Steve Agnew spoke to the media on Thursday lunchtime to preview Sunday’s match with Rangers. RedTV subscribers can watch the video through the video above:
“We are coming off the back of a frustrating result, we’re all bitterly disappointed as staff and players so we have to reflect on situations like that and it wasn’t easy to digest. We look back at the game, like we do for every game and the areas that we fell short. I think once you get over that initial disappoint, which takes a couple of days, then we’ve been working away on the training ground for another 10 days following that ready for the big game on Sunday.
“We are confident that we can bounce back this weekend because the players, they are a terrific group, they respond to all the work that we do. They’re a pleasure to work with every day, every week and in all the big games the season that we’ve played, our performances have been really, really good. We have been really pleased with them. Sometimes in Europe, we’ve not had the results or the points that we feel that we should have had. So we’re all in good spirits and looking forward to the game against Rangers.
“It has been a busy schedule but there are no excuses from us. I think we’ve grown into the season in terms of adapting to the games that come thick and fast. As I said, we’ve not quite picked up the points that we needed in Europe. We’ve just been inconsistent with our league programme and we just need to find the consistency which I’m sure will come over the coming weeks.
“Rangers at Pittodrie on Sunday lunchtime is as far as we look. All of our focus is on that. Anything beyond that, we really don’t look at it’s all focus on this game on Sunday. As I keep saying it’s just an exciting fixture that we can’t wait for that to come around.”
Manager Barry Robson also previewed the game at Pittodrie on Sunday:
“The Celtic game was unacceptable, everybody who knows me knows that I wont accept that. It was frustrating coming off the back of a really difficult run, we got into a final, we beat Motherwell so connivingly. The frustration for me, was coming into our fifth away game in a row to put in one last big performance but we looked tired and heavy legged. I’ve been there myself where you need to make sure you shut the back door but we never done that.
“It is another big game for us this weekend. The new manager has come in and they look a bit more direct as a team, they want to play forward. They want to come after you a lot more. It is a Rangers team that are difficult to play against.
“The cup final is a good bit away, we have got huge games in between then that we need to try and perform in. We still need to navigate our way through the games. It may sound boring and it is an old cliché but we need to take one game at a time and that is what we have been doing. We have navigated it quite well apart from that last game against Celtic.
“Our victory over Rangers earlier in the season guarantees you nothing, you need to come and perform, you need to bring your A game. Everybody needs to be at their best. Everybody needs to play above 90% for us to achieve anything in the game. If we do that then we give ourselves a real opportunity. The fans give us a huge boost and they help us along. They will be a huge help to us at the weekend.”
