The Dons Debrief: Ross County (A)
Who needs a dose of reality anyway?
Aberdeen secured a memorable win on a sunny, Saturday evening in Dingwall. Kevin Nisbet’s 98th minute winner prompted a euphoric explosion in the away end as the Dons continued their 100% record. They will go into the international break level on points with Celtic (second only on goal difference), four points clear of third-placed Dundee United.
It was not an easy match with Aberdeen failing to create many clear cut chances. Ross County had a first-half goal ruled out due to a tight offside call and Dimitar Mitov saved a Ronan Hale penalty. In terms, of xG (weighted significantly by the penalty award), County won 1.06 to Aberdeen’s 0.54. In short, little was created in open play by either side.
County Stifle Dons in Opening Period
In our Saturday preview I asked the question: How will County’s press affect Aberdeen’s build up? In the last two games, the Dons have had a more patient build-up with clear signs of building out of the back patterns developing.
I was expecting a 4-4-2 from County, but instead Don Cowie opted for a 3-4-1-2, which at times, morphed into a straight 5-3-2 when they retreated into their own half. It was a smart decision from the County boss and it made it very difficult for Aberdeen to play out from the back.
Josh Nisbet, playing as the highest midfielder pinned himself on Shinnie for the most part but switched to Nilsen if he was in the most space. With strikers Brophy and Hale pressing high, but not overcommitting, the pictures looked a lot like this in the first half.
In the example above, Rubezic has limited options available to him, other than Molloy or Mitov. In the end, he goes to Mitov, the ball goes long. Aberdeen did recover the second ball on this occasion, but on many other times, they gave the ball away.
On Saturday, I mentioned that going long may not be a problem for Aberdeen due to Gueye’s aerial ability and Shinnie and Nilsen’s ability to win second balls. Well, Gueye had little impact aerially and though Shinnie and Nilsen did win their share of possession they were confronted with a very deep defensive block (see below).
County were particularly aggressive when the ball went into the full backs with the wing-backs pushing up high, the ball-side forward joining in and the midfielders squeezing the in-field options. See the example below when Nicky Devlin gets himself in trouble after 22 minutes.
In this situation, had Devlin been able to move the ball a little quicker, he may have been able to use Rubezic or Shinnie to help switch the play to MacKenzie. Instead he has a moment of indecision and ends up caught in possession in a dangerous area of the field.
County’s Low Block Proves Difficult to Break Down
When Aberdeen did get into the Ross County half, they struggled to find a free-man. As we can see in the image above, there is little space on the field and even when a pass was played into feet, it would end up going back. The forward players struggled to get turned and there was limited space in behind to run into.
The way to break this down is via quick switches, forward running and aggressive dribbling. See the below example when the ball is moved quickly and Devlin and Keskinen have a 2v1. The Finn ended up getting a run at the County left-centre back, Ryan Leak, resulting in an Aberdeen corner.
The wide areas were the area of weakness in the County set up but without real width and the pace of passing to exploit them, they were never really exposed in the first 45 minutes. We saw an improvement in the second half.
Vinnie and Morris Give Width
Vincent Beusijen’s introduction helped re-set the team after Jamie McGrath’s head injury in the first half, providing more balance. Perhaps it was because the cameras were focused on that side, but immediately it felt like Aberdeen had more width. We’ve seen a lot of fluidity across the attacking three behind the striker but on this occasion Beusijen was more disciplined in his positioning sticking largely to the left side.
The Dutchman was able to take the ball in and deliver crosses or assist in creating the quick switches of play to find open players. In the image below, Vinnie received wide dribbled inside and connected to Shinnie who was able to find Devlin and Morris in a 2v1.
Morris eventually won a corner from this situation when his low cross was cut out. But that was pretty much the story of the second half. Aberdeen got in some promising positions but County were able to clear and were confident (rightly so) in their ability to deal with corners.
Anatomy of a Goal
As the game dragged on, and County tired, they dropped deeper and deeper. Nisbet, who was effective in denying Shinnie and Nilsen the ball out of the back was taken off after 71 minutes.
Jimmy Thelin had thrown the dice and in the last few minutes of stoppage time we saw Nilsen drop into a centre back, Nicky Devlin moving inside as a centre-midfielder and Jack MacKenzie operating as a left winger.
The first part of Aberdeen’s winner comes when Shinnie is allowed to pick the ball up in his own half unopposed and with time to pick out a pass.
Shinnie finds Devlin who has tucked inside.
Devlin carries the ball forward with strength, at one point getting knocked down before he slips the ball wide to Morris who is hugging the touchline. Nisbet is hovering around the edge of the box ready to make his run. Besuijen is also making a run in. Mackenzie is out of shot but is creeping in at the back post.
Morris gets past his man and as the covering defender also approaches, manages to play a low and hard cut back into the box. They are queuing up.
Devlin dummies for Nisbet and the on-loan forward strokes it home. Cue pandemonium.
Summary
I don’t believe anyone is getting carried away, not least Mr. Thelin, but they are enjoying themselves. We all know how quickly things can turn in football but for now we have two weeks to rewatch that goal, check the league table and map out the path to winning the title before reality can even think of impinging on our lives.
There were warning signs. On another day this could easily have been a defeat, such was the fine margins. And though the solution did come, it was late, very late. The SPFL has a knack of dragging you down to their level and Aberdeen really did not make any major attacking inroads on Saturday.
As Thelin has reminded us, we are only four games into a league season. This game, as the data shows, could have gone either way, arguably the first of Aberdeen’s four games to do so. Motherwell have made a strong start, and again, will provide a stern test. Their 3-4-2-1 will create similar challenges to this past weekend and their strength from set-pieces is to be respected.
What provides confidence is the progress made so far. Time on the training field should help the team. In two weeks time, Leighton Clarkson should be close to a return and hopefully Jamie McGrath will be ready to go to. Nisbet and Palaversa will have enjoyed a few more weeks of training.
Finally, and it should not go without mention, Saturday was the third clean sheet in a row. Aberdeen have conceded two goals this league season, one an unfortunate own goal from Molloy and the other a mix-up between a new defence.