Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes plans on adopting a back to basics approach after losing patience with his side’s charitable defending.
The Dons’ recent upturn in form was brought to a halt in emphatic fashion on Friday when they suffered a 3-0 defeat at Hamilton Accies.
The defeat leaves Aberdeen seven points behind the surprise Scottish Premiership leaders, but it is the sight of goals being conceded cheaply on a weekly basis which is causing McInnes most concern.
Friday night’s defeat took the tally to nine conceded in the last four matches for Aberdeen and the Dons manager has left his players in no doubt he is far from impressed.
He said: “It shouldn’t take us having to score two, three or four goals to win a game of football and Friday was another case in point
“In our last game at Dundee before the international break we were not totally happy with the performance even though we won the game with a good result away from home.
“We have to get back to basics and be difficult to score against.”
Friday’s poor defensive showing at New Douglas Park was matched by an equally ineffective attacking display from the Dons.
David Goodwillie and Adam Rooney both squandered chances when one on one with Accies goalkeeper Michael McGovern while Lawrence Shankland had a point blank header saved.
McInnes expects both parts of his team to be performing better when Motherwell visit Pittodrie on Friday.
He said: “We should have scored with the chances we created and we need to address that, but we have enough good, experienced players in the dressing room with the ability to defend better than we are at the moment.
“We feel as though we missed an opportunity to win a game we were good enough to win and our focus now has to switch to Motherwell on Friday.”
The Dons have the chance to make amends for the poor showing against Accies when Alex Neil takes his side north to Pittodrie next Wednesday for the quarter-final of the League Cup.
McInnes wants a morale-boosting display this week to set his side up for the chance to make amends against Hamilton in the cup.
He said: “We travelled to Hamilton focusing only on our league campaign but when we do play them in the League Cup I’m hoping we are going into that game on the back of a strong performance and good result against Motherwell in the league.”