Aberdeen midfielder Ryan Jack insists yesterday’s Pittodrie mauling by Dundee United must serve as a wake-up call.
The Dons suffered an almighty Europa League hangover as they slumped to a 3-0 defeat on the opening day of the campaign.
Ryan Dow took advantage of a poor pass from defender Ashton Taylor to put United ahead before goals from Gary Mackay-Steven and Chris Erskine sealed a comfortable win for the Tangerines.
Aberdeen failed to manage a single effort on target in a hugely disappointing afternoon for Derek McInnes’ side.
See highlights from the match here.
Jack knows the performance and result was unacceptable and was quick to apologise.
He said: “There’s been a lot of talk about us, but we can’t take any notice of what other people are saying. We know we need to be better than we showed here and this result should be a kick up the backside for us.
“The manager and Tony Docherty set us up for the game and we have let them, ourselves and the supporters down.”
McInnes praised Taylor for responding well to his mistake which led to the first goal.
McInnes said: “He knows he should have put his foot through it. We all want to play football but it has to be in the right areas.
“Given the opportunity again I am sure he will clear that up the park.
“It’s a sore one for him to take as he has waited for his opportunity to get in the team but in general his performance was more than fine.”
Jack was quick to protect his team-mate from criticism following his poor pass which gifted United their opener.
He said: “We win as a team and we lose as a team, so this is not a time for pointing fingers at anyone. If we start doing that then things will only go one way. We lost, it’s not about individuals.
“We dominated the ball and created some chances but we made a couple of mistakes and they took full advantage. It was one of those days where maybe we were not ready.”
The Dons were booed off by a near 17,000 crowd following their abject display as the goodwill created by their exploits in the Europa League were replaced by frustration, anger and disappointment at their ineffective showing.
A trip to Kilmarnock awaits on Wednesday and Jack said: “It’s good to have a game on Wednesday, so we can try to put this result behind us as quickly as possible.”