Aberdeen boss Jim Goodwin has issued a sobering warning ahead of the Premiership opener against Celtic at Parkhead.
Goodwin has rebuilt the Dons this summer at a cost in excess of £1 million in transfer fees.
Notts County winger Callum Roberts, 25, last night became Goodwin’s eighth signing of the transfer window.
Roberts has joined Aberdeen on a three-year deal after passing a medical.
The Dons are understood to have paid a fee of around £100,000 for the former Newcastle United winger.
Goodwin is delighted at how his restructured squad is shaping up having won all four Premier Sports Cup group games to storm into the last 16.
However he has urged the Dons to cut out the “sloppy” play shown in the early stages of the 3-0 defeat of Raith Rovers.
Goodwin revealed he issued a warning to his team at the break against Raith.
He said: “As much as there are elements that are very positive there are also lots of things we need to do better.
“I thought in the opening 15 to 20 minutes (against Raith) we were very sloppy with some of our possession.
“Cheap turnovers and then poor transitions when that happened defensively
“I explained to the guys at half-time if they do that at Parkhead they will find yourselves 2-0 or 3-0 down at half-time.
“And it will be a hell of a long way back.”
‘We have to tighten up defensively’
Goodwin has completely overhauled the Aberdeen squad and is desperate to maintain positive momentum at Parkhead.
Aberdeen raced into the last 16 of the Premier Sports Cup by defeating lower league Raith Rovers, Stirling Albion, Dumbarton and Peterhead.
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Goodwin’s new look side hammered home 12 goals and registered four straight clean sheets.
The Dons boss accepts the real test of his new-look side will come against Celtic as the Parkhead side begin the defence of their league title.
Scales ruled out for Celtic clash
Goodwin will also have to reshuffle his back-line to face Celtic as centre-back Liam Scales is unavailable.
Scales was secured this summer on a season long loan deal from Celtic.
However the left-sided centre-back is ineligible to play against parent club Celtic due to the terms of the loan agreement.
Goodwin aims to move to secure Scales on a permanent deal in the January transfer window.
For now, he will work on a solution to that Scales ineligibility conundrum.
He said: “There are elements of our game that we need to get better at.
“That is only natural because it is a relatively new group.
“We have spent a long time in pre-season talking about the offensive patterns of play.
“The early part of pre-season was all about those runs, good patterns of play and movement in possession.
“It was only last week we really touched on the defensive shape.
“We will work even harder on that again this week in preparation for what is going to be an extremely difficult opener.
“We have to tighten things up defensively and work harder on our shape.
“Offensively I’m happy, defensively we need to do better.
“Now we must make sure we get both sides of the game done properly.”
‘The group have been excellent’
That Goodwin is calling for more from his defence despite four consecutive clean sheets is indicative of the high standards demands.
The Dons defence is completely different to the one that secured just six clean sheets in 47 games last season.
Centre-backs Scales, Anthony Stewart (Wycombe Wanderers), right back Jayden Richardson (Nottingham Forest) and keeper Kelle Roos (Derby County) were all signed this summer.
All four started each of the Premier Sports Cup games.
Teen left-back Mason Hancock has also started all four matches as Jack MacKenzie is out injured.
The Dons boss still aims to raid the transfer market to sign a left-back as back-up.
Goodwin said: “The group as a whole have been excellent.
“You only have to look at some other Premiership teams St Johnstone, St Mirren and Hibs who are all out.
“It is not as straightforward as many people think.
“The players have to apply themselves properly and that shows the type of character we have brought into the club.
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“However I just thought we were sloppy and that we thought it would be too easy early doors (against Raith).
“Once we got to grips with that the boys were better.
“We spoke at half time about trying to get at them in wide areas because Raith Rovers had really congested that middle of the pitch.
“We were trying to force balls into Miovski and wee Vinny.
“There was no point doing that as it was extremely tight in there.
“So we had to get the ball wider and try to get overloads in the wide areas.
“I thought we did that a bit better in the second 45.”
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