Dons defender Mats Knoester was happy to have been tested by the quality of opposition that Ipswich town provided in a competitive Pittodrie friendly.

“I think the goal this week was to have some big opponents, like Fulham and now Ipswich as well, especially as we are going into Europe as well this season. We have a tough season coming, so I think if you want to improve, you have to play against the better teams, because they will show you what’s needed to be on that level.

“One big thing is you see how consistent they are, and if they do make a mistake, they make up for it, they make a foul or they’re back fast enough. If there’s a rebound, there’s somebody who taps it in, stuff like that I think we can learn from.

“We wanted to play a high line, maybe a bit more extreme than what we normally do, to try and create pressure on them and take a bit more risk in that. That made it sometimes a little bit more difficult or challenging to cover every space. So obviously we need to adjust a little bit towards next week, but these were good things to learn from.”

Looking ahead to the season, Knoester’s ambitions are clear.

“I want to play a lot of games this season, improve my game as well. I think that goes together with the team. If the team improves, I can improve my game as well. But to be honest, I’m more the type of guy to focus on the next game, the next training session, not so far ahead. A bit cliche maybe, but for me that works the best.

“In pre-season now, we were training with a lot of high-intensity work. We did everything we can to be ready for the new season. I think we’re ready for that now and we are looking forward to what comes.”