Stephen Robinson was proud of the effort from his players, but expressed his frustration with the goals conceded.
“I’m proud of the effort they gave. There were players on that pitch who shouldn’t have been on the pitch today. We were decimated at the back with three centre halves missing as well, but I can ask for more in terms of the defensive side of it. Of course, we’re disappointed with the goals – really disappointed. A set play, a deflection, and I thought we were in total control of the game when we scored at two all, but it’s my fault because it was a little bit cavalier. We should have managed the game better, but ultimately I have to take the blame for that, and I’m proud of the players for the effort they gave and the quality they showed at times, probably our best performance going forward, but then the balance has to be right at the other end, and obviously there are boys that were in the last ten minutes absolutely struggling; there are boys on the bench who shouldn’t have been on the bench as well, so it’s hard to ask a lot more from them.
On whether that was Aberdeen’s best performance over ninety minutes: “It’s hard to see that; the result is all that matters to people. It hides a million flaws when you win 4-0, and we weren’t fantastic against Motherwell by any stretch of the imagination, but it hides a lot of flaws. There was a lot of good stuff there today. Defensively, I’m not going to hide away. The three goals were really disappointing; the deflection was hard to do anything about, but the set play and the third goal was disappointing, but the boys gave absolutely everything to me there, so it’s hard to come and criticise anyone.
On the affect that the virus had on his team: “I think I named the team three times from Thursday onwards, and then we had to make another late change today. It happens; it’s life. It goes about, and the boys that didn’t play literally couldn’t get out of bed, but the ones that did show today showed a real desire, and they got backed massively by the fans today, and I have to say that as well, so we’re all really, really disappointed that we couldn’t come away with a minimum of a draw.
Stephen Robinson, despite his players having twenty shots over ninety minutes, admitted that his side were too cavalier after equalising for a second time.
Robinson stated: “We had twenty shots, didn’t we? Two should be enough to come out with something away from home, in my opinion, but if we keep creating those opportunities, of course you always want more, but first and foremost, when we went 2-2, we were a little bit too cavalier.
On injury concerns going into Wednesday: Injury-wise, I mean, who will get the virus next? We don’t know; it seems to be spreading through everybody, but we know Lewis Mayo will definitely be out for a minimum of two months. Mats Knoester, again, that’s an injury, not an illness, so we will assess him. It will be a huge boost if we can get Mats back, and Dan Happe, hopefully, has recovered from the virus because he had it quite early, but it will certainly be a late decision again.
On Lewis Mayo’s injury: “Lewis has a stress fracture in his foot; he’s going to be a minimum of two months, and he’s in a boot. We didn’t put that out yesterday because of the amount of other people that we’re missing as well, so it’s a blow to us certainly.
On Mats Knoester’s injury: It’s a thigh injury, right at the last kick of the training. We are not sure how serious that is; he’ll have a scan on Monday. We’re hoping it’s not too serious, and we’ve avoided making it worse by making him play today.
Aberdeen face an inform Falkirk side on Wednesday, and Robinson admitted that he needs to make ‘small tweaks’ going into the match:
Robinson said: “They’ve had a super result today from all accounts, but if we play like that, there’s got to be small tweaks to it, of course. I’m not going to hide away; I’m really, really, disappointed with the two goals. I know there was three but there’s a deflection; there’s not a lot you can do about that, but the two goals we have to do better, and we must be better, and the boys want to be better at that, but we have to get the balance right between the attacking side and the defensive side, so ultimately that falls with me.”
