Just like in 2012-13, Ross County’s season can be split in two, with a team containing mostly Scots in the first half failing to compete, while the second half of the campaign was played out by nearly an entirely new team. Going through the squad used this season in descending order of their time on the pitch, it is notable that there are only a handful of players who have been used regularly throughout the season, with some more deserving of their continued presence than others. John A Maxwell writes.
Richard Brittain (Right/Centre Midfield) – 2966 minutes
It might not seem that Richard Brittain has had as good a season as last time, but he has nonetheless proved to be one of the side’s most important players.
Seven league goals, including a couple of stunning free-kicks, have been supplemented by a clutch of assists as Brittain has tried to lead his team by example through a difficult campaign. A red card in pre-season meant he missed the first couple of defeats and was haunted in his return to a four goal thrashing by St Johnstone, the club whom he had originally agreed to join last summer before reneging the deal.
The fact that he is the only Ross County player to have come close to playing 3000 minutes this season highlights the commitment on the pitch that he has always shown. His performance might have dropped in statistical sense – generally in a poorer team than last season – but there is no doubt that the club can continue to benefit from an impassioned player who the majority of the supporters most relate to. This was no less typified by his winning penalty kick against Hibernian to secure the club’s place in the league for another season, and his emotional celebrations afterwards.
Graham Carey (Left back/midfield, centre midfield) – 2,762 minutes
Although the team stuttered badly until the new year, Graham Carey was one of the few players to receive consistent praise for his performances.
Mostly played on the left flank but occasionally deployed infield, Carey has proved that his crossing from open play is as good as any in the division, but he needs to continue to work on the rest of his game if he wants to make a name for himself in the top flight.
Not that he hasn’t contributed plenty, but Carey often leaves the impression that he’s on the cusp of something greater. Three goals is scant reward for a player who has hit the woodwork a handful of times this season, while his burst behind the Aberdeen defence would almost certainly have resulted in a goal if he had not been pulled down at the edge of the penalty area. That he also created the team’s most chances – from set-pieces and open play – shouldn’t go unnoticed, even if some of his corner kicks could have been better.
Having played most of the season on the left flank, Derek Adams occasionally preferred to play Carey as a central attacking midfielder late on in games, to make the most of the directness in his play, but there have been occasions where a lack of composure – and a dose of the shanks – have hindered him, such as in the defeat at Easter Road where by his standards he wasted two good opportunities to score from inside the penalty area.
He was also asked to play in a deeper central midfield role. Against St Johnstone at the start of the season his reluctance to track his marker undermined his passing ability, but at the turn of the year he sat deeper beside Stuart Kettlewell and played an impressive disciplined role in front of the defence, which was the only time until the very end of the season that County had won two matches in a row. In the 1-1 draw with Partick Thistle in Dingwall, he ended the match beside Kettlewell at the heart of a rarely used 4-2-3-1 formation and the side looked decidedly balanced as a result. With another left-sided attacking midfielder in the team, he could be suited to that role in the longer term if needed, but at a pinch he was a useful player to have around.
Carey should always be in the match-day squad for his versatility alone, and his touch, passing, crossing and directness make him an almost certain starter, but we’ve still to see the best from him. Next season could be the breakthrough year for him where he begins to realise his potential, but there are rumours that he might be leaving for another club where he will have to strive to become a first choice player once again.
Mark Brown (Goalkeeper) – 2,520 minutes
It has long been argued that there is not much to choose between Mark Brown and Michael Fraser, who have competed for the goalkeeping jersey together both at Inverness Caledonian Thistle and now at Ross County. It was Brown who established himself as first choice during the season and is now being kept on for another season to combine his playing duties with a coaching role.
Brown played all the way through to the beginning of December when County were toiling in second-last place in the league, when Derek Adams decided to give Fraser a try to freshen up a stagnating defence. Brown had conceded the most amount of goals out of any goalkeeper in the league at that point, but it wasn’t solely his fault.
Brown’s saves had kept County in matches when they were invariably under pressure from the opposition when away from home, but his lack of command at crosses exacerbated Ross County’s weakness of defending crosses into the box. Celtic’s four headed goals in Dingwall in November was the low-water mark, but it was a problem that never really went away as the season went on.
His distribution of the ball in the last couple of games was surprisingly good, when for the rest of the season it wavered somewhere been average and hindering the team. Overall though, Brown has had a decent season and there should be no complaints of him remaining at the club for the new campaign.
Scott Boyd (Centre Back) – 2,470 minutes
Ross County’s longest-serving player (having joined the club when they were relegated to the Second Division), Scott Boyd has been in and out of the team but remains a favourite among the supporters for his honest, unfussy approach to the game.
Like many of the other defenders, Boyd didn’t enjoy a good start to the season. Having not made any of the three available centre-back positions for the first couple of matches, Boyd was drafted into the team beside Branislav Micic in a back four against St Johnstone, in a 0-4 loss that is generally accepted as the worst defensive performance of the season (among several contenders). Boyd has always relished playing beside a solid, no-nonsense defender to cover behind and there was no leadership between he and Micic, with gaps from ten to 30 yards emerging between the centre-backs at any given time.
Not that things improved too much until the new year. Boyd and Brian McLean were bullied in the air too often, with the 2-4 defeat at home to Celtic highlighting County’s defensive deficiencies by scoring four headed goals. With Mark Brown reluctant to come off his line for crosses, it was up to Boyd and McLean to be a physical barrier to attackers, but having succumbed to almost every attacking force in the league it was inevitable that the partnership would be split up in January.
With Yann Songo’o arriving on loan from Blackburn Rovers, McLean’s more rugged approach was initially preferred by Adams but it took nearly half a dozen matches for the manager to realise that Boyd was a more consistent performer to allow Songo’o’s class to flourish.
There are still concerns about his strength in the air and his passing from the back (although the latter looked much improved with Songo’o by him). Nonetheless, Boyd will continue to be an important player in the coming years.
Ben Gordon (Left back/midfield) – 2,237 minutes
A tricky beginning to the season was followed by some disastrous performances into the winter, but a reintroduction into the team at the end of the season brought out his best form and bodes well for the near future.
As part of a dysfunctional back five and then four at the beginning of the season, Gordon’s game was littered with errors. His key weakness was when isolated against a right-winger, where instead of holding his ground and blocking any shots would clatter into challenges early; rarely did those tackles end with him giving the ball. On other occasions, he would not stand up to the shot. Both were clear signs of a lack of confidence.
Yet there were glimpses of the form that made him look a very good left-back for Kilmarnock in his first spell there. His brave goal-line clearance under pressure at the start of the season against Partick Thistle was reminiscent of Ashley Cole at his peak, while the effectiveness in his burst on the overlap in a home loss to Motherwell surprised everyone.
Immediately losing his place to cult icon Evangelos Oikonomou in January, Gordon still found a place in the team as a makeshift right-back. He looked uncomfortable playing the ball and defending with his right foot, but seemed generally a better player than before with a little less expectation placed on his performances, as well as the confidence placed in him to carry out the task. He showed a couple of heavy touches in his last games when favoured ahead of Oikonomou, but he looked much more assured and the sense of urgency in his play was appreciated by most.
Brian McLean (Centre back) – 2,222 minutes
It’s not been a terribly good season for Brian McLean, but he was trusted enough by Derek Adams through the first two thirds of the season to see a lot of game time, for better or worse.
There were times when McLean looked a good signing, when he won his headers, passed the ball – long and short – with accuracy and looked a danger in the opposing penalty area. Those times didn’t happen anywhere often enough.
The best defensive displays were when the defence was protected by a deep midfield and when the deliveries into the box could therefore be defended with relative assurance, such as in the home win to Aberdeen in October (and to a lesser extent, the 0-1 loss at Dundee United when County played for damage limitation). The aerial success only occurred against forwards smaller than him. His own goal threat never materialised, with some misfortune from heading just wide at set-pieces to having a goal chalked off incorrectly, but for a player his size he ought to have contributed with at least a goal as one of the team’s biggest players. Putting him up front when chasing a deficit away to Hearts was a ridiculous decision that back-fired, when he looked completely out of his comfort zone and didn’t make a noticeable touch of the ball for the near ten minutes he played the role.
The most damning point is that he allows players to go by him too easily. There have been important moments in matches where he has been dragged wide of the centre but has failed to block the cross or has been skinned by his opponent: his involvement in goals by Hibernian and Inverness Caledonian Thistle in February were enough for Derek Adams to displace him from the team.
There won’t be too many disappointed if he was released in the summer as a result, but he is a player with some qualities and remains a useful squad player.
Stuart Kettlewell (Centre midfield) – 1,996 minutes
Stuart Kettlewell will have mixed feelings about this season. His involvement in a couple of heavy defeates aside (he was dropped for the 0-4 loss at St Johnstone), Kettlewell’s work ethic in the centre of midfield became a boon in home wins against St Mirren and Aberdeen.
Kettlewell played his best football – as is often the case – when he had a player behind him to cover his position. Many football supporters naturally think that he should be the deepest player in midfield because of his playing style, but in this opinion the opposite is the case: his endurance, aggression, simple passing and willingness to take on responsibility more often than not suited him being higher up the pitch, where he could press other midfielders into mistakes, initiate sudden counter attacks and to then get into the box himself, all without having to fear who is covering the space behind him. His goal against St Mirren – where he robbed Paul McGowan deep in St Mirren’s half before taking the ball on and thundering a goal from outside the box – typified what makes him the player he is and why he is so admired by the majority of Ross County’s support.
However, those brilliant moments were unfortunately few and far between. With Paul Lawson’s seemingly natural heir to the deep playmaker role and Marc Klok not afforded the time to develop in the high-pressure environment of the bottom half of the Premiership table, County relied on Kettlewell and Rocco Quinn to hold the midfield together. Kettlewell and Quinn generally didn’t work as a partnership as a twosome or sometimes with Richard Brittain behind them, because there simply wasn’t enough creativity among them to balance the side’s attributes. All three players benefited from Lawson’s passing range and Iain Vigurs’s craft when the latter were around, but until this season Kettlewell and Quinn hadn’t been paired together in the centre. When asked to be a reactive force – away to Dundee United with a mandate to prevent Ryan Gauld from wreaking havoc – they did well, but when at home to Kilmarnock, Hibernian and a then faltering Motherwell side into December the similarity in the playing styles hindered them when called upon to take the initiative.
Kettlewell didn’t see as much football in the second half of the season. A 30 second cameo in the 3-3 draw away to Partick Thistle saw him sent off while the supporters were still singing his name after coming on as a substitute, possibly with an over-exuberance to impress after witnessing commanding debuts from Filip Kiss and Michael Tidser. His next major appearance was in the following match against Thistle, where Adams had to change tactics to prevent the team from being caught in the space in front of their defence. Kettlewell’s inclusion at the back of midfield saw better positional sense from the midfield but his own limited passing game was evident and it wasn’t a long term solution. Nonetheless he was called upon in important fixtures in and around the league split and could be relied upon to do what was asked of him, despite a concerning hip injury.
Kettlewell’s mental and physical attributes do not completely mask some technical limitations relative to the division, but they certainly make up for them enough to make him an important part of the squad for as long as Adams wants him.
Melvin de Leeuw (Left midfield, attacking central midfield, forward) – 1,763 minutes
It is remarkable that Ross County’s best player this season had only the eighth-most game time within the squad.
News of his signature was announce in May 2013, on the same day that Motherwell’s capture of Iain Vigurs became public knowledge. It is easy to make comparisons between the two players, who can play on the left or a little further forward, where de Leeuw seems more of a deeper creative attacker than anything, despite seemingly being signed as a left-winger.
De Leeuw finished as the club’s top scorer and, along with Graham Carey, represented the team’s chief source of creativity in the final third of the pitch in open play. His first touch was always exemplary and his ability to take the ball into his chest within confined spaces had him sometimes deployed as an auxiliary target man, but he was always most dangerous when facing the opposition goal.
It seemed that Derek Adams had trouble finding a suitable place for him in the team. He struggled to track his marker which made him a liability sometimes when on the left flank when the team was on the back foot, while playing him as a sole striker in a 4-1-4-1 had him with his back to goal and isolated too often. Ambiguous fitness issues precluded him from seriously challenging Yoann Arquin and Jordan Slew earlier than he did, but it was always obvious that as a number 10 behind one of the centre-forwards would bring out the best of him. His match-winner away to St Johnstone was as technically accomplished a strike as any Ross County goal in the season and was the perfect response to his first start in over ten appearances.
It is likely that de Leuww – with a good pre-season behind him – could be the key player to Ross County avoiding relegation for a third successive season.
Rocco Quinn (Centre midfield) – 1,748 minutes
Rocco Quinn, like Stuart Kettlewell, didn’t have his best season at the club, pretty much for the same reasons. Both Quinn and Kettlewell would have thrived as the workhorse beside a more technically gifted central midfielder but together had to make the best of it using their past experience.
Out of the two, it seemed that Quinn particularly suffered, as we saw little of the swashbuckling drives forward that produced some some special moments in the previous season. There were opportunities for him to do so, such as in the 2-2 draw at Tynecastle where his 30 yard shot was pile-driven flush against the crossbar. In the 1-2 defeat at home to Kilmarnock, he carried the ball into Killie’s half and, as the pitch opened up for him, there was an ideal opportunity to score from the edge of the box, but the shot was meekly scuffed wide. The latter moment was a clear indication of a drop in confidence; he would have at least tested the goalkeeper in the previous campaign’s team.
His winning goal in the home win to Aberdeen in October was typical of his determination to contribute. After missing a couple of easier chances, his lashed shot beyond Jamie Langfield was a deserved break after being superbly set up by Melvin de Leeuw.
His versatility and experience can still be important for the club (as it was in the final day of the season away to Partick Thistle), but he will need to improve his form on the opportunities that he gets if he wants to remain in Derek Adams’s plans in the long term.
Yann Songo’o (Centre back) – 1,525 minutes
The January signing to have had the most amount of time on the pitch, Yann Songo’o quickly became a fans’ favourite with his composure on the ball and goalscoring threat further forward.
Songo’o had some shaky moments, notably at the beginning of his debut at home to Hearts, the post-split match away to St Mirren and in his lack of marking of Lyle Taylor for the Partick Thistle player to score in the last game of the season. He can go to ground with a tackle too prematurely and he was fortunate that his opponents didn’t capitalise on this.
However, everything else was a delight to witness. There are few centre-backs in the Scottish game with a capacity to consistently ping 40 yard passes into a forward’s feet, let alone dribble out of a tight area by the touchline while being double-marked. He was unfortunate not to add to the three goals he scored. If Ross County got him back on loan from Blackburn Rovers for next season then it could potentially be the difference between relegation and survival.
Without a doubt, he was the the club’s best January signing.
Filip Kiss (Centre midfield) – 1,472 minutes
What seemed on the face of it to be the flagship loan signing, from Premier League club Cardiff City, Filip Kiss immediately showed that he had arguably too much quality to be playing at a club the size of Ross County. With four goals punctuating commanding performances in his first two matches in the middle of January, his quality raised the team’s performance to such an extent that Ross County supporters were looking at penetrating the top six rather than merely surviving relegation.
A call up to the Slovakia squad quickly followed and that coincided with a drop in performance. He didn’t match Hearts’ tempo in a 1-2 home defeat and while he was unfortunate to be sent off away to Kilmarnock, both St Mirren and Inverness Caledonian Thistle seemed to target him with aggression and his once-imperious presence soon faded to the extent that some called for Stuart Kettlewell to replace him in the team.
His tally of six goals was impressive, with some outrageous long-range strikes among them, but there is a thought that playing him as an all-action goalscoring midfielder in a league known for some cynical challenges failed to get the best out of him. If he were to somehow return on loan again then the deep-lying midfield role, where he can use his superior technique and size against most attacking midfielders, might improve both him and the team.
Jordan Slew (Striker) – 1,463 minutes
The other Blackburn Rovers loanee, Jordan Slew made an immediate impact in his debut, putting the fright into Gary Warren and particularly Josh Meekings in the derby at New Year. With a ripping six-pack and a scary amount of pace, Slew was the Gregory Tadé-type player that would have perfectly complemented Ross County’s team from the previous season.
He wasn’t expected to score 15 goals, but only scoring in the final match of the season, after nearly 1,500 minutes of football, with the attributes that he has, was certainly an a bit of a disappointment. Had he managed to put away any of his near-dozen clear cut opportunities then County would have more comfortably consolidated in seventh place. The longer that time went on without him scoring a goal, the more the issue appeared to be a psychological barrier for him. Perhaps had he not had some of the limelight taken from him from Yoann Arquin’s signing then he might have thrived on the service in front of Melvin de Leeuw and become a much more menacing forward.
It is disingenuous to argue that he is an unlucky player, because there was only one moment where he was truly unfortunate: his header away to Hibernian saw the ball bounce off the cross-bar twice before going out of play. He was in fact a little lucky with the goal that he did score, as the referee ought to have awarded a foul against him for a shove on his marker and Scott Fox didn’t get down in time to block the relatively tame shot.
Slew would be a welcome return because his distraction of defenders is enough of an asset to the team on its own, so long as he has established goalscorers around him.
Evangelos Oikonomou (Left back) – 1,300 minutes
With Ben Gordon’s faltering performances in the first half of the season, it was both fitting and a relief that the second coming of Evangelos Oikonomou saw a lordly performance in the home win to St Johnstone. Derek Adams soon infamously criticised him after for “not getting off his deckchair,” and there was some justification in that: his lackadaisical approach to the sport resulted in the team getting caught on the counter-attack and his unwillingness to clear the ball with his right foot in front of his own goal helped Inverness Caledonian Thistle cruise to a 3-0 win.
There is a school of thought that Oikonomou better suited the previous season’s team, simply because he was in a better side that quickly avoided any kind of relegation dog-fight. There is an of element of truth in that, but generally the previous season’s 4-1-4-1 cum 4-3-3 system suited his play more, when he had the freedom of the left flank with the support of a holding midifelder to cover his position and space ahead due to Iain Vigurs’s drifting infield; in the more recent 4-4-2 he had to play as a more orthodox full-back with some limit on his ability to express himself.
With the club confirming that Oikonomou is to return to Greece, it made sense to play Ben Gordon at left-back for the last four matches of the season to see if the latter can make the position his own.
Yoann Arquin (Striker) – 1,255 minutes
Stong, skillful, pacy, direct and with a deceptively wondrous work ethic (before he begins to tire), Yoann Arquin seemed like the long-lost striker that Ross County had been looking for since Derek Adams first took the manager’s job in 2007. His return of four goals in 16 appearances tells little of the impact he has had in leading the line.
His finishing of easy chances is questionable sometimes, but his final ball is awful. Arquin plays much better when he doesn’t have to create for someone else, because although he is a tidy enough passer he invariably loses concentration and chooses the wrong option when looking to set up another forward.
His disappearance in the week leading up to the potentially crucial post-split match against Hearts could have affected the club badly and in other circumstances he might have sacked. However, when his head is screwed on he can be an asset to the team.
Erik Cikos (Right back) – 1,248 minutes
Quick with a tireless work rate, Cikos’s best attribute is how well he recovers perilous situations with impeccably timed sliding tackles. The only complaint to his game was his unwillingness to cross when presented with the opportunity to at the edge of the penalty box; it generally took him to be close to the bye-line to consider flinging the ball across, despite there normally being a couple of big forwards around. He is an understated player and arguably the most consistent in the team during his time on loan.
One of the success stories of Ross County’s season, the club should strive to have the right-back return now that his contract at Slovan Bratislava has wound down, but a recent call up to the Slovakian national squad will have raised his profile.
Michael Tidser (Centre midfield) – 1,199 minutes
It was a surprise to see Michael Tidser loaned out only half a season after moving to Rotherham United from Greenock Morton, but it was rumoured that Ross County had long shown interest in him. His immaculate passing made an immediate impact in his debut against Partick Thistle, with one through ball piercing the Thistle defence to set up a goal in a manner that County supporters hadn’t been accustomed to since Iain Vigurs left. For the first half of the season, Melvin de Leeuw was the only regular exponent of the through pass when Graham Carey was on the wing, so an extra source of creativity was most welcome.
Tidser was always tidy with his play but was probably too passive and more of a goal output was expected from him. Given the countless assists he chalked up at Morton, he could grow to be a key player for a team at this level but it is more likely that he will return to Rotherham to fight for his place there.
Mihael Kovacevic (Right back) – 1,129 minutes
It seems a long time since Mihael Kovacevic played for Ross County, but that sentiment might be for when he last played a genuinely good game for the club, which would have come at the end of the 2012-13 season.
Kovacevic’s defending was more nervous and arguably even less aggressive in the air than in the previous season. The highlight of the campaign was probably the slide tackle and heckling of Scott Brown, only for the latter to have the last laugh. Kovacevic was allowed to leave the club early in the winter.
Michael Fraser (Goalkeeper) – 900 minutes
Michael Fraser deputised for Mark Brown but got ten appearances before a burst appendix put an end to his season. His return to the team was met with some relief due to his supposed superior kicking compared to Mark Brown, but we saw little of that. He has been released but could still be a handy goalkeeper at Championship level.
Kevin Luckassen (Striker) – 828 minutes
Signed on a three year deal, Kevin Luckassen rarely looked like scoring in his 14 league appearances before being sold to Slovan Liberec. A player with all the physical attributes to succeed in the game but precious little experience or nous, he was too heavily depended upon in his first season in senior football.
Alex Cooper (Left midfield) – 707 minutes
Keen, energetic and sometimes a useful option to bring on for the counter attack. His weak shots in good positions away to St Mirren highlighted the lack of a finishing touch. He will be remembered for scoring the winning goal against ICT in the New Year derby, but even that was a tame effort that was perhaps fortunate to creep between his marker’s legs and into the far corner of the goal. He has been released and needs a full season of appearances at Championship level to develop into the player he can be.
Branislav Micic (Centre/left back) – 664 minutes
Bungled from one error prone performance to the next, Branislav Micic never looked confident. His own goal for the under 20s against Rangers was one of the most hapless pieces of defending witnessed and summed up his time at Ross County before he was allowed to leave.
Ivan Sproule (Right/left wing) – 585 minutes
When a goal threat he was an asset to the team, but too often at the start of the season he was played as an out-and-out winger without getting into goalscoring positions. When played as an orthodox winger it was difficult to justify his place in the team. His red card at St Mirren was a sign of petulance that never went away in his career but he was genuinely upset to have to leave the club for family reasons.
Gary Glen (Striker) – 542 minutes
There was always honest endeavour to Gary Glen’s play, but despite initially acting as a good foil to Jordan Slew in January he never took his chance to stake a long-term position in the team.
Steven Ross (Striker) – 499 minutes
Steven Ross went on loan to Brora Rangers in January, after playing a handful of matches early in the season without leaving any kind of meaningful impression on matches. He makes the right defensive runs but was no-where near cunning enough around the box to be a goal threat.
Grant Munro (Centre back) – 483 minutes
His last season in the top flight couldn’t have been much worse. There were too many match-defining errors for Derek Adams to fully trust him, particularly after being outpaced by John Sutton for one of Motherwell’s goals when Munro had a head start! At that point, Munro realised that he would not be a guaranteed starter and swiftly moved on to Brora Rangers to see out his career.
Steven Saunders (Right/centre back) – 362 minutes
A cracking touch and scissor kick against St Mirren aside, Stephen Saunder’s season never materialised. As soon as he found his way into the team he would get injured. He has signed a new one-year contract so hopefully he will begin to realise his potential, if he can stay fit.
Marc Klok (Centre midfield) – 289 minutes
Typically suited at the back of a central midfield trio, Marc Klok hasn’t played much football but has shown promise in the time that he has had. A very tidy passer of the ball, the only concern is a tendency to overplay and getting robbed in a dangerous area, such as in Motherwell’s opening goal in December.
Darren Maatsen (Right midfield) – 244 minutes
Maatsen has all the pace and trickery to beat any full-back in the division. If he is given the ball with the licence to take on his man down the wing and that is all he had to do, he would be the best in the league. Unfortunately his game is not yet much more refined beyond that and needs to learn the craft of the sport much more, because moments like the opening goal against Celtic can be magic and he owes it to himself to show that on a more regular basis.
Orhan Mustafi (Striker) – 212 minutes
The loanee striker from Grasshoppers looked overly cumbersome in the early loss to Partick Thistle, but there was an obvious physical strength to his game despite an apparent lack of mobility.
John writes for the peerless website Tell Him He’s Pele, even if you don’t appreciate it the content you should check it out just for the incredibly writing and incisive football reporting contained within. He can also be followed on Twitter.
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