Defiant boss Barry Robson has vowed Aberdeen will “come back fighting” against Rangers after their humiliating loss to Celtic.
The Dons suffered a damaging 6-0 defeat to the Premiership leaders at Parkhead – including the loss of three goals in injury time.
Robson’s Reds are languishing ninth in the league table, only two points above bottom side Livingston.
The loss to Celtic was the final game of a hectic schedule where the Dons packed in five away fixtures in only 16 days.
Aberdeen now have time to recharge and regroup as they are not in action again for almost two weeks due to the international break.
The Dons’ next fixture is against Rangers at Pittodrie on Sunday, November 26.
Robson will use the break to work with his squad to ensure they bounce back from their Parkhead pain when facing Rangers.
He said: “We have to make sure that when we come back we do it fighting.
“And that is what we will do.
“We go to the next game and try to win it.
“We have had a lot of games recently, but that (loss at Celtic) was not good enough for Aberdeen football club.
“I know that and the players know that.
“We need to take responsibility for that and we need to bounce back.”
Hectic fixture schedule to continue
After the international break Aberdeen will be pitched into another gruelling schedule, due to competing in three competitions.
The clash with Rangers is the first of seven Premiership fixtures they will cram in before the Scottish top-flight enters a two-week winter shutdown on January 2.
Aberdeen also have two remaining Europa Conference Group G fixtures against HJK Helsinki in Finland and Eintracht Frankfurt at Pittodrie.
The Dons will also bid end a nine-year trophy drought when facing Rangers in the Viaplay Cup final at Hampden on December 17.
Robson has two weeks to work with his squad before that hectic schedule begins.
Robson without players on international duty
However. Robson will be without many of his key players during the break as they are away on international duty.
Leading goalscorer Bojan Miovski has met up with the North Macedonia squad for crunch Euro 2024 qualifiers against Italy and England.
North Macedonia face Italy in Rome on Friday, before going against England in Skopje on Monday.
Centre-back Richard Jensen is in Finland’s squad for a Euro 2024 qualifier double-header against Northern Ireland in Helsinki on Friday and San Marino away on Monday.
Striker Duk has been called into the Cape Verde squad for Word Cup qualifiers against Angola at home (Praia) on Thursday and away to Eswatini (Mbombela) on Tuesday.
Centre-back Slobodan Rubezic is away with the Montenegro squad for Eur0 2024 qualifiers against Lithuania at home (Podgorica) on Thursday and Hungary away (Budapest) on Sunday.
Midfielder Jamie McGrath was named in the Republic of Ireland squad for a Euro 2024 qualifier against The Netherlands away on Saturday.
Republic of Ireland also face New Zealand in a friendly in Dublin on Tuesday.
However, McGrath missed the loss to Celtic due to a hamstring problem and underwent a scan on Monday.
Brighton midfielder Andrew Moran has stepped up from the under-21 squad as the Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny waits on the results of a number of scans.
Squad Update | Andrew Moran called up to the senior squad for the Netherlands & New Zealand matches 🇮🇪
As we await scan results on a number of players, Moran has been called up to the senior squad and will train with the squad today 👍 pic.twitter.com/M0DvsfBuCj
— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) November 14, 2023
Connor Barron and Ryan Duncan have joined up with the Scotland U21 squad for an away Euro 2025 qualifier double-header.
The young Scots face Belgium on Friday (Roeslare) before playing Hungary (Budapest) on Tuesday.
Robson said: “We keep going and we keep working.
“That is what we will do.
“And we will keep trying to perform.
“Now we go on to the next game.”
Robson says Aberdeen ‘let down’ their fans at Parkhead
Aberdeen were 2-0 down at Parkhead after only 16 minutes and Robson’s side mustered just one shot on target during the match.
The Dons have now lost 34 of their last 36 league visits to the Premiership champions, taking just four points from a possible 108 at Parkhead.
The defeat on Sunday was Aberdeen’s eighth successive Premiership away loss to Celtic.
Robson’s message to the club’s frustrated fans is clear.
He said: “We let them down.
“Against Celtic we needed to get closer, get in their faces and put tackles in.
“We did it for 20 minutes, if that.
“But that’s not going to get you anywhere as you’ve got to do it for 90 minutes if you want to get anything.
“We didn’t. It wasn’t good enough and we know that.”
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