Boss Jimmy Thelin is confident Aberdeen will not let the League Cup semi-final nightmare derail their impressive start to the Premiership campaign.
Thelin’s unbeaten beginning to his Dons’ managerial tenure came to a painful end with a 6-0 hammering by Celtic at Hampden.
Aberdeen were unbeaten in 16 games in all competitions, with 15 wins, before facing the Hoops at the national stadium.
As sobering as the heavy defeat was, Thelin says it will only be a “bump in the road” to his long-term plan to bring success back to the club.
Thelin says one defeat cannot be allowed to wreck the positivity and momentum of his first five months in charge, which yielded a record-breaking unbeaten run.
Swede Thelin assessed the attitude and reaction of his players in the immediate aftermath of the defeat at Hampden.
And he is convinced they will rebound for the Premiership clash against Dundee at a sold-out Pittodrie on Saturday.
Aberdeen will move three points clear at the top of the Premiership if they win against Dundee, albeit potentially only for a short stint as Celtic are not in action until Sunday.
Thelin said: “Yes I am confident they will respond the right way in the next game.
“The identity is clear, the belief is there and we can’t let one setback hurt us in that way.
“It is one game, it is not the whole season and now we have to move on for the next game against Dundee.
“This is a bump in the road – and the first one for a while.
“We can’t let this game define us. We have to move on.
“Also we can’t forget the things we have done so far.
“And the belief hasn’t dropped in what we want to achieve. That is the feeling I got from the players when talking with them.
“As a team we want to grow, learn and get better for the future.
“We believe. We had a setback, but we have to move on.”
Post-mortem into semi-final defeat
Aberdeen boss Thelin spent Sunday afternoon alongside Gothenburg Great Sir Alex Ferguson watching Manchester United draw 1-1 with Chelsea.
Aberdeen chief executive Alan Burrows and Gothenburg European Cup Winners’ Cup final goalscoring hero John Hewitt were also in attendance at the game.
Thelin previously met Sir Alex at Parkhead following the 2-2 draw with Celtic last month.
The 46-year-old Dons boss confirmed he, his management team and squad will conduct a post-mortem into the League Cup semi-final loss to gain valuable lessons.
He said: “We will analyse what happened and then stick to the game0plan for the next match.
“We are going to learn from it, myself, my staff and players, so that we can improve.
“Celtic had the quality and were really precise, and we didn’t reach our levels.
“We have to analyse, learn from this and move on.”
‘It is the same process as when you are winning’
When the dust from the heavy semi-loss to Celtic settles, the Dons are still riding high in the Premiership.
Under Thelin, the Reds are undefeated in the Premiership with nine wins and a draw from 10 fixtures.
They are level on points with league leaders and champions Celtic.
Thelin refused to get carried away during the record-breaking start to the season, when, at one point, the Dons were the only team in the top-50 European leagues to have won all of their games.
Even then, Thelin stuck to the mantra of “one game at a time” as the wins mounted up.
Having suffered his first defeat as Aberdeen boss, and a chastening one, his outlook will not change.
He said: “It was a game where Celtic were very good and we weren’t really there and they hurt us really hard.
“However, we are strong enough to move on to the next game against Dundee at home.
“It is the same process when you are winning games, just take it training by training and game by game.
“Be humble. You have to learn from this situation.”
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