Aberdeen fans have reacted angrily to the side’s 1-0 defeat to St Mirren in Paisley last night.
Connor Ronan’s curling finish for the home side put the tin lid on a miserable evening for the Red Army, who would have been feeling optimistic following last Tuesday’s 1-1 home draw with champions Rangers.
In the end, they watched their side lose a SEVENTH Premiership game on the road this term.
Only rock-bottom Dundee have a worse away points total than the Dons do from their 11 matches away from Pittodrie in the league.
Worst still, four of the seven defeats have come against sides currently in the bottom six, including a dire double against the Buddies, who beat Aberdeen 3-2 at St Mirren Stadium earlier in the campaign.
What’s the problem? Is it tactics or team selection? A lack of creativity preventing the Reds from breaking down defensive opponents? Or are the players simply not ‘up’ for these games?
Whatever the answer is, Aberdeen fans are not happy.
Just home from Paisley. Fuming.
As bad as anything under any manager before.
Totally unacceptable.
— ⭐️DUTH⭐️🇦🇹 (@DHTReds) January 26, 2022
The most disappointing performance we’ve seen in a long time. You can usually rely on Ferguson and Brown to take the game by the scruff of the neck but both were as poor as the rest. All well and good having pace to bring on but if they have next to no quality what’s the point?..
— DiscussDandies (@DiscussDandies) January 25, 2022
While the above tweet lists the normally aggressive and influential midfield pairing of Lewis Ferguson and Scott Brown among the players who failed to perform in Paisley, it was difficult to find a Don who earned ‘pass marks’ from the supporters on social media (David Bates, maybe).
Even break-out right-back star Calvin Ramsay, the subject of so much transfer interest from England and further afield, was criticised for not getting out to close down attacker Ronan quickly enough for the Buddies’ winner:
That is the worst I have seen Aberdeen play in many years. 11 failures failing to do the basics. The worst of the bunch Brown and Campbell. Calvin was shocking for the goal. What the hell was JET doing? No positives at all in that.
— Heavenly Dancers (@HeavenlyDancer2) January 25, 2022
Still fuming about this. I would forgive him far more if he even went flying out and took him out for a penalty. Brutal. https://t.co/PqZU49tKbq
— Elon Musk (@BillBuffalino) January 25, 2022
Meanwhile, the fans below are of the view ‘easy target’ Dean Campbell – another youth academy product who is among those mentioned above – shouldn’t be singled out by social media users, as he was playing out of position at left-back.
Daniel Simpson added soon-to-be-out-of-contract winger Ryan Hedges to the mix of players whose performances he feels deserve scrutiny.
Hedges was hooked for Jay Emmanuel-Thomas on 60 minutes, after Aberdeen boss Stephen Glass said prior to kick-off he felt the Welshman had been affected by speculation over his future.
He had a poor game but he is always an easy target and gets a lot of unfair criticism. Alot of players worse than him tonight for sure.
— Michael Scott (@Mikeyskeet09) January 25, 2022
The account below questioned the team selection from Glass and his coaching staff, though, asking why – with wingers on the bench – central midfielder/utility man Funso Ojo was playing on the left flank:
Aye, McLennan hasn’t been fantastic but why is Ojo starting in a wide position ahead of him? Even then, why did it persist when it’s clear we were getting lots of the ball down the left coming to nothin. Just small things like that which are extremely frustrating to watch.
— Red Point of View (@ARedPOV) January 25, 2022
Some turned to Aberdeen’s grim stats on the road this season, as well as an increasingly bad run against St Mirren in Paisley:
You'll seldom see a team do so little with so much possession as Aberdeen did last night.
Over 60% of the ball yet only managing 1 shot on target all night.
Only Dundee have taken fewer points on the road than the Dons this season, 7 losses in 11 on their travels.
Grim.
— Pie & Bovril 🏴 (@pieandbov) January 26, 2022
4 without a win in Paisley. Painful.
Alnwick might as well have sat in a deck chair
— Red Tinted Glasses (@RTG_Podcast) January 25, 2022
There seemed to be a consensus among the Red Army on Twitter that there is still a lot of work for Glass and his staff to do to reshape the Aberdeen squad, with less than a week remaining of the January transfer window.
Although they’ve already added midfielder Dante Polvara from the US college system, and winger Vicente Besuijen from Dutch side ADO Den Haag, supporters are convinced more outgoings and incomings are necessary:
After a relatively optimistic period, a whole bunch of these guys are proving what a lot of us already know – we've got a number of players who aren't up to playing for Aberdeen Football Club.
— The ABZ Football Podcast (@AbzPodcast) January 25, 2022
Indefensible tonight – absolutely rotten from Dons. Some players in particular no where near good enough to be in and around the team. Massive step backwards yet again.
— Steve Main (@dandies_77) January 25, 2022
Transfer window cannot close quickly enough for unsettled Ryan Hedges and Aberdeen
