Derek McInnes spoke to RedTV and the media following the St Johnstone match:

Derek McInnes | post match quotes from the press conference

“There were aspects of the game today that we carried on from Sunday’s performance.

“We said after the game (last week) that we wanted it to be difficult for the opponent to get anything from the game and I thought we did that. St Johnstone didn’t totally surprise us because we know they went with a different shape last week against Hamilton, but it surprised us a bit they changed the shape that normally does so well against us.

“I thought we did well to adjust to that. We still got the chances to win headers and second balls and still managed to get our natural game going. What we did ask for today was more shots and crosses.

“When you’ve got Rooney in the team there’s not point having him in the side if you’re not going to put crosses in the box. I thought to a man from Shinnie, Logan, Christie, Stewart and McLean breaking into those areas, we managed to get enough crosses into the area that kept both Rooney and May interested as well as the St Johnstone defenders on their toes. It pleased me that we managed to carry that threat from open play.

“I think we’ve shown from the start of the season elements in games where we’ve been really good. When we’ve been hot we’ve been really hot, but also at times when we haven’t had that real quality and when individuals aren’t flourishing we’ve been a bit vulnerable and its given the opposition too much encouragement.

“I thought today we got the balance between attacking and defending right and I thought we kept the backdoor shut, which was the job of everybody and we looked comfortable within that.

“We carried our own natural threat and had a good energetic performance. I think the substitutes helped us as well at the right time so to finish the game with Wright, McKenna and Ross on the pitch pleases me, but what pleases me most is the way we have responded in the last couple of games.

“We’ve answered, not to others, but to myself that we can defend with far more aggression, anger and determination that what we’ve shown at stages this season.

“The last two games have been really good for Scott (McKenna) because we have been playing against teams who like to get engaged with their strikers early. It’s not been straightforward games because there’s still decisions to make within that, but you can go and get a natural confidence from those types of games. He heads the ball like an old-fashioned centre half. You don’t see that a lot, but what Scott has added recently is that athleticism. You see the size of him, he’s a boy in age, but he’s a man and I think he, like any youngster took huge encouragement from his performance on Sunday and he just carried that on today. You can see he got better and better as the game went on. The last two games have been good for him, but he’s been very good for us.

“We don’t take too much notice of the league table this early on.

“I’ve always thought it takes until 15 or 16 games when we’ve played everybody, and how you start that next round of games, when the league normally starts to play out as its going to do. I can’t be helped but pleased with 20 points out of a possible 24, unbeaten and we will take that any time this season. We’ve had a decent start and we kicked ourselves we dropped two points against Kilmarnock here a few weeks ago, but by in large we have got to be pleased with the players focus for the games. We look forward to getting back after the break.

“I had a good chat with Adam (Rooney) through the week.

“I feel for Adam his all-round game from minute one today was very good. We’ve had others in the team that have got us up the pitch like Hayes and McGinn and we get Rooney where we need to get him, which is the middle of the goal. It’s a newer team and we need his contribution from winning headers to get us up the pitch and being a nuisance.

“I thought him and May bounced off each other by ducking off each side and being in the box each time. When you get Rooney between the sticks you wouldn’t swap him because he’s a natural finisher. He anticipates brilliantly and he’s on the move when others are on their heels. I’m really pleased for him because his goals mean everything to Adam, like all number nines. I’m not surprised about his goals, but I was really pleased with his overall performance. I think when he plays like that he is so important to me and the team.”

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