Jimmy Thelin was left frustrated by the way his Aberdeen side handled the latter stages of their Conference League draw against FC Noah at Pittodrie.
“The first half was okay. We did some parts well, but we were lacking a little bit the last punch or the last but of quality, but still we got the goal in a good timing and everything feels good for the second half. They did some changes and they played more direct and we had some difficulty to control that situation. They found a way out of the pressing.
“But it’s more about the last part of the game, where we stressed too much and we played too much individually. This is the thing, when you play a lot of games and we don’t have so much time between the games, you have to stick to the basic parts and so we can find each other, even if players are coming in from the bench. Instead we take a lot of individual decisions and then we lose the ball too easy.
“Our performance was a frustrating one because we lost the basics so quick. There’s still 15 minutes, 10 minutes left and you just need that one chance but we didn’t stay with the basics. We were so disconnected in the last part of the game.
“I think we have been stable for a while now, it’s more about the rhythm and the connections. We have some really good opportunity to put the ball into the box, but then we keep playing and sometimes when we put the ball in we hit the first defender. This is more about technical skills and of course the decision making and it’s also about responsibility to put the ball into the box and don’t send it to someone else so that someone else has to do it. When we have the opportunity, we have to take it because we were sometimes three or four players into the box but then we keep the ball outside, especially in the last 15 minutes. The only chance to get them down and pin them down is to overload them around the box and keep the game there and we were hesitating.
“I need to keep working with the players to take these decisions in the right moment, and keep working with them so we can be strong in the future. Now we were not strong enough today to deserve a win. I think it was a fair result. It’s not a good result for us but I think it’s fair but we have to do better now and help the players to grow in this context and keep working with this of course.
“It was important for us to win today to give us the chance. Now we have to win both games and be lucky with other results because we don’t control anything there now. It’s a difficult situation but we must try to win the games.”
The Dons have an opportunity to chalk up a league win on Sunday in the game at Livingston, as Jimmy pointed out.
“If you want to be reach your dreams and be competitive on the highest level and also play in Europe, that’s what everybody wants, then you have to perform. We have to be strong on Sunday and that’s the only focus we’re going to have now after we leave the stadium tonight.
“We are learning still to play these number of games. It’s one thing to play one game but then it’s another game around the corner and you have to play good again and be stable and find a way to get the right energy. We have to go from an OK level to a good level that you can perform every week and sometimes twice per week. That’s the thing about being stable as a team and as a player to deliver consistency and for us, this is still an opportunity to grow and learn.
“Every game in this league is difficult and it’s an away game but we have a strong belief that we can do a good performance. It’s going to be another game on Wednesday and then on Saturday, so we have to take this challenge and don’t complain about fatigue or make excuses, we have to show up.
“If you want to be a club who compete in this level we need to grow as individuals and take this challenge as a positive thing. We have done something before that is good, that’s why we deserve to be here right now but now we also want to deserve to stay in this level and compete in the league and compete in Europe.
“We want to give a better performance for the supporters. The fans showed up today again as they’ve done the whole season. Football is about passion and emotions, and the last part of a performance in this game was not there really so of course they can feel frustration, because I feel frustration myself and the players feel it, because it was not good enough. We need to be better.”
