Jimmy Thelin stands firm on Aberdeen future as clear-the-air talks held after Motherwell defeat
Dons crash out of cup as Motherwell run under Askou goes on
Manager Jimmy Thelin is convinced he can turn around Aberdeen’s form – but has told his players they need to do the fundamentals better or they will be in further trouble following their Premier Sports Cup exit.
The Premiership’s bottom club suffered a 1-0 quarter-final defeat by Motherwell at Pittodrie to leave Thelin under pressure with his side yet to score in the league.
Scottish Cup success transformed Aberdeen’s summer but they have now recorded just one win in 12 games outside of that final and memories of a 14-game run without a league win last winter remain fresh.
Thelin said: “Myself, my staff, my players, we have to look at ourselves in the mirror now and change things really quickly because the way we’re losing games right now is not the right way to lose a game.
“What I mean by that is the ABC in football is the passion, the 50-50 duels and how you sacrifice yourself around the box. If you lose these small duels game after game, it doesn’t matter how you play or which tactic you use. So this is the basic thing we need to change. We can’t wait one more game.
“We just need to change how we see things in football otherwise it’s not a good situation for us. The fans are booing after the game and I can understand them, the frustration is there. The players can also understand them because they feel they’re not doing the right things in these basics.
‘If I have doubts, then I’m in trouble’
“So we have to show more responsibility and more respect for this situation in the coming games. I still have a strong conviction we’re going to turn this around. If I have doubts, then I’m in trouble, but I’m really, really convinced we’re going to fix this. But we need to change.
“Right now we’re not doing this little bit extra, extra and that’s why it’s small margins in football but you also get what you deserve.”
Aberdeen hit the bar twice through Mats Knoester and Nicky Devlin but Motherwell had some good chances either side of Regan Charles-Cook’s impressive 63rd-minute strike. Thelin presided over clear-the-air talks in the dressing room afterwards.
“They had a really open talk on the performance and how they didn’t support each other on the pitch, how we arrived in the box, everything,” he said. “They talked about everything and cleared the room in a good way and then we have to move on together.”
Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou encouraged his players to set their sights on lifting the League Cup for the first time in 75 years after his team continued their unbeaten start to the season.
“We always dream of winning,” he said. “I think everyone in football dreams of achieving something. That’s why we’re here. We have taken the next step. There are some really tough teams in the competition still. We will go all in like we did today, with everything we have, because this club has won before and we are hungry to do it again.”
Charles-Cook swerved a shot in off the post from 22 yards and Askou added: “We could have scored a lovely team goal in the first half and Cookie was frustrated with himself he didn’t finish off that chance but we told him, ‘just keep going, there will be other chances and then we have to be ready to take them’.
“It wasn’t a massive chance but then individual quality will make it a chance that will turn it into a goal, which was amazing.”
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