Barry Robson and Graeme Shinnie were on press conference duties ahead of tomorrow’s game with BK Häcken, the manager giving his views on the signings of Jamie McGrath and Richard Jensen.
“We’ve worked on things for a while, we’ve been looking to add quality and depth with the number of games coming. You have to bring in the right player and sometimes it takes time to get the right deal done, but we’re pleased to have Richard and Jamie with us now.
“Jamie knows the league, he’s an international so the European games won’t worry him, he can play number 6, number 10 so he’s an important player. He’s not done a pre-season, he’s been working hard on his own, and he’s a fit boy.
“Richard’s a good athlete, an international, knows how difficult is to play at the European level, and he’s someone who gives us balance on the left, he can play left centre-back in a three or four and at left-back. He’s a bright, a bright guy, at a really good age at 27, probably just hitting his peak and that’s important because we have a lot of young boys.”
BK Häcken are enjoying a fine season back home, and are especially strong at home, their ground being nicknamed Fort Knox. Skipper Graeme Shinnie referred back to a previous European tie where the Dons ended a similarly impressive home record in Europe.
“European football’s a bit different to what you may be used to in their own league. Just speaking on past experiences, we went to Rijeka and they had along unbeaten record there and we managed to win 3-0 there. We’ll look to put our own stamp on the game and try and get a positive result, but we know how difficult it’s going to be. We’ve got a big job to do to put ourselves in a good position. Full focus is on that.”
Barry Robson echoed that, adding, “We’ve done a lot of analysis on Häken.
“They’re champions, going for the league title, they’re a team that stays in the fight, it’s gonna be a really difficult game for us. They’re well structured, well coached. We know they’re a very good side, full of really good players. But we’re over here to try and perform well, we’ve got 400 fans coming, and we’re hoping that we can bring something to the table, and make sure that we can take a decent result home.
“It’s an artificial surface here, but we played on one at Livingston a couple of weeks ago and this pitch looks better than that theirs. I’ve always made it quite clear to players that we never, ever use the pitch we play on as an excuse. If we need to go and perform on a car park, we’ll do what we need to do to win games.”
With the game approaching, Graeme noted that there is a real sense of anticipation in the Aberdeen camp.
“Playing in games like this are the things that I came back for.
“We worked hard last season to put ourselves in this position and you can feel the buzz around it, being in a different country, in a different environment, different competition than what we’re used to back home.
“It’s exciting.”
