Manager Jimmy Thelin spoke to the media to preview our trip to Dundee tomorrow in the William Hill Premiership. RedTV subscribers can watch in full by clicking here.

“They have a good coach in Tony (Docherty). They are a good competitive team, how they are strong in transitions and how they are strong in the second ball and attack from there. It’s a team that we have to be really consistent with how we defend and stay compact and take the challenges from there and also trust in our own processes and our game identity and what we want to achieve. It’s going to be a tough challenge and we need to be really connected and competitive every minute of the game because they keep going and going. We need to stay with them and use our supporters, there is a lot of supporters travelling down and try to create this energy with them tomorrow and take the challenge from there.

“They have qualities and they have a clear identity. You can see when they play that they really believe in what they’re doing. They have a lot of energy when they play. We have to stay really consistent in the game and use this energy that we create with our supporters and try to bring everything together tomorrow and try to take the points.

“The game is the highlight of the week and what everybody is looking forward to. We’re here working and then everybody’s come together, the supporters, the opponent, everybody and I like this game day.

“That is what we want (competition for places). We’re still in September and the league stops in May, and a lot of things can happen, we need to stay focused. We need this competition because the training session gets more and more intense, we develop that every week. That’s because of the qualities of the players and the environment they create with the competition to try and play at the weekend. They are pushing each other in a good way, like good teammates and a good team spirit. They are good people and they’re really pushing each other to try to achieve something together.

“Peter Leven was given permission to talk to St Johnstone. He’s a good coach and it’s good that our good staff have eyes on them and then it’s up to him of course. So far, so good, he is focusing here and preparing for the game tomorrow. That’s all I can say about that.

“Always when you lose players and staff you are going to miss them but we have to find solutions for the future. When good people do good things, they get eyes on them. In one way we want them to stay here but it’s his decision is also good that he gets this recognition from other clubs.

“We have a happy team so I am happy with that. The players have ambition to play but as I said before the league ends in May. My experience, the squad is the most important thing right now. Some players will grow and make progress during the season. Sometimes it’s a different eleven and sometimes it’s a strategy for some opponents, we need a mixture of qualities. Most of the players are coping with the evolution of the team, how we want to play and our identity but everyone is adding different qualities if they play. Sometimes we need maybe more of this, then the rhythm is more or less the same but sometimes someone is better one against one, someone is better defending, someone is better running in behind. It’s good that we can mix it sometimes but still be Aberdeen and everybody can recognise how we want to play.

“For team news, I think it’s quite good. We have some that we’re going to check tomorrow, we’re going to travel with 21 players so lets see.”