Manager Jimmy Thelin spoke to the media on Friday lunchtime as he previewed our game with Hearts at Pittodrie on Sunday. RedTV subscribers can watch in full now.

Ester & Gavin Injuries

“You don’t want that for the team or for the individual player. The players want to play, they want to get healthy and they want to be on the pitch and help the team in a challenging time. We have to support them as well and find other ways that we can improve ourselves and get stronger in the physical part. They have some goals during this time and we support them. Of course as a manager and coach of the team and with my staff we need to find solutions and be creative and find solutions to keep competing.”

January Transfer Window

“If the market is open, then you have your targets and you see if they’re available or not. That’s what we’re working on right now to see if we can strengthen the team and maybe also adding players if you’re missing some players in some parts of the team. That’s what we’re working on right now.”

Jeppe Okkels & Kristers Tobers

“I think it’s important for us right now where we are with the strength and competition inside the team. New qualities, new energy inside the team. Jeppe I knew before of course and I think he can bring good quality to the team in his way to approach the game with the ball and also take responsibility without the ball. Kristers Tobers is a good centre back to help other players to control the line, take a lot of responsibility, he is captain of the national team and quite young but still a lot of experience from being abroad. It’s an easy way for him to adapt to a new country and to a new league. The only thing now is he has had a short break, its only three weeks but we still have to be clever how we use him now so he can play games.”

Recent Results

“It’s really clear what we need to do to be better and find a way to winning games again. I think the speed of our game and the direction of our game in the last part has not been strong and fast enough. We have to be more direct to the opponents goal and have more players around the box when we arrive. It’s not a strange thing but we just need to find a way back there and do this hard work to arrive there and of course also be more stable in this period. The Ross County game or the Motherwell game, we were doing a lot of things quite well, it’s not perfect but it’s still stable enough to get points but then during the games we drop too much sometimes and we get really, really hurt in these moment and get goals against us. It’s so difficult to win games if you get one or two goals against you and you have to score two or three goals to win a game. We have to be more stable in the periods when the opponent has momentum in the game.

“For us it’s clear objectives, it’s a clear objective of what we have to improve and that’s what we’re working on. It’s really nice to go again to play games because when you’re in this bad run now you want to go out again and try to find a way to be better. If you do well in your performance, you’re going to deserve good results. That’s the focus we have.

“I think everybody is trying. I don’t feel any problems with the players, how much they want to perform for the supporters of this club. Sometimes you can also get a higher intensity game and then the body has to adapt and you have to cope with this and be stronger during the time. That’s why when you change things it can take some time because you can get some setbacks because it’s maybe not totally new to some players but it’s stretching your capacity to play with high intensity during longer period of times during the games but also during the season.”

The Challenge of Hearts

“It’s football, they perform better and they deserve the points and they’re still a good squad. They have qualities and that’s why I still believe that we can find a way back. I think we have some strong DNA from what we want to do but the last part with some inconsistency because of some injuries and players in and out. Sometimes the rhythm can disrupt and you don’t get the result but still you have done some parts of the games really well but then again when we drop we drop too much and that’s the thing we have to fix and that’s my responsibility.”

Reflections on Motherwell

“The decision to take Angus off against Motherwell was we were two goals down and we have to be better with the ball and try to outplay Motherwell to get some chances to try to get back into the game. We created some chances, we controlled the rhythm of the game. We didn’t have this edge right now to give ourselves a chance to get the point. That’s was more of a tactical decision.”

Injury Update

“Pape is maybe two weeks, maybe more away from returning, it’s difficult to say. It’s good that he’s on the pitch now and adapting again to playing football. That’s really helpful.”

Playing at Pittodrie

“If you want to create a strong team year by year by year, you can’t give up if you have a challenging time because it is right now, no one can say that it’s not a challenging time. If you want to create fortress and be stable season by season, that’s what we’re aiming to be a European team, season by season, no one will give it to you. You have to deserve it, you have to do things better, you have to stay together, you have to build it step by step. I don’t think anyone will give up the season in the middle of the season. It’s still a long way to go and we have to believe that we can do it and stay together and fight for it every day and every game. Pittodrie for me, it means a lot and it means a lot to everybody around Aberdeen Football Club and I think we’re going to have a good spirit again on Sunday.”