McKenna will be going all in to upset odds
RATTLED and humbled after a first-half chasing from Celtic, Scott McKenna ought to have been relieved as he reached the home dressing room. Instead, a sickening sense of dread took hold, one that took him back to his Friday evening viewing at the Aberdeen flat he shares with defensive sidekick Mikey Devlin.
McKenna had been thoroughly entertained by the sight of Leicester City consigning Southampton to a 9-0 home defeat but suddenly feared he was playing a victim’s role in a cruel Scottish re-run.
‘Sitting at half-time was pretty low, looking around asking what we were going to do,’ winced the defender as he recollects that October Sunday.
‘We were 4-0 down to Celtic, we couldn’t do anything to stop them. And I’m not going to lie, the worst part about it was that Southampton had just been beaten 9-0 by Leicester on the Friday night.
‘I’d sat and watched that in the flat and it’s hard not to think the worst. Thankfully they maybe took their feet off the gas a wee bit and it was damage limitation for us.’
Neil Lennon’s side were unable to add to their total that October day but return to the north east today carrying a similar goal threat.
Celtic’s last three away matches have yielded 11 goals, with Ladbrokes Player of the Month Odsonne Edouard forming a lethal partnership with Leigh Griffiths.
It was Edouard who opened the scoring back in October and the Frenchman was again coolness personified as his calm finish settled the next meeting of the sides in Glasgow in December.
McKenna admits Edouard’s elusive style makes him hard to repel. ‘He just floats about,’ explained the Dons centre-half. ‘You are not always aware of him doing much but then, bang, a moment of quality, he is away from you and has punished you.
‘You need to stay on your toes and switched on because Celtic have that quality right through the team. It’s not just Edouard (below).
‘It’s all about communicating and trying to pass on and pick up runners. It’s not just one player you are up against, they are all moving about and fluid at the top end of the pitch.
‘It only takes one person to be off it or out of position and they will punish you. Everything went wrong the last time they were here. We were far too passive in the game, we didn’t show enough aggression or intent to get on the ball and look after it. We just let Celtic do whatever they wanted.
‘But I think recently we have had a good shape about us and a good determination and aggression in our defending, and hopefully we can take that into this game.
‘We have been down to Parkhead since and put on a pretty decent performance, albeit we didn’t pick up the points. We definitely feel we have a point to prove.’
Just as Lennon has reverted to a back three to accommodate the Edouard/Griffiths axis, so Derek McInnes has deployed a 3-5-2 shape in Aberdeen’s last two games, with Andrew Considine helping McKenna and Devlin man the fort.
If last weekend’s goalless Scottish Cup tie against Kilmarnock was uninspiring, the formation brought reward at Hamilton in midweek in the shape of a badly-needed 3-1 victory.
‘I’m not sure what the manager’s plans are but we set up to deal with the two strikers against Kilmarnock and stuck with it. It’s something we all feel comfortable with,’ said McKenna.
‘Obviously it makes for more of a shift for the wing-backs who are normally wingers — they need to fill in at fullback at times but I think the tracking of runners has been fantastic in the last few games.
‘The one disappointment on Tuesday was the goal we conceded. We pride ourselves on clean sheets. As a defender it was frustrating, it felt so much worse than it should. ‘I suppose that’s a good thing, a sign of how determined we are to keep the ball out of the net.’ Although Aberdeen have been in sluggish form of late, their defending has been the least of McInnes’ worries. A failure to score goals has been pronounced and, more than that, a lack of entertainment value has forced a backlash from a support base that seems to have become a little too familiar with the team’s playing style.
Some have taken to chanting against McInnes, others have simply stayed away.
Hearteningly for McKenna, the bulk of the few hundred fans who braved the icy cold conditions to watch their team win a league match for the first time this year sang in support of their manager.
‘Of course it was good to hear that — you never want to hear the negative chants from the crowd,’ he added. ‘It’s brilliant what he has done for the club over the last seven years. People should not forget that.
‘It was good for us to get a result for him, especially with the goals we scored. The manager has said time and again that there has not been too much wrong with the performances, it’s just that we have not had that cutting edge.
‘We had that at Hamilton and we were very clinical when the chances came.’
McInnes chose to rest top scorer Sam Cosgrove in midweek and, although the decision paid off, it would be surprising if the big Englishman was not restored to the starting XI today.
The front two of Niall McGinn and Curtis Main both found the net at Accies and at least one is likely to give way today as McInnes prepares for a sterner challenge.
‘When you come up against teams with good players that can hit you from all angles you have to get the balance right between attack and defence,’ he admitted. ‘We took two sore ones from the Old Firm earlier this season but since then we have drawn twice with Rangers and had a narrow defeat at Celtic Park.
‘We have shown that when we compete right, set up right and our confidence is right, we can get closer to these teams. Hopefully this is another example of that.’