Aberdeen

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Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin: "I'm feeling good, especially for the character of the players and the identity we want to create here.

"In the first half, Dundee were good. Also, we were really open and the game was back and forth.

"We talked about adjusting small things and not panicking. I'm so happy with how we responded. The first 30 minutes of the second half was really strong, and the players who come into the pitch make an impact. They are so sharp.

"[The penalty save] was a really important situation. It's the second time he's saved in the league, and this one is so crucial to keep us in the game.

"The spirit from the first day, they support us. The people give us a lot of energy and we are so grateful for that."

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Kevin Nisbet. The Scotland striker came off the bench and set up Vicente Besuijen's goal with a wonderfully weighted free-kick before getting on the scoresheet himself late on.

Andrew Southwick
BBC Sport Scotland

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Aberdeen suffered their first set-back of the season at Hampden last weekend as their unbeaten start came to a shuddering halt.

Despite their lofty position in the table, they still have frailties in defence which Celtic had exposed. And Dundee were keen to test their resolve after that chastening defeat.

However, with the Dons fans packing out Pittodrie for the fourth time in a row, a trip to the Granite City is much tougher these days. Eleven teams have now gone back down the A90 this season with nothing.

Aberdeen needed a Dimitar Mitov penalty save – his second of the season – to keep them level after a first half where Aberdeen had been second best.

Gavin Molloy, who had been at fault when conceding a penalty at Dens Park earlier this season, was the fall guy again when he hauled down Simon Murray in the box. This time his goalkeeper bailed him out.

However, the Dons have a knack of finding another gear after half-time, and they could have won by more with Duk heading off the bar among a string of chances.

Aberdeen: Mitov, Devlin, Mackenzie, Molloy, Rubezic, Shinnie, Palaversa, Duk, Clarkson, Keskinen, Sokler.

Substitutes: Doohan, Nisbet, McGarry, Besuijen, Morris, Milne, MacDonald, Ambrose, Stewart.

Dundee: McCracken, C.Robertson, Astley, McGhee, Mulligan, Cameron, Adewumi, Murray, Larkeche, Palmer-Houlden, Sylla

Substitutes: Sharp, Ingram, Tiffoney, Main, F.Robertson, Koumetio, Braybrooke, Portales.

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Aberdeen striker Kevin Nisbet returns while Dante Polvara will be back in the squad after the international break. Pape Habib Gueye (quad) remains out.

Dundee will be without Julien Vetro after he fainted in the dressing room before last weekend’s win over Kilmarnock. Although there have been no further problems, Dundee are waiting for tests before putting him back in the squad.

Trevor Carson and Scott Fraser will be back in training after the international break while Joe Shaughnessy is working his way back from a long-term knee injury.

Defender Jack MacKenzie admits his Aberdeen future is "something I will need to think about very shortly" as his deal enters its final months.

The 24-year-old left-back - who earned a first Scotland call-up last month - is out of contract next summer at his boyhood club.

He said: "To be honest there is not much to report at the moment because I have been trying my best just to focus on the football we have had a lot of massive games.

"I had the Scotland call-up as well so it has all been going on, but it is obviously something I will need to think about very shortly.

"I absolutely love it here, it is where I have been ever since I was a boy. It is where my family are, it is where I have grown up, I do love the club and I am really enjoying it here."

MacKenzie says Aberdeen won't let the League Cup semi-final thrashing by Celtic derail the excellent start to the season they have made.

Dundee visit Pittodrie on Saturday night and the defender said: "Obviously last week was very disappointing, but we came in on Monday morning and just had to go again. To be fair the mood has been very good.

"We know how well we have done this season and we are not letting one result affect that so we haven’t been feeling sorry for ourselves, we have been working hard and ready to go again."

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin has urged his side not to linger on their League Cup thrashing as they look to continue their unbeaten Premiership start this weekend.

The 6-0 mauling by Celtic at Hampden was Aberdeen's first defeat under Thelin, but they aim to bounce back when they host Dundee on Saturday night.

Asked if the Dons have got the cup defeat out of their system, the Swede said: "Yes, it is not always easy but that is a skill you need as a player or coach.

"Of course you have to take learning points and analyse the game but you have to move on. It is a new game around the corner and you have to put the focus on the right things.

"That is the only way to be better, how you improve from this game. It is another three points to compete for so you have to move on and that is one of the most important things.

"Win or lose, you have to move on but always learn from both games."

Thelin's team, having opened the league campaign with nine wins and a draw, are level on points with leaders Celtic.

This weekend a lot of eyes will be on the Dons to see how they react to a defeat.

"I don’t think it is going to have an impact on the game on Saturday, so for us it is more about the long term and we know we still have things to learn," added Thelin.

"We know we have to improve things all the time and be a little bit quicker as a team in our decisions, a little bit stronger in some areas, and that is the things we work on."

The Pittodrie boss is expecting a tough game against a Dundee side they narrowly defeated 2-1 at Dens Park earlier in the season.

He said: "They had a late winner in their last game, they are strong in what they are doing.

"They are good in some directness but also how they try to get crosses in and transitions, so they have a lot of good things we have to think about."

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin has been speaking to the media before Saturday’s Premiership match against Dundee.

Here are the best bits from his press conference:

• On being named manager of the month, Thelin says the award is for "everyone to share" and says he is "really happy" for Nicky Devlin, who was named player of the month.

• Thelin wants his side to "take the learnings" from last week's 6-0 League Cup semi-final loss against Celtic, but highlighted the importance of moving on.

• He doesn't believe what happened at Hampden will have any bearing on Saturday's game. He was keen to emphasise the long-term plan, and added: "It is more about we stay true to our identity".

• The Swedish manager says will side will need to be at "100%" against Dundee, who "are strong in what they are doing".

• Kevin Nisbet will be in the matchday squad after his recent spell out, and Thelin hopes long-term absentee Dante Polvara will be available after the international break.

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Aberdeen are celebrating an awards double, with Jimmy Thelin named Premiership manager of the month for October and Nicky Devlin taking the player prize.

Swede Thelin steered the Dons to wins over Hearts, Dundee United and Rangers as well as a 2-2 draw at Celtic Park in October to keep his side unbeaten in the league and only off the top on goal difference.

The Swede - who was also manager of the month in August - is joined among the awards by right-back Devlin, who has been a standout in Aberdeen's flying start.

Devlin, 31, scored in the Pittodrie victories over Hearts and Rangers - taking his tally to four goals this season - and his form was recognised with a first Scotland call-up and debut in the Nations League draw with Portugal.

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Dundee manager Tony Docherty is looking to "sow seeds of doubt" at Pittodrie against an Aberdeen team whose unbeaten start to the season came to a shuddering halt last weekend.

Dundee, who are sixth, travel north full of confidence for Saturday night's game after coming from two down to beat Kilmarnock 3-2.

Aberdeen remain tied with Celtic at the top but suffered their first defeat under Jimmy Thelin with a 6-0 thrashing by Celtic in the League Cup semi-final.

"Aberdeen deserve enormous credit for what they have done this season so far in terms of their unbeaten run," said Docherty.

"But their unbeaten run in the cup is now finished, it is my job as Dundee manager to sow those seeds of doubt and try and make sure my team go up there and put in a level of performance that gives us every opportunity to win."

Dundee were unfortunate to lose 2-1 when the teams met at Dens Park at the end of September.

Docherty added: "We put in a really strong performance and probably should have come out with a positive result from that, but we didn't.

"But having analysed that match and the other games have both played since then, we need to take a lot of confidence from the way we played last time."

• Aberdeen are unbeaten in 15 home league games against Dundee (W10 D5) since a 2-1 reverse in May 2004 under Steve Paterson.

• Dundee have only had two wins in their last 29 league games against Aberdeen (D8 L19), the most recent of which was a 1-0 victory in March last season.

• Aberdeen are one of two sides, along with Celtic, to win nine of their opening 10 Scottish Premiership matches this season (D1). In the 21st century, only one team has reached 10 wins in as few as 11 matches from the start of a Scottish top-flight campaign and not gone on to win the title (Celtic in 2010-11).

• Dundee have only won one of their last eight away league games (D3 L4), a 1-0 victory at Motherwell in October.

• Aberdeen have scored 20 goals from 123 shots in the Scottish Premiership this season, with their conversion rate of 16.3% the highest of any side in 2024-25. The Dons have scored over six goals more than their expected goals (20 goals from 13.7 xG), the highest overperformance of any side in the competition this term.

Aberdeen are favourites to finish at least second, believes former Pittodrie goalkeeper Joe Lewis. (Press and Journal - subscription), external

Read Thursday's Scottish gossip

Liam McLeod
BBC Sport Scotland Commentator

Saturday's League Cup semi-final humbling at the hands of Celtic was a sobering reality check for the Aberdeen supporters. The Dons players had them dreaming of a quick-fire trophy under Jimmy Thelin after their record-breaking run during the infancy of the Swede's tenure.

Thelin won't want to dwell on the match for too long and will rather focus on getting the train back on the tracks, starting with the visit of Dundee to Pittodrie this weekend.

There were several factors that contributed to what culminated in an ultimately embarrassing, record Hampden Park defeat for Aberdeen. The first being the fact that the three goals Celtic scored in an 11-minute spell from around the half hour mark were all cheaply conceded. It was a punishing 11 minutes and it destroyed the Dons' hopes of a return to the League Cup final before half-time.

You then look at the two sides' matches last midweek where Brendan Rodgers was afforded the luxury of rotating some of his squad for their game at home to Dundee while Aberdeen were beating Rangers with everything that goes with that fixture. Thelin started the same XI at the national stadium and they looked leggy and didn't get near the levels they got to in the second half at Celtic Park just a fortnight before.

Celtic were utterly ruthless. They actually had fewer shots at goal in the semi than they did in the 2-2 draw and everything seemed to go in for the champions.

Captain Callum McGregor and in-form winger Nicolas Kuhn also returned from injury for the semi and with his team easing through to the showpiece, Rodgers made second half changes with £9 million striker Adam Idah and £3.5 million midfielder Paulo Bernardo entering the fray alongside Liam Scales who has been a first choice for the last 15 months. It again underlined just how far ahead Celtic are domestically and they perhaps felt they had a point to prove having surrendered a 2-0 lead against the same opponents in that recent league match.

However, it gives Thelin something to aim for and food for thought.

Before Saturday, Aberdeen's season has been magnificent. The semi-final saw them lose a game from open play for the first time since mid-March and they have chiselled open a nine point gap on third-placed Rangers. They have a lot to be pleased with and positive about.

But, this is the first moment of adversity for Thelin and he has away games at St Mirren, Hibernian and Hearts to come after the Dundee game with another clash with Celtic on the other side.

It will be interesting to see if they can recover quickly from their blip on Glasgow's south side.

Gary Scott
Fan writer

What's the Swedish for 'bouncebackability'?

It was going to come to an end at some point.

Every Aberdeen fan across the country and further beyond was fully aware that the Dons' spectacular unbeaten run would fall away eventually. At 26 matches (one short of the all-time club record) and 231 calendar days, the very fact that Aberdeen managed to turn the darkest moments under Barry Robson and Neil Warnock into such a run is nothing short of remarkable.

Yes, Saturday afternoon's humbling at Hampden hurts. No fan is ever going to view a 6-0 defeat in a cup semi-final as being acceptable but such is the monumental start that Jimmy Thelin has made to his Aberdeen career that the quiet and methodical Swede has significant credit in the bank that will allow him to comfortably ride this bump in the road with the Red Army.

The long and short of Saturday evening's tie is simple. Aberdeen didn't turn up, words echoed by captain Graeme Shinnie, while Celtic looked primed and ready to ruthlessly exploit the Dons failings. There's a strong argument to suggest that the midweek win over Rangers at Pittodrie had drained the men in red both physically and, perhaps more crucially, mentally.

Celtic's ability to rest five or six players in their routine win over Dundee on Wednesday night shows the difference in squad depth that the sides are dealing with. Thelin was, perhaps, a little guilty of being too loyal to certain players in his starting eleven on Saturday afternoon but you can be sure that he will have learned a lot about his squad and his own approach as the goals flew in at the national stadium.

As Thelin said, sometimes in football, things can run away from you quickly. Celtic found that to their cost during their heavy defeat to Borussia Dortmund just a few short weeks ago and Thelin will be hoping that his Aberdeen side can bounce back in a similar manner to how Celtic have recovered from their own humbling in Germany.

This will be an extremely interesting week in the Dons camp. A first major setback for this group of players and coaching team to deal with and how they react when Dundee visit on Saturday will tell us a lot about how the rest of this campaign will likely turn out for them. Another sold-out Pittodrie awaits with the hope to see their side head into another international break still riding high in the table.

Gary Scott can be found on the ABZ Football Podcast., external

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin was an invited guest of legendary Aberdeen manager Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United's 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Sunday.

Thelin had said it was an ambition of his to meet Ferguson, who won 10 major trophies at Pittodrie, including three league titles and a European Cup Winners Cup.

Swedish manager Thelin has had an unbeaten start to the Scottish Premiership season, with Aberdeen level on points at the top with champions Celtic.

We asked for your thoughts on Aberdeen's 6-0 League Cup semi-final defeat by Celtic on Saturday.

Here's what you had to say:

Ben: Look, it's one game, one loss. We know that Celtic can be devastating when they're on their game. The most important game is our next one. You see teams go on losing streaks after long winning streaks very often, so I hope Jimmy Thelin can bring us back to equilibrium, and the team forgets about this game as soon as possible.

Ross: We looked drained after the emotion of Wednesday night! There wasn’t a single Aberdeen player on it and there wasn’t a single Celtic player off it. Brendan Rodgers was probably the most pumped up person in the entire stadium as he was desperate to lay down another marker; the 'kicking away the ball' incident showed what it meant to him!

Euan: Playing the same starting 11 from midweek was a mistake. Graeme Shinnie and Sivert Nilsen were all over the place, and defensively we were poor. A steep learning curve for Jimmy.

Mike: Looked off it from the start, Slobodan Rubezic being booked early on seemed to show a return to last seasons over eagerness. I felt we were too hyped up and didn’t play as well as we had all season, need to learn from this, also felt Thelin could have changed things formation wise early on to counter Celtic overrunning us in midfield.

Eric: I predicted that Aberdeen would lose heavily, with the big pitch, heavy going and Celtic resting players during the week, but it’s all part of the learning curve and building towards second or third in the league and European football next year. We are still heading in the right direction, so stick to the plan and we will be alright. Rest up and lets go again

Stuart: That’s what you call coming back down to earth with a bang, we were simply beaten by the better team, just the manner of the defeat was disappointing. Not a single save for the Celtic goalkeeper tells the story, so back to league business on Saturday and hopefully normal service will be resumed.

Marty: A humbling defeat and a reality check to gulf between the clubs, but there’s no need to panic, Jimmy and the squad will learn a lot from this and use it to move forward. The players will be hurting but we have use the positives we have seen so far this season and ensure we don't lose momentum. We are still the second best team in the league!

Joe: I'm 100% behind Jimmy and the team. My view in August was I'd settle for top-four at Christmas as a sign of much needed progress. The rather fortunate 2-2 draw disguised the gulf between the two teams. Cup semis and Europe are my hopes as a fan, anything else is bonus. The Dons must find ways to make games hard for the Old Firm, especially this Celtic team.

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Graeme Shinnie says the 6-0 League Cup semi-final thrashing by Celtic is "a massive learning curve" for Aberdeen's squad but is confident they can put the crushing disappointment behind them.

The Dons had gone into the game unbeaten in 16 games, including a 2-2 league draw at Celtic Park, under manager Jimmy Thelin, but it was Brendan Rodgers' domestically unbeaten side who progressed to face either Motherwell or Rangers in the final.

"It is going to hurt for the next couple of days," midfielder Shinnie admitted. "Defeats like that do, but I think we have to analyse it then get over it and look forward to next week and turning it round and getting back to winning ways.

"We have had a good start in the league and it is a league game next week against Dundee at home with a sell-out crowd again, so we need to repay that with a good performance."

Shinnie had a simple explanation when asked what made the difference between the league draw and the cup capitulation.

"That is what happens if we are not at the top of our game," he told BBC Scotland. "Celtic are a good team if you let them play to their strengths.

"When they are at the top of their game like that, we need to match it with the top of our game and we weren't there, so when we don't play well and they are playing well like that, it is a bit of a recipe for disaster, so it is a massive learning curve for the squad."

Aberdeen had beaten Rangers 2-1 in a tense midweek Premiership game at Pittodrie to move nine points clear of the visitors along with Celtic, but Shinnie was not for using that as an excuse.

"We prepared well for the game, recovered well after Wednesday, prepared as we normally would," he added.

"We didn't make our mark, we had a couple of chances in the second half, but we didn't do enough on the day to hurt them going forward and the goals that we lost were really sloppy, so a mix of everything is a bad day."

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Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin told Premier Sports: "This is football. Celtic were really strong today.

"When it goes wrong and they're so skilful, it can stick away like this. We have to look at the bigger picture, how the fans stick with us.

"It's the first bump in the road, most importantly for us now is how we move on in the future.

"We can't let this game define us. We have to move on. We always take it game by game."

Nick McPheat
BBC Sport Scotland

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Just as they were at Celtic Park, the Dons were happy to concede possession and for half an hour their defensive shape was fairly resolute.

But Cameron Carter-Vickers' simple opener from Arne Engels' corner opened the floodgates and Jimmy Thelin's side were simply unable to deal with their relentless opposition.

Continually they were overrun in midfield and were also ruthlessly punished for mistakes.

Slobodan Rubezic losing possession on halfway resulted in Celtic's second, Devlin was too deep for the first of Maeda's treble, and Kuhn escaped a challenge too many for the fourth.

On a sobering night for Thelin, his task now is to ensure the manner of this defeat does not deliver long-term damage to his players after a stunning start to the campaign.