Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin is wasting no time in installing a winning mentality within his squad.
The Swede has made it crystal clear to his new Pittodrie cohorts that finding success in the cup competitions is a non-negotiable priority for the Dons.
Thelin acknowledges the unique challenges that come with the early-season Premier Sports Cup group stage games, where lower-league opponents can pose a genuine threat.
“The cup games are early, but we know we have to hit the ground running,” Thelin emphasised.
“There are new players and coaches but we need to make it clear that we need to compete in the cups.”
Read more:
-
Scotland cult hero Andy Considine announces retirement from football
-
Jimmy Thelin delighted with Aberdeen squad after Portugal pre-season camp
Thelin is under no illusions about the levels of commitment required from his players.
“The most important thing to understand is that you need to give everything,” he stressed.
The former Elfsborg head coach is acutely aware that the early-season fixture congestion can level the playing field, with both Aberdeen and their opponents not yet operating at full capacity.
“Sometimes at this point in the season, it is more equal because teams are not 100 per cent,” Thelin explained.
“So we need to respect the games and be ready to compete.”
With just one official pre-season friendly against Peterhead on the agenda before the competitive action begins, Thelin and his Aberdeen team will have little time to ease into the new campaign.
The Dons’ League Cup journey kicks-off with a tricky away trip to Queen of the South on Saturday then they face Lowland League champions, East Kilbride, Dumbarton and Airdrie over the subsequent weeks.
Aberdeen are just back from a week-long training camp in Portugal and Thelin believes his players are starting to evolve and adapt to his methods.
He said: “We have to be ready for the cup games.
“But at the same time we need to evolve or we will get stuck because we want to keep growing and to get our own identity.
“Hopefully, we will get to the point where the players wake up in the middle of the night, there are no coaches there and the players will know how we are going to play.
“We are not there yet and need to build a strong team in the long-term.
“Hopefully, we can do that as quickly as possible.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here