Captain Graeme Shinnie has slated Aberdeen’s performance as “embarrassing, unacceptable and shocking” in losing 3-0 at home to St Mirren.
The straight-talking club skipper was brutally honest in his assessment of the dismal defeat and reckons it is one of the worst he has ever suffered during his Dons career.
Many Reds fans left Pittodrie when St Mirren netted a second goal in the 78th minute.
Aberdonian Shinnie says he would also have left the stadium early if he was there as a fan.
However, the 32-year-old is confident the Dons have the character to bounce back against Ross County in Dingwall on Tuesday.
But he warned it will be tough as the Staggies will “be licking their lips” at facing the Aberdeen after their howler against St Mirren.
Shinnie said: “Embarrassing, unacceptable and the first half especially was shocking.
“We know as a squad that it’s not good enough and the first half was probably up there with one of the worst since I’ve been here.
“It was bad, and from me as the captain, to all the way through the team, it wasn’t good enough.
“We were slack on the ball, giving it away and when teams come here that’s what they’re going to want to happen.
“It was a really bad day.
“There are no acceptable excuses and I’m not going to make any.
“Performances like that at home are totally unacceptable.”
Ross County will be ‘licking their lips’
In the immediate aftermath of the chastening defeat, boss Barry Robson said he was “angry” at his players for serving up that performance.
Many Dons supporters also made their anger clear when booing at full-time.
St Mirren had lost their previous six away games and had failed to score in the last five on the road.
Shinnie said: “The manager is bang on in his criticism as it’s hard to talk about in any other sort of way.
“Of course the fans are going to react, the same way I would have done. I would have left the ground before the end as well.
“All I can do is apologise to the fans as losing 3-0 at home for Aberdeen against anybody shouldn’t happen.
“We have the character in the dressing room to put that right against Ross County.
“You have to stand-up now and be counted as you can’t go into a shell as we need to look forward to Tuesday to try to turn it around.
“It will be a big test as they will have seen what happened against St Mirren and be licking their lips.
“But it’s about having the character to stand up to that and put things right.”
Bouncing back against Ross County
Aberdeen were gunning for a third straight Premiership win when facing St Mirren, but their league revival was derailed.
The loss to the Buddies dropped the Piittodrie club to ninth in the Premiership table.
The Dons are only one point ahead of second-bottom Ross County, who occupy the relegation play-off spot, although the Dons have a game in hand.
On the table, Shinnie said: “Right now that’s not something we look at, as the performances are what we have to look at.
“Football games come around fast and we have another one on Tuesday to go out and put things right.
“It’s about dissecting the St Mirren game, having a good look in the mirror and getting over it to put it right at Dingwall.”
Are Aberdeen becoming too prredictable?
Aberdeen have won only five of 19 Premiership games this season.
Manager Robson retained his favoured 3-5-2 formation when starting with that set-up in the loss to St Mirren
The Dons have registered only three clean sheets in the league this season.
Asked if Aberdeen had become too predictable, Shinnie said: “Possibly that’s the case, but that’s down to us as players to do more on the pitch.
“We need to be better as a team and not lose goals the way we have been.
“It’s been not just against St Mirren – it’s been all season and we’ve not had many clean sheets.
“Looking back at the end of last season, we built our foundations on being hard to beat.
“We weren’t conceding many goals then, so it’s frustrating right now.
“We are just not doing our jobs on the pitch and that’s what it comes down to, so we have to take responsibility for it.”
Conversation