Aberdeen manager Stephen Glass has challenged his players to show their loss at St Mirren was a blip.
The Dons boss was shocked to see his players produce a poor display in Paisley on Tuesday as Connor Ronan’s spectacular strike gave St Mirren all three points in a 1-0 win for the home side.
With struggling St Johnstone the visitors to Pittodrie on Saturday Glass knows his side has to respond strongly to their midweek defeat.
He said: “We have to make it a blip. We have an opportunity at home against St Johnstone on Saturday and we have to show this was a one-off from recent times.
“You hope it is an anomaly and they need to go and show that on Saturday. The challenge coming at us now is to tackle Saturday.
“You know what gets thrown at you after games like this and it is important we get back on board quick.”
Poorest performance in recent memory for Aberdeen
Aberdeen’s away form has been wretched so far with the Dons mustering just two wins away from home in the league so far.
Tuesday’s performance was as poor as any in the club’s 10-game winless run between August and October and it is clear the manner of the defeat was a hard one to take for the manager.
He said: “It was as poor as we’ve been for a long time. The mentality didn’t look right and one moment of quality from a St Mirren player has left us with what we deserved.
“We didn’t do enough – far from it. There were so many cheap giveaways and we didn’t look like scoring.
“We had plenty time, width in the team and possession but if you don’t do anything with it you are susceptible to the goal we conceded.
“There’s no excuses, we were terrible.”
Paisley defeat sparks dressing room debate
Glass and his players discussed the manner of the defeat at length in the dressing room following the defeat and the Dons boss knows there has to be an emphatic response from the team.
He said: “The players themselves are questioning the mentality of the group. You don’t go to St Mirren and produce a performance like that in front of a big travelling support like we had.
“A big opportunity has been missed and we can’t fix it now but we will try to bounce back on Saturday against St Johnstone.
“We’ve been good at home and it is important we win our game on Saturday.”
Back to square one
Glass had to reshuffle his side for the trip to Paisley with Dean Campbell deployed at left back in the absence of the injured Jonny Hayes and Jack MacKenzie.
It is not the first time the Dons defence has been blighted by injuries but the Aberdeen manager insists there can be no excuses for the laboured and lethargic display against Jim Goodwin’s side.
He said: “From start to finish it was not good enough and we’re back to square one in terms of performances and results.
“I don’t want to make excuses. There are times where we’ve had a whole back four sitting in the stand but injuries were no excuse here.
“The performance level, approach and mentality was the issue.
“It was not good enough. Creativity in the final third was not good enough and we were not good enough competitively from start to finish. We got what we deserved.
“We had a lot of the ball and St Mirren allowed us to do that knowing it would be difficult to break them down. We need to be better when we have that much of it.
“All the forward players feel responsible for the quality they produced and they are all included in it.”
