'I hope not' - Jimmy Thelin states what he cannot accept from Aberdeen players after Ibrox lock-in

The Aberdeen manager kept his players locked inside the away dressing room at Ibrox after a 4-0 defeat against Rangers, with all the goals coming in a wretched second half for his team.

Aberdeen are sitting fourth, with games at home against Celtic and away to Dundee United to come. They are in a race with Hibs for third place, with the Easter Road side in pole position. Indeed, it’s even possible they can be overhauled by Dundee United. Thelin won’t entertain the upcoming Scottish Cup final as an excuse for below-par performances with so much lying on the line in term of their league ambitions.

“I hope not, because we know where we are in the league,” he said, when asked if the showpiece occasion is preying on his players' minds. “There's so much to play for here. You never know what's going to happen in the future. As a player, as a team, as a manager, you have to take it game by game, because it's always about performance. And what they showed me today, if someone thinks about the cup final already, then their focus is in the wrong place and they're not going to perform well. We have to understand it's an important game against Celtic at home now.”

He dismissed the possibility of falling to a third successive defeat in midweek could affect confidence at such a crucial stage of the season. “I don’t think so,” he said. “Sometimes football can be emotional. But I don’t think it will impact. If you have to zoom out, we have had a lot of good games this season as well. So you have to focus on them. But football is always what happens now and now we have to focus on the next game and not worry about if confidence is lower. I think the performance will be good on Wednesday.”

He lamented Aberdeen’s collapse after a promising opening 45 minutes. “The second half we tried to push for a bit more and we started the second half quite good,” he said. “We created some chances and they created some chances, but after their first goal I think it was just 11 individuals, not a team anymore, and then it's difficult to play football because it's a collective sport. You have to take responsibility and try to be disciplined in these moments.”