Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeen fan view: Graeme Shinnie, left-back, perfectly suited to Jimmy Thelin’s strangle-opponents-at-source style

Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie has travelled back to his left-back roots under Jimmy Thelin - and in the Dons' win over Motherwell, it was easy to see why.

Aberdeen's Graeme Shinnie (R) and Motherwell's Tom Sparrow in action. Image: SNS.
Aberdeen's Graeme Shinnie (R) and Motherwell's Tom Sparrow in action. Image: SNS.

As the rest of the country braced itself for the misery of turning its clocks forward an hour, Aberdeen had the more pleasant experience of spinning theirs back. In some cases, further than others.

For Jimmy Thelin and his team in general, this was a trip back to the autumn and the tremendous run with which they opened the season.

The spark and snap so obviously absent throughout the winter doldrums were evidently back, and the intent their football would be played in their opponents’ territory, while Motherwell’s would not be played at all.

It was a much longer journey through time for captain Graeme Shinnie – transported to the very earliest years of his career in which he last regularly played as a left-back.

Though signed initially on the back of his noteworthy turns in Inverness’ number 3 shirt, ultimately Shinnie’s aggressive, ball-hunting instinct led him to fruitful redeployment as a midfield enforcer – yet this was precisely the quality which led to him having a significant influence on this game from the left-back slot.

The shape of Thelin’s team, and the manner in which he asks it to play, relies heavily on full-backs prepared to blitz repeatedly while out of possession.

Days like this one are perfect for the duo of Shinnie and Alexander Jensen, for though neither may be the strongest defender on the books, strangling attacks at source means they don’t need to be.

Aberdeen's Graeme Shinnie taking on Motherwell. Image: Shutterstock.
Aberdeen’s Graeme Shinnie taking on Motherwell. Image: Shutterstock.

It is a peculiarity that Aberdeen’s two full-backs had impressed sufficiently to be called into the Scotland squad earlier in the campaign, but here both sat and watched from the bench as others took the baton and ran with it.

At this stage in proceedings, especially with Ante Palaversa increasingly pulling all the midfield strings, it could very well be a permanent shift.

Conversation