Thread by @jj_bull

Aberdeen were absolutely brilliant in the first half of the Charlton pre-season friendly on Saturday so I am v surprised to see quite a few absolutely dreadful takes on it, the squad building, and other such items so here comes a small thread of pointless analysis

1st: it’s a friendly in preseason so the result DOESNT MATTER AT ALL. What does matter is building fitness, seeing training ground work executed on the pitch so you can check what’s good and what needs tweaked, and players getting used to their roles and instructions

2nd: despite the great but meaningless result (3-2 win) we saw soooo much great stuff in the first half.

Biggest takeaway for me is the changing team shape and how well coached we look in transition - and especially how well we defended deep and high

Had to defend deep at times but the impressive thing we’re seeing now is keeping forwards/mids in position to pass and counter without just humping the ball away. And then when the ball does get sent forward, the defensive line instantly pushes high and they press high too

The forwards and Clarkson did loads of running OOP but were also nicely positioned to show the ball a particular side and then joined by teammates as part of a coordinated press. A bit like how real teams do it.

This is something I’ve never seen Abdn be good at, so if works…

… and it did work cos plenty of high turnovers led to chances and possession kept.

Naturally it makes you tired, so after 55/60 mins of that when you’ve not always done it, players naturally will be tired especially with high training load while building fitness

Duk did very little OOP buuuuuut I get the impression he’s kinda been told to do that. Stand in the right place so when the ball does turn over he’s ready to burst away. When he dropped deep to Get Stuck In and Close Them Down, we suddenly had no obvious out ball to counter with

Clarkson was absolutely brilliant and will almost certainly be off next season to the Championship (or Serie A) for money. This is fine cos it’s the model we work with. Ramadani being sold (if he is) is fine cos we make profit and can reinvest. It’s how we have to operate

Jack Mackenzie also looks like a proper centreback. Wasn’t sure cos I’d only seen him at LB but he’s big, strong, quick and reads the game really well. Covered for Milne a few times and made the right decisions. If he’s getting coached well I really think he’ll be great there 🏆

As for folk saying the 2nd half was bad, get a grip 😂 changed half of the team, we were already 3-0 up (could have been 4 or 5), the result doesn’t matter, the chemistry between players will naturally change with multiple subs, the best players had run their race by 55 mins

And final point: looking forward to us winning the league this season and Champions League the next. Also, really hope we get more preseason friendlies in London in future cos it was ace. I don’t know who took this photo so sorry for no credit but was a lovely day out