The challenge for new manager Jimmy Thelin is to ensure Aberdeen regularly play to the high levels shown in the Scottish Cup semi-final.
Thelin is still in Sweden as he will remain at Elfsborg until early June before moving to Pittodrie.
However, I’m sure he will have been watching the action from Hampden – and he must have been impressed with what he witnessed.
After the 6-5 penalty shoot-out loss to Celtic, Thelin will now know he is taking on a team who have individuals with real ability.
It is his job to get them to produce that level consistently next season and beyond.
He has to get the Dons to reach their potential and play as a team like they did in the semi, although he will also bring in his own players in the summer.
I’m sure the Pittodrie board will back Thelin during the summer transfer window.
I’ve been left scratching my head this season when looking at the quality in the squad and wondering why they can’t be more consistent. And why they can’t take their game to the level shown at Hampden more often.
It is Thelin’s job to solve that problem.
His CV is very good from his time managing in Sweden.
Thelin has built a strong squad and resilient results machine at Elfsborg, leading them to a league runners-up finish last season.
They only lost out on the Allsvenskan title to Malmo on goal difference.
Appointing Thelin is a different route to the previous three Aberdeen managers who were young and relatively inexperienced.
The Dons have landed a manager who has taken Elfsborg towards the top of the Swedish league table.
If he can be successful in the Swedish league, then there must be the expectation Thelin is capable of doing that in Scotland.
However, I don’t think Aberdeen fans are looking for Thelin to interrupt Celtic and Rangers in the Premiership.
Those days are gone with the resources Celtic and Rangers have over the period of a league campaign.
The target for an Aberdeen manager must be finishing in third spot.
It is more than achievable, and with Thelin’s record, the only question is how he transitions from the Swedish game to Scottish.
I’m sure he will be doing his homework now ahead of coming to Pittodrie.
The only drawback is Thelin is not coming in until early June, which doesn’t give him a lot of time to get his thoughts across for the new season.
Thelin will have watched a fantastic semi-final, which was a great advert for the Scottish game.
Aberdeen showed different sides of game in first and second half
Aberdeen’s first half performance was at a very high level and Celtic struggled to cope.
In the second half, Celtic dominated for spells, but Aberdeen battled and showed real courage.
The changes made by interim boss Peter Leven were also key – taking on Ester Sokler and Junior Hoilett.
The attitude and performance of Aberdeen under Leven was of a very high level.
Officials got big Aberdeen v Celtic calls right
There were two controversial VAR decisions which went against Aberdeen in the semi.
Celtic defender Liam Scales handled the ball when jostling for possession with Bojan Miovski.
However, it was just outside the box.
That is normally the type of decisions VAR gets right because it is basically drawing a line on whether it is in or out.
The other incident continues to be more controversial.
There’s no doubt Cameron Carter-Vickers’ foul on Hoilett is a penalty if there is no infringement beforehand.
However, Hoilett jumped into Alistair Johnston and has taken out a player who could maybe intercept the ball as it comes across.
There’s no doubt Carter-Vickers fouled Hoilett, but there was a foul beforehand.
In the cold light of day, the right decision was made and Aberdeen just have to take it on the chin and move on.
If it was the other way, those two VAR decisions would have still had the same outcome – I don’t think you can say there is any favour being given to Celtic.
Although it will hurt Aberdeen, the referee and VAR got the decisions right.
MacDonald responded like a captain
It is testament to stand-in captain Angus MacDonald’s strength of character that he didn’t let his mistake for Celtic’s leveller at 1-1 affect him.
You can fall apart when you make a costly error in such a big game… or you can show your character.
He went on to have a very solid game and played a big part in getting the Dons back into the semi.
MacDonald scored the last-gasp leveller in extra-time to force penalties.
Then he stepped up and successfully converted his spot-kick in the shoot-out.
The error was a rather silly thing to do and I don’t know what was going through his head at the time.
Sometimes these things can happen in football.
It is how you deal with it.
He dealt with it extremely well.
MacDonald deserves a lot of credit for being able to put the mistake out of his mind.
He went on to have a very good game after a costly error that came out of nothing as Celtic weren’t causing too much bother at the time.
To give a gift away was a huge blow for Aberdeen.
However, MacDonald turned that around and played a captain’s role for Aberdeen.
Conversation