Goodwin salutes Miovski but also puts him on the spot
ABERDEEN boss Jim Goodwin last night backed Bojan Miovski to become anything he wants in football — as long as he stays the Dons’ chief penalty-taker and stops gifting spot-kicks to his team-mates.
Miovski opened the scoring from the spot in his side’s 5-0 home win over 10-man Livingston and snapped up another from open play, but he gave the ball to Vicente Besuijen with his team two goals up and allowed him to convert from the 12-yard mark.
Goodwin wasn’t best pleased — but he couldn’t stop himself from purring over the North Macedonian’s overall performance and the fact he already has six goals to his name without being fully fit.
‘We have added some real quality in the attacking third,’ he said. ‘This kid Miovski could be anything he wants, honestly. He has just turned 23. We have made a significant investment in bringing him to the club, but we all believed we could continue his development at Aberdeen.
‘We have given him a really
good platform to go and excel and he has done that. He is not even up to full speed yet in terms of match sharpness because he came in late to pre-season.
‘He looks like scoring every week and, if we keep creating the kind of opportunities we have been, he will be our main man this season.
‘We are still a new group and getting used to each other’s movements, but Bojan is very intelligent in the final third, along the 18-yard line. He makes some really clever runs and the players behind him are now starting to understand that.
‘When he gets that side of defenders, he is hard to catch and he is lethal in front of goal.
‘He will steal the limelight and all the headlines, but my keeper makes a brilliant save at 0-0 and I thought my two centre-halves were outstanding.
‘The big lad (Joel) Nouble is a real handful and I have not seen any centre-halves manage him as well as the lads did today.
‘If you have a keeper making saves like Kelle (Roos) did at one end and a No9 like Miovski banging in the goals, that is a really good recipe to have.’
Goodwin, though, was not entirely enamoured with Miovski’s decision to let Besuijen take that penalty at 2-0 — actively handing him the ball when the Dutchman asked — after referee Colin Steven felt Duk Lopes had been brought down by Livvy sub Phillip Cancar. ‘I wasn’t in the loop on that one and it probably wasn’t something I would have encouraged before the game. He is our penalty-taker,’ said the manager.
‘I love the fact he wants to give his team-mate a goal and it is very supportive of him, but he is the one who should have taken it and he will probably be regretting it later on when he is sitting at home thinking he should have a match ball beside him on the couch.
‘I don’t mind who scores, but that will not be happening again.’
Goodwin also conceded that the 39th-minute sending-off of Jack Fitzwater for fouling Besuijen and allowing Miovski to break the deadlock from the spot
changed everything, but praised his players for remaining ruthless in the aftermath.
‘The sending-off does have a massive impact on how the game pans out,’ he said. ‘It was quite an even game 11 v 11. We had decent periods and Livingston had some good spells but there is no doubting the fact that playing against a man less should make it easier.
‘I have to say, and I said something similar after the St Mirren game a few weeks ago, that it is not always as straightforward as the boys have made it look to break down 10 men.
‘You have to be patient and the players deserve a lot of credit for the way they moved the ball. They didn’t allow the tempo to drop and scored some fantastic goals. They could probably have scored a few more as well.
‘The boys weren’t satisfied with 2-0 or 3-0 and I am delighted for everyone.
‘In every game we have played until now, though, we have been a little slow out of the traps and it took us 10-15 minutes to get going. That is something we have to discuss.’
Goodwin dropped Christian Ramirez from his matchday squad just days away from the transfer window closing, but insisted there was nothing to report on the US striker’s future.
‘No news,’ he stated. ‘I can only pick 20 and Christian missed out.’