Danish centre-back Stefan Gartenmann has warned Aberdeen must reach the same levels against Ross County as they did in Germany.
The Dons produced a strong performance but were edged out 2-1 by Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa Conference League Group G opener.
Centre-back Gartenmann reckons there is no point “getting yourself up” for a Euro game in front of 50,000 if the Dons can’t deliver in the league against the Staggies on Sunday.
Aberdeen have failed to win any of their opening five Premiership fixtures for the first time since 1999.
Gartenmann is determined to end that league win drought against Ross County at Pittodrie.
He said: “We need to switch to domestic games and start winning games as points matter.
“You can say it is easy to get yourself up for the Frankfurt game in front of 50,000 people.
“But if we can’t do it in front of our own fans against Ross County then it doesn’t matter.”
Confident clean sheets will come
Gartenmann is confident Aberdeen’s rebuilt defence will click and start delivering clean sheets.
Dons boss Barry Robson overhauled his backline during an extensive summer rebuild – including the capture of Gartenmann.
The 26-year-old was secured on a season-long loan on transfer deadline day from Danish club FC Midtjylland.
However Aberdeen have failed to keep a clean sheet in their eight games in all competitions.
Gartenmann was pitched in for a starting debut in the 2-0 loss to Hearts last weekend.
It was the first time Robson’s new defence had all played together.
Gartenmann said: “We have some really good defenders in the team but we need to get to know each other.
“We should be good enough and professional enough to now have a solid base to build on.
“When that clean sheet comes it will show we have come a long way.
“I think you can see a lot has happened in the last week.”
‘Frankfurt are a top team but were panicking a bit at the end’
Aberdeen’s may have lost in Germany but manager Barry Robson got his tactics spot on for the clash against the 2022 Europa League champions.
Gartenmann reckons Eintracht Frankfurt were baffled as to how to play against the Dons.
And he reckons the German side were panicking at the end as Aberdeen pushed for an equaliser.
He said: “There’s no doubt it has been a tough start to the season.
“The performance on Thursday shows that we have a really strong team.
“It showed how strong we are that we were sitting in the away dressing room in Frankfurt really disappointed that we never took anything.
“We felt we should have taken something.
“Frankfurt are a top team and they were panicking a bit at the end.
“In the last 15 to 20 minutes we had the momentum.
“We needed to take our breaks, keep our shape and to frustrate them.
“It was really annoying to play against us and you saw for long spells they didn’t know how to play against us.
“We were really strong on the counter-attack and if we can put a little extra on the ball position then we can do really well.
“We can be really proud of our performance.”
Advice from former Celtic defender
Next up for the Dons in the Conference League is a home clash with Finnish club HJK Helsinki on Thursday October 5.
Defender Gartenmann has experience of the demands of European group stages.
He played for FC Midtjylland in the Europa League groups last season.
The Danish club qualified for the knock-out phase from a group containing Lazio (Italy), Feyenoord (Netherlands) and Sturm Graz (Austria).
They would lose out to Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon in the knock-out round.
Gartenmann revealed former Celtic defender Erik Sviatchenko encouraged him to make the loan switch to Aberdeen.
Danish international Sviatchenko played with Gartenmann at FC Midtjylland but recently moved to American MLS club Houston Dynamo.
He said: “I had a teammate Erik Sviatchenko who used to play for Celtic.
“He told me great things about Scottish football.
“We are the same type of players so I hope I can fit in as well as he did.
“He told me Aberdeen were a good club and he encouraged me to make the move.”
Conversation