While much focus will be on Kevin Nisbet’s latest Aberdeen goalscoring double (and his future) in the wake of the 4-1 top six-securing romp against Motherwell, it was a victory in which Leighton Clarkson also reminded us of too-little-seen, but transcendent talents.
His summer 2023 signing from English giants Liverpool looked a remarkable coup at the time – in fact, many Dons fans were disbelieving a permanent deal for the previous season’s stand-out loanee was even within the club’s financial means.
But Clarkson’s last two campaigns have turned out frustrating, but with flashes of his potential for creative brilliance.
During Aberdeen’s fight on two fronts last term – in the Europa Conference League and amid their struggles domestically – Clarkson, made 49 appearances (39 starts), with four goals and six assists.
However, his season-long loan stint, in 2022/23, had produced six goals and nine assists from just 38 outings (35 starts).
This season, with Jimmy Thelin taking over at Aberdeen, Clarkson’s game-time has dropped, and while he was injured for a brief period at the start of the league campaign, only 15 of his 27 top-flight appearances have been starts.
When I’ve been pondering the Dons’ squad and performances this season, good or bad, I’ve actually occasionally found myself forgetting Aberdeen have a technical talent of such potential as Clarkson at their disposable.
But Thelin’s coaching staff, the previous regimes, and the player himself, have not been able to do enough with those undoubted abilities.
Where should Leighton Clarkson play for Aberdeen?
The conundrum around Clarkson has consistently been where to put him –Â with Thelin playing him as an attacking midfielder/no.10.
While it is a position which should in theory suit a creative player like Clarkson, too often it has meant the 23-year-old has become a passenger on the periphery of the action.
The issue with playing Clarkson deeper in midfield, where he has, for my money, been better able to exert his influence, is perhaps his diminutive stature, and when it is required, he does not have the physicality to pick up second balls.
In December, Clarkson – a very down-to-earth lad, for the record – was open to this newspaper over his own form, admitting: “I have not been at my best for a while.”
During the phenomenal winning run to secure European football under Barry Robson at the end of the 22/23 campaign, Clarkson did thrive in a role at the base of midfield.
He took the ball off the backline and used his fantastic range of passing to quarterback Aberdeen to victory after victory.
I particularly recall the pivotal Pittodrie win over St Mirren under Robson, where, from the Richard Donald Stand, it was a joy to watch him spray the ball to team-mates all over the park. And he even scored a stunning free-kick.
Saturday’s stroll against Motherwell renewed the argument for playing Clarkson in the middle of the park.
Clarkson runs the show for Dons against Motherwell
With skipper Graeme Shinnie currently employed at left-back, and his former mainstay midfield partner Sivert Heltne Nilsen dealing what appears to be a nasty eye injury, Thelin put Clarkson in alongside another ex-wunderkind, Croatian former Manchester City signing Ante Palaversa.
At 1-0 down, working in tandem to hunt back possession early doors, the latter fed Clarkson, who played a quick, line-breaking ball to striker Nisbet, and who in turn slipped in wideman Topi Keskinen for what really should have been an equaliser.
When the leveller came through Alfie Dorrington, it was Clarkson who deftly recycled Palaversa’s half-cleared corner into the area.
Everything good about the Dons’ play in the first half involved Clarkson – a driving run from halfway which almost led to Nisbet scoring… a tantalising deep cross from the left which Pape Gueye could have headed home…
When the Reds took the lead, it was a sublime finish from Clarkson himself, stalking the edge of the Well box and set up by midfield mate Palaversa.
But Clarkson’s piece de resistance – even more so than his goal – was his part in Aberdeen’s third.
Thelin’s tactical model relies on quickly overwhelming the opposition, and when defences are able to get organised, as Well had, sometimes the Dons can struggle to either see their way through (or to execute it)
However, Clarkson – picking up possession on the left of midfield – not only spotted the distant figure of Reds sub Shayden Morris, but picked him out with a sensational cross-field pass. The efficiency in the switch of play sent a shockwave across the Steelmen’s rearguard, allowing Nisbet to break free to meet Alexander Jensen’s subsequent cross into the area.
It was a pass I would have backed Clarkson to see and hit above any other player in the Aberdeen squad, including the also-technical Palaversa.
For me, on his day – and there have been too few of those over the past two seasons – Clarkson remains the Dons’ most technically-gifted player.
At his best he is a pleasure to watch, and it remains a coup for Aberdeen – with the success Clarkson’s talents to could help them have on the field, and his potential sell-on value off it – to have signed him to a four-year deal which still has two years left to run.
Hopefully after the star performance we witnessed on Saturday, Aberdeen have found the formula for Clarkson to show off his talents again more regularly.
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