Have the Dons been taken as far as they can by Calderwood?
It has been a rather indifferent start to the league campaign for the Dons. This time last season they were in the same position, eighth, but were two points worse off. After looking as though they would finish the season in the bottom half of the table they managed to sneak past Falkirk and Hearts with less than a minute of football to spare before the split. In the end a fourth place finish done nothing more than to flatter Jimmy Calderwood and his side.
Despite being slightly better off after five matches this season, there seems to be more that should worry the Aberdeen support. Calderwood has resorted to an effective, if unattractive, system of defending deep away from home, which has brought rewards in the shape of two 1-0 victories at St Mirren and Motherwell.
However, a 1-1 draw with Rangers remains their solitary point from three home games and they were lucky to even achieve that as assistant referee ruled out DaMarcus Beasley’s perfectly legitimate goal in the dying minutes of the match.
Since the departure of Russell Anderson to Sunderland Reserves, it appears that whenever Aberdeen venture forward in matches their fragile back four is exposed. The evidence of this has been even more apparent this season - during the team’s opening day defeat to fellow northerners Inverness Caley Thistle, the first time they have ever beaten Aberdeen, and the more recent defeat to SPL new-boys Hamilton.
Many players left and just as many signed for the club during the close season but one area Calderwood seems to have missed, yet again, is his central defence. Andy Considine has proved time and time again that he is not good enough and his concentration cost his side once when his horrendous attempt to clear a simple long ball resulted in Hamilton’s winner.
Zander Diamond, who has struggled with injury for the early part of this season, is more commanding than Considine but is still prone to error and can often get himself, and his team, into trouble with his temper. Lee Mair is a squad player at best and Scott Severin is a central midfielder who can play in defence in emergencies, although he wasn’t up to much on Saturday.
Calderwood began the match with a back four of Foster, Severin, Considine and Mulgrew. Two of these – Severin and Foster – are naturally midfielders and it showed. Charlie Mulgrew at left back was a good capture for Aberdeen but if the manager continues with these three alongside him, even he will struggle.
Where Calderwood has neglected some parts of his side when it comes to recruiting players, he has been slightly unlucky with other areas. Lee Miller was in terrific form for Hearts before his poor spell at Dundee United and he has still not hit the form expected of him going into, what is now, his third season with the club. Jamie Smith was also an impressive signing, although he is injury prone and finds himself on the sidelines just as much as he finds himself in the starting XI.
For every decent player Calderwood had brought to the club, there seems to be two or three poor ones. Lee Mair and Stuart Duff were deemed surplus to requirements at Dundee United before they signed on at Pittodrie, while Jeffrey De Visscher and Derek Young have hardly been revelations. Others like David Bus and Jonathan Kurrant barely even appeared before they were shown the door.
Time will tell if the likes of Jared Hodgkiss, Tommy Wright (who has an incredibly poor disciplinary record), Mark Kerr and Gary McDonald will be good enough to replace Michael Hart, Chris Clark, Barry Nicholson and Steve Lovell, who all departed earlier this year.
When Calderwood was appointed manager in 2004, it followed a period of six managers in ten years. In the four seasons since, Calderwood had managed a top six finish each time and even secured a European spot at the end of the 2006/07 season, which took them beyond the group stages of the UEFA Cup.
Despite his relative success, it is looking increasingly like the club has been taken as far as it can by Calderwood. Four top six finishes out of four really isn’t as impressive as it sounds for a club like Aberdeen and these four finishes have only brought European football to Pittodrie once. Last season was their best chance in a long time of bringing home some silverware but they exited both cup competitions at the semi final stage, one of which was a 4-3 defeat to First Division Queen of the South and would have seen them in Europe this season had they reached the final.
Should Calderwood need replaced, it would surely be time for Stuart Milne to spend a little more money on a manager with a bigger reputation who is able to attract better quality than players in the Dutch second division and guys that other SPL sides have no use for. For now, Calderwood is not under any pressure from his employers but would be if Aberdeen were now to go on a poor run of results.
The next set of fixtures appear more difficult than the five the club began their campaign with, including trips Celtic Park and Tynecastle either side of Hibs at home. An interesting month at Aberdeen begins on Saturday lunchtime, with a match against a Dundee United side desperate for their first win of the season.
