Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie was frustrated with the start that the Dons made to the game at Celtic Park, leaving them with an uphill struggle after just 13 minutes. The skipper spoke to the press after the game.

“When you come to Celtic Park, you know the first 20 minutes is going to be really important. They’re going to fly at you, and you need to come through that period and then try to get a foothold in the game from there, but we couldn’t do that.

“It was frustrating to start that way, and the second goal especially was soft from our perspective, we should get tighter to stop the shot. To be 2-0 down after 13 minutes gives you a massive uphill battle, especially given the way they’re playing and the form they’re in. It was frustrating to concede the goals that we did because we didn’t make them work hard enough for them.

“They gained the advantage with an overload in the wide areas in the early part of the game. We made a change to try to nullify that because they have good rotations, their full-backs are dangerous, but they are a tough team to come back at once they’re in front.

“The second half was better, we created a couple of openings that we needed to do better with. If one of those goes in, it gives you a bit of momentum but in fairness, they are a very good side and they deserved the win.

“Celtic are on another level to the other teams in the division at the moment, especially at home. They play a different style to what I’ve seen them play in the past, they have the inverted full-backs, they look for overloads in different areas of the pitch and they are impressive.

“For us, it has been tough since the start of the year and that does knock confidence but at Aberdeen, you have to stand up and be counted. You have to take responsibility for what’s gone on, you can’t go into your shell, you have to play through it. All of us have to do the things we need to do to turn it round, and that starts with the game against Livingston.

“The manager is trying to put his own imprint and style on things. He’s got the passion for it, we work hard on the training field and the games against St Mirren and Motherwell were an improvement I think. We need to pick that up next week and start getting some wins on the board.”