As the Dons moved back into the top four, Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin was delighted that his side overcame tough opposition and continued to score goals aplenty at Pittodrie.
“The scoreline makes it look extremely comfortable and that wasn’t the case in the first half. We left ourselves open to the counter-attack too many times, though I always felt that was going to be the case before the game because Ramadani was the only natural midfielder in there. We placed Besuijen and Kennedy alongside him, and I thought they were excellent with the ball, but obviously they lack that natural instinct to defend when we don’t have it. That was the trade-off we made to increase our attacking options.
“Kilmarnock are very well organised, Derek is a good, experienced manager, his teams are always set up in a way that makes life difficult for you. But we were patient in a lot of our build-up, played our way out of trouble in some instances, and created a lot of opportunities. I’m delighted we took four of them.
“I thought it was a good performance overall. There were a few little elements in the first half that were frustrating and we’ve talked about that after the game. We’re looking a decent team at the moment, but if we can just scrub up on a few key areas and details, I think we can become a very good one. We are still a relatively new group, that’s not an excuse, it’s a fact, and there are still things we have to get better at. But overall, I’m pleased with the result.
“At half-time I was disappointed we hadn’t kept a clean sheet. Balls coming into the box, long throws too, have been causing trouble far too often, we haven’t dealt with them properly. It is something we’re working on, we need to get better at it.
“I haven’t built a team of giants, we’ve got some very good technical footballers who are on the smaller side, so we are a bit vulnerable to those balls coming in, but still, we have to do better. We have to take more responsibility and players given jobs have to carry them out. There’s always things we can do better and learn from, but there were many more pleasing aspects to the game today than negative ones.
“I’m particularly pleased we responded to the last league game at Hibs, where we were disappointed with the result and the manner of it. The next game after a defeat is always important and we showed a good reaction in front of a great crowd.”
Hayden Coulson was one of the players that caught the eye, and the manager has been pleased by the consistency of his performances.
“Coulson has been up there as one of the most consistent full-backs in the league. Prior to the Hibs game, the stats showed he was the most attacking left-back in the division. His involvement in our forward play is huge but defensively too, nobody tends to get the better of him in the one-v-ones.
“I’m a bit old fashioned, I want my defenders to defend first and foremost, but in the modern game, at full-back you need some quality on the ball, you need to join in, and both he and Richardson on the other side do that well.
“McCrorie deserves a mention too, he can play anywhere, that’s a sign of a good player and he slotted in very well at centre-half today for us. I built the squad in the way that it gives me great attacking options and there are one or two utility players in there too, and Ross is one of those.
“Some people look at the squad and might think we’re light at centre-half or right-back, but I used the budget in that way deliberately because when guys get tired and you need to freshen things up, if you can replace Miovski with Duk, Besuijen with Ramirez, then you’re maintaining that quality in attack, we’re not weakening the team, and I felt that was an important way to use our resources.
“You need those attacking options because this is going to be a tight division from top to bottom, really competitive once again this season. There’ll be shocks along the way and, I know it’s a cliché but it’s really important not to get too high when you win, or too low when you don’t. With the greatest of respect to Kilmarnock, if Aberdeen want to have a good season and be a top three or four team, then you need to be beating them at home. But they made us work very hard for it.”
Finally, the manager had a few words for the Dons’ support this afternoon, particularly the younger element.
“I’m delighted we gave a big home crowd that performance and those goals to enjoy. That’s what the game’s about, it’s about entertainment. As a young manager, I desperately want to try and play the game the way I believe is the right way. If we all set up to play counter-attack football, getting 11 men behind the ball and waiting for opportunities to break, it’s extremely boring to watch and to manage and to play in. We all have a responsibility to entertain supporters and hopefully tonight, they go away feeling good and can enjoy their Saturday night.
“The Dons Day was a great initiative with a whole number of kids up in the top of the stand there – and we could hear them through the 90 minutes. Hopefully those young ones go away with a great memory of the day and, please God, they become lifelong Aberdeen fans!”
