Aberdeen’s 0-0 draw with St Mirren at Pittodrie today was a tough watch – but there was a positive.
The wind-affected display, which was the the fifth game in a row where the Dons have failed to score, saw the debut of Florian Kamberi.
A slow work permit process meant the Albanian forward’s first Reds appearance came close to two weeks after he was secured on loan from Swiss side St Gallen.
Derek McInnes will be hoping, once up to speed, the attacker – who last played for his parent club on December 16 – can score and create goals to help to ease the pressure on the manager as he tries to end one of the worst runs of his near-eight-year Pittodrie tenure.
The Dons dumped their three-at-the-back system for this afternoon’s game, moving to a back four and a system which allowed Kamberi to be paired with fellow deadline day addition and loanee Fraser Hornby.
So, how did Kamberi get on?
Over the piece, Kamberi had 55 touches, 12 more than strike partner Hornby, putting himself about early on and winning a couple of fouls during the game.
He won possession 10 times, although he lost it double that.
Most importantly, he managed one of Aberdeen’s three shots on target, an admittedly ambitious 30-yard effort Jak Alnwick was able to smother.
Although there is the bigger issue of chances not being created in the opposition area of late, it’s still promising to see Kamberi has the confidence to have a go from range – something McInnes bemoaned of his team earlier this season.
Also impressive were Kamberi’s passing stats: He made the most passes in the opposition half (32), while he also had the second-highest passing accuracy in the opposition half, with 68.8%.
He most often passed to Matty Kennedy (5 passes), while he also linked up well with Ross McCrorie and Niall McGinn (both 4), as well as Lewis Ferguson (3).
In terms of passes received, it was left-back Jonny Hayes who found Kamberi most (4), then McCrorie and Dean Campbell (both 3)
Here are Kamberi’s touch and heatmaps for the St Mirren game:
