STEADY RED IS THE DONS’ MR RELIABLE
Reynolds striving to be calm centre inside eye of the storm
THOSE traditionalists who like their centre-halves rugged and aggressive might scoff but, in the eyes of Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes, Mark Reynolds is a defensive dream. An ever-present during Aberdeen’s recent surge to the top of the Premiership table, Reynolds was a key pillar of the eight-game winning streak that saw the Dons go eight hours without conceding a goal.
The 27-year-old was also the most involved player of the club’s League Cup-winning year, playing every minute of the 51 matches contested by the club in 2014. Which makes it all the more remarkable that the booking he picked up in Friday night’s 1-1 draw with St Johnstone was his first in 85 appearances.
‘I don’t get booked because I don’t tackle,’ he remarked self-effacingly. Yet he’s not entirely joking. The key physical attribute in Reynolds’ game is his pace and, combined with a quick-thinking brain, interceptions and blocks are his stock in trade rather than the elbows and barges of the bully or the last-gasp lunge of the poorly positioned.
‘It’s just the way I play football,’ he continued. ‘Some players like to go smashing in. If I need to go in and it gets bloody and I need to take another broken nose or burst lip then so be it, but there are other ways to do it.
‘I’ve never really been a dirty player and maybe that’s because I don’t really tackle, it’s more interception and nicking the ball. It’s partly luck, too.’
Reynolds was similarly composed during his formative years at Motherwell and it seems his calming influence has rubbed off on those alongside him. Ash Taylor, his most common partner at centre-half, has not been cautioned since joining the club last summer.
‘I think a lot of bookings come from desperation and lunging in,’ he said. ‘Sometimes players lunge in when trying to impose themselves or get the upper hand.
‘This season, we have imposed ourselves with our football. We’ve not been chasing many games or under a lot of pressure.
‘We have been well organised, so we have not really been left exposed and having to bring someone down to try to stop attacks. You don’t have to put in last-gasp tackles when you are dictating games.’
With Taylor missing through injury, Reynolds looked a little less assured on Friday night and admits referee Bobby Madden was right to book him after a couple of late tackles at McDiarmid Park
‘It’s unfortunate that my run without a booking has come to an end but I’ve no complaints,’ he admitted. ‘I won’t let it bother me — it had to happen eventually and it won’t change the way I play.’
Of more concern to McInnes is the fact his team has dropped points in consecutive Premiership matches. The start of the unbeaten run coincided with the introduction to the team of goalkeeper Scott Brown but the manager has been keen to stress the importance of the collective effort in keeping his team watertight.
Taylor’s knee injury, sustained against Dundee last Saturday, was ill-timed coming as the season moves into its critical phase.
With Taylor and club captain Russell Anderson out injured, Andrew Considine was moved from his regular berth at left-back but looked ill at ease alongside Reynolds.
McInnes may seek to recruit a new defensive partner for Reynolds before the month is out and there’s a grimace as the manager contemplates entering next weekend’s League Cup semi-final without that partnership in place. ‘There’s a lot to be said for having continuity, especially at the back,’ conceded McInnes. ‘We’ve had to make only one change in the last nine or 10 games, possibly, and you can see the benefits of that.
‘Now, however, with Ash injured we have a change to make.
‘For many of the best defenders, it’s all about timing and positioning and we do try to make sure there aren’t many last-gasp tackles, going to ground or panic defending. The best defenders have that know-how and anticipation to put out fires before they become a problem.
‘To do that you need to be quick, which both Reynolds and Taylor are, and you need to make good decisions.
‘They also need to have good work ahead of them and the eight clean sheets was a reflection of the whole team.’
Prior to McDiarmid Park, Reynolds’ last caution came in a league game away to Celtic in March 2013, when Gary Hooper and Georgios Samaras were among the scorers in a 4-3 victory for the champions.
A few weeks previously, he had picked up the only red card of his career in a 0-0 draw against St Mirren, with a shirt pull and deliberate handball each earning yellow cards.
The only other dismissal came in his first full season when he was shown a straight red for another handball at Dunfermline. It was the first card in his career and the only one he saw that whole season.
‘The best defenders I played with always had that sense of anticipation, nous, know-how and calmness to their defending,’ continued McInnes. ‘The player I’m thinking about is Richard Gough (at Rangers).
‘He was always in the right position at the right time and was constantly organising.
‘Although you might not say Mark and Ash are older players, they have a lot of games under their belts.’
With a trophy at stake and the Dons determined to maintain their challenge at the top of the league (even if they’re under strict orders not to say so), Reynolds knew he could not maintain his clean slate indefinitely.
‘When I’m playing, it’s not something that enters my mind when I make a tackle and I’d never think: “I’m not going to do that because I might get booked”,’ he said.
Disciplinary matters aside, the other surprising stat from Reynolds’ career is the absence of a full Scotland cap. A regular as Scotland reached the Under-19 European Championship Final in 2007 and also involved at the Under-20 World Cup in Canada a year later, Reynolds has played at Under-21 and B level yet is still to make his senior bow.
He found himself in Gordon Strachan’s squad for the Euro 2016 qualifiers against Georgia and Poland but was omitted for the subsequent double-header against the Republic of Ireland and England.
Strachan called the player to reassure him he is edging closer and he knows his best route to international recognition is by helping Aberdeen to further success.
Last season’s League Cup was a breakthrough success and the club is now just 90 minutes away from another appearance in the final.
‘The celebrations last year were unbelievable, especially the parade down Union Street,’ recalled Reynolds. ‘For a few of the boys, it reinforced just how big this club is and how important having a successful team is to the city.
‘At the time, we said we wanted it to be the start of a special period for Aberdeen. We are further on than last year — we have strengthened our starting XI, we have a stronger squad, we know each other better and we are developing as a team.
‘We feel we are on a journey and we don’t know where it will take us.’