Jimmy Thelin reckons the 5-1 scoreline his Aberdeen side were on the end of against Celtic on Tuesday night didn't fully reflect the tone of the game.
However, the Aberdeen manager concedes that his team - who had two great early chances through Oday Dabbagh and Kevin Nisbet - need to be more clinical, particularly when visiting a ground where their hosts hadn't conceded a Scottish Premiership goal since mid-October.
Aberdeen battled well in the first half as Thelin's attacking line-up seemed to create an end-to-end encounter. Yet, goals from Daizen Maeda, Jota, and Callum McGregor had Celtic in the ascendancy at the break.
The Dons made a double switch for the second half, with Shayden Morris and Pape Gueye replacing the ineffective Jeppe Okkels and Nisbet.
But Celtic went 4-1 up on 72 minutes through substitute Hyun-Jun Yang before Morris gave Aberdeen a consolation as the clock hit the 90.
But there was still time for one more goal as Maeda netted his second and inflicted Aberdeen to another bruising defeat in Glasgow's east end.
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Reflecting on Aberdeen's 11th league loss of the season, Thelin said: “It becomes 5-1, but I think the chances that we create in the first half is good. It’s a difficult away game and we create these chances. But we need to score some of these chances to come away from here with points.
“Of course, some of the goals they score were good but also a bit too soft from our side.
“So, you feel like you’re doing quite a good performance but it’s still 3-0 when you go in at half-time. Then going out for the second half is difficult.
“When they can play and we try to chance, then we open up and they can control the game really well.
“I think we are going to get some learning points from this game. We are trying to be true to our identity and go out to be better as a team and test ourselves. I think we done some really good things in the first half, but it’s still 3-0. That’s the five per cent in some areas that’s making the difference over a game or over the season.
“So, we still have things we have to improve. We have to learn from this game and then we have to focus on the next game on Sunday.”
“So, if you compare it to their goals, it’s like distinct and clear. That’s what we need ourselves to do more. To create these chances away in a tough game is not easy but we did it today, we just don’t get anything out of it.
“Then the balance for the second goal, we have the ball, we lose it, then it ends up in our goal. It’s a big thing decision making in these areas and I know the players will develop and they will learn from this game.
“I have a strong belief that we are going to get better and now we need to focus on the next game at home.”
