The Alternative Player of the Year

Despite each side having at least five fixtures still to play, the SPFA Player of the Year nominees were announced earlier this week.  The shortlist consist of Kilmarnock’s Alexi Eremenko, Steven Naismith of Rangers and Celtic pair Gary Hooper and Emilio Izaguirre.  All these players are worthy of their nomination, however, since they will be written about extensively elsewhere, I thought it’d be a good idea to look at a few players who have either been unlucky to miss out or else are players I've enjoyed watching this season.

Marian Kello

Along with Beram Kayal, Marian Kello is probably the player who is unlucky not to have found himself among the candidates for this year’s award.  Goalkeepers, and defenders for that matter, are less likely to win such awards since a lot of their good work often goes unnoticed.  Attacking players, that is creators and scorers, are more likely to find themselves nominated for such awards.  Of the four nominees, one happens to be a defender, however, Izaguirre is the most effective attacking full-back in the country.

That defensive players are less likely to win may be partly down to the cliché that ‘goals win games’ but Hearts supporters would argue that Kello has undoubtedly contributed to several wins this season.  Kello has faced up to three penalties this season and saved them all.  The one in the 93^rd minute from David Goodwillie earned his side a crucial 2-1 win over Dundee United, who now sit only eight points behind the Gorgie side.

Kello was also part of the Hearts side that racked up seven clean sheets in nine matches between November and January.  Added to this, are outstanding performances against Rangers in a 1-0 win at Tynecastle in which he made four quality saves to keep the score at 0-0 and another in Aberdeen that earned his side a point in a 0-0 draw.

Danny Swanson

Granted, Danny Swanson has only made around twenty appearances this season, more than half of them from the bench, but despite this he has been one of the most exciting players to watch.  After an indifferent first half to the season in which Dundee united seemed to draw every week, it is no coincidence that their run of form over the last few months has been accompanied by the return from injury by Swanson and fellow winger Craig Conway.

A change in system from Peter Houston ensued.  Whereas the majority of the first half of the current campaign saw United line up 4-4-2 with David Goodwillie and Jon Daly in attack, the return of the two wingers meant that Houston was able to field an extra central midfielder and go with Conway and Swanson flanking Goodwillie in attack in a 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation.  Dundee United then embarked on a run of seven wins in a row and now find themselves with an outside chance of finishing third should Hearts’ poor form continue.

Whereas Conway sticks rigidly to a left wing role, hugging the touchline until receiving the ball and then cutting inside on to his stronger foot, Swanson seems to take up more of a free role.  The former Berwick Rangers winger is quick, intelligent with his feet and if he had been fully fit for the entire season, he would surely find himself among the actual nominees for SPFA Player of the Year.  Moreover, Dundee United would likely be sitting a lot closer to, if not above Hearts in the table. Swanson’s stand out performance this season was during the 3-1 victory over Aberdeen last month in which he capped a man of the match display with an outstanding goal.

Keith Lasley

I have a soft spot for Keith Lasley.  From what I’ve seen of him this season, he is one of the most intelligent central midfielders in Scotland and when on form, he dictates matches as well as most in the SPL.  In the 2-0 victory over Celtic in February, he formed a midfield three with Steve Jennings and Ross Forbes and they completely overran their direct opponents that day.  Whereas Jennings sits deepest of the three, Forbes has licence to drift left and is more inclined to join the attack than the other two.  Lasley’s role is then to sit somewhere between these two and orchestrate attacks. 

As well as this, Lasley is a tenacious player and not afraid to do the dirty work.  In the 1-0 defeat to Kilmarnock earlier in the season he almost single-handedly dominated the midfield area as one of two deep-lying central midfield players, allowing Motherwell’s two wingers to play high up the pitch and cause problems for the Kilmarnock defence.

Lasley was deployed as one of two carilleros in a midfield diamond in the most recent Lanarkshire derby.  For the first half of this match, even though taking up a role not entirely suited to him, he still performed well, covering a lot of ground and finding himself involved in the few times Motherwell got the ball down and passed it around.

One possible reason as to why his form has ebbed and flowed this season - as well as Motherwell’s form as a whole - is that since Stuart McCall has taken over, he has still not settled on his favoured formation or starting eleven.  This is permissible due to the fact that McCall is not long in the job and should be excused for one or two poor performances for the purposes of experimentation, but further to this, his preparations for some matches have been hampered by injuries.  None more so than in the more recent defeat to Kilmarnock in which McCall lost Steven Hammell to injury during the warm up and then Steven Saunders only nine minutes into the match.

Dundee United 3 Aberdeen 1

A decent match in which Peter Houston’s men played some quality football.  Aberdeen rarely looked comfortable in the match and Craig Brown will be disappointed with his team's efforts.  After talk of a possible top six finish, Aberdeen now find themselves slipping back down the table, without a win in their last three.

Dundee United were once again forced to change their back four, bringing in Timothy van der Meulen for Paul Dixon.  Stuart Armstrong was dropped to the bench with Prince Bauben restored to the starting line-up after his goal in Inverness on Tuesday.  This meant that United stuck with their 4-5-1/4-3-3, with Craig Conway and Danny Swanson flanking David Goodwillie in attack.

Rory McArdle and Nick Blackman were the players to miss out for Aberdeen, both of them dropping to the bench and being replaced by Zander Diamond and Derek Young.  Craig Brown has favoured a 4-4-2 in most matches since taking over as manager at Pittodrie, preferring a 4-5-1 against the better sides.  It was a mark of respect that he decided to drop Blackman and go with Scott Vernon as a lone striker.  Sone Aluko was chosen to provide support from the left of midfield with Ryan Jack deployed in a more conservative role on the right.

Movement

Once the game settled it was clear that the home side contained more quality from middle to front.  Paul Hartley and Robert Milsom looked composed on the ball but were let down by their teammates higher up the pitch.  Sone Aluko failed to find space, Vernon was isolated and Derek Young looked lost in a more attacking midfield role than usual.

The Dundee United midfield moved the ball quicker and more accurately, which was down to their superior movement, forming triangles to pass through their opponents.  Scott Robertson sat the deepest of the central midfielders but all three showed a willingness to get forward and support the attack.

The movement of United’s front three also caused no end of problems, especially Conway and Swanson, who would look to cut inside and run at the Aberdeen defence.  Most of the danger came through Swanson on the right wing, however, it was a goal from the left side and a set-piece that put them 2-0 up by half time.

United first half goals

As mentioned, despite all Dundee United’s enterprising forward play, it was a set-piece that broke the deadlock.  Not only this, but Aberdeen were temporarily down to ten men while Diamond was receiving treatment for a gaping head wound.  Even in his absence, it was shocking marking by Aberdeen, who allowed three unmarked players to attack Conway’s inswinger at the near post.

The second goal was even more fortuitous and was the result of an uncharacteristic long ball from van der Meulen.  The Dutchman, more often than not, looks to keep it simple but this time opted to send the ball long towards Conway.  Although inaccurate, his pass was poorly cleared by the head of David McNamee into the path of Conway.  He skipped inside before sending a shot towards goal that should have been dealt with but was parried into the net by Jamie Langfield.

Even though Aberdeen deserved to be 2-0 down going into the break in terms of performance – their first chance form open play was in the thirty-fifth minute - they will feel a bit hard done by given that it was careless defending from a set-piece and a goalkeeping error that cost them.

Movement II

At half time Craig Brown brought on Josh Magennis for Sone Aluko and moved to a 4-4-2.  The substitute made an instant impact as all of a sudden there was someone in the Aberdeen attack who was quicker to the ball than the United defence.  His appearance culminated in a simple goal – a tap in after a long ball from Langfield wasn’t dealt with - and for a brief spell it seemed that Aberdeen might take something from the match.  They began playing a higher defensive line and employing an aggressive offside trap.

Peter Houston responded by withdrawing Conway for Andis Shala.  Shala provided more of an aerial and physical presence in attack but the success of the change came from the positions of Goodwillie and Swanson behind him.

United retained their midfield three but just the two just in front of them were given licence to move freely between the lines and Aberdeen struggled to cope.  The home side began to dominate again and it wasn’t long before they put the game out of reach of their opponents.

Their first two goals may not have been the prettiest but their third reflected the quality of Dundee United’s play during parts of the match.  Goodwillie dropped deep to receive the ball and dinked a perfectly flighted ball over the Aberdeen defence and into the path of Swanson, who had made a darting diagonal run.  He took the ball in his stride before angling his body and finishing expertly with a curling strike.

Craig Brown responded by throwing on another striker and in turn Peter Houston withdrew Swanson for David Robertson, moving to 4-4-2 with a narrow midfield four and stifling any Aberdeen attempt to get back into the match.

Conclusion

Aberdeen may feel aggrieved by the manner in which they conceded the first two goals but in the end the scoreline truly reflected the performance of both sides.  United’s third was a goal fit to win any match and was far more indicative of their play.

The substitution by Craig Brown at half time had the desired impact, however, the response from his opposite number was even more effective on the outcome of the match.  It was another great result for United which was based on the movement of the midfield and attack, the effective way in which they moved the ball, and the pace and trickery of Conway and Swanson.

A little over a month ago Hibernian showed the danger of playing a high defensive line against Dundee United – it was Conway who punished them that day – and Aberdeen found themselves victims of the same fate last night.