Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeen boss Stephen Glass reveals why he substituted Austin Samuels against St Johnstone

Aberdeen attacker Austin Samuels is closed down by St Johnstone's James Brown (left) at Pittodrie.
Aberdeen attacker Austin Samuels is closed down by St Johnstone's James Brown (left) at Pittodrie.

Aberdeen boss Stephen Glass confirmed attacker Austin Samuels had to be protected from derailing his recovery from injury against St Johnstone.

On loan from Wolves, the 20-year-old posed the main attacking threat against Saints, but was taken off on the hour mark with the game level at 0-0.

Aberdeen went on to lose 1-0 at Pittodrie as a winless run extended to seven games.

Glass insists if former England Youth international Samuels was 100% fit he would have remained on the pitch for the full 90 minutes to lead the bid for three points.

Samuels had only returned from an injury that ruled him out of the 2-0 loss to Motherwell and Glass was working to a strict limit on his game time.

Aberdeen’s Austin Samuels and St Johnstone’s Murray Davidson in action at Pittodrie.

He was informed by the club’s physios and medical team the loan star could only play for a maximum hour without running the risk of setting back his return from injury.

Although the Dons were chasing a vital win, Glass refused to extend that time-line and risk putting the attacker’s fitness on the line.

Boss Glass says he looked at the long-term benefits of having Samuels fully fit rather than chance playing him for longer against Saints and potentially aggravating the injury.

Glass said: “We were only able to get an hour out of Austin against St Johnstone.

“That was the limit we had.

“When you get him back as quickly as Austin returned there are limitations on how far you can push him or you risk he could go longer term.

Aberdeen’s Austin Samuels is closed down by St Johnstone’s James Brown (left) in the 1-0 loss at Pittodrie.

“We worked with Stokesy (Adam Stokes, Head of Medical and Football Science) on that.

“I was even asking Stokesy in the second half if we were tight on that 60 minutes.

“With the game as it was and if Austin was as he should be, there would be no danger of him coming off the pitch with the way he was playing.

“However, we are looking at the long-term picture.”

Samuels the main attacking threat

Aberdeen attacker Austin Samuels’ stats in 1-0 defeat to St Johnstone. Supplied by Opta Stats.

Samuels made a solid debut in the 1-1 draw with Ross County, having signed on a season-long loan from Premier League Wolves.

He was also the prime attacking outlet for the Dons in his hour against St Johnstone.

Aberdeen pushed for the insertion of an option to buy clause at the completion of the loan deal.

Early indications are that will be a sound piece of business by the Dons.

Touch map of Austin Samuels’ 60 minutes against St Johnstone. Supplied by Opta Stats
Heat map of Austin Samuels’ hour of action in the 1-0 loss to St Johnstone. Supplied by Opta Stas.

Watkins set to be fit to face St Mirren

Aberdeen were minus attacking play-makers Marley Watkins and Ryan Hedges for the loss to St Johnstone.

Watkins suffered from muscle tightness after the loss to Motherwell, his first start since signing a two-year contract in the final week of the summer transfer window.

Glass is confident 30-year-old Welsh international Watkins will be face to fit St Mirren away on Sunday.

In a double fitness boost, fellow Welsh cap Ryan Hedges is also on schedule to return from injury for the trip to Paisley at the weekend.

Hedges has missed the last six games with a hamstring injury suffered in the 2-1 League Cup loss at Raith Rovers last month.

The 26-year-old is set to return to full training this week, which will elevate him into contention for the St Mirren game.

Glass said: “Marley had a little bit of tightness and we thought he was going to be okay (for St Johnstone).

“He should be okay for this week, hopefully.

“Ryan is ready to come back. When we get these player ready and together we will be alright.”

Aberdeen’s Marley Watkins warms up pre-match against Ross County.

Six Premiership games with 21 changes

Now six games into the Premiership campaign, boss Glass has made 21 changes to his starting XI to date – more than any other top flight team.

Aberdeen striker Christian Ramirez reacts to missing a chance against St Johnstone.
Aberdeen striker Christian Ramirez reacts to missing a chance against St Johnstone.

Scotland international defender Andy Considine is out injured until the new year having suffered a serious knee injury in the 1-0 Europa Conference League play-off first leg loss to Qarabag in Azerbaijan.

Considine suffered a cruciate ligament injury that required surgery.

Glass said: “I have been able to pick a team that is capable of winning every week.

“Ryan (Hedges) has been missing for a bit and Marley has been missing.

“Calvin (Ramsay) couldn’t play every game and I think he is still feeling the affects of the amount of games he has played.

“Andy Considine is a big miss.

“We have a lot of good players here, we will continue to work and we will make things better.”

 

This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.