Aberdeen v Kilmarnock
By: TheNorthernLight | October 31st, 2008
It’s been another quiet week in the Granite City, with not much in the way of news coming from down Pittodrie Street. Jamie Smith, still recovering from an injury has been told he’ll get a new deal, and we read somewhere (but have not been able to confirm this) that Jared Hodgkiss is negotiating an extension to his loan deal until the end of the season.
Perhaps the most interesting news is that all round Aberdeen legend and director of football Willie Miller has criticised both reputable news sites as well as fan sites and blogs for spreading rumours about the impending (or not, as the case turned out to be) sacking of manager Jimmy Calderwood within 24 hours of the game at Tynecastle last week. Miller, no doubt still furious at the recent theft of his trademark mustache, went on a bit of rant about fans sites and forums that
“come up with dozens of rumours every single day, the vast majority of which are rubbish, and I would not be at all surprised if this is where this one originated from“
All quite correct possibly, but that is an interesting choice of words: “the vast majority of which are rubbish”: doesn’t that imply that a minority of the rumours are, in fact, true? Or is this is proving Miller right? Lets be honest, Calderwood is not in any danger of getting sacked (probably because it’d cost too much to sack him, and who would they get to replace him anyway?) but where there’s smoke there’s fire, right?
It’s true to say that since the final day of season 2007-08 and that glorious win over Rangers in front of a packed Pittodrie, Aberdeen fans have had little to cheer about. Until the win at Falkirk a few weeks ago, a series of poor league results had dropped the Dons into 12th – bottom – place in the SPL, representing their worst start to a campaign since the club where effectively relegated at the end of the 1999-01 season.
Back then, at the same point in the competition (eight games in), Aberdeen had suffered heavy defeats to Celtic, Hearts, St. Johnstone and Rangers, defeats in which the Dons did not score a single goal until their seventh game against Dundee United. Their first point of the season came the following week in a 2-2 draw with Hibernian. As in the 99-01 season, Aberdeen have failed to win a game at home, the only side in the SPL to do do since St. Mirren beat Rangers at the start of the month.
The win against Falkirk and last weeks draw with Hearts earned the Dons some much needed points that lifted them off the bottom of the table. With only Smith and Bossu not available, Calderwood has more than enough depth and quality at his disposal to make this season a success – we think that 3rd (or at least 4th) place is not beyond us this season but we need to show that killer instinct to finish the game off. Against both Falkirk and Hearts we collapsed in the second half, the defence stretched as they kept us in the game. Against Hearts we where unlucky not to come away with more as both Miller and Hodgkiss hit the woodwork in the last moments of the game and Mackie’s goal was a cracker, the through-pass from Considine that set up Mackie a real beauty.
So following on from two good results on the road, Aberdeen face Kilmarnock at Pittodrie tomorrow. Can we finally get our first home win of the season? Well, we’ve faced Kilmarnock already, losing 4-2 in the League Cup, and Killie will be out to overturn some recent disappointments: the home defeat to Falkirk in the League, and getting beat 3-1 by Celtic for the second time this season in the midweek League Cup game. A win against Jim Jefferies’ men would give us 14 points from 11 games – still far below what is expected in our opinion, but at this stage every point gained is a (morale) victory.
Jim Jefferies travels north to Aberdeen without Danny Invincibile, Fraser Wright, Simon Ford and Ryan O’Leary on the team coach, while Tim Clancy (who has not played first-team football since last season) will be back in the squad.
Aberdeen gaffer Jimmy Calderwood has no injury worries ahead of the game, so we expect the selection to be much like the game against Hearts. Considine did well at left back so may just get another chance there to keep Charlie Mulgrew out of the side, while Young and Foster both had good games on the right and in the middle respectively. But as Calderwood does have a full squad to choose from, he might well just go back to his preferred lineup, and we can have no complaints:
Aberdeen 4-4-2 (probable)
Langfield, Mulgrew, Severin, Diamond, Hodgkiss, Aluko, McDonald, Kerr, Foster, Miller, Mackie
Aberdeen 4-4-2 (our choice)
Langfield, Considine, Severin, Diamond, Hodgkiss, Aluko, McDonald, Duff, Young, Miller, Mackie
A solid unadventurous defence (Mulgrew tends to get caught out of position going up the park, whereas Considine will just stay where he is) a bit more pace up the wings and a strong midfield. Duff played well against Falkirk before getting subbed so lets have him back. Bring Mulgrew on if we’re getting lots of setpieces, and Tommy Wright in the last 30 minutes or so and we’re a goal behind.
Kilmarnock (from)
Combe, Lilley, Fowler, Flannigan, Bryson, Pascali, Taouil, Hamill, Sammon, Simmonds, Fernandez, Rascle, Murray, Skelton, Cox, Corrigan, Gibson, Nolan.
Concerns
Jamie Langfield. Not so much his performances, but the fact that back-up keeper Betrand Bossu is (still) injured and we’re not that impressed with what we’ve seen from him so far. We know nothing about Jonathan Bateman, so heaven help us if Langfield gets injured.
Prediction
A tough game. Killie hold the bragging rights having already beaten the Dons this season and are hurting after those recent league and Cup defeats. Aberdeen desperately need a home win (if only to stop the rumour mill). Recent games have seen an improvement in Aberdeen’s play, so we’re hopeful for tomorrows fixture.
Aberdeen to win 2-1.
Category: Team News
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