Jonny Hayes: The SPFL's New Most Versitile Player

Dundee 2 Aberdeen 1

Another clever set-piece – one designed to catch the Aberdeen defence off-guard – and a customary strike from David Clarkson gave Dundee the victory at Dens Park in a pulsating Scottish Cup tie. It was, however, the man-of-the-match performance of Aberdeen’s Jonny Hayes that caught the eye.

Aberdeen seemed to confuse their opponents from the off. Hayes lined up at kick-off as if he was going to operate on the left but, as soon as the game started, drifted into one of the holding midfield positions in a 4-2-3-1. The Dons immediately created a chance from kick-off and were inches away from taking the lead. This is an unfamiliar role for the former Inverness star but he slotted in seamlessly, dropping deep to collect the ball from the Aberdeen defenders before launching attacks.

But this was by no means the full extent of Hayes’s contribution. In a tactic reminiscent of Guardolia’s Bayern Munich full backs arcing into the centre of the pitch to become holding midfielders when their side have possession, Hayes performed what was almost the inverse: bursting up towards the left wing when Niall McGinn drifted into central areas.

The Aberdeen equaliser came when Hayes collected the ball in the middle of the park and drove at the Dundee defence before teeing up McGinn and was also found covering at left-back when required. He even popped up on the right wing in the second half to go on a mazy run down the touchline and again set up a teammate, this time Adam Rooney.

With Aberdeen again chasing an equaliser, now into injury-time, Hayes found McGinn once more, this time with a cross-field pass but the Northern Irish international’s fierce strike forced an incredible save from Scott Bain in the Dundee goal.

Hayes was unfortunate to find himself on the losing team and will no doubt be happy with his individual performance. It will be interesting to see if his manager continues to deploy him as such in the continued absence of Willo Flood and Barry Robson.

The Science of Penalties

Sunday’s Scottish League Cup final was billed as a potential classic: Two teams currently battling it out in the top half of the Scottish Premiership. One, former powerhouses of Scottish football, looking to end 15 trophy-less years, the other still in its infancy and appearing in its first major final.

Though not the most drab 0-0 you’ll ever see, 120 minutes of goalless action in a cup final hardly constitutes a classic. And so it took penalties to separate the sides. Which is a lottery, right?

Well it depends which manager you listen to. In their respective post-match interviews, Derek McInnes spoke in a measured tone that his team talk just before the spots kicks was “It’s not about luck...you have practiced them all week”. His Inverness counterpart, John Hughes, by contrast bemoaned penalties being “down to luck”, wedging yet another overused, empty expression into his already cliché-ridden vernacular.

This is where the final was won and lost in the end and the marked divergence between the managers’ attitude towards penalty shootouts is clear to see. Hughes, essentially, compared penalties to a lottery, and how can you practice for a lottery?

If it is a lottery, then why pick your best five penalty takers? Furthermore, best estimates put the amount of penalties scored somewhere around 80% - incidentally, the amount scored in yesterday’s shootout had a 75% success rate - if so, then why bother practicing other ways of putting the ball into the net, be it other dead-ball situations like free-kicks and corners or attacks through open play?

These situations end in goals with far less frequency than penalties kicks, making them even more of a lottery, so why bother practicing them either?

The fact is that scoring from the penalty spot is as much of a skill as finding the top corner on the turn or threading a through-ball through a tight space. Fine-tuning putting the ball into areas where the goalkeeper can’t reach, mastering run-ups that confuse and, from the goalkeeper’s point of view, researching where the taker is likely to strike the ball, are all techniques that can be practiced and developed.

Practicing and developing these skills will increase you chance of scoring penalties. Not some unexplained cosmic force.

Given that Aberdeen are still so poor, why is there not more criticism of Craig Brown?

When Craig Brown took over as Aberdeen manager in December of last year, he inherited an almighty mess left behind by his predecessor Mark McGhee.  After some initial progress in the second half of the previous campaign, the current Aberdeen manager has now accumulated fewer points than McGhee had at the same stage last season.

This, firstly, raises the question as to why there has been significantly less criticism levelled at Craig Brown, but also why do Aberdeen remain so poor with a supposedly superior manager at the helm?

In most analyses of Aberdeen, it seems it is the players who take most of the blame.  Aberdeen's most recent opponents Hibernian sit one point below the north-east club, yet Colin Calderwood faces criticism from supporters and pundits on almost a daily basis.

After the recent draw away to Hibernian, Brown was questioned about his side’s poor start to the season.  His response was to reference the fact that two of his seven matches – which include a solitary win and two draws – have come against the Old Firm.  Granted, anything taken from these matches can be envisaged as a bonus for most sides in the SPL, however, in the other five matches Aberdeen have played far this season, they have managed a measly two goals, both of which came against fellow strugglers Inverness in their only victory of the SPL campaign so far.

Brown also pointed to “a lack of cohesion, combination-play and fluency” which, he claims, will come once they manage a few favourable results.  This seems to be putting the cart before the horse, however.  Surely attaining the cohesion, combination-play and fluency the former-Scotland manager craves is exactly what is needed to bring about these much needed results?

These are not the only bizarre comments Brown has uttered following a match this season.  In every  post-match interview so far, minus the defeat in Paisley, Brown has claimed that Aberdeen have dominated all or part of the ninety minutes, or else have deserved something from the game.

In fairness, his side were unlucky not to take anything from the match at Ibrox a few weeks ago, but to claim that his side were “totally dominant” at Tynecastle for thirty minutes, and that the scoreline was a distortion, is to embellish their performance that day.

Furthermore, his assertion that Aberdeen had done enough to take a point from their match versus Celtic at Pittodrie is, frankly, delusional.  Not only did they concede 62% possession, they allowed Neil Lennon’s side twenty-five attempts at goal (thirteen on target) to the home side’s six (three on target).

As mentioned earlier, Brown inherited a sorry state of affairs when he was appointed Aberdeen manager.  This includes the personnel available to him as well as squad morale.  What the squad possessed slightly more of then, that they sorely lack now, is width and creativity. 

The likes of Sone Aluko and Chris Maguire, the latter of which is more suited to a central role but showed similar quality when used out wide, provided a link between midfield and attack and Brown used the January transfer window to add David McNamee and Steven Smith, both of whom provided impetus from full-back.

Aluko and Maguire have since moved on whereas McNamee and Smith were not retained for the new season.  Their departures, along with the lack of replacements, have left Aberdeen sorely lacking in these departments.

Richard Foster has returned from his loan spell at Rangers and started the season as the first-choice left-back.  Against Hibernian on Sunday he was pushed up into the left of midfield and was one of the better performers in a dull encounter.

This meant that Aberdeen lined up with four central defenders across their back line – McArdle, Mawene, Arnason, Considine.  Part of Brown’s strategy here was no doubt to benefit from set-piece opportunities and in theory this should have worked, however, they failed to test the Hibernian rearguard from ten corner kick attempts.

In a few of the matches where Foster has been deployed at left-back, Brown has gone with four central midfielders in a narrow 4-4-2 formation - in the 3-0 defeat to Hearts for example - using two holding midfielders – Isaac Osbourne and Kari Arnason - and two more creative players - Robert Milsom and Fraser Fyvie – on either side.

This system failed to bring about many clear-cut chances, never mind goals, amplified by the lack of an overlap or any sort of width from the full-backs.  Rory McArdle rarely gets forward from right-back and Foster, naturally a right-sided player, always looks to cut on to his stronger foot, rendering any overlap ineffective, or at best partially effective.

Moreover, Milsom displayed against Hibernian that he is more valuable when used in the centre and able to drop deep and collect the ball from the centre backs, while Fyvie is also more naturally a central midfielder. 

In an attempt to address this issue, Fyvie has since been moved to just off Scott Vernon as a second striker, but a lot of hope seems to have been pinned on the eighteen-year-old this season, who recently recovered from a cruciate injury that sidelined him for around nine months.

The young midfielder put in an exciting performance in the season opener versus St. Johnstone but has failed to replicate this in subsequent matches.  Since being moved into a more advanced position, his role now seems to involve getting on the end of knock-downs from Vernon, rather than getting on the ball and causing opposition defenders problems.

There are several other examples of players being used out-of-position.  Striker Josh Magennis and central-midfielder Ryan Jack have been experimented with on the flanks, while the latter has also been used at right-back.  Andrew Considine, naturally a central-defender, found himself positioned at left-back in the match versus Hibernian.

Chris Clark was the latest to be used in a wide-midfield role, also versus Hibernian.  He is versatile enough to play anywhere across the midfield – he is also adept at left-back in the past – but doesn’t possess the attributes of a winger and, therefore, doesn’t seem to be the man to solve Aberdeen’s problem when used out wide.

The only natural winger in the first-team squad is Peter Pawlett but his performances haven’t quite been up to scratch and his manager seems reluctant to give him an extended run in the first team.

Craig Brown has now been in charge of the club during two transfer windows but seems to have failed in acquiring the necessary personnel to provide support for his striker(s).  Scott Vernon showed last season that he can score goals, managing a total of fifteen in all competitions, but has only netted once so far this campaign.

There is no doubting the defensive instincts of Craig Brown - evidenced by four centre-backs being deployed across the defence, instructing his side to sit deep and hit the forwards with long balls, and the narrow nature of most of his line ups - but even given the players now at his disposal, is there a solution to the problems currently facing this impotent Aberdeen squad?

Perhaps moving back to the narrow 4-4-2 used at Tynecastle wouldn’t be such a bad idea now that Clark has returned from injury.  Clark pushing on from left-back with Foster doing the same in his more natural right-back role would, in theory, provide the side with the necessary width required to allow Milsom and Fyvie to occupy central areas between the holding midfielders and strikers.

The use of two holders – say, Arnason and Osbourne – just ahead of the back four would offer adequate protection and cover for the meandering full-backs and would not leave the central defensive pair exposed.

The final benefit of such a system is that it would allow Brown to go with a strike partnership:  It is questionable whether Vernon is able to play up front on his own and the pace of Magennis or Darren Mackie, despite their terrible recent scoring records, would surely benefit the English striker.

This is, of course, all theory and the application of this would no doubt raise its own problems.  Nonetheless, Brown better find a solution quickly or else he will find attendances dwindle even further at Pittordrie and see his battling at the wrong end of the table once again.

Hearts 3 Aberdeen 0

Hearts recorded their first league win of the season with a comfortable victory over a poor Aberdeen side. 

Paulo Sergio lined up his side in a 4-2-3-1 formation with David Templeton and Arvydas Novikovas deployed as inverted wingers.  Scott Robinson started alongside Adrian Mrowiec in central midfield due the suspension of Ian Black.  Ryan Stevenson started as the more advanced of the central midfield three but as the first half progressed, Stevenson took up increasingly advanced positions, making Hearts’ shape resemble more of a 4-4-2.

Craig Brown made three changes from his side that lost at St. Mirren Park last week, bringing back Fraser Fyvie and Youl Mawene after their recovery from injury and Rory McArdle at the expense of  Pater Pawlett, Clark Robertson and Josh Magennis.  They lined up in a narrow 4-4-2 with Robert Milsom and Fyvie, the widest of the midfield four, as auxiliary midfielders as opposed to wingers.  Wingers, and thus a certain amount of creativity, are what Aberdeen lack at the moment and this was evident throughout the ninety minutes.

Hearts use width, Dons lack creativity

Hearts began the match attempting to play the ball out from the back but due to Aberdeen’s pressing and the lack of movement further up the pitch, for example, midfielders dropping deep to collect the ball from the defenders, they were forced to knock the ball long more often than not.

Aberdeen started the brighter and were unlucky not to open the scoring on eleven minutes when a Kari Arnason header crashed off the bar.  Aberdeen included three centre-backs in their back four plus the likes of Scott Vernon and Arnason, meaning they were a big, physical side.  Hearts struggled to cope when defending set-pieces and were lucky not to concede from any of them.

Unfortunately this was the only department where Abderdeen were threatening.  The set-up of their midfield relative to Hearts’ was strange.  Isaac Osbourne and Arnason, both defensive midfielders, started in the middle, with Fyvie and Milsom, two more creative players, either side but still narrow. 

With Stevenson often positioned beyond Aberdeen’s two central defensive midfielders and Scott Robinson and Mrowiec always behind the ball, Hearts didn’t possess too much threat through the middle.  Where they did possess a threat was down the flanks: Novikovas and Templeton are tricky players and were often offered support by their advancing full-backs.

Further to this, the Aberdeen full-backs failed to provide any width.  Rory McArdle, normally a centre-back, isn’t the type to advance, and even so he was pinned back by Templeton, and Richard Foster, naturally a right-sided player, always looks to cut inside on to his right foot.

The narrow nature of Aberdeen’s midfield played to Hearts’ strength and it was no surprise that two of the three goals came from wide areas.  The first saw Mawene knock on a Danny Grainger cross into the path of Novikovas, who cut inside and on to his stronger foot – one of the benefits of inverted wingers – before finishing.

Hearts increased their lead ten minutes before half-time when John Sutton tapped in a Templeton cross.  The lack of a challenge from McArdle when Templeton advanced with the ball allowed the young winger to head for the byline and knock the ball across goal.

Second half

Both sides made changes at the break.  Aberdeen replaced Darren Mackie with Pawlett, who took up a right-sided midfield role, with Fyvie now playing must off Vernon in attack.  Rudi Skacel was introduced for the home side after Novikovas picked up a knock.  Stevenson was moved out to the right with Skacel taking up a central position.  The change saw Hearts return to more of a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Hearts added a scrappy goal seven minutes into the second half when Robinson prodded the ball through to an unmarked Sutton who beat the advancing David Gonzalez to the ball to claim his second of the match.

The goal all but ended the match as a contest although things could have been different had Fyvie done better with a few opportunities that fell his way in his now more advanced role.  The eighteen –year-old found himself in plenty of space after a Milsom cross but could only fire wide.  Around a minute later Fyvie was found in the box once more by Milsom, this time via a reverse pass, but his ball into a crowded area was a poor one.

Ryan Jack was introduced for McArdle, possibly with the intention of providing more impetus and width from full-back, and Josh Magennis replaced Scott Vernon but both failed to make any impact on proceedings.

The match then entered a phase of endless long balls.  Aberdeen’s strategy from the off was direct in nature but they failed to make the ball stick in advanced areas.  It appears that Hearts have been instructed by their new manager to build from the back – they started the match attempting it and at one point Sergio could be seen shaking his head after the umpteenth punt up-field from Kello – but it seems alien to them.  The centre-backs don’t seem the most comfortable at this approach and, as noted earlier, there was a distinct lack of willingness from the midfielders to drop deep and collect the ball from them.

Conclusion

Not the best performance Hearts will ever put in but a comfortable victory against a poor side nonetheless.  In wide areas they have players who can beat men and whip in dangerous balls and there seems to be the potential for goals from many areas of the pitch.

The victory instead must go down as a poor performance from the away side.  They defended abysmally, lacked creativity in midfield and their narrow set up – both in terms of their midfield four and the lack of width provided by their full-backs - merely played to the strengths of Hearts.

Tactical shorts - Celtic 4 Aberdeen 0

Here’s a quick look at two of the factors in Celtic’s 4-0 victory over Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup semi final yesterday.

Aberdeen’s high defensive line exposed

As has been persistently mentioned, the red card after nineteen minutes ruined the match.  Aberdeen started well and defended admirably between the sending off and half time.  Before and after this period, however, was notable for their high defensive line.  Time and time again they were caught out by balls over the top and in-behind the defence which the centre-backs struggled to deal with.

Celtic began the match with a high tempo and direct style which saw Gary Hooper and Antony Stokes beating Andrew Considine and Zander Diamond for pace too often.  Stokes should have scored with a one-on-one opportunity with Jamie Langfield and another chance led to Hooper winning the penalty and subsequent ordering off of Considine, which again should have lead to a goal.

When Charlie Mulgrew opened the scoring after forty-nine minutes, Aberdeen had no option but to attempt to get forward more often and again found themselves caught out on a number of occasions by the pace Celtic’s front two.  The second penalty, which brought about the third goal, also resulted from a ball over the top.

Kris Commons

Celtic started the match in their lopsided 4-4-2 with Scott Brown tucked in on the right, virtually as a third central midfielder, and Kris Commons wide left.  Commons started wider than he usually does, staying very close to the touchline and whipping in a number of dangerous crosses throughout the first half.

After the ordering off of Considine, Celtic were patient in their build-up play yet struggled to unlock the Aberdeen defence.  After half time Celtic not only moved the ball quicker, they adjusted the position of Commons, moving him more central and this was the key to them finally seeing off their opponents.  Admittedly, the first goal was the result of a set-piece, however, the sings were already there in the opening minutes of the second period leading up to the goal.  Commons caused more problems from central positions, not least because his direct opponent was now Scott Vernon, naturally a centre forward, who had moved to central midfield after Craig Brown had reshuffled his side.

A further consequence of the tweak in formation was that Emilio Izaguirre now found himself with more space down the left and he got forward much more often than he had during the first half.  As has been noted in the past, the key to stopping Celtic is to prevent Izaguirre's forays upfield.  When 11 v 11, the Celtic defence looked narrower than I had noticed it to be all season, but with Aberdeen playing with one less striker and Commons slightly infield, this created the space for Izaguirre to move into and in the end Celtic destroyed the ten men of Aberdeen.

St Mirren 1 Aberdeen 1

An injury time equaliser from Rory McArdle earned Aberdeen a replay at St Mirren Park.  The majority of the match was a scrappy, turgid affair which saw both teams struggle to find any sort of rhythm or create anything bordering on a decent chance.  It wasn’t until substitutions were introduced later in the second half that anything resembling a cup tie took place.

St Mirren boss Danny Lennon dropped Michael Higdon and Kenny McLean - both of whom would go on to have a massive impact on the match – from the 1-0 defeat to Rangers, with Craig Dargo and Darren McGregor restored to the line-up in a 3-5-2 formation.

Craig Brown lined-up his side 4-4-1-1 and made three changes from the 3-1 defeat at Tannadice on Monday.  Ryan Jack, Sone Aluko and Darren Young all missed out, with Josh Magennis, Chris Maguire and Nikola Vujadinovic preferred.

Lack of physical presence in St Mirren attack

Due to the set-up of the St Mirren side it was a surprise to see Higdon on the bench.  David van Zanten and Jure Travner provided width and played high up the pitch – the reason St Mirren’s formation was 3-5-2 and not 5-3-2 - and on the rare occasions when they did manage to work the ball into the final third and deliver a cross, there was such an obvious mismatch in height that the strategy failed.  The Aberdeen back four were all six foot plus and St Mirren’s two small strikers along with Hugh Murray and Steven Thomson, who often joined them in the box, were never able cause any problems in this regard.

Aberdeen edged the first ten minutes and it seemed for a while as if Paul Hartley and Robert Milsom would pull the strings in the centre of midfield.  Chris Maguire was given the freedom to drift deep and wide to link play but failed to get involved much after the initial stages.  This was partly down to the performance of Jim Goodwin, the best player on the pitch for the scrappy first hour, who patrolled the area in front of the back three.

Higdon and McLean change the match

After half time, the match continued in a similar vein until Higdon replaced the injured John Potter.  McGowan moved to the right of midfield, Travner and van Zanten returned to full-back and Higdon joined Dargo in attack in a 4-4-2.  The change brought about an immediate impact when Higdon controlled, turned and shot just wide from the edge of the area.  Shortly afterwards, McLean took to the field in place of Goodwin.

The substitutions swung the game in the home side’s favour for several reasons.  Firstly, and most obvious, was the physical presence of Higdon.  As already mentioned, St Mirren were struggled to hold up the ball and get someone on the end of their crosses. 

Secondly, even though St Mirren were 4-4-2, once again Paul McGowan’s position was not easily defined - similar to the recent match against Hibernian.  Whereas McLean took up an orthodox left-sided midfield role, McGowan’s movement was such that he often formed a front three and looked to pick up the scraps from knock-downs and flick-ons.  Relatedly, Higdon’s presence meant that Dargo was now the second striker rather than the focal point of the attack, a role which suits him better.  He was now, like McGowan, free to drift around the space between the Aberdeen defence and attack and link play.

Lastly, the introduction of McLean brought more of a creative presence to the St Mirren midfield and the chances he, sometimes single-handedly, created should have been enough for St Mirren to progress to the semi-final.

Within a minute of coming on, the nineteen-year-old played a one-two with Higdon at the edge of the Aberdeen box and should have scored after finding himself one-on-one with the on-rushing Jamie Langfield.  The Aberdeen goalkeeper blocked the shot and the subsequent rebound that fell to Higdon.

The ball then crashed off the underside of the bar from a Higdon header but it wasn’t long until St Mirren had the lead.  Some decent play down the left involving Travner and McLean saw Dargo cut inside and cross towards the back post from deep.  Higdon volleyed the ball back across goal and McGowan escaped the attention of Vujadinovic to tap the ball into the net.

Aberdeen made some changes of their own, bringing on Nick Blackman for Scott Vernon in a straight swap, and Sone Aluko coming on for Steven Smith.  Aberdeen now resembled more of a 4-2-3-1 with inverted wingers, a tactic that worked well although failed to produce a goal against Hearts last month, but their best chances were strikes from around the edge of the St Mirren penalty area which failed to trouble Paul Gallacher much. 

St Mirren poor finishing comes back to haunt them

After the goal, St Mirren carved out three opportunities that should have put the match beyond their opponents, all three of which involved McLean.  After missing a chance himself, on separate occasions he sent perfectly weighted through balls for Higdon and Dargo but both failed to take advantage of being through on the goalkeeper.

St Mirren were punished for their poor finishing in the ninety-third minute when McArdle pounced on a loose ball in the St Mirren box.  Paul Hartley’s free kick appeared to hit the arm of Murray but McArdle, who was the only Aberdeen player not to stop and claim for a penalty, stabbed the ball past Gallacher.

Conclusion

Overall it was a very poor match that was only brought to life when Danny Lennon made changes to his line-up.  Initially, van Zanten and Travner took up advanced wing-backs positions, however, the crosses that the pair managed to deliver lacked a target man.  Higdon’s introduction instantly gave St Mirren what they had been missing and culminated in the opening goal.  McLean had just as much of an impact, opening up the Aberdeen defence on a handful of occasions, but the subsequent chances were not taken advantage of.

Aberdeen’s main problem was creating opportunities.  Maguire and Vernon weren’t involved nearly enough, Milsom and Hartley were overrun in midfield - even though it initially appeared as if they would dominate - and their makeshift wingers failed to trouble St Mirren.

Craig Brown’s side have now scored an injury time goal in each of the three rounds of the Scottish Cup this season but none will be less deserved than this.  Despite their efforts, they were hardly threatening as an attacking force, yet managed to snatch an equaliser that now makes them favourites to progress to the semi final.

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.