Aberdeen’s comprehensive win over Hearts at Pittodrie on Saturday was another performance which, for me, underlined the big difference centre-backs Mattie Pollock and Angus MacDonald have made.
Before Jim Goodwin’s sacking as boss, which came right at the end of the January window, it felt like I was writing about the Dons’ desperate need for defensive reinforcements every week.
New faces were required to help the Reds secure the shut-outs to correct long-term struggles away from home, and form which had totally crashed from December onwards.
Here we are in late-March and, under the interim coaching team led by Barry Robson, Aberdeen’s European chase is back on – with the 3-0 Premiership success against the Jambos cutting the defeated visitors’ lead over the Dons to just four points.
I love seeing MacDonald and Pollock celebrating tackles – and desperation to defend has improved Dons
There were a few more pieces of evidence at the weekend to show the huge influence Watford loanee Pollock and MacDonald – a short-term signing from Swindon – are having.
Firstly, I love seeing them celebrating tackles they make – as it’s something a defender should be taking pride in. It shows they like defending. It’s something I used to do during my own playing career.
Fans like to see players getting stuck in, to see the passion to do it, and it’s something which can be forgotten with the modern focus on defenders being good, technical footballers and playing out from the back.
It is a valuable quality – and this desire to fight and cling on to the clean sheet was on display when MacDonald sprinted back to make it hard for Hearts attacker Josh Ginnelly in the second half, snuffing out the danger – despite the forward’s claim he’d been fouled.
Team performance 🔥 . The fans 🫶🏼 pic.twitter.com/jBHAZirc0U
— Angus MacDonald (@Angus_Mac15) March 19, 2023
As well as putting in another solid shift, Pollock also threw everything at the ball to head home Aberdeen’s third goal.
The two centre-halves have Aberdeen looking secure again, aided by the players around them like January loan signing Graeme Shinnie, who was really good again on Saturday.
This reestablished solidity in the Aberdeen team is also evidenced in goalkeeper Kelle Roos coming straight back in to replace the ill Jay Gorter and claiming a clean sheet.
The Dons seem to finally have a solid, consistent base now.
Third place race is on after Aberdeen prove they’re a match for Hearts
Before Saturday’s meeting with Hearts, the Reds had already beaten Robbie Neilson’s side 2-0 at Pittodrie earlier in the season, but had then been thumped 5-0 at Tynecastle during Goodwin’s fateful last week at the club.
A third-place finish looked a long way off at that point and the result left real questions about how the Reds stacked up against Tynecastle side.
However, Aberdeen blew any suggestions they aren’t as good a side as Hearts out of the water in a devastating opening half-hour at the weekend.
I’ve never thought there was much between the two teams this term on their day, although Hearts had received a lot of plaudits while the Dons’ struggles a month-or-so ago were well documented.
Third place is now unquestionably there for the taking for Aberdeen, with the chance to prove they are the best of the rest in Scotland behind Celtic and Rangers from a glut of teams in the upper-middle part of the table.
They would claim the financial boost finishing back in the European places brings in the process.
While the defence has taken a long while to get right this season (and appears to be on the way to being fixed now) the potency of the Dons’ attackers has been clear all season.
Duk, who I think has been the star of the show for the Reds this term, scored another two great goals against Hearts – a close-range finish and a great angled header – to take his tally to 15 for the campaign. He’s a star in the making.
Job audition could scarcely have gone better for Robson and Agnew
Some questions about Aberdeen still remain for me. I think it will take another few away games before I’m fully convinced the long-standing issues on the road, whether they were rooted in tactics or mentality, have definitely been fixed.
However, Robson and assistant Steve Agnew are surely now serious candidates to be installed in charge of Aberdeen permanently.
In terms of an audition for the role, they could barely have performed any better.
I still think there will be other candidates, and the club are right to look far and wide for their next boss.
But, if no one stacks up, Robson is the man on the inside, the man they know best and – as the points amass and performances get stronger and stronger – he’s only strengthening his case if he wants the job.
Authorities must commit to fixing officiating – and quickly
We all hoped the video assistant referee (VAR) technology being brought in would cut out the officiating errors in the Scottish game.
But it is not the case, and it has not ever been the case at any point since VAR was adopted.
There are teething problems – and then there are teething problems!
It feels like we are seeing more dodgy calls than ever now, with the anger reaching boiling point at certain clubs, including Hibs and Kilmarnock, over the weekend, after their games with Celtic and St Johnstone, respectively.
The officiating issues are getting to quite extreme levels now. It feels like the referees on the park are more hesistant to make decisions, with VAR interventions often leading to wrong calls, rather than right ones.
When it is involved, VAR is still holding games up for too long, the communication around checks remains poor, and fans, pundits, players, coaches and club officials are looking at incidents and the decisions made and not really understanding how the officials at the ground and involved with VAR have reached those decisions. It’s pretty frustrating.
The one from the weekend which really baffled me, and many others, was how between them the referee and VAR missed, or came to the ruling, Kilmarnock weren’t getting a penalty when St Johnstone’s Andy Considine handled inside the box at Rugby Park.
I don’t think the Scottish football authorities can bury their heads in the sand on these persistent, even growing, problems.
VAR isn’t going anywhere, and they need to come out and admit there are real issues with its use and the officiating generally, and make a commitment to improving the situation – and quickly!
Scotland should be aiming to beat Cyprus and giants Spain
With two home games during this international break to kick-off their European Championship qualifying campaign, Scotland should be targeting six points.
Although they will be favourites against Cyprus and underdogs against Euro giants Spain, the fact of the matter is, if we want to be a top team who reach major championships regularly, we have to be targeting victories every time we play at Hampden.
If Steve Clarke’s side don’t take three points in the opener against the Cypriots, it will be a real blow and feel like we have shot ourselves in the foot in this campaign right from the word go.
I wouldn’t expect this to happen, and a win would be the perfect preparation for the meeting with 2010 World Cup winners Spain.
Some people might raise their eyebrows at the thought of beating them.
But Clarke’s team have been good enough over the past few years to make me think a result could happen, and I’m sure the management and players believe in themselves.
A win would be a wonderful result, but a draw – and four points across the first two games of qualifying – would still be a really strong start.
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