Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin has been savaged by Dons legend Willie Miller for the 'tragic' approach which saw them slaughtered 4-1 by Rangers at Ibrox on Saturday.
Connor Barron's opener looked, on paper, to be the start of another upset in Govan with Gio van Bronckhorst 's future looking incredibly precarious before the tie. But Goodwin's decision to start with a three-back formation allowed Rangers to rack up an insane 36 shots in just 90 minutes.
The early goal didn't matter for much as Rangers ran out eventual winners, with goals from James Tavernier, Alfredo Morelos, Antonio Colak and John Lundstram allowed the hosts to run away with the game. Add Tavernier's missed penalty and many other chances into the mix, and it could have been many more for Aberdeen to contend with. Miller labelled the performance as 'embarrassing' and 'tragic' - wishing Goodwin has learned a lesson from the pummelling.
The legendary defender said: “It was an embarrassing day for the club. Jim Goodwin will have to go away and reflect on the tactics, playing with a back three and it was just a back three, stretched throughout the game. He changed it to a back four in the second half and it didn’t make any difference. It was just waves of attacks from Rangers, they created numerous chances outwith the four goals.
“Aberdeen were fortunate to go away with 4-1, it was really embarrassing. Have a look at the game and realise the deficiencies, spot the deficiencies, this was not a performance for any club with ambitions to be third in the league. Talking about getting on the coattails of Rangers, they were nowhere near Rangers, hugely disappointing - a tragic performance to be perfectly honest.
“A manager has every right to put out a team, shape, formation that he thinks is going to cause Rangers a problem or two, what it did is it actually made the game for Rangers because they were so stretched at the back. I think Jim has a lot of reflection to do. I’m all for playing on the front foot but you have to give respect to Rangers and Celtic when you go to Glasgow.
“There’s ways of getting points from the game and it’s certainly not to be as open as what Aberdeen were. It was four going on double figures.”
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