Jim Goodwin felt he had to park the bus against Celtic. But he refused to reveal whether he’ll allow his side to start motoring again when Rangers come to town.
The Aberdeen gaffer understands why Dons fans were annoyed at his game plan yesterday after they conceded late on to lose 1-0. For the majority of the game, they were solid defensively and looked capable of hanging on for a draw. But Callum McGregor’s late strike sealed the points for Celtic and left the home crowd disgruntled at full-time.
Goodwin says he couldn’t afford another Old Firm mauling after being hammered 4-1 by Rangers at Ibrox earlier this season. But he isn’t ruling out a more attacking approach for Gers’ visit to the Granite City on Tuesday night. Goodwin said: “The players put a lot into the game defensively. They were very organised and committed. We showed bags of concentration to get to the point where we were hoping to keep a clean sheet.
“Nobody does that against Celtic, who have been scoring four and five. Their goal was a fantastic strike and we felt it was going to take something like that to unlock our defence. They were starting to force things.
“It’s a real bitter pill to swallow because we have put so much into it. If we were sitting here with a 0-0, I would be very happy but we didn’t get it.
“Listen, there are plenty of ways to play a game of football. We went to Ibrox, tried to have a go and could have conceded 10.
“So we tried to frustrate Celtic and we did that. We just didn’t do enough with the ball when we got it.
“It’s not a style of football our fans have been used to. We have been very attacking and scored a lot of goals. But today I felt this was the best way to give us a chance.
“I heard the mumping and moaning from the fans at the end and I understood it. But I felt this was the best way to get something.
“As much as I’d like to say we can go toe to toe with Celtic - we have tried that in the past and it hasn’t worked. So we tried something different and for 87 minutes it worked, even though it’s not good to watch.
“In hindsight, sitting here with nothing to show from it, it’s hard to argue with fans. But any criticism should come my way because the players carried out my instructions. If we had come away with a 0-0 everyone would have been patting us on the back
“We haven’t decided on the game plan for the Rangers game yet. We want to be known as a good attacking team. We will sit down as a staff tomorrow and decide what to do for Tuesday.”
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