The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
It is a no-brainer – stick with McInnes
SHANKLAND: TANGERINE’S CALL-UP IS DESERVED AND HE SHOULD BE GIVEN CHANCE TO HIT THE NET
It has been a long week for all Dons fans, many still trying to come to terms with the heaviest defeat of Derek McInnes’s reign as Aberdeen manager.
It was an outcome which did not particularly surprise me. There are times when the footballing fates seem to be stacked against you and, in the buildup to the trip to Ibrox, everything seemed to go wrong for Aberdeen, right up to Andrew Considine having to call off hours before kick-off.
Add in the fact that Rangers have been going well and present a formidable attacking force, along with the certain knowledge that they would be absolutely stoked-up for the game, and it was always likely to be a difficult afternoon for the side.
So it proved. Derek looked shellshocked in his postmatch interview, and the backlash from angry and frustrated supporters was inevitable. There is clearly an appetite for change out there from a growing number of fans.
Season-ticket sales dropped by more than 1,000 in the summer, many I’m sure giving up as a result of the home form in the second half of last season. Performances since the start of August will have done nothing to make those fans regret their choice.
Emotions are running high, understandably so given the recent run, the Betfred Cup exit and the capitulation against the Govan outfit, but the club cannot afford to be sucked into that, nor into taking any knee-jerk decisions.
This is a time for clear thinking, for a rational approach, and for a reasoned assessment of where the club is and what it needs.
At the start of last season, in the wake of a 1-1 draw, Steven Gerrard claimed his side was a class above Aberdeen. It was utter nonsense at the time, and I criticised him for making the comments, but if he made them today I would have to agree.
That’s how it should be given the millions he has been given to spend, and, having had three transfer windows, the Two weeks ago, in this column, I implored Steve Clarke to give Lawrence Shankland a chance in his next international squad.
It turned into an onair discussion as I put the proposition to my Sportsound colleagues, and was shot down, particularly by Chick Young.
Within five minutes, Shankland had netted two late goals to give Dundee United victory over Arbroath, and he Liverpudlian has been given superb backing by the Ibrox board. He has been allowed to assemble a squad packed with quality, and the Dons were never going to be able to compete as soon as Rangers got their financial act together.
I thought Derek did some good business in the summer and there was reason for optimism. I said at the start of the Premiership season that with better luck on the injury front, Aberdeen could push for second followed that with last week’s hat-trick against Morton.
His tally of 15 is the best in the country, he but that third was a more realistic target.
Instead, the manager has had to contend with even more injuries than a year ago, and that has had a big bearing on what has happened.
He has also been hampered by too many of the players failing to hit the kind of form we know they are capable of, and some of the results and performances in recent months are bound to have affected everyone’s confidence and created uncertainty.
Derek McInnes has done a superb job as Dons boss and his record should act as an insurance policy during troubled times such as the period the club is currently suffering. Anything less than victory today and the critics will no doubt be out again but I would hope the directors are a long way from contemplating bowing to external pressure.
We all know football fortunes can quickly change. Right now, Derek remains the best man to lead the team out of its slump. is bursting with confidence, and he has the clinical touch all good strikers need.
It is a no-brainer! I am delighted that the Scotland boss agrees with me, and I hope he goes all the way and puts Lawrence into his starting lineup, certainly in the home game with San Marino. That would be the ideal starting point for him, and I’d be astonished if he didn’t score at Hampden.