Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes concedes his side is far from the finished article, but insisted his players and the club’s supporters should be pleased with the start to the season.
The Dons have played in fits and starts, but remain unbeaten in the Premiership and are second in the table, two points behind leaders Celtic.
While pleased with the league position, McInnes knows there is still huge room for improvement.
He said: “It has been a strong start to the league campaign. We have always been a team who are capable of going on long unbeaten runs.
“I am not surprised with where we are, but we are still trying to get a few players integrated into what we want.
“If someone had said to me at the start of the season, in terms of league form, we would be where we are, given the amount of changes, I would have been pleased and taken that.
“But I am honest enough to know we are going to have to be better as we go along.”
The blip came in the Betfred Cup where Motherwell beat Aberdeen 3-0 in the quarter-final on Thursday, but McInnes and his players returned to Fir Park to win 1-0 in the league on Sunday.
The Dons manager knows it was not a game for the purists but was exactly what was required following the poor cup display.
He said: “You would be right to say it was an ugly win, but it was the type of performance that was needed. We got the reward for doing the basics right. We had more aggression and more intent.
“People would have been questioning us and I get that because of the other night in the cup. But we have won eight and drawn one of our last nine away games in the league so we know how to win different types of games.
“The supporters were as miserable as we were after Thursday. Friday was just as bad. Saturday we started to build the determination for what was needed. We left on Sunday feeling a bit better about ourselves.”
McInnes was especially pleased for goalkeeper Joe Lewis, who was culpable in the cup exit with two errors which led to Motherwell goals.
He said: “The focus was on the defenders and big Joe got a clean sheet which was brilliant after the other night.
“Everyone played their part and it was a really committed performance. We won tackles. We won individual contests, won enough headers. All in all everyone did well.
“We knew prior to the double-header we had our work cut out. We possibly didn’t get the team quite right in the cup-tie and I think the team on Sunday was pragmatic and ready to deal with their threat more.
“It wasn’t the perfect, polished performance, but it was the type of performance that was required.
“We’ve had a really strong start in the league, but I think we had to right a few wrongs from the other night for ourselves.”