Dundee United moved as much as third within the Scottish Premiership and heaped main strain on Aberdeen supervisor Jimmy Thelin with a 2-0 win over the Dons at Tannadice.
Targets both aspect of half-time from Ivan Dolcek and Bert Esselink left Aberdeen rooted to the underside of the desk with out a purpose in 5 matches.
Thelin had demanded his aspect carry out the basics of soccer higher after Saturday’s League Cup defeat by Motherwell however they have been finally undone by two aerial balls and will have conceded extra as United moved above Hibernian within the desk.
Stuart Armstrong hit the bar for the guests and Jesper Karlsson compelled two saves however there was no sustained menace from Thelin’s aspect as they suffered a sixth defeat in 9 matches this season.
Aberdeen have now gained simply 5 of their final 32 league video games and Thelin would possibly properly have run out of credit score with the Dons board following the membership’s Scottish Cup triumph in Might. The United followers actually thought in order they chanted “sacked in the morning”.
Aberdeen have made their worst begin to a season in 26 years
The Aberdeen followers stuffed the ‘Shed’ finish at Tannadice and gave their group main backing for the primary half whereas latching on to temporary indicators of a resurgence within the second interval.
However some followers vented their anger after the break and the Aberdeen board will doubtless be heading into disaster talks forward of Saturday’s journey to Motherwell.
Thelin made three modifications in midfield with captain Graeme Shinnie amongst these dropping to the bench however United began on the entrance foot and Will Ferry was near changing Zac Sapsford’s pushed ball throughout the face of purpose.
Karlsson despatched a free header huge and compelled a save however a lot of the first-half strain was on the different finish. Dimitar Mitov saved properly from Sapsford’s deflected effort and Esselink headed huge from a nook.
Mitov saved a one-on-one from Dolcek after Sapsford did brilliantly to set his strike accomplice up on the break, though the Australian was handed a yellow card and penalised for a foul on Sivert Nilsen after referee Steven McLean delayed his resolution.
The opener got here within the forty fifth minute as Dolcek fired his fifth purpose of the Premiership season into the underside nook from 18 yards after a header fell into his path.
Dolcek has scored 5 objectives in 5 league video games since becoming a member of in the summertime
Nicolas Milanovic curled huge as Aberdeen tried to battle again within the second half however they have been two down inside 5 minutes when the unmarked Esselink headed dwelling from six yards after Vicko Sevelj had flicked on a nook.
The sport threatened to spiral additional out of Aberdeen’s attain. Mitov parried properly from Dolcek, Krisztian Keresztes fired into the aspect internet from 20 yards, a number of blocks prevented United from hitting the goal in a spell of sustained strain and Sevelj shot simply huge from lengthy vary.
There have been indicators of a rally as Armstrong hit the crossbar from 25 yards and Yevhenii Kucherenko denied Karlsson together with his ft from the rebound.
However Aberdeen couldn’t severely threaten to interrupt their Premiership duck once more and Thelin and his gamers stood and surveyed the scene of a half-empty away stand largely displaying their anger after the ultimate whistle.
Thelin: We’ve nothing to lose
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Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin speaks about his future on the membership following their 2-0 defeat at Dundee Utd
Following the defeat, Thelin claimed they can’t stoop any decrease and advised his gamers they now have “nothing to lose” once they journey to Motherwell on Saturday, seven days after being knocked out of the Premier Sports activities Cup by the Steelmen.
After going through the anger of the visiting followers after the sport, Thelin mentioned: “We feel the same, we feel anger, we feel frustration. But the only way to fix this is to step up and do much, much, much better on Saturday.
“You’ll be able to’t conceal. In direction of the top some gamers have been stepping out and displaying extra. We begin creating extra however at first we have been fairly stiff as a group.
“You see Stuart Armstrong, he plays with experience, he wants the ball. When he misses a pass he takes the ball again and finds his composure as a player.
“On Saturday we now have nothing to lose, we now have all the pieces to win and we now have to have this sense as a group. As a result of proper now we’re taking part in a bit of bit too stiff due to the strain round us.
“Now we are last in the table, we have one point, zero goals, so you have nothing to lose. You have to step out on the pitch and play much, much more without this tension.
“The followers, we do not stay as much as expectations proper now, so we’re already there, all-time low. The one factor we will do is do higher, so we won’t go deeper now, we now have to go higher and that is why you possibly can hopefully get this stress out out of your physique.”
On the fans’ reaction, he added: “If you see the feelings, you see the anger, you see the frustration, after all it hurts you.
“But the only thing to give something back is to do a better performance. As a manager and as a team, our job is to put a smile on the faces of the fans.”
Goodwin praises ‘nice resilience’
Jim Goodwin’s Dundee United are as much as third within the Scottish Premiership
United supervisor Jim Goodwin confronted that very same anger two and a half years in the past earlier than being sacked by the Dons and he admitted he had feared his former membership’s fortunes would flip at Tannadice.
“I know what the man is going through and I sympathise with any manager in that situation,” he mentioned.
“We were all talking about Hibs and David Gray last year when they were bottom. David found a way to get a tune out of the team.
“Aberdeen have invested properly, they spent a fortune in the summertime, and that is why I used to be a wee bit nervous coming into this sport as a result of the run cannot proceed with the standard they’ve.
“We were on a bit of a hiding to nothing but I’m sure Jimmy will respect my concern isn’t Aberdeen.”
Goodwin, whose aspect moved as much as third, added: “Consistency in the 11 was important but this was probably the most comfortable we’ve felt for a number of weeks.
“The final 10 minutes we get deeper and nervy naturally, Aberdeen threw each attacking possibility at us, however the guys confirmed nice resilience.”
