'Doom & gloom' after Aberdeen blunted again

"Aberdeen don't do enough. They aren't creative enough and they don't look like they've got a player with the instinct to be in the right place at the right time.

"It's concerning. No goals, one point, bottom of the table - the pressure is coming on very strongly. It's doom and gloom at Pittodrie."

Aberdeen legend Willie Miller was scathing in his assessment after Jimmy Thelin's side huffed and puffed their way to a dreary goalless draw against Livingston.

The Pittodrie outfit have won just five Scottish Premiership games in 31 since November 2024.

The signings of Kevin Nisbet, Stuart Armstrong, and Bologna winger Jesper Karlsson at the tail end of the transfer window had brightened the mood around the club, but that optimism had dissipated by full-time on Saturday.

Karlsson and Nisbet both started against Livingston, with Armstrong brought on as a second-half substitute, but Aberdeen lacked a cutting edge and were booed off by the home supporters that remained.

Now a Premier Sports Cup quarter-final against Motherwell feels like a must-win game for Thelin, despite his status as a well-liked Scottish Cup winning-manager.

Thelin himself played down the pressure he is under, but admitted Aberdeen are falling well short.

"As a player and a manager at Aberdeen, we have really strong expectations," he said.

"We have to give the fans more to get a good feeling. Right now, the team is struggling a little bit.

"The pressure is always there. We have had a really bad start, but we have to keep working and keep believing. The only way to get out of this is take it step by step.

"This season is not over yet. We know we don't have enough points so far. We have to perform better."

Aberdeen's struggles in the past 10 months have been characterised by the concession of sloppy goals combined with a lack of spark in the final third.

Only now-relegated Ross County and St Johnstone have scored fewer goals than Aberdeen in the Premiership since the start of the last campaign, discounting Falkirk and Livingston, who have played four top-flight games in that time.

Unsurprisingly then, they also rank very low for conversion rate and the number of big chances they score.

That lack of a killer touch has been compounded by the fact they are also down the Premiership rankings when it comes to expected goals (xG) and crosses. They just do not test opposition defences enough and, when they do, they waste opportunities.

In four matches this season, Thelin's side have created a combined xG value of 4.08. That is evidence of the poor finishing across the Aberdeen squad.

Against Livingston, only two of 16 shots were on target, with Jerome Prior in the opposition goal never truly tested.

Thelin was heartened by some of the opportunities Aberdeen created, but admits his team are well below their best level.

"We feel some frustration," Thelin said. "We did some more stable things today, kept a clean sheet and created a lot of chances.

"It's still not there, we still have things to work on. It's not good enough and we have to keep working hard to get the team up to speed.

"The good thing today was the chances we created. When we play at home, we have to be quicker as a team. That's why we have to work really hard to get the team up to their full potential."

Bologna paid a reported fee of £10m for Sweden international Karlsson in 2023 off the back of a blistering spell in the Netherlands with AZ Alkmaar, where he scored 46 goals and contributed 33 assists in 124 appearances.

He has failed to establish himself in Serie A though and his loan switch to Pittodrie is a real chance to prove his quality once more.

On his debut, he had four shots - none of them on target - and swung five crosses into the box as he tried to spark the Aberdeen attack to life.

He was keen to get on the ball and tried to make things happen, even if it didn't quite happen for him.

Nisbet created two chances for his team-mates on his return and had two shots of his own - both off target.

He is a proven goal scorer at this level, but Thelin needs the Scotland international to fire sooner rather than later.

"Four players today make their first game of the season and made a good impact," Thelin said, having also handed debuts to Armstrong and Emmanuel Gyamfi.

"I think we are going to succeed. It is a long-term project, we're going to keep going, but right now we have to show more. It's up to us to give the fans energy. We have to give them more."