Aberdeen’s continued defensive deficiencies were top of the agenda among Dons fans following their 4-1 defeat by Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday.
A switch to a back three had brought Jim Goodwin’s side three wins in a row, stoking confidence among the Red Army of a famous win in Glasgow at the weekend.
But Rangers cast aside their own poor recent form to sweep the Dons aside with ease as they recovered from the loss of an early goal from Connor Barron to run out comfortable winners in a one-sided encounter.
In what has become a familiar theme this season, the manner of the goals conceded by their team was the pressing concern among the Aberdeen support and they were in an unforgiving mood.
@Twostars_83 produced perhaps the most cutting of the quips about the Dons’ inability to get near their hosts – comparing the abundance of space Rangers were left with to the space left empty on George Street when John Lewis pulled out of the Granite City:
Haven’t seen that much free space since John Lewis said they were shutting up shop
— ⭐️⭐️ (@Twostars_83) October 29, 2022
Other supporters also noted the freedom Rangers received in wide areas, something which resulted in an abundance of efforts on the Dons’ goal:
The goal attempts for the opposing team (35) should be a sacking offence. What a stat! I missed the game today and thank goodness. The alarm bells will be ringing because it’s obvious we can’t defend as a team. Aberdeen FC got absolutely skelped today. That’s unacceptable!
— RED_JOHN (@REDJOHN41148237) October 29, 2022
We were getting roasted by their wingers with McCrorie and Mckenzie/Scales pulled wide and beaten for the buses to drive onto the crosses coming into the gaps BEFORE OUR GOAL. At this point, we should have gone 4-4-2. Poor from the manager today.
— KENNETH RODGER (@RodgerKen) October 29, 2022
It was a similar story on Facebook, where fans questioned the quality in the Aberdeen defence and the time it took to change the tactics.
Lindsay Bartlet wrote: “Wing-backs are just not the required standard. Don’t stop crosses and can’t defend the back post. They must be replaced in January.”
Steve Leslie added: “Good to see us having a go for a change, but tactically it wasn’t working out and being over run on the wings every time, too stubborn to change it at half time.”
Is 4-4-2 the answer?
Dons boss Goodwin’s desire to keep Duk and Bojan Miovski paired together was part of the reason for continuing with the 3-5-2 formation at Ibrox, but fans believe their manager has to go back to the drawing board once more.
On Facebook, David Learmonth wrote: “We need to find a way to play 2 up top that doesn’t make ourselves open to getting hit on the break like today.”
Linda Ann Black added: “We can actually set up with 2 up front without being too open for other teams to create double figure chances.”
Graham Thomson believes the manager’s inaction was crucial.
He wrote: “For me 5 mins after we scored Goodwin should have realised how we were being over run, taken off a striker, changed to a back 4, put 5 across the middle and played 1 up top.
“I have been fully supportive till now. He wanted to play an attacking formation but his lack of action to see what was happening is worrying to say the least.”
Quite telling that tactically Dundee & Livingston handled playing at Ibrox far far better than we did. Same old pitfalls & not much learning from our mistakes. And pretty naive if he genuinely has confidence in that group of players to get a result.
— Jim Boyle (@Jim_B_71) October 29, 2022
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