We all need to up our game now.. including ME
FIRED-UP Scott Brown has insisted Aberdeen need to make it a European night to remember by bouncing back in Baku.
The Reds fly out to Azerbaijan today for Thursday’s Europa Conference League play-off first-leg clash with Qarabag.
The Dons travel on a bit of a downer after their shock Premier Sports Cup exit at the hands of Championship outfit Raith Rovers.
Brown knows they need to learn from that and use it as a motivation. He claimed: “It’s one game, it’s not a turnaround. It can happen in football.
“It is about bounce-backability, that’s what football is all about.
“We’ve now got a huge game coming up on Thursday night and it could put us in a great place if we go there and get a good result.
“I know it’s a hard one to take and we will go over this defeat and figure out how we are going to go forward. We need to find a way of being able to play through them, find out where the holes in their team are and create more chances because we didn’t create enough here in the second half.
“It was a disappointing performance at Stark’s Park and it’s brought us back down to earth.
“We’ve done really well in the last few weeks so now we are going to see how the lads react to this now because we have a huge game coming on Thursday night. “We’ve got to look forward to it and try and get ourselves up for it. “We need more throughout the team, including the sub who came on too. We need more from everyone.” Aberdeen manager Stephen Glass made seven changes against Raith Rovers and then had to send on his big guns in Fife, which proved costly as Ryan Hedges and Jonny Hayes suffered injuries. Brown was thrown on in the second half but he is adamant that everyone who took to the field on Sunday, from the start or bench, needs to do more and better.
The midfielder stated: “It’s not that the bigger players were out. Everyone is fighting for their place and the manager decided to rest a couple and brought a couple of players in.
“We need to help each other and not throw anyone under the bus. We need to take responsibility because there were 16 players there and we have to take responsibility throughout the whole squad.”
This will be Aberdeen’s first trip to Azerbaijan but it is not a new experience for Brown.
He was part of the Celtic team that beat Qarabag in the Champions League qualifiers back in 2015. They won 1-0 at Parkhead and then saw it nervously out with a goalless away draw.
Brown recalled: “It was warm! It’s a different team from when I played against them because there were a lot of Brazilian players in their team when we played them.
“We need a good result over there and we need to keep the tie alive so we can bring them back to Scotland and show them how we can play and get back to playing proper football at a good tempo too. The pitch was soft, but they were a good team who wanted to play football and it was a good battle too.
“If you want to get into the group stages then you are going to have to beat good teams and that’s what Qarabag are.”
Boss Glass admitted: “We have to bounce back on Thursday, we have to put in a performance because we know what it sets up, a big game at Pittodrie in two weeks’ time.
“The aim at the start of Europe was to get into the group stage and that continues to be the case.
“After our disappointment on Sunday we have this European game and Hearts on Sunday and then another European night.
“If we come out of that on the right side we could be sitting with nine points in the league and in the group stages as well.”
Glass knows the long-haul trip, the heat and time difference will be issues for his squad but he believes it is an advantage that Qarabag will have all the
issues coming the other way in front of a packed Pittodrie.
The Dons manager added: “It’s a tough task to go over there but I don’t want to be saying how amazing they are. There’s an obvious heat factor and travel factor but they are going to have to travel for the second leg as well.
“So if we can look after ourselves on Thursday we think we will have a really good opportunity against a very good team, but not one we are thinking we can’t get through the tie.”
Qarabag have traditionally spent big to get into the Champions League qualifiers but that seems to have dried up a bit.
Glass believes he has a firm handle of what stands in front of the Dons. “We have time to prepare how we will tackle that game,” he said.
“It’s hard to tell, they’re a traditionally big club, people were saying how many Brazilians they have in their team but they only have a couple now.
“I don’t know if it’s a group that has lost people to Champions League type teams and the investment that goes on there.
“But it will be a step up for them against us and it will probably be a step up for us against them but it’s one we’ll be ready for.
“We’ll hopefully put on a show there on Thursday night and bring it back to Pittodrie. That’s the aim.”