Hearts 2-0 Aberdeen: StatsBomb analysis as duo impress

At Tynecastle Park, it was a similar story to Tuesday night when Hearts came from 2-0 down at the interval to defeat Dundee. This time it was goalless at the break following a poor performance but Steven Naismith's men were strong after the restart. Jorge Grant scored from the penalty spot and Lawrence Shankland added a stunning second. The home side could have made the result even more emphatic in the end.

From the match stats, it is evident that Hearts did more than enough to win. They were more effective in front of goal, had better opportunities, were more secure in possession and were better at regaining possession quickly after losing it. Aberdeen, for all their efforts, mustered just one shot on target.

READ MORE: What Steven Naismith said to his players at HT and why Jorge Grant took penalty

Match momentum

Hearts were miles off it in the first half hour. Asking Steven Naismith what he said at half-time he spoke about the "fight". 

"It was similar at Pittodrie, they were really aggressive on second balls," he said. "They outnumbered us a bit and we were reactive, I felt. It was just about changing that slightly."

The home side were dominated by the Dons midfield for around 35 minutes of the match. It is reflected in the flow of the game. Hearts mustered just one shot to Aberdeen's seven in the first 30 minutes.

Of course, Aberdeen had a goal rightly chalked off but they will feel aggrieved not to have taken more advantage of their dominance. Their best opportunity was an early Leighton Clarkson header.

It is clear to see how much of a turning point the Hearts penalty was. Between the 35 and 55th minute, it was largely even. After Jorge Grant's expert conversion, Naismith's men started to go through the gears as they put their foot on the accelerator and the visitors had little answer to the change in dynamic.

Hearts efforts and open-play opportunities

If we examine the Hearts shots in greater depth it is evident to see the team didn't do enough from open play, recording an xG of just 0.77 from 14 efforts. From the map below, it is crystal clear that there weren't enough opportunities carved out in the ideal area, between the edges of the six-yard box and from 15 yards in. Just two. The majority came from around the edge or just inside the box.

Naismith spoke about the team's lack of clear-cut chances at the Meet the Coaches event earlier this month. He felt the team were sometimes guilty of not making one more pass to open up an opposition defence to get a better sight at goal. It comes down to decision-making in the heat of the battle. 

Two moments come to mind from the win over Aberdeen. First, a first-half counterattack. Grant gets into the final third. If he is slightly quicker he can reverse to Shankland or pass into Oda who can set up the Hearts No.9.

The second is a fantastic move in the second half. Hearts pop the ball about so well on the edge of the Aberdeen box. Kenneth Vargas and Macaulay Tait exchange passes and the latter is in a great position to take a return and get a shot away. Vargas, however, takes the shot on. Somewhat understandably considering his recent form.

After a 2-0 win it may seem like nit-picking but it is something clubs will look at with regards to the bigger picture. It obviously helps when you have someone like Lawrence Shankland.

The No.9

Shankland's goal had an xG of 0.06. What does that mean? It means chances of that value are scored around once in every 18 attempts. This is an issue with xG because it doesn't take into account the person shooting.

Shankland's finishing prowess means he can turn these low-value efforts into goals on a more regular basis. Take the 'Post-Shot xG (PSxG)'. I know what you are thinking, 'what in the world are you talking about?!' This is calculated after a shot has been taken and generally considers shot placement. It measures how likely a shot, once it is taken, is going to end up in a goal. Shankland has effectively turned a 0.06 chance into a 0.60 one.

In layman's terms, he is an expert finisher.

That is the level of analysis you are getting here! But in all seriousness, the fantastic finish against Aberdeen is another demonstration of his capacity to produce moments of magic and find different ways of scoring. 

"It's Shanks," Naismith summed up. "I say it all the time, he's not just a threat in the box or the six-yard box. He's a threat anywhere in the final third."

Kingsley and Kent (again)

We highlighted the centre-back pairing's contribution to the win in the instant analysis. This is evident when we study the Aberdeen shot map.

As mentioned above, the Dons hit the target with just one of their efforts. Look at the number of shots that are the colour grey. That means they were blocked. This is something the Hearts defence are very effective at. Both Kent and Kye Rowles are in the top 10 in the league for blocks made per shot faced. The Australian is, in fact, top. Kingsley filled that role very well against Aberdeen. 

If you compare the two teams centre-backs. Between them, Kent and Kingsley made 29 clearances and won nine aerial duels. Stefan Gartenmann and Richard Jensen made 12 clearances and won just two aerial duels.

READ MORE: Barry Robson's response to can Aberdeen catch Hearts poser

Shape and style

As we have discovered, Hearts struggled in the first 35 minutes, and analysing the passing network there was probably too much focus on getting the ball to Dexter Lembikisa.

It changed after half-time with Alex Cochrane playing higher and becoming more meaningfully involved. That could be said of the team in general.

Pay attention to the colours of the players' circles. Blue suggests they were not adding a great deal of value in possession but the brighter their circle the more value they added. You can see the contrast from the first half to the second half.

Then you look at Aberdeen.

They were, as James Cairney will explore in his in-depth analysis piece, quite one-dimensional. They played with plenty of energy to begin with but when the game settled down they didn't get any sort of control. We can see in the second half there were no regular combinations between team-mates. It was a nothing performance after the interval. 

All in all, it was a deserved win from the home side who offered more in possession over the course of the game and were more effective in the defensive and attacking thirds, as shown by the performances of Kingsley and Kent and the finishing of Shankland.