Lewis Ferguson has laid bare his frustration at Aberdeen’s loss of form.
The Dons have won just two of their last nine games and have not scored in their last three, with the 2-0 defeat to Livingston on Tuesday night the latest in their poor run.
Ferguson insists their recent form has not been good enough, with Aberdeen failing to take advantage of Celtic’s struggles above them.
They are still in touching distance of third place and a European place, with a game in hand on Hibernian, who they face on Saturday.
But Ferguson says Aberdeen have to shape up or risk losing further ground.
He said: “Every single time we’ve dropped points, it has been a missed opportunity. When you look at the league table and the amount of games we’ve played where we’ve either drawn where we should have won, or losing games to teams lower in the table than us, it’s not good enough.
“These are games we should be winning – especially at home – a team like Aberdeen should never be getting turned over at Pittodrie.
“That’s what happened against Livingston and it’s happened far too often this season. I believe if we were firing on all cylinders scoring goals and winning these games we’d be right up there with a shout of second spot.
“But the way we’re playing just now, we’re putting ourselves in a bad position.”
The former Hamilton Accies youngster said these missed opportunities have been spoken about within the squad.
Ferguson added: “We speak about those sort of things at the start of season and we have meetings now and then about it.
“But we need to back those things up. We go into meetings and talk about things, but we need to go out on the pitch and do them. The past few weeks, I think we have been getting into good areas.
“But we’ve been missing chances and haven’t had that goalscorer at the top end of the pitch – hopefully the new signings (Fraser Hornby, Callum Hendry and Florian Kamberi) can help us with that. I’m glad to get three guys in who can go and get us goals because that’s what we need.”
📽️ Lewis Ferguson on last night's game at Pittodrie. pic.twitter.com/5jXNNoJko7
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) February 3, 2021
Aberdeen head to Easter Road at the weekend in a bid to arrest their slump, while also reigniting their European aspirations.
Ferguson said: “It’s a massive test. When the chips are down, this when everybody needs to stand up and be counted.
“It’s all good when everybody is playing well and we’re winning games.
“But, when the chips are down, this is when it really matters and this is when the real players have to stand up and be counted and go and perform for the club, manager and fans.”