Stephen Kenny Post Aberdeen
Saturday, 10th Feb 2007Obviously we are not scoring goals but today was not indicative of th
"Conditions weren't great but Aberdeen are a good footballing side and so it was the same for both sides and I cannot hide behind that. The game itself started well enough although in the wind both keepers were struggling kicking the ball out.
"We looked alright without creating anything early on. We had a few attacks but nothing clear cut. Aberdeen caused us problems on the break and Darren Mackie's pace caused problems three or four times. They scored from the incident where it looked like he (Mackie) came from off the pitch, from an offside position, to score. An excellent finish though.
"Aberdeen deservedly went in in front at half time I cannot deny that.
"Second half I do not think Dorus de Vries had a save to make of any note. I don't think Aberdeen had a chance in the second half at all. The penalty, it definitely hit Stephen Simmons arm but whether you can give a penalty for that I am not sure. It was a harsh enough one.
"We had a couple of chances, Phil McGuire had a good chance and Jamie Langfield made a good save from Jim Hamilton and Aberdeen's third goal was a great goal. I don't think we can make excuses, on the day Aberdeen were better than us.
"It hasn't been like that of late. All the games have been very tight for the last four or five weeks. In four games between Rangers and Hearts there was only a goal decided the four games we won two and lost two. We drew with Dundee United. Obviously we are not scoring goals but today was not indicative of the last few weeks.
"If I am being honest we probably played very attacking system with two men upfront and two out and out wingers. Maybe we are not at the stage where we can play that coming away from home to Aberdeen. Maybe we are not at the level where we can play that way, we leave ourselves exposed."
What can you do as a coach about the goalscoring problem?
"We scored four in the two cup games so we are capable of scoring goals. We have added creative players over the last couple of weeks and they have been very very good; Hammill and O'Brien in wide positions. The reality is when I look at the last twelve games, Ok we have Celtic away and Aberdeen away, the other ten games are winnable games for us.
"Apart from Celtic in a couple of weeks, all the other games are against teams the bottom six bar Kilmarnock next week at home and Hibs at home. I wanted a bit of continuity in selection. The team has chopped and changed every week. We are trying to get continuity of selection and trying to devise systems to get a result.
"We came here today with a positive frame of mind and tried to win the game. We prepared well, Aberdeen were just that bit better than us, we have to accept that.
"We didn't do enough to get a result, I am not trying to hide behind it but Aberdeen got a soft soft penalty but if we are going to get of it we are going to have to string a few results together. The games that we have to play give us a chance to do that. I can sit and talk about that but we need to go out and do it, that's reality."
Given the horrid conditions at Pittodrie and at Falkirk in the match there what was Stephen Kenny's view of summer football?
"It definitely helps when there is less wind in the summer, it always rains. Winds can really affect games as it did today. It is a big factor and surfaces are that much better in the summer but I am not sure that Scotland needs a change to summer. It may not work for other reasons. There are other factors and these have to be factored in.
"Scotland is ahead of Ireland in its development of stadia. It might be a positive thing for Scotland because Scotland has a tradition of Saturdays.but it may not work in the summer. These are all factors that would have to be debated.
"In Ireland it is definitely the right thing to do. In Ireland without a shadow of a doubt it was the right thing to do. Results in Europe prove that - I have managed 14 games in Europe between the Champions League and the Uefa Cup. We were well into our season, it wasn't our first or second game. Dunfermline lost to an Icelandic team a couple of years ago. Even Hearts were probably not that well prepared going into the Qualifier for the Champions League than they would be normally."
Match Report: 10/02/07 Aberdeen 3 Dunfermline 0
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