“I haven’t seen Aberdeen but I know they went out [of Europe] and maybe that might be a positive thing for us. We’ve just got to stick to our game plan and hopefully we get the three points.”
Westlake certainly saw plenty of Jonny Hayes during the first 45 minutes of this game. After persistently fouling Hayes (and finally getting booked for it at the third attempt) Westlake was uncharacteristically 'less robust' when trying to tackle him on the edge of the penalty area (likely aware that a further foul would have resulted in a sending off); the ball broke to Graeme Shinnie, who arrowed a shot with the outside of his left foot past Jamie MacDonald and into the top right corner to open the scoring. Westlake will have needed a hug at half time.
For Aberdeen, after another consummate team performance they will now finally get a midweek rest following the postponement of their home game with Hamilton. It was a postponement requested by the Dons at a time when they felt they may still be in European competition, however with their Europa League run having now come to and end they may regret not getting the opportunity to maintain their early season momentum and keep pace with league leaders Celtic and new challengers Hearts. MI
By way of contrast, Aberdeen's right-back could have had a hat-trick. Shay Logan had a header saved at point-blank range by MacDonald in the first half. Later he denied by a last ditch headed clearance by Steven Smith, then he stung MacDonald's gloves with another shot at goal towards the end of of the match. By this time, Willo Flood had been upended in the box by Lee Ashcroft and Adam Rooney sent MacDonald the wrong way from the resulting penalty kick. The match was settled with over half an hour still to play.
A couple of errant headers in the second half was all that Kilmarnock managed to produce going forward - the second missed by the hilariously immobile Kris Boyd, greeted to a chorus of derisory cheers and 'Sumo' chants by the home support. Killie offered little up front, and were barely any threat at all. Even after only two games, they look in trouble. Their opening two league games have produced zero goals and just a single shot on target. Already bottom of the Premiership, next up is a midweek fixture against Celtic.
A nice Sunday lunchtime jaunt for Celtic
John Collins' comments, reported in the Sunday papers, that other Scottish clubs were "not clever enough" and "not quick enough" to properly test Celtic were rude and disrespectful...but seemed less so after the first half at Firhill. Celtic were only one up after the first 45 minutes, but should have been out of sight despite barely needing to break sweat.
Partick Thistle (apparently referring to them as 'Partick' is insufficient for their supporters) offered no more resistance other than a bank of four and a bank of five, all within thirty yards of their own goal, and a challenge to Celtic to pass through them - which wasn't much of a challenge given a lack of pressure on the ball.
I'd worried pre-kickoff that their rookie centre-back pairing of Jack Hendry and Liam Lindsay - three top-flight starts between them - would struggle, but they acquitted themselves fairly well. The problem was further up the pitch, with lone forward Ryan Stevenson incapable of holding the ball up or hounding opposing defenders, while Steven Lawless and David Wilson on the flanks were horrendous in possession and dreadful at tracking back. Lawless was especially poor on his return from a ban for betting - one hopes he didn't have his own team on his coupon this week.
The Jags were better after the break, especially when new striker Mathias Pogba came off the bench and started throwing his weight about. Thistle were so much better in each of the last two seasons with big Lyle Taylor up front; this Frenchman should fill that role effectively. With possession more often established further up the pitch, Alan Archibald's side looked far more comfortable.
Of course, that might have also been because Celtic coasted through the second period after Kris Commons' strike. One wonders what the score might have been had the Champions approached this with all guns blazing. LS
Too much tinkering from Neilson
Most would call it Political Correctness gone mad, but I wasn't surprised that the SFA raised an eyebrow when St. Johnstone defender Brad McKay called Hearts striker Juanma "a typical foreigner" last week. If I referred to anyone in that manner in my line of work, I'd be pulled up for it.
It was also rather amusing given that McKay's early slip against his former club had gifted the Spaniard a goal in that game, and he had a generally torrid afternoon against the big forward. But he won't be the only one this season; Juanma struck twice at Dens Park as Hearts came from behind to make it six points out of six - with both wins against sides that finished in the top six last season. The winner came after some superb footwork under pressure, with Julen Extabeguren left looking foolish as he slid past the sidestepping Spaniard. In this case "a typical foreigner" appears to mean "far superior to Scottish players".
They hardly had it all their own way though - the first half was one way traffic as Dundee tried to add to Kane Hemmings' early goal. Robbie Neilson's bizarre decision to play a diamond midfield with Alim Ozturk in front of the central defenders didn't help - such was the onslaught that the Turk effectively ended up as a third centre back and the Jambos had no answer as Kevin Holt and Paul McGinn caused havoc in wide areas. Neil Alexander may be 37 but he proved with a string of saves in the first half that he is still one of the best keepers in the league.
Neilson managed to find a half-time solution without making a substitution - debutant Juwon Oshaniwa moved to left midfield and Igor Rossi shifted into left-back with Ozturk dropping back. Going 4-4-2 gave them far more of a foothold in the game. But his experimentation was unnecessary and he was lucky to get away with it. His Plan A is more than good enough as it is. LS*
Curran will have plenty of chances to work on his celebrations
In the second half of last season, Ross County weren't the best team in terms of quality, but they might have been the best in terms of workrate. In short, no-one scraps as well as them. That's meant as a compliment, not a slight. Craig Curran, their two goal hero against Accies, epitomises that brilliantly. His technique would usually make a Spaniard cry (though his first strike was an acrobatic finish after a goalmouth melee), but he runs all day long and never gives up anything. He's only completed ninety minutes in two of nineteen starts for the Staggies...because he ends up knackered and needs peeled off the pitch with a quarter of an hour to go.
If County have added a bit of panache to their play - and their second goal suggests so - then they will be a very difficult opponent this season. Right-back Marcus Fraser has been involved in plenty of goals since joining from Celtic in January, and on this occasion he showed some great timing and skill to burst forward and link up with Michael Gardyne before riding a challenge and leaving it on a plate for Curran. Fraser is still just 21, and seems to have flown under the radar; I'd say he was one of the best four or five players at his position in this league.
There's reason to believe that there will be plenty more goals for County this season, and plenty more for Curran. In which case I do hope he comes up with better goal celebrations than his efforts here. But that was the only criticism that could be made of him. LS*
United's Murray looks like he belongs
According the
highlights on the BBC website, Dundee Utd’s visit to Fir Park was
an end to end classic. Given that only about 90 seconds of a 2 minute
video was given to football highlights however, it would have had to
plumb the depths of Switzerland v Ukraine at the 2006 World Cup to not
find enough action to entertain for that length of time.
United of course
collapsed following the sales of Stuart Armstrong and Gary
Mackay-Steven midseason, and then sold Nadir Ciftci in the summer.
Jackie McNamara needs his next generation of youths to step up to the
plate; six players aged 21 or under started this game. Simon Murray
was not one of them – he came off the bench and, at 23, is
practically a veteran at Tannadice – but he is a rookie at this
level. A year ago, he was playing for Arbroath; a year before that,
he was at Tayport.
Well, his finish for
United's second goal looked like that of a far more accomplished
striker than his background suggests. McNamara was glowing in his
praise of Murray after the game and if he keeps scoring like that
then he will be the next man to leave for big money.
Assuming Murray does go
on to fulfil his potential, a question is raised: who was the last
really good Scottish footballer with ginger hair? David Hopkin? IM
Christie needs to find some consistency
How would your club fare with eight players out injured? I'd bet that, unless your club is Celtic, you'd really be struggling. Well, Caley Thistle could name only three outfield subs, with a total of zero first-team starts between them, against St. Johnstone. Taking that into account, a draw in Perth after leading for most of the game is not too shabby.That said, St. Johnstone did themselves no favours. They should have been aware that Inverness were down to the bare bones - Ross Draper at centre-back, Lewis Horner on the right wing! - yet they started with just John Sutton as a lone striker. It wasn't until Tommy Wright threw on some more forwards that they managed to get back into the game. A more aggressive plan - a la Motherwell last week against the Highlanders - would have reaped dividends.
Ryan Christie scored for the Caley Jags and shone throughout. Playing in his more favoured central role, Christie is very adept at finding gaps between the lines and caused havoc doing so in this match. Despite being a fan, I thought his Young Player of the Year award last year was awfully generous, probably because his best performances tend to be on his travels. He often looks like he tries too hard at home matches, not helped by an element of the support who expect magic every time he touches the ball. He hasn't scored a goal at the Caledonian Stadium for eleven months.
If he is to win a Scotland cap, as John Hughes brazenly predicted post-match, Christie will need to start playing like this every week. One fears that he'll be rather less effective against Partick Thistle in the Highlands on Wednesday. LS
*with thanks this week to Laurie Dunsire and John A Maxwell for observations on the Dundee-Hearts and Ross County-Accies games - it's hard to write this when the BBC only put up 90 seconds of highlights.
Martin Ingram (MI) is our Aberdeen Correspondent. Legend has it that he is the tallest man in the Red Army. He writes regularly for Aberdeen fanzine The Red Final.
Iain Meredith (IM) is technically a Rangers fan, but these days he tends to support them ironically. He only agreed to help with this blog because now he can tell his wife that he's "only watching the game to help a friend out".
Lawrie Spence (LS) has ranted and spouted his ill-informed opinions on Narey's Toepoker since September 2007. He has a life outside this blog. Honestly.
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