Aberdeen: What to expect from Stephen Robinson’s side?

Only St Mirren scored fewer goals than Aberdeen last season, with the Dons finding the net 40 times in 38 league matches. That rate was even poorer away from home.

It is an issue they simply have to solve if they want to return to the top half of the table. So how might they go about it?

No team played more long passes than St Mirren over Robinson’s four years in charge, while only Celtic and Rangers put more balls into the opposition’s box.

They used three centre-backs with wing-backs consistently, sometimes with two strikers, but at other points with two advanced midfielders either side of a single striker.

Will Robinson adopt a similar shape? He did when he came in last season to try to add some defensive solidity.

But the addition of winger Tony Yogane from Dundee, the return of Toyosi Olusanya, and a keeness to get more from Kenan Bilalovic could mean 4-3-3 is a good option to get the best from them, and Aberdeen’s full-backs, none of whom are a perfect fit at wing-back.

Only Sebastien Tounekti, Alexandros Kyziridis, Mikey, Moore, and Djeidi Gassama created more chances from dribbles than Yogane last season.

And though Dundee did often play with three at the back and wing-backs, the former Brentford player benefitted from more space to run into rather than overlapping players around him, and Robinson has talked regularly about getting more from the pace in the team.

Up front, Kevin Nisbet was the club’s top scorer last season with 11 goals despite being starved of service.

With Marko Lazetic potentially moving on, Moroccan striker Ayoub Mouloua joined last week having scored 19 goals in 53 games for FUS Rabat.

Like Nisbet, the 23-year-old does not appear to be a traditional target man, which may also hint at a different approach from Robinson.

Saturday’s friendly against FC Twente at the end of a week’s training camp in the Netherlands will tell fans a lot more about how Aberdeen intend to play.