  

Is Possession Leading to Chances?

The Dons had 65% possession in the first half but only one shot on target (Pape’s goal). So is time on the ball leading to scoring opportunities? This probably needs a deeper dive at some stage (maybe next International Break) but here’s a breakdown of our chances in the first half:

As you can see the majority of chances came from winning the ball back in the defensive third and quickly transitioning. Gueye and Keskinen’s pace particularly important in these situations. This is what we were told Thelin excelled in and it is interesting from watching the game twice, that we did not seem to be in these positions too often to create fast counter attacks. That we are creating chances so frequently in these moments points to work being done on the training ground.

On the flip side, we are struggling to get an end product from our long passing sequences, particularly those situations which sees Aberdeen working the ball around the box. Last week was the same. Early on in the League Cup games we saw more situations when the ball was dropped off with one-touch passing around the box, up back and throughs, but this seems to have become less prevalent thus far in the league.

Gueye’s goal was tremendous. Receiving in his owns half he controlled brilliantly, breaks with pace, beats two men and rifles the ball home. As local journalist Chris Harvey noted on Twitter, a lot of humble pie is being eaten right now. Platefuls in my house. 

Miller Moves Back and has an Immediate Impact

Motherwell brought on Vale for Zdravkovski and Lennon Miller was dropped back. This was combined with a more aggressive press and we ended up with a much more even and back and forth game.  This was reflected in the possession stats in the second half which were split 52-48 in Aberdeen’s favour.

Miller’s influence on the game grew and he showed his full range of talents: carrying the ball, short and long passing, winning the ball back. I’m no Stuart Kettlewell, but I am shocked he’s not in this position from the start.

The youngster (surely a boyhood Dons fan) was integral in two excellent chances Motherwell had on 60 and 65 minutes. First Watt’s header, which could well have been an equaliser. Then a Tavares curling effort just past the post. At this point the momentum was with Motherwell. Devlin had to look lively to block a goal bound effort from Tavares, a chance which came from Motherwell winning the second ball (Miller) from their own goal kick.

Motherwell rolled the dice, taking of Halliday for Ebiye and appear to move to a 4-1-3-2 type shape, although truth be told, I found it hard to tell. Again, this may be my rudimentary understanding of Kettlewell’s advanced tactics, or they just weren’t very organised.

Morris the Impact Sub. Again

Keskinen had some more bright moments and really should have scored on 54 minutes. Put through by Gueye (another fast break) he didn’t get his shot off quick enough (fair play to Wilson’s recovery and block) or have the smarts to cut back onto his left. With any step-up, time on the ball becomes smaller and I think this will just be part of his adaption to the Scottish game.

He was replaced on the hour by Shayden Morris who again made an impact. I may be in a minority, but I get quite excited when his number is called and that is testament to Jimmy. He is doing the simple things, staying wide, positive first touches, using his pace to the man and getting balls in the box. He put one dangerous cross in that Gueye could not get his head to, won a corner on his next run and then set-up the goal, even though he doesn’t get credited with an assist.

The goal comes from an Aberdeen throw-in. There is some fortune when the attempted clearance strikes a Motherwell man but this can’t be disconnected from pressure Aberdeen put on ball and then their ability to win it back. They move the ball out of pressure to a man in space in Devlin who is tucked inside the midfield who finds Morris. And then we have the numbers getting in the box (see below), just like Jimmy wanted. It’s Devlin again who this time hits the shot which is well saved. It may have spun in but Gueye makes sure.

Panic

At this point the Aberdeen players got caught up in the party atmosphere. Instead of retaining control of the ball and seeing the game out they allowed the match to continue in a transitional pattern. Removing McGrath (Besuijen) and Gueye (Ambrose) did not help. Big Peter is really struggling to make an impact but based on current events we know we shouldn’t write anyone off too soon.

For the Motherwell goal Beusijen allows the pass outside him too easily and MacKenzie is slow to get close. Nilsen does not get close enough to Vale, Clarkson is too late to react when Watt drops off and Rubezic misses his clearance. A few errors of ‘just not being on top of things.’

Pressure continued to mount on Aberdeen through a combination of Motherwell’s direct play and counter-pressing, and the Reds failure to connect simple passes. Clarkson was a particular offender turning the ball over, with the Scouser only completing five out of nine attempted passes (56%) in his half hour on the pitch. Big Ante? 60 out of 66 (91%).

Mitov again came to the rescue with a spectacular save in stoppage time from Liam Gordon. This was ranked as 0.97% xGot, essentially meaning once it left Gordon’s head it should have almost certainly been a goal. Mitov has been a brilliant signing as the last two weeks have proven.

Summary

This was a controlled performance from the Dons for 45 minutes. There is a question as to the opposition letting you do that but that’s another topic for another day.

Palaversa showed enough to suggest he will be a key player moving forward. I wonder if he will be utilised in a three with Nilsen and Shinnie in some tough away trips (maybe one in the East End of Glasgow). His frame and passing style, reminds me of Nemanja Matic.

As we’ve noted, creating more opportunities from the longer passing sequences will be an area of improvement. On the flip side, Gueye really does look like a different player and Keskinen is growing every week. Nisbet showed some good hold-up play but snatched at his only chance.

The concern will be how the game flipped in the second half. The positive is that Aberdeen dealt with the slings and arrows of crosses, free-kicks and corners. Just like at St. Johnstone, just like St. Mirren, just like Kilmarnock and just like Ross County. Given this is the significant attacking identity of most of the league, it’s a ‘test’ that Aberdeen seem to be passing currently.

That’s not to be disingenuous. It was another game when Aberdeen lost on xG (1.55 v 1.77)) and the Dons are double-dipping with Devlin’s effort that was saved and led to the goal. Some of these numbers however are probably products of Game State as the Dons protect a lead (another deep dive probably needed here.)

The buzzword around Aberdeen currently is ‘Test’ with Tom English pushing this narrative on Sportsound on Saturday - “we need to wait to see until Aberdeen face a real test,” which now seems to be distilled to Celtic away.

Prior to that, Aberdeen have Spartans (H), Dundee (A) and Hearts (H). Of those three, Dundee would seem to be the fixture that will present the biggest challenge (on current form anyway). There will be a week, soon I’m sure, when I don’t have an Aberdeen win to write about, but until then we all must enjoy the ride.

Stay humble.