Speaking after the Dons were knocked out of the Premier Sports Cup by Motherwell, Jimmy Thelin did not pull any punches about the problems facing his team.
“Myself, my staff, my players, we have to look ourselves in the mirror now and change things really quickly because the way we’re losing games right now, it’s not the right way to lose a game. What I mean by that is that the basics in football is the passion, the 50-50 duels, how you sacrifice yourself around the box. We’re losing the games in that way and it’s so important for me to get the players to do that but also, as an individual they have to understand this is the fundamental in the football game.
“You can play this system, this tactic, but if you lose these small duels, game after game, it doesn’t matter how you play or which tactic you use. This is the basic thing we need to change, we can’t wait one more game. It doesn’t matter if you’re in the squad, if you’re on the bench or outside the squad, we need to change how we see things in football, otherwise it’s not a good situation for us.
“We have to change the mindset when we com into Cormack Park tomorrow and understand. Don’t think about other things, start with the basics and the fans who are booing after the game. I can understand them, the players can also understand them, but we have to show more responsibility and more respect for this situation in the coming games. That’s important for an individual in their future career, how you behave when you go out on the pitch, these are basic fundamentals in a football game.
“I have a strong conviction we’re going to turn this around. I’m really, really convinced we’re going to fix this, but we need to change. When the team is doing extra as an individual, usually the goals suddenly start coming or you have more clean sheets or you’re controlling the midfield better. Right now we’re not doing this little bit extra, and that’s why we have the results.
“It’s small margins in football, but you also get what you deserve and right now with our performance at home, it’s not enough, that’s why we get the results we get. That’s why we were so frustrated after the game today, that we didn’t get up to that level.
“Aberdeen is a really big club and you have a big responsibility when you’re here as a manager, how you’re pushing the team and getting in the right direction. First of all I have to watch myself in the mirror to add something, but also then when you all belong to this team, we have to show on the pitch because today, you can see we leave the responsibility to someone else, we’re not helping each other in the right way.
“That can be the pressure, but that’s the point. Playing in a club where you want to win something, you have to be out there and taking this responsibility. Of course you can feel the pressure sometimes but it’s better to give everything you have and if you fail, everybody can support you. But if they feel the hesitation, then when the fans leave in the stadium, they’re not happy. We didn’t do enough and so we can’t say anything about that, we have to show more to deserve more support.
“You can have technical qualities, you can have a good game understanding, but football is much more than just technique, it’s how you take the hits, how you compete, how you compete, how you get out there again and do absolutely everything you can to win a game. It starts with your small duels, your individual duels, it starts with your unit, it starts with your area. These small things with the responsibility, with the passion, the duels, the running, don’t give up chances, keep believing, keep pushing, that’s the basics. That’s the first thing we have to put in place now before we take on the next game.
“There’s action and consequences in life and it doesn’t matter if it’s a football team or if it’s outside of football. We have to show more, then you get different consequences. Now we get hit but because we haven’t delivered what we want, but you have to promise the effort, that’s the only thing you can promise in life. As a manager, as a football player, outside of football, you have to promise the effort and give everything so the fans can feel that you give everything. Then sometimes maybe you’re not good enough, but the effort has to be there.
“We had a really open talk with the players about the performance and how they didn’t support each other on the pitch, how we arrived to the box. We talked about everything and cleared the air in a good way and we have to move on together, that’s the most important thing right now.”
