Glass out to harness hurt from criticism

STEPHEN Glass has sensed that Aberdeen’s players are hurting after being subjected to scathing criticism for their poor form this year – and is intending to tap into that in the Pittodrie club’s final games of the season.

Derek McInnes’s men went on the longest scoring drought in the northeast outfit’s 118-year history in 2021 when they failed to net in seven matches and were savaged by fans and the media because of that.

Glass, the former Atalanta United 2 coach who finally arrived in Scotland from the United States to take over from McInnes last week, feels his charges are still smarting and have a point to prove.

“We have got a really good group of players,” he said. “They have been fairly heavily criticised since the end of the year and for me there’s a bit of fire in the belly there in that dressing room. If we can harness that and the players can produce a bit of a quality that they have, and be as tough defensively as they have been, then we have got a really good opportunity.”

Aberdeen beat Livingston on penalties in the cup in Glass’s first game in charge eight days ago and were unfortunate not to defeat Celtic in the league on Wednesday night.

The new manager has sensed an improvement in their play going forward.

“There’s a lot of teams in the same boat, three games away from a trophy,” he said. “Every team that is left believes the same thing. But there is so much to play for.

“United are a good team. They are like a lot of teams here – they are well organised, they have got dangerous players at the top of the pitch. Obviously, we know about [Lawrence] Shankland.He is a player who is excellent. That is well known.

“Hopefully my family, many of whom are United fans, aren’t celebrating on Sunday night.”