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‘I see free-scoring signs’: Steve Tosh on his excitement as Jim Goodwin’s personality is starting to come through in Aberdeen side

Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin during the 4-1 win against St Mirren.
Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin during the 4-1 win against St Mirren.

Steve Tosh believes Jim Goodwin will have no issues attracting crowds to Pittodrie if he can stamp his personality on his Aberdeen team.

Goodwin is embarking on his first full season in charge of the Dons, having replaced Stephen Glass in February.

The former St Mirren boss has overseen mass changes to his squad, with 11 new arrivals during the course of the summer.

Aberdeen claimed their first league victory of the season in style, with Saturday’s 4-1 triumph over St Mirren witnessed by a crowd of 14,420.

Although the Reds opened the league campaign with a 2-0 loss away to Celtic, they had already progressed to the last-16 of the Premier Sports Cup with a 100% group stage record – and without conceding a goal.

Former Dons midfielder Tosh has been impressed by the energy and dynamism Goodwin has injected into the side, which he feels will go down similarly well with the Reds support.

Former Aberdeen midfielder Steve Tosh.

Tosh said: “The bit that excites me is that Jim is going to put his own stamp on it.

“Looking at how Jim was a player and how he comes over as a person, I think you will see that come through in his teams – he will expect the side to be energetic and going at teams.

“I think it will bring people back to Pittodrie, because the football over the last two years – without being negative – has been more defensive. It has been more based on not losing a goal.

“Jim would contradict me ever so slightly by saying he wants to score five and doesn’t want to concede any, which we would love to happen.

“But I think there are enough forward-thinking players in his team that, if they find themselves 1-0 down, they don’t think they are out of the game.

“Over a two or three-year period where we have been watching, if we went 1-0 down we all thought it was going to be a long way back. We were not a free-scoring side, but I see those signs now.”

Dons have competition across the field

Aberdeen’s latest signing, Leighton Clarkson, introduced himself to the scene with a stunning debut goal in the convincing win over the Buddies.

Goodwin remains keen to add one further signing, although he has hinted players may need to exit first.

Tosh believes the strength in depth across the squad is such Goodwin’s side will not be weakened when players are sidelined.

The 49-year-old added: “I have been very taken with a lot of the new signings.

“Ylber Ramadani looks like he will dictate games, and allow Ross McCrorie to play with energy, and you’ve still got Connor Barron to come back in.

“Leighton Clarkson scored a great goal and apparently played really well.

“I think they are looking to have two players who they can be guaranteed to play in every position.

“What you are wanting in a squad is to be able to have one player out, and your team is not being affected when you put somebody else in.

“I believe we have got that this year. If Ross McCrorie was to miss out, and the midfield is Ramadani and Barron, I don’t think people would be disappointed.

Aberdeen’s Ylber Ramadani.

“It’s the same if Liam Scales is missing, and they’ve got to play Ross at the back with Anthony Stewart.

“There are so many choices. I don’t think there’s a certain position where, if we lose a certain player, we can’t fill it with another jersey.

“I don’t think we’ve been able to say that for a few years.”

Attackers have hit early form – but they cannot carry full burden

Aberdeen’s new attacking recruits have made promising starts to their Dons careers.

North Macedonian Bojan Miovski, who joined for £535,000 from MTK Budapest, has netted three in his opening three games including a double in the victory over St Mirren.

Bojan Miovski celebrates scoring for Aberdeen against St Mirren with Jonny Hayes.

Luis “Duk” Lopes, who joined from Benfica, also got off the mark after coming off the bench against the Paisley outfit.

Although he is pleased to see strikers hitting early form, Tosh believes this Dons side is capable of producing goals from further afield.

He added: “For any striker, you don’t want that monkey on your back where you go five or six games without scoring.

“The pleasing thing for me is it looks like they have goals coming from all over the park.

“When I was at St Johnstone, Paul Sturrock didn’t want to define his players by goals, he looked at areas.

“He told the players that we should always be looking to score 60 or 70 a season. If 10 come from defenders, 20 come from the midfielders, and 35 from the forwards.

“That was broken down by maybe one striker getting 15 goals, another getting 10 and maybe two getting five goals.

“You don’t want to be relying on one player, and last year – if Lewis Ferguson or Christian Ramirez weren’t scoring – the team didn’t look like scoring many goals.

“If you are scoring from other areas, it means teams are not just looking after one or two players, they have to worry about where the goals are coming from.”

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