Attacker Adil Aouchiche lifts lid on why Aberdeen’s self-belief never cracked during slump
Aberdeen loan star Adil Aouchiche admits the winless start to the Premiership season was difficult to deal with as the pressure mounted on manager Jimmy Thelin, but the Dons' self-belief never faltered.
Loan attacker Adil Aouchiche insists Aberdeen’s self-belief never dropped despite failing to win any of their opening six Premiership matches.
The slump piled the pressure on Jimmy Thelin, but Aouchiche says the Dons boss’ faith in his squad also never buckled – and the players took strength from this.
Thelin restructured his squad in the summer transfer window with 13 signings, but a disastrous start to the campaign sent them tumbling to the bottom of the Premiership.
Aouchiche was one of Thelin’s summer signings, arriving on a season-long loan from Premier League Sunderland.
Former Paris Saint-Germain No.10 Aouchiche netted his first goal for the Dons in an emphatic 4-0 win against Dundee as the Dons ended their league winless slump.
‘It wasn’t a comfortable situation’
Despite the win, Aberdeen remain bottom of the table.
Aouchiche accepts securing three points from Dundee must be the catalyst for a resurgence in form.
He said: “To be honest, it wasn’t a comfortable situation in the last few weeks.
“It wasn’t really easy to live this situation, but everyone stuck together and we believed in ourselves.
“We believe in everyone in this dressing room and worked a lot – super-hard.
“We are happy now to win the three points.
“It was more for the fans and the people here – although it was also important for the players, to take some confidence.
“Also for the staff and the coach, who believed in us.
“Now we are looking forward to the next game to win again.”
The Dons have a right-to-buy inserted into the loan deal for Aouchiche, understood to be for a fee of £1.5million.
That would smash the current club record transfer of £1m paid by the Dons to Oldham to land Paul Bernard in 1995.
Aouchiche on first Aberdeen goal
Former French youth international Aouchiche netted the second goal in the win against Dundee.
It was his first goal since scoring for Championship Portsmouth in a 2-1 loss to Plymouth in March while on loan.
The 23-year-old said: “It was a goal which was super strange as I was sitting on the floor or something like that.
“I just saw a little space to the right of the goal and just touched it with my outside right foot.
“It is a goal anyway and I’m always happy to help the team to win.”
Aberdeen enter the international break propping up the Premiership table, two points behind second-bottom Dundee.
They are not in action again until an away league trip to St Mirren on Saturday, October 18.
Aouchiche accepts the league position is unacceptable and the pressure is on to haul the Dons up the table.
He said: “Before the game (Dundee), it was just one point which isn’t good for this big a club in Scotland.
“It was really important to win because, of course, everyone just wants to get up the table.
“Everyone will be motivated to win again.”
All four goals against Dundee were scored by summer signings – with Jesper Karlsson netting a double and Emmanuel Gyamfi also on the scoresheet.
Dons’ ambition in landing Karlsson
It is left-back Gyamfi’s first goal for Aberdeen since signing from German Bundesliga 2 club Shalke in the summer.
On-loan Bologna winger Karlsson netted the opener against Dundee when converting a penalty awarded for hand-ball following a VAR check.
Swedish international Karlsson, capped 14 times, also netted a superb solo goal in the second half.
Karlsson has now scored three times in two games, having also converted a penalty in the 3-2 loss to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Uefa Conference League.
Italian Serie A Bologna paid £10million to sign Karlsson from Dutch club AZ Alkmaar in summer 2023.
Aouchiche, who remains Champions League-holders Paris Saint-Germain’s youngest-ever scorer, says the capture of Karlsson is proof of Aberdeen’s ambition.
He said: “Jesper is a really good player and shows his talent every day in the training session.
“He scored two goals against Dundee with the second one really nice.
“I’m so happy for him and we scored four goals, which is good.
“It is always an ambition to bring in a player of the high level -the type of player like Jesper.
“He has a lot of experience in football and has played at a high level.
“Even when we play European game it is a really good game to show what we can do.
“We have some good talent and players in this team.
“We are all together to be the best players we can be.”
[Source: Press and Journal]
