The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
McInnes finds ‘antidote’ to spark swift revenge
MOTHERWELL 0 ABERDEEN 1
Derek McInnes felt he had found the “antidote” to Motherwell’s approach as Aberdeen atoned for their Betfred Cup exit at Fir Park yesterday.
McInnes brought in central defenders Kari Arnason and Scott McKenna and pushed Anthony O’Connor up into a three-man central midfield after their 3-0 loss at the same venue on Thursday.
The Dons boss sacrificed his usual width as Kenny McLean and Ryan Christie supported Stevie May up front but they got their goal from Shay Logan’s 57th-minute cross, with Andrew Considine tapping home after Christie’s flick hit the post.
Motherwell had good spells and piled pressure on in the latter stages but Aberdeen generally protected goalkeeper Joe Lewis well and stood firm to return to second place in the Ladbrokes Premiership.
McInnes said: “It wasn’t perfect or polished or a performance full of any subtlety but it was exactly the type of display that was needed. We had to right a few wrongs from the other night.
“We were set up better, so I gave the players a better chance to deal with the threat of Motherwell.
“I have been hugely impressed by Motherwell and what they do. They engage their strikers quickly, if they don’t retain it they are ably supported and they get it out wide and ask questions of you. I said it was a simplistic approach but that was not disparaging, they are very good at it.
“We set up with a team and a way of playing which was the antidote to what we were facing.
“We tried to play with a fluid front three and move their big centre-backs about and we carried an element of threat. But, what we did more importantly, was nullify their threat.
“Once we did that, Motherwell found it difficult to play their natural game.”
McKenna was handed his third Dons start and the 20-year-old relished the physicality.
“I thought it was a good game for McKenna as he is an old-fashioned centre-half,” McInnes said.
“He had a tough loan spell at Ayr last season but I never doubted him. We had to pick up the pieces and put the arm around him and he is slowly getting more confident.
“I thought about playing him on Thursday because of the type of game we were facing, and on Friday morning I decided he would definitely play to go and deal with that first header.”
Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson played down a late penalty appeal for Logan’s barge on Louis Moult but felt his players deserved more.
“Perhaps our decision-making needs to be better in the final third, but I can’t fault my players at all,” he said.
“They gave absolutely everything again, they won second balls and scraps and I thought it was us that tried to get it down and play when the spaces opened up.
“I thought we deserved a minimum of a point out of that game, and it probably shows how far we have come that they are celebrating and banging doors.”