NafisaBAFFLED CHRIS SUTTON SLAMS STEPHEN ROBINSON! The former Celtic striker has brutally challenged the Aberdeen manager’s assessment after the Dons’ disappointing defeat to Rangers at Pittodrie.
Aberdeen were beaten 1-0 by Derek McInnes’ side on Sunday, with Lawrence Shankland’s penalty settling a scrappy contest and handing Rangers their first Scottish Premiership victory of the season.
For the visitors, it was exactly the response they needed.
Just days earlier, Rangers had suffered the humiliation of crashing out of Europe to Jablonec on penalties, leaving McInnes under serious pressure after a disastrous European campaign.
But Pittodrie offered some relief.
For Aberdeen, however, the afternoon ended in frustration — particularly because there were several contentious moments involving referee Matthew MacDermid and VAR.
The Dons struggled to create clear-cut opportunities for much of the match, but the biggest talking points came after Shankland had put Rangers ahead.
Aberdeen appealed for a penalty when Kevin Nisbet went down following a tussle with Dujon Sterling inside the box, but MacDermid waved away the claims.
Then came the biggest moment of the afternoon.
Nisbet appeared to have rescued a point for the hosts late on, only for VAR to send MacDermid to the pitchside monitor. After reviewing the incident, the referee decided Nisbet had pushed Sterling in the build-up and ruled the goal out.
There was another problem for Aberdeen too.
Replays showed Nisbet to be in an offside position, meaning the VAR team would have had another issue to examine had the on-field decision to award the goal remained unchanged.
Unsurprisingly, Robinson was unhappy.
But it wasn’t simply the decisions that caught Sutton’s attention.
It was Robinson’s assessment of Aberdeen’s performance.
Sutton completely disagrees with Robinson
Speaking after the final whistle, Robinson insisted that his side had been “very, very good” in the second half and claimed Aberdeen had taken the game to Rangers.
“I can’t control decisions. I can’t control what VAR sees as too much force, and not enough force. I can’t control it.
“I can control that we defend better for the goal. First half, regarding the ownership of the game, I thought we could have shown a bit more composure.
“In the second half, I think we were very, very good in terms of our attitude, our running and creating chances. But we didn’t get anything out of it. You can’t feel sorry for yourself. VAR has played an integral role on that.
“In the second half I thought we were good. I thought we were taking the game to Rangers. I thought we were very much in the game and ultimately came out with nothing.”
That assessment left Sutton completely baffled.
Asked whether he agreed with Robinson’s interpretation, the former Celtic striker delivered a brutal response.
“I think any Aberdeen fan watching that would think, ‘What are you talking about? Was that the same game which we watched?'”
Sutton then went after Robinson’s argument that the key decisions had cost Aberdeen.
“Key moments went against Aberdeen? Absolute nonsense, absolute rubbish.
“They took the game to Rangers – did they? When? I’ll have to watch the game back, because I didn’t see it.
“They are lucky to have three points on the board because they were lucky against Hearts in the first game.”
It was a savage assessment from Sutton, who clearly felt Aberdeen’s manager was attempting to paint a far more positive picture of the performance than the match itself justified.
And Sutton wasn’t alone.
Boyd backs Sutton over Aberdeen penalty claims
Former Rangers striker Kris Boyd also rejected the suggestion that Aberdeen had been hard done by.
Boyd was particularly clear about the incident that led to Shankland’s winning penalty.
“He might want to come out and talk about decisions, but the penalty is a penalty kick. It’s a stone-waller, on Gassama.”
As for the other controversial moments, Boyd saw little reason for Aberdeen to complain.
“The other two – I don’t see it. You don’t need to look for a penalty. You don’t need to look for a penalty.
“The goal, for me it’s a push – but if you move it on he is offside anyway, so it’s irrelevant. Nothing went against Stephen Robinson today, his team were poor.”
That final sentence perhaps summed up the argument perfectly.
Robinson believed Aberdeen had done enough in the second half to deserve something from the game.
Sutton and Boyd saw it completely differently.
And with Rangers desperately needing a victory after their European disaster, McInnes will probably care little about the debate.
His team have finally got three Premiership points on the board.
Aberdeen, meanwhile, are left to reflect on a home defeat that has now produced another uncomfortable question — not just about the officials, but about whether their manager’s reading of the performance matched what everyone else saw at Pittodrie.
Nafisa
