DAILY RECORD 🔵 Topi Keskinen finding Aberdeen groove again after being taken out of firing line by Jimmy Thelin
His manager felt the Finnish international needed a rest but he now believes he is getting back to his best
Topi Keskinen was frustrated when Jimmy Thelin left him out but believes he is now starting to hit top gear again for Aberdeen.
The Finnish international has provided a couple of assists and a goal in his last three games. Thelin admitted Keskinen had played a lot of games, having come off a Finnish season and into the Scottish one and then he never got a rest in the summer because of the under-21 European Championships.
Keskinen said: “It is good to get a goal and a few assists to boost up the confidence and that is what you want as an attacking player. As an attacking player you want to get involved in those moments as often as you can. If you don’t you feel like confidence is not that high, but I feel good. »
The 22-year-old, frustratingly, dropped out of the Dons team for a spell but now he is back in and nearing top gear. Thelin claimed that the player needed a rest but that wasn’t universally shared by the player.
Keskinen admitted: “No. I don’t think so. I want to play football and was not exhausted.
“Maybe it was good, I don’t know. I’m just happy to play. The end of last season was quite tough, I admit that as there were a lot of games.
“I came in midway through (Finnish season) and then I went straight to the Euros. I had 11 or 12 days off then was playing here again in friendly games so it was a bit tough.
“I wanted a bit longer summer holiday but that wasn’t possible. It is what it is.”
The former HJK star had also been employed as wing back but has insisted he is best going forward. “I prefer the position I have now played in the last three games,” the Dons wide man stated.
“We are playing with two 10’s basically and I have been working well in my role. In some cases I can fit that role quite well as I watch football and some wing-backs are really offensive.
“But I think in our system they are basically full-backs, which is not my cup of tea. The wing-backs are quite defensive in that role, so I prefer the other role.”
Aberdeen’s recent resurgence has seen them move within five points of third-placed Motherwell. Keskinen is looking to make it a decent week with a home win against St Mirren and then another three points away to Dundee at the weekend.
He acknowledged: “We are getting results now although the football hasn’t been that beautiful the last few games. But the results are the most important and when you get them you start to play better.
“If we were playing better looking football in the last few games but losing games 1 or 2 nil everyone would think we are doing really badly.
“If you score early in the game it becomes so much easier to score three or four goals. If the game goes 0-0 the longer it does it becomes so much harder to score. It is important to get that result.
“It is really important when playing at home that the away teams are not getting easy points there.”
Aberdeen welcome back Emmanuel Gyamfi back into their squad while defender Kristers Tobers remains out long-term.
Follow Record Sport on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for all of the up-to-the minute breaking news, video and audio on the SPFL, the Scotland national team and beyond.
Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport’s newest podcast, Game On, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.