- Frenchman’s double helps Dons to victory at Dens Park
- Jimmy Thelin’s side are unbeaten in eight matches
Dundee 1 Aberdeen 3
IN the raucous post-match celebrations with a 4000-strong away support, before a bit of an argy-bargy with overzealous stewards keen to keep player and punter apart, Adil Aouchiche was pushed forward by his Aberdeen team-mates to soak up the adulation.
He split from the line of red jerseys, walked 10 yards towards the stand behind the goal and punched the air to the roars of the Red Army.
It felt symbolic in a way. This is a player, after all, that really needs to use this period as an opportunity to step forward into the spotlight on a more regular basis and prove he can become a significant figure in a team finally developing a degree of momentum in the wake of a disappointing start to the campaign.
Aouchiche has pedigree, for sure. He excelled in the Paris Saint-Germain academy, has played age-group football for France at several levels and moved through Saint-Etienne and Lorient before switching to Sunderland, from where Pittodrie chiefs brought him on loan following a temporary stay at Portsmouth last term.
For all that, he is now 23 and at an age where he needs to shunt his senior career into the fast lane.
He has never really nailed down a regular starting slot at anywhere he has been since leaving Saint-Etienne, but, by the looks of things, the recent move into a deeper central midfield position under Dons boss Jimmy Thelin is working well for him.
Whether it is a tactical switch that proves to be the propellant he requires, time will tell. The platform is most definitely there within an Aberdeen team slowly beginning to pull some results together. That’s four wins and two draws in their last six league games, part of an overall run of eight unbeaten in all competitions.
It’s really just about whether he can keep adapting, keep making changes to his game and carry on being an influential contributor.
When he first signed on at the Dons, he spoke about still having the potential to play for a real, top-level club in the future and must understand the need to start taking leaps and bounds towards that target.
Technically capable, he definitely appears to be adding more of a physical edge after, initially, looking a little delicate for the unique rigours of the game in Scotland. Timing runs from deep in this new role he is playing is something he is showing a natural understanding of as well.
Like his team as a whole, though, there still needs to be greater consistency despite improvements of late. Aberdeen have the option to buy Aouchiche for a potential club record of £1.5million in the summer.
Would you commit to that kind of fee right now based on what he has shown so far? Probably not. However, there are evident signs there that he can take games by the scruff of the neck and prosper.
Aouchiche was excellent in the first half at Dens on Saturday as part of an Aberdeen team that moved through the gears nicely and should have been more than two-up at the interval.
His two goals were well taken too. The first was a calm finish after a Marko Lazetic shot had been palmed into his path by Dens keeper Jon McCracken while the second was an exhibition of real determination, surging past a sleeping Ryan Astley and forcing the ball home after a Jesper Karlsson effort had been deflected.
The Dons could easily have been further ahead at the break, but loosened their grip in the second period and, after Astley headed home on the hour, were never safe until substitute Kevin Nisbet completed the scoring with a brilliant finish two minutes into time added on to make it 3-1.
Dundee had real periods of pressure during that second 45, but, as their scoring record shows this term, they have just been lacking that incisive difference in the final third. Here again, it was the inability to fashion bona-fide chances – Ethan Hamilton and Simon Murray both having snapshots blocked at 2-1 – that proved an insurmountable problem.
One thing that can be said about Aberdeen’s next opponents, Racing Strasbourg, is that they will be much more of a handful in the areas of the park that really matter.
They sit eighth in the French table, having lost 1-0 at Toulouse at the weekend, and find themselves on a surprise run of four losses in five in their domestic championship, but they are second in the Europa Conference League and homing in on an automatic place in the last 16 as they head for the Granite City.
Aberdeen really need to win to keep their hopes alive in that tournament. Given the fact his countrymen are providing the opposition, there will be plenty of eyes on Aouchiche.
He’s spoken about taking responsibility at Aberdeen and showing the qualities he believes can transport him all the way to the top. If he’s looking for an ideal showcase, this must surely be it.
DUNDEE (4-5-1): McCracken 6; Astley 6, Graham 6, Koumetio 6, Wright 6 (Hay 84); Congreve 6, Dhanda 6, Hamilton 6, Westley 5 (Jones 16 (Robertson 84)), Yogane 7; Murray 5. Manager: Steven Pressley 6. Bookings: Wright.
ABERDEEN (3-4-2-1): Mitov 6; Devlin 6, Milne 7, Knoester 6; Jensen 7, Polvara 7, AOUCHICHE 8, Lobban 6 (Shinnie 70); Karlsson 7 (Keskinen 70), Armstrong 7; Lazetic 7 (Nisbet 64). Manager: Jimmy Thelin 7. Booked: Lobban. Referee: Grant Irvine. Attendance: 7,402.
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