Aberdeen-Rangers extras: Crazy corner stat, old fashioned west coast bias, interesting Ryan Jack meeting

Dons are facing a corner drought, Robson plays the Fergie game and Clement’s eye-opening words on midfielder

Aberdeen and Rangers shared the spoils in Sunday’s 1-1 Premiership draw. Alan Pattullo was at Pittodrie and picks out three “extras” from the match:

All we are saying is … give us a corner!

Who takes corners for Aberdeen? Good question. No one at present. At least, not since the third minute of the Viaplay Cup semi-final against Hibs on November 4 when a shot from Bojan Miovski was deflected past the post, nearly four whole games ago.

Aberdeen manager Barry Robson and Slobodan Rubezic at full time following the 1-1 draw against Rangers.

The ticker is currently sitting at 357 minutes if we assume all games stop dead on 90 minutes, which of course they don't. Especially these days. The corners stat is particularly remarkable when you factor in all the extra minutes added on to the end of both halves.

This is something Aberdeen known to their cost after losing an injury time goal against Rangers on Sunday after what manager Barry Robson suggested was the obligatory late penalty for the Ibrox side. “Another VAR decision going Rangers’ way … it doesn’t look,” he said afterwards.

Something else that doesn’t look good is this corners drought. What’s going on? You don’t win anything for having the most corners but it is usually indicative of a team’s attacking threat.

Still, Aberdeen did profit from the long-ball game against Rangers. Goalkeeper Kelle Roos thumped the ball up, striker Ester Sokler flicked it on and Miovski finished with his customary aplomb past Jack Butland. Who needs corners?

Referee Nick Walsh looks at the monitor during a VAR check at Pittodrie.

Old fashioned West Coast bias

Barry Robson is not above trying to stoke up some good old fashioned paranoia about west coast bias, which is good to see. It was one of Alex Ferguson’s tactics and it landed well with his players given he was from the west coast, as were many of his key men, and so knew what he was talking about. Although he did once play for Celtic, Robson hails from Inverurie and was probably brought up on tales of how Aberdeen must overcome not only their opponents, but also the pro-west coast outlook of everyone from media to officials and, ultimately, the SFA.

It was what Robson was alluding to when he complained about a VAR review meeting with managers and club officials that took place last week in Glasgow, 150 miles and a near-three-hour drive from Aberdeen. Handy, eh? “I wasn’t at the meeting, I was up here training when they put the meeting down in Glasgow on so it wasn’t great timing," he complained as he looked back on Rangers’ penalty award after a VAR intervention. Masterful. Fergie would’ve been proud.

Jack's Scotland future

Ryan Jack played for Scotland during the last international break.

Philippe Clement raised some eyebrows in the post-match press conference as he discussed Ryan Jack’s injury situation, which some might contend is becoming an issue for Rangers as well as the player. The midfielder is in a critical stage of his career. He is out of contract next summer and can speak to other clubs from January. Clement admitted on Friday that the club are still considering what to do with the out of contract players, a list which also includes John Lundstram and Borna Barisic.

Those two players started against Aberdeen on Sunday. Jack did not. Indeed, he was not even included in the travelling party. He has picked up another knock after playing the last 11 minutes of Scotland’s last international, against Norway eight days ago. He had started the previous four games for Rangers after pulling out of the Scotland double header against Spain and Norway due to injury. “Right now, aye, I can do both,” the player said in March when asked whether his body can withstand the extra burden of international duty. It’s understandable he might think this. Nothing that’s happened since then will likely alter his thinking with Scotland now safely qualified for Euro 2024. Jack missed out at Euro 2020 due to injury. This will likely be his last chance to appear at a major finals.

Scotland have four friendlies before then, two of which fall within the current season. March is the next international break. But Clement believes they might need a conversation about his international commitments. The manager himself stepped away from Belgium when combining country and club became too much.

“We can think about that,” he said, with reference to Jack’s international future. “I’ve been in that situation also as a player, when in one moment you feel your body is getting more difficulty in coping with both because you never have a rest moment. We will see in the next couple of weeks if we need to have this talk or not. But first I want to speak with my medical staff about those things.”

Jack won’t feel inclined to step away from Scotland in this season of all seasons, given the carrot at the end of it. It could be an interesting discussion.