The Dons Debrief: Dundee United (H)
Good things come to those who wait
Aberdeen secured another memorable victory on Saturday evening against Dundee Utd. Peter Ambrose was the hero continuing one of the themes of the season. Never write a player off.
Though the goal did not come until the 83rd minute it was, particularly in the second half a commanding home performance and in terms of possession and territory, Aberdeen’s most dominant display of the season.
Thelin opted for the team that started the second half at Parkhead with one change: Ante Palaversa for Greame Shinnie. It was a good opportunity to give Palaversa more minutes and relieve some of the stress on Shinnie who will be asked to play at least another 180 minutes this week.
United went with a 3-4-3, or 3-4-2-1, however you want to describe it although it rarely represented that and whenever out of possession, which was about 70% of the time, they played a 5-4-1, as noted in our match preview.
First Half:
Long balls and short passes
Aberdeen came right out of the traps and pressed United aggressively, getting the crowd who were already buzzing even more engaged and forcing a number of wayward clearances from the United keeper and backline.
The game gradually settled down and the Dons were unable to create too many chances in the first period despite having most of the ball. As I’ve noted before, extra possession has not always translated to goal scoring chances this season. At full-time Jimmy Thelin stated the following:
I think in the first half we were struggling more, we played more direct, but also because they defend really well.
It’s true. The Dons definitely played a lot of long balls at the start of the game. This is a feature from Elfsborg that we haven’t really seen at the Dons yet. They attempted 12 long balls in the first half, with only 36% accuracy.
But, these often came after passing sequences deeper in the Aberdeen half. It has been a noticeable feature how often the Dons play the ball between the two centre-backs and two central midfielders. If nothing is on they will go back to Molloy or Rubezic and often Mitov too. It’s safe possession but it also has a goal to draw the opposition out, especially in a situation where their pressing structure may not be as organised as in a goal kick for example.
McGrath (in the #10) often came deep and with the two United central midfielders keeping an eye on Palaversa and Nilsen, a centre-back was forced to come out. I think the idea may have been to pull the back three out of shape and try and hit the space in behind. See below how this plays out early on.
Had MacKenzie’s ball been a bit better, we could have had Duk hitting the end-line with Sokler and Keskinen running into the box.
The best example of this tactic was later in the half when Nilsen hit Keskinen in behind.
You can see both Adegboyega and Gallager drawn into picking up Sokler and McGrath. Keskinen is tucked in and Nilsen has time to pick his head up.
There are a number of issues with Dundee United’s back line here: How high two of the three central defenders are, the relatively high defensive line and it’s zig zag nature, when there is no real pressure on the ball, the two players both pointing for Keskinen to be picked up by the other. The good news for United fans is that this will be ‘easy to fix…’
In the end Holt makes a good recovery tackle on Keskinen who is unable to get the ball down and get the shot off.
2-4-2-2
Part of the fun of watching this Aberdeen team is seeing consistent patterns emerge and I think one has happened too often now for it not to be a coordinated plan. That is the two wide players going inside while the #9 and #10 drop in.
I’ve shown this occuring in previous weeks from the Hearts and Celtic games (indirectly this led to Clarkson’s chance) and this was another instance. Usually it involves a ball on the ground and a quick combination to try and get a player in behind but on this occasion, it opened up a longer ball in behind.
I think this relates to the short passes that occur deeper in the build up. At this level of football, and the amount of detail that Thelin and his team go into it’s highly probable these cues are taking place, e.g. Molloy plays a wall pass to Nilsen and then lays it out to Rubezic, which is the signal for the players to initiate movements and get into specific zones, from which then to try and launch a progressive pass.
Something to keep an eye over the next few weeks.
Topi Keskinen
Keskinen seems to be a key part of this strategy of a 2-4-2-2 and his positioning is almost that of a second striker in the zone between the where the centre-forward would be and the winger. Here’s his average position map for the Celtic and Hearts games. I use those two as he switched to the left for a period in this match which may skew things a little.
It didn’t quite come off for the Finn on Saturday but he was a constant presence. My guess is that his pace in the Finnish league had a bigger impact and allowed him to get away from defenders more easily. Now there’s more pressure him and his decision making and technique under duress needs to improve. He’s a young lad though and he’s in great hands. I am pretty hopeful he will have a major impact on this season.
This is a nice segue into the second half as we saw another Aberdeen when Keskinen made way for Shayden Morris during the interval.
Second Half
Morris made his presence felt right from the off, taking his man on and drilling a ball across the face of goal. He won 7 out of his 8 duels and was a constant menace and outlet for Aberdeen. Unlike Keskinen he stayed wide just as he did against Ross County and the Dons moved to one of Jimmy’s other attacking structures, a 2-4-1-3. This is very neatly presented here.
The two centre-backs are missing as is Sokler and Morris but we see McGrath higher, Duk on the touchline and Devlin as the inverted full back. It’s obviously very easy to screenshot a bit of the action to try and make a point and it’s certainly more fluid than this, but the key feature is the width high up the field and the movements of the full backs to go inside.
As we roll the tape, the ball went back to Rubezic who had a clear pass to Morris and we can see Devlin’s positioning high up the field almost as an attacking midielder.
Morris knocked it back to Palaversa and the combination saw him played in behind.
Indirectly this led to Duk’s chance when Aberdeen won the ball back and Sokler played him in.
Pinning United Back
The Dons had concerted pressure in the second half and had some good chances through McGrath, Duk’s shot just mentioned and of course Sokler’s header, well saved by Walton.
Most of the game took place near the Beach End and you probably could have taken the giant banner from before the match and covered up the whole United team at times, they were that close together.
How much of Aberdeen’s pressure can we attribute to them pinning United back, and how much to Jim Goodwin telling his team to drop deep? Unfortunately we won’t really know and the answer is probably a bit of both but Aberdeen kept the ball longer, did not force the pass as much and Rubezic and Molloy seemed to move up the field about 10 yards. All of these factors contributed and gave United less time to rest.
The Dons made about the same number of passes in each half: 234 vs 267 but the percentage in the opposing half was much higher in the second period: 40% (94) in the first half, 63% (169) in the second.
It was a period of Aberdeen throttling United and this is exactly the type of performance that will be required in home games. I’ve mentioned before the question I had about Jimmy’s style of play passing the “St. Johnstone at home test” but it’s clear he doesn’t employ the rope-a-dope in these scenarios, rather a relentless series of punches to the body. Eventually you’ll wear them down.
Of course it’s United’s prerogative to play how they wish and it would show a lack of self-awareness to bemoan the Taysider’s defending in the second half, a week after Aberdeen’s formidable resilience in the final third of the Celtic game. But there did seem to be a passivity about United that there wasn’t from Aberdeen in Glasgow and they showed no real attempt to try and carry a threat, again unlike the Dons last week. You can hardly blame Goodwin. Last time he faced a team at the top of the table at Pittodrie, he did exactly the same thing. And it didn’t work then either.
Patience is a Virtue
We talked at half-time about patience and finding more crosses.
Thelin post-match
The Dons finally found the goal via a terrific patient, passing move. It starts when United clear it on 82.29 and Rubezic collects on the half-way line. The ball works its way from the left side to the right side, back again to the left. All the time, players ahead of the ball are making little movements to try and get free and progressively Aberdeen move higher up the pitch. The pass is not forced as the ball keeps moving and United drop deeper and deeper. Molloy finally makes the decision to put the ball in the box. Presumably he’s done the maths, looked at his position on the field and the numbers in the box and given it a go. Of course it’s Devlin who’s in there to lay it off and Ambrose sticks it in the back of the net. The time on the clock is 83:30. One minute and seventeen passes later.
For my money this marks the fourth time a substitute has scored this season, and if we add in Duk’s assist v Hearts, that’s five goal involvements out of Aberdeen’s 18 league games. I’m not really sure if that’s out of the ordinary or not, but there’s no doubt we have a manager who is able to use his whole squad and keep them all motivated to play their part.
Nicky Devlin
Contrarians may point out Devlin did not get the final touch on the ball that setup Ambrose and they can keep their assist if they want it that bad, but anyone watching will know the new Scotland cap was integral to the goal being scored.
It’s yet another goal involving for the right back. By my money he’s made a key contribution to the following goals for Aberdeen this season (in the league). Often he’s the assist before the assist or just changes the dynamic:
St Johnstone 1st goal - scorer
St Mirren 2nd goal - wins ball back to start the attack
Ross County - driving run then lays wide to Morris
Motherwell 2nd goal - Shot saved that rebounds to Gueye
Dunde 1st goal - channel ball for Keskinen
Hearts 2nd goal - scorer
Celtic (might be a stretch) but he’s pressing Maeda for the turnover
Dundee United 1st goal - assist
Some of this is just is eagerness and intensity but other elements are the adjustments in his positioning that see him attack from an inside position (as we mentioned earlier). Well done Nicky.
The Week Ahead
It is a mouthwatering week of action and it’s hard to remember going into games against the two Glasgow sides with such belief. Of course it will be a challenge but any setbacks will not be season-defining.
Woe betide the opposition analysts that work for either team who’s job it is to pin down how Aberdeen will play, especially for the mid-week match. Over the course of nine games, we’ve seen different strategies between matches and within games. High pressure, low blocks, long-passing moves and rapid counter attacks.
One constant underpinning it all is a work ethic and energy befitting the great quote from Mr Di Stefano. Whatever happens in the coming week, we can be comfortable in the knowledge that for the first time in a while, we have a team that “have what money can't buy: a soul, a team spirit built in a family tradition."
COYR
P.S. I am not sure how this week will play out in terms of game previews and debriefs. I’ll certainly have at least something together for the end of the week but probably unlikely that I’ll be able to get a full preview and recap done of the Wednesday match but I’ll do my best. I’m already getting concerned about the potential for Sun-Thu-Sun games next season…