Leighton Clarkson would give anything for an Aberdeen win at Motherwell on Sunday.
A 2-1 defeat by Ross County at Pittodrie on Thursday means the Dons’ winless run has now reached nine matches.
The latest loss was the fourth on the bounce for an Aberdeen side which has lost its way following a stunning start which saw the club take 31 points from a possible 33 in the opening 11 games of the league campaign.
Motherwell stand between the Dons recording an unwanted milestone of a 10th straight game without a win on Sunday and midfielder Clarkson is desperate to avoid reaching double figures at Fir Park.
He said: “I’d give everything for an ugly win. I’d give everything, honestly. We just need that one win.
“Yeah, get that one win under our belt and then obviously take it from there, but it’s a lot easier said than done.”
‘We’ve not been good enough’
The frustration was etched on Clarkson’s face as he faced the media following Thursday’s home defeat by the Staggies.
The former Liverpool playmaker is at a loss to explain how a team which was playing so consistently well cannot seem to find the way to another victory, but he knows what areas need to improve.
Clarkson said: “We’ve not been good enough in both boxes. We’re not creating enough, not taking chances when they come and then conceding really bad goals.
“Albeit the first one on Thursday was obviously a really good strike which you can’t really do much with.
“But I’d say the last 10 goals we’ve conceded, they’ve all been easily preventable, like easily, coming from our mistakes.
“So we need to cut that out as soon as possible and just find a way of getting points on the board.
“If you keep losing games you’re going to keep sliding. We need points on the board, but I think the main thing is the performances.
“The performances haven’t been there. We’ve deserved to lose. We’ve got to get the balance now.
“The games are coming thick and fast. We’ve got the game on Sunday, so we need to look at it and find ways around how we can start winning games again.”
Dons have done everything to try and end their run of defeats
Post-match postmortems have become in vogue for the Dons for almost two months as the run of games without a win grows with each passing match.
Clarkson says the soul-searching continues in the Aberdeen dressing room as players openly critique their performances.
He said: “The togetherness is still there in the squad, we just can’t put our finger on what’s really going wrong at the minute, but I just think it’s in both boxes, conceding easily and teams are making it very hard for us to score against.
“As I say, when those two come together, we’re losing games.
“After every bad defeat we’ve been in there for 20 minutes before the manager even walks in, saying what we all want to say, digging players out when needed.
“But we’ve done everything to try and stop losing, and we’ve gone and lost against Ross County, so we need to just try and get a win and find a way to do it on Sunday.
“Obviously when things are going well and everything’s rosy everything seems so much easier, and when you’ve lost a few games it’s almost like the end of the world.
“But we do really need to start winning games and performing well and doing the damage in both boxes, keeping clean sheets.
“It’s almost getting back to the basics of what we were doing at the start of the season.”
‘Records don’t matter’
The Dons head for Motherwell on Sunday looking to arrest their worrying run of results knowing they have a decent record in recent encounters with the Steelmen.
But it is his side’s own sequence of results which is of most concern for Clarkson.
He said: “Records don’t really matter, you know, it’s two different teams from the last time that we played them at their place.
“They’re doing quite well in the league as well, so again it’s another tough game, but one that we can’t hide away from.
“We need to go down there, pump our chests out and give everything for three points.”
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