Aberdeen skipper Joe Lewis insists missing injured players is no excuse for the team not performing.
The Dons were once again without Funso Ojo and Craig Bryson for Saturday’s 3-0 defeat against Hibernian, meaning another spell in the middle of the park for Zak Vyner.
Lewis said: “They’re important players. They’re injured at the moment – there’s no telling if they’d have made a difference.
“Potentially they would have done as they’re experienced players – but there’s no point worrying about what you can’t impact.
They’re working so hard to get back on the pitch.
“It’s the 11 on the pitch that are responsible for our performances and results. We take responsibility for the results on the pitch.”
Leading scorer Sam Cosgrove was denied on a couple of occasions in the first half by Ofir Marciano, but was not able to add to his tally of 18 goals so far this season.
However, Lewis feels the onus cannot just be put on Cosgrove or the team’s strikers to find the back of the net.
“It’s not necessarily the front men – we rely heavily on Sam’s goals and we maybe need to take more responsibility throughout the whole team to alleviate that responsibility from him.
“We needed to show more quality throughout the pitch. Defensively we’re naïve, to let Kamberi come in on his right foot from that position.
“We shouldn’t have done that. You don’t want to point the finger at anyone but we need to be better defensively. If we’re not scoring the goals and taking our chances, we need to be making sure we don’t concede. They have got in from different areas.”
The momentum generated from their comeback against Rangers – overturning a two-goal deficit to claim a point last week – now seems distant after the manner of their second-half collapse.
Lewis added: “The way we played in the second half against Rangers was on the front foot. There was no lack of effort or trying – there was naivety in our defending. That’s the whole team.
“That first goal was crucial and we needed to make sure after that – we didn’t really carry the quality to force their goalkeeper into anything too special.”