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Duncan Shearer: Aberdeen scoring struggles not reason to panic yet

Aberdeen striker Christian Ramirez reacts to missing a chance against St Johnstone.
Aberdeen striker Christian Ramirez reacts to missing a chance against St Johnstone.

While Aberdeen continued to struggle in front of goal against St Johnstone, it certainly shouldn’t be cause for panic for Stephen Glass.

They dominated large periods of the game without scoring and that was a problem before Stephen even came here.

I watched the highlights and I don’t think any of the chances were ones where you’d think it definitely should be a goal. They were good half-chances and, as long as they’re creating them, someone will stick them away.

But you don’t want it going on too long. That’s seven games without a win for Aberdeen and that will soon start to take effect. People will start to take notice of stats.

Richard Foster was right to pick up on something on Sportscene and it’s something I’d had thoughts of myself.

Christian Ramirez seems to be misjudging the flights of the balls that are coming in to him. He’s either getting under them or he’s reacting a little bit slow to them.

He still needs to adjust to the Scottish game, but Stephen will hope he adjusts quite soon. Everybody is looking for that 20-goal striker and there aren’t that many about.

Aberdeen's Austin Samuels has a shot on goal the Premiership loss to St Johnstone.
Aberdeen forward Austin Samuels has a shot on goal the Premiership loss to St Johnstone.

I don’t think them only playing with one striker plays into the opposition’s hands.

I was watching the Chelsea game on Sunday with Romelu Lukaku and thinking that, when I played, there was always two strikers up front. But with the systems teams play now, there’s only room for one striker and the rest tend to be attacking midfielders who score goals.

At times it’s difficult up there on your own. I don’t know if I could play up there on my own, I don’t know if I was that kind of player.

When I was at Aberdeen in 1992 we had myself, Mixu Paatelainen and Scott Booth who were out-and-out strikers. We had Eoin Jess as well, who I would call a striker.

There are strikers that will get you goals sporadically. They might get four or five then go six or seven games without scoring. A real goalscorer wouldn’t go anymore than two games, to be honest with you.

Stephen can start worrying if he looks at a game and says “we didn’t have a chance in that game”. That’s what I’ve always said. They just need to take their chances a bit better.

Signs of improvement at Ross County

Ross County midfielder Blair Spittal scored twice against Hearts.
Ross County midfielder Blair Spittal scored twice against Hearts.

I was at Ross County’s game with Hearts on Saturday and I loved it.

I thought the game was brilliant. Two teams were going at it hammer and tongs.

Hearts looked really good at teams, but County matched them. They had times in the game where they were looking dangerous.

I didn’t think they went long too much and they played some good stuff on the deck. They can mix it up, which is a good option for them, but the two goals didn’t come from long balls that’s for sure. They were two well-worked goals.

They’re still looking for their first win, but looking at the league, so are Dundee, St Mirren and Livingston. I think Malky is right not to be too concerned at the moment as that first win is not far away.

He’s got rid of some of the big teams in the last half-a-dozen games, so their next few games are ones where they’ll have a great chance of getting that first win.

Caley Thistle look a well-balanced side

Caley Thistle manager Billy Dodds.
Caley Thistle manager Billy Dodds.

The old adage is if you’re not going to win the game don’t lose it and that’s what Inverness did against Dunfermline.

They’re going well and in the right direction. There’s nothing to be concerned about at the moment with Inverness.

I had no doubt they would be in the top four. Am I surprised they’re at the top? Probably yes, just because Billy Dodds is just in the door.

But there’s only six games gone and Kilmarnock had a good win on Saturday, which cancels out the defeat to Inverness right away.

It wouldn’t surprise me if it ended up being the two of them up there. As long as Caley Thistle get a crack at it, either going straight up or into the play-offs.

I like what I’m seeing from the players. Their line-up has been consistent and they’ve been quite lucky with injuries.

There’s a good balance to them. They’ve got a great goalkeeper, an old head at centre-half, pace down the flank and young lads in midfield. David Carson is looking strong at right-back and they’ve got goalscorers in the team.