Del still searching for system to suit his new players
DEREK McINNES’S satisfaction of guiding his Aberdeen team into the semi-final of the Scottish Cup might be tempered by thoughts of where three of his major signings will fit into his plans for the remainder of the season.
Craig Bryson was his marquee signing last summer, a perfect replacement for the departing Graeme Shinnie, he insisted, while Dylan McGeouch cut short his stay at Sunderland to join him at Pittodrie.
They were to be the heart McInnes’s midfield.
A succession of injury problems has prevented Bryson from making any kind of impact, his appearances limited largely to cameos here and there. McGeouch, meanwhile, has found it difficult to force his manager to make him a regular starter.
It is, therefore, doubtful if either will start against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park tomorrow night as the Dons bid to remain on course for a third place finish to their Premiership campaign and, with it, Europa League qualifiers.
Ronald Hernandez, on the other hand, is more of an unknown quantity.
The 22-year-old Venezuela international right-back, a surprise and costly January signing – thought to be in the region of £500,000 – from Norwegian outfit Stabaek, is still an unknown quantity as far as the Pittodrie fans are concerned, but one whose value the club hopes will increase with experience of Premiership football.
“We said when we signed him that he hadn’t played 90 minutes since November in Norway,” McInnes said.
“He’d played 45 minutes of a pre-season game in Januof ary. Although he’d been training with Stabaek, he didn’t have that match sharpness. I think for him, trying to tailor his training schedule when there have been midweek games has been a bit difficult.
“I think there is a bit of adjustment. But football’s football. The language thing he can get by with. Tomas Cerny speaks fluent Spanish so he is well-versed in exactly what we’re looking for from Ronald.
“It doesn’t do him any harm to familiarise himself with Pittodrie, the team, the training. It’s not so much that side of it, it’s the match sharpness.”
McInnes had been keen on securing McGeouch before he left Hibs for Sunderland in the summer of 2018 and continued to monitor his progress south of the border. So, when his time in the north east of England drew to a close, the 27-year-old was seen as someone, like Bryson, who could add spark to the Dons when he signed in January. It has not worked out that way.
McInnes said: “When you sign players like Hernandez and Dylan, who hadn’t had a lot of games, then there’s got to be an understanding as a manager that you’re maybe not getting them at full pelt.
“The nature of the game sometimes of late, with the conditions and wanting to be more attacking like against Celtic with four forward players, it’s playing with one less midfielder.
“Sometimes as a manager you go with the midfielders that are most ready. Dylan is a good player and he’ll get to where he needs to get to.”