Deadline day signing Angus MacDonald wants to help Aberdeen deliver the clean sheets he belives they need to turn around their dismal form.
Experienced centre-half MacDonald, 30, has joined the Dons on a short-term deal from English League Two Swindon Town, having previously turned out for Barnsley, Hull City and Rotherham United in the English Championship.
Arriving fully aware of the currently manager-less Reds’ run of one win in their 10 games post-winter break – form which has seen them exit both cup competitions and drop from third to seventh in the Premiership – MacDonald thinks he knows where they need to start with improving their situation.
The Pittodrie side have managed just two shut-outs during their miserable 10-game sequence in all competitions after the World Cup, while their goals against tally of 43 is the worst in the top-flight.
He said: “You’ve got to press the reset button. Get back to basics, do those well.
“Clean sheets are a must – if you get them you give yourself a great platform to go on and win games.
“That one result, (if) we win 1-0, 2-0 tomorrow night, that will really give you the confidence to go and kick on for the rest of the season.”
MacDonald – who could be pitched in for a debut by interim boss Barry Robson when St Mirren visit Pittodrie in the league on Wednesday evening – described his defensive style as: “No-nonsense. Head it, kick it, get it up the pitch, put the body on the line.”
However, he also thinks, in times of struggle like the Dons have been experiencing of late, his “bubbly” personality around Pittodrie and Cormack Park will also be a useful attribute.
He said: “My previous club was a young squad, too.
“It’s not so much what you do on the training ground, it’s what you do off the field as well. That also helps performances come on the pitch.
“Hopefully, with the great set of lads we’ve got here, it’s just about the manager coming in and coaching them the right, like he will do, and picking up results.”
MacDonald has ‘overcome challenges’ before, after bowel cancer battle aged just 26
MacDonald has served as captain with more than one of his previous clubs – leadership qualities which Aberdeen will hope have a bearing in the weeks ahead.
He added: “You can’t just look to the one with the armband. There’s got to be a few and the more you have on the pitch, the better you’re going to perform as a team I think.”
MacDonald’s biggest strength, though, is perhaps the perspective he has gained after fighting bowel cancer while at Hull City, when he was aged just 26.
Having recovered and returned to action during the Covid pandemic, he said: “In the previous few years of my life I’ve overcome challenges, and this is another challenge.
“I definitely think I can help the team progress.
“I’ve always wanted to be a winner and hated losing – that’s there so more now than ever.
“But it gives you a different perspective on life: don’t get too beat up with the lows and don’t get too high with the highs, because it can get taken away from you at any time.”
‘Everything about Aberdeen excited me’
MacDonald, who is only a quarter Scottish – despite what his name might suggest, revealed he jumped at the chance to join Aberdeen, flying up at 5am on Tuesday to seal the deal and train with his new team-mates for the first time.
He said: “It probably didn’t come to light until 10 o’clock on Monday night – so my partner was not best pleased.
“When it was get the flight up or not get the flight up, she was like: ‘are you going?’
“I said: ‘100% I’m going!”
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“When I got the call I was dead excited and wanted to get on the flight as soon as possible.
“It’s such a big club. To take the other options would have been stupid of me and I would’ve regretted it.
“It’s got so much history, the fanbase, the training ground, the facilities – everything about it excited me.”
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