Dundee went down to a 4-0 defeat against Aberdeen at Pittodrie this afternoon. The Dons tied up the points with three goals in eleven first half minutes. Jesper Karlsson opened the scoring from the penalty spot. Adil Aouchiche made it two and Emmanuel Gyamfi scored the third. Karlsson added a fourth midway through the second half. The Dark Blues had no answer to an Aberdeen team who put their early season struggles behind them to claim an emphatic victory.
There were two changes to the Dee starting eleven. Simon Murray was available after illness and Yan Dhanda returned from suspension. They took the place of Drey Wright and Ash Hay, who were on the subs bench.
In the second minute Cameron Congreve drove through the Aberdeen midfield and had the first shot on target from 22 yards, but Dimitar Mitov saved well. Any hopes this raised in the Dee support were swiftly extinguished as the Dons took over and dominated the rest of the match.
There were two heart-stopping moments in the Dark Blues’ penalty area before Aberdeen finally took the lead. Jesper Karlsson screwed a low pass across goal but Emmanuel Gyamfi got his feet tangled up at the far post and the Dee defence cleared before he could recover and score.
Kevin Nisbet passed up an even better chance after Jack Milne’s long ball from his own half caught out the Dundee defence. Karlsson ran clear, drew Jon McCracken and slipped a pass sideways leaving Nisbet with only Ryan Astley to beat. Astonishingly the striker sent his shot too close to Astley who stuck out a leg to clear.
When Dundee did get onto the ball they invariably lost possession quickly and struggled to keep Aberdeen at bay. The Dons were moving the ball with pace and accuract, and they always found players making good runs into space in the Dee half. That was the pattern for the whole match. It was something of a surprise that the Dark Blues survived till the midway point of the first half. A series of corners were dealt with, not always convincingly, but eventually Dundee’s luck ran out.
Cameron Congreve allowed the ball to brush off his arm before he cleared from one of the corners. The referee missed it, but VAR didn’t. It was a nothing incident, but with the current interpretation of the handball law it was a stonewaller. Referee Don Robertson was always going to award the penalty when he was sent to the monitor, and KARLSSON scored from the spot in the 22nd minute.
Astley hammered a shot from 20 yards straight at Mitov at the end of a Dundee attack that carried some threat for once. That was the sort of attack and shot that the Dons were making every few minutes and are hardly worth reporting amongst all the real danger from the home side.
If there was a minor element of bad luck with the first goal the second goal after 29 minutes was a calamitous gift to the Dons. Yan Dhanda lost possession with a terrible first touch 10 yards outside the Dundee penalty area. Nisbet passed to Adi AOUCHICHE whose first effort was crowded out in a messy scramble. As the maul of players collapsed to the turf only one was thinking quickly. The Frenchman stuck out a boot as he fell, flicking a shot wide of McCracken and inside the post from 12 yards. The goal was a mix of embarrassing sloppiness from the Dee and admirable improvisation by Aouchiche.
Dundee simply couldn’t hold onto the ball and were vulnerable at every transition of possession against opponents who thought and acted quicker. After another turnover Stuart Armstrong had space on the left to pick his pass. He found GYANFI running towards the near post and he guided a shot past McCracken and into the far corner. Thirty-three minutes had passed and the game was over for the Dark Blues.
The Dark Blues survived a poorly defended free kick when McCracken saved well from Nisbet’s header. Milne turned the loose ball into the net but he was offside.
As the Dee players left the pitch at half time there could have been few who were confident that they would return for the restart. However, there were no substitutions, and the only change to the pattern of the game was that Aberdeen were content to manage the game at a gentler pace. Dundee were kept effortlessly at bay, but the Dons were still dangerous whenever they attacked.
Emile Acquah and Ash Hay came on for Simon Murray and Joe Westley. It made no difference. The real problems were behind the forward players.
After 63 minutes Aberdeen made it 4-0 with another goal that reflected poorly on the Dee defence and midfield. Substitute Marko Lazetic took advantage of Dee hesitancy to drive into space and send Karlsson into the penalty area. The defence managed to crowd him out, forcing him to turn, then everyone in Dark Blue switched off allowing KARLSSON to turn again and crack a shot into the top corner. There were four Dundee players around him and he still managed to get a clear shot away.
Aberdeen almost scored a fifth when they broke at speed from a Dundee corner. Topi Kaskinen cut inside, and McCracken pulled off a fine save.
Sadly, this was a defeat that was every bit as emphatic as the score suggests. It could easily have been worse. Dundee were second best all over the field. The defence was nervous, vulnerable, and error prone. The midfield created virtually nothing and offered little assistance to the attacking players or the defence. The creative players did nothing worthwhile but had little material to work with. Perhaps Dundee had too many attacking players and not enough in midfield to stop Aberdeen dominating the game. Whatever the tactical analysis, there can be no doubt that both sides got what they deserved today.
Aberdeen FC 3-4-3
Mitov
Jensen, Milne, Knoester
Devlin, Armstrong (Milanovic 68) Shinnie (c) (Heltne Nilsen 68), Gyamfi
Aouchiche (Polvara 68), Nisbet (Lazetic 59), Karlsson (Keskinen 72)
Unused subs: Suman (g), Clarkson, Palaversa, Dorrington.
Goals: Karlsson (22 pen), Auochiche (29), Gyamfi (33), Karlsson (63).
Booked: Auochiche (foul on Graham).
Dundee 4-2-3-1
Jon McCracken
Ryan Astley, Clark Robertson (c), Luke Graham, Imari Samuels
Finlay Robertson (Callum Jones 80), Ethan Hamilton (Paul Digby 89)
Cameron Congreve, Yan Dhanda (Charlie Reilly 80), Joe Westley (Ash Hay 62)
Simon Murray (c) (Emile Acquah 62)
Unused substitutes: Kieran O’Hara (gk), Aaron Donnelly, Drey Wright, Tony Yogane.
Booked: none.
Attendance: 16,525.
Referee: Don Robertson. Assistants: David Roome, Elliott Husband Powton. VAR: Grant Irvine. Assistant VAR: Alan Mulvanny.
Report: James Christie.
