Midfielder Ante Palaversa admits Aberdeen must quickly find a solution to their goalscoring drought to end a Premiership form collapse.
Aberdeen have netted just one goal in the last eight Premiership games as a league nosedive continued with a 2-0 loss at Hibernian.
The struggling Dons are now 14 games without a win in the league and have taken just four points from the last possible 42.
Boss Jimmy Thelin and his recruitment team are pushing to sign a striker before the transfer window closes on Monday at 11pm.
The Dons are interested in securing AC Milan striker Marko Lazetic on a loan move with an option to buy.
Lazetic, 21, is currently on loan at FK TSC Backa Topola in Serbia from the Italian giants.
Reports in Italy suggest the move could be unlikely to happen before Monday’s deadline and the Dons may have to wait until the summer to land the forward.
Palaversa said: “We played well but couldn’t make it happen up front.
“It’s happening in front of the box, but there are no goals.
“We’re going to try to fix that and try to be more attacking.
“And we will try to get more shots on the goals.”
Midfielder Palaversa calls for unity in ‘tough time’
Croatian midfielder Palaversa pinpoints a “lack of discipline” at key moments in games, both in attack and defence, as root causes for the form slump.
However, he is confident the Reds will resurrect the season.
And he has called for unity.
He said: “In these tough times it’s very important everybody sticks together.
“It is all about that.
“We are going to try and find a way out of this because it was not only at Hibs, it happened the week before.
“It is the lack of composure when defending in the moment.
“We started well and were playing well, but then they had one chance and we conceded a goal.
“It was the first time they were really in our box and they scored.
“It’s tough. But we are going to turn this around.”
Aberdeen are in the midst of one of the worst winless runs in the club’s history.
The Reds are only two points off third spot, but are also five points clear of the bottom six.
Dealing with pressure to end slump
Is the pressure to end the winless slump affecting the players?
“It’s not about pressure,” said Palaversa.
“It’s just lack of discipline in some moments.
“We have to try to find a way to get away from that.
“Now we are going to work on that to start winning again.”
In the aftermath of the loss at Easter Road, boss Jimmy Thelin called on his players to “look at themselves in the mirror.”
He also demanded they take more responsibility on the pitch and bemoaned the struggle to win 50-50 duels.
Palaversa said: “He (Thelin) is always behind us.
“I think we have to stand and try to do our best to help as a team, all together.
“We are in it together, these tough times.”
Supported by 1,800 strong Red Army
Aberdeen have not won a Premiership match since a 4-1 victory against Dundee at Pittodrie on November 9.
Despite the long winless league drought the Dons’ 1,800 ticket allocation for Easter Road was sold out.
Palaversa said: “I want to say thanks to the fans.
“They were here in the good times, they are here in the bad times.
“I know it’s not going well, but they’re still here.
“We are all working hard to get back to winning games.
“It’s just about sticking together again and finding a way.”
The collapse is in brutal contrast to a record breaking start to the season when Thelin was undefeated in his first 16 games as Dons boss in all competitions, with 15 wins.
‘We can’t let our heads go down’
Under Thelin the Reds raced to an 11-game unbeaten start to the league, with 10 wins, to sit level on points with league leaders Celtic at the top of the table.
The Dons now have the worst form in the top flight.
Palaversa said: “We can’t let our heads go down.
“We cannot feel sorry for ourselves, it is not about that.
“It was very disappointing, a tough day and a tough game.
“We just have to keep going,
“We tried our best against Hibs and are going to try again next week and the week after until we get out of this.”
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