ABERDEEN manager Derek McInnes believes his captain, Ryan Jack, can mature into a more rounded midfield player if he takes the opposite approach to Barry Ferguson when the latter played under Dutchman Dick Advocaat at Rangers.
Jack will lead his side out for Thursday’s Europa League first round, first leg, qualifier against CS Fola Esch at Pittodrie. It is the first time in 123 European games that the Dons have faced a team from Luxembourg.
Asked how good a player his 24-year-old captain could become, McInnes said: “His short-range passing and sensing of danger, his intelligence and game-awareness are all there. Ryan has good things going for him but has more to give.
“Advocaat came to Rangers and he obviously saw a lot in Barry and he took the bigger pass out of his game. He would chastise him and say: ‘Why do that in one, when you could do it in two?’
“Barry had the range to do the bigger pass, but they didn’t always come off. The longer the pass the more the risk of losing the ball. Advocaat was all about possession-driven football and he would have loved Ryan Jack.
“I would like Ryan to keep adding different things to his game and one aspect of that is a bigger range of passing, getting in amongst the goals, and being more prominent in the final third.”
Aberdeen are aiming to make the Europa League group stage at the third time of asking, having previously fallen short at the third qualifying round in 2014 and 2015. On the first occasion they lost 5-2 on aggregate to Real Sociedad, and then last year were beaten 3-2 overall by Kazakhstan side FC Kairat. “I think the group stage would be the next step if we really want to show ourselves on the biggest stage,” the Pittodrie skipper Jack, pictured, said. “With the players we have and the team spirit, everything’s in place. We can give it a real go this season.”
Fola Esch, who finished second in the Luxembourg National League last season, should not provide too much of a barrier to Aberdeen’s attempts to reach the second qualifying round. Founded by a British professor in 2006, they have won the national title seven times and share their 3900-seater stadium with a sister athletics club.
More pertinently, and in comparison to Aberdeen’s extensive European experience, they will play just their 11th European tie at Pittodrie, having never gone beyond the opening round in any of their previous five attempts.
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