Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Dons will improve after European exertions says boss McInnes
ABERDEEN boss Derek McInnes insists his side will improve in the coming weeks after getting past Dundee in the Betfred Cup.
It was far from a perfect Dons performance at Dens Park on Sunday but they got through to the League Cup quarter-finals after a 2-1 victory.
The result ended a run of three straight defeats – two to Rijeka i n the Europa League third qualifying round, and a loss to St Mirren in the Premiership.
Reds gaffer McInnes believes their displays have been poor of late because of their exertions in Europe and is confident they will improve i n the coming weeks.
He said: “It’s a tough question (why performances have been flat). Last week we came back from Rijeka at 4am.
“At St Mirren I made changes to bring freshness but a couple of boys looked a bit rusty.
“We were worthy of a point at St Mirren, we weren’t good enough to get all three, but we deserved something and then our focus was on the European game.
“We took a sore one because on Thursday I managed a game f or 70 minutes and I’ll never be in those circumstances again, it was so unusual for the team.
“Everybody turned up for the big yee-ha to try to get the deficit overturned and the game was over after 20 minutes and all of a sudden I’m thinking of Dundee, trying to keep players fresh and keep Cosgrove fresh.
“We went out with a whimper and it wasn’t a nice feeling.
“Picking the players up was tough but we’ll be better for this for getting through at Dundee, there’s no doubt about it.
“We’ve beaten the teams we were expected to beat in Europe. We wanted to be better than we were but Rijeka are a good side and they showed that last Thursday against 10 men.”