Home is where the hurt is for McInnes
DEREK McINNES has warned his Aberdeen players they will never regain their status as Scottish football’s third force unless they make Pittodrie a fortress again.
And he is demanding a third straight home win of the new Premiership season — following victories over Hearts and Ross County — when a St Johnstone side featuring former Dons striker Stevie May visit today.
McInnes was frustrated when his team finished outside the top three for the first time in six full seasons under his stewardship last term.
It coincided with a spell which saw them secure just two league victories in the Granite City in the final five months of the campaign.
Their winning ratio at home dipped below 50 per cent for the first time since McInnes took charge in 2013, something that was all the more galling for the 48-year-old as Aberdeen gathered more points away from home than any other top-flight side.
It is not an imbalance that he is prepared to put up with as he aims to ensure the Dons re-emerge as the main threat to Celtic and Rangers. He said: ‘If we want to do what we want to do, then our home form has to improve.
‘In comparison to previous years, it wasn’t good enough. You have to win the majority of your home matches.
‘It has to get back to what it had been every other season up until the last one.
‘We have to make sure we’re better at home, that we enjoy playing at home, and that we don’t lose as many poor goals.
‘We want to have more control and impose ourselves more on the opposition.
‘In the games here against Hearts and Ross County, we have scored six goals but, more than that, they gave us the kind of performances we’re looking for and want to maintain.’
The chances of doing that might seem encouraging against a Saints side who haven’t won an away game all year, a dismal run including defeats at Montrose and Forfar in the Betfred Cup group stage.
Brechin are the only side the Perth men have beaten in eight games so far this season but McInnes knows better than to take anything for granted against the team he helped re-establish in the top flight as manager.
Especially when Tommy Wright’s men are arriving with a new look after the transfer window.
Back with his hometown club, May will have a point to prove today following a disappointing stay at Pittodrie, while Saints will be looking for something from onloan duo Anthony Ralston from Celtic and Rangers’ Jason Holt.
With that kind of roster, McInnes believes his former club will soon move away from the foot of the Premiership table.
‘The League Cup can put a lot of teams under pressure quickly, especially when you don’t have your recruitment done,’ he said of his former club’s dismal start to the campaign. ‘If you’re not right, you can go out and it can have a bearing on your league form.
‘When St Johnstone have a spell like this one you always feel like they’ll come out of it.
‘They have been boosted by getting some good players in before the window closed, so the additions will make them stronger.
‘I always liked Jason Holt, he will give them good energy and they’ve brought in Stevie May.
‘In Anthony Ralston they’ve signed someone who has played at a good level for Celtic.’
McInnes’ options have slightly improved as Shay Logan prepares to return from a groin injury, but Scott Wright has been ruled out for the season with cruciate knee ligament damage, while Scott McKenna and Ash Taylor remain on the sidelines.