Jesper Karlsson: Why Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin has had to change his approach from Sweden

Jesper Karlsson believes manager Jimmy Thelin has had to change his approach at Aberdeen from former club Elfsborg.

Swedish international Karlsson played under the Dons boss in Sweden, and says his manager has had to adapt to the challenge he faces in Scottish football.

Winger Karlsson, who is on loan at the Dons from Serie A side Bologna, said: “Has the manager had to change a lot? I think so, with the players he has here now – I think that’s every manager’s job, though.

“The manager wants to play an offensive style of football, but the situation we’re in is different, so we’ve had to change things.

“It’s totally different because the Swedish league is so different to the league here.

“There’s a different structure, a different quality.

“In Sweden we had different players to what we have here, so it’s hard to compare.

“We didn’t play the same way we do here now.”

Karlsson, who scored the opening goal in the 1-1 draw against Motherwell at Pittodrie on Sunday, is not surprised at his manager having to adjust his approach given the challenge of the Scottish game.

The winger has also had to brace himself for the physicality of the game in Scotland.

“This is a harder league than the Swedish league. Scottish football is much more physical,” Karlsson said.

“This is a good league. Everyone likes to fight in every game. It’s more physical – worse than I thought.

“People want to kick you, the manager told me that. There are a lot of strong guys in this competition.”

Dons had to prioritise defensive concerns, and must now ‘do more offensively’

Karlsson believes shoring up a porous defence has been Thelin’s priority, but it has come at the cost of stifling the attacking play of the side.

However, with confidence growing due to improved recent results, the 27 year-old hopes to see a greater emphasis on scoring goals after the international break.

He said: “We had problems with defending so that is something we have had to work on.

“We have to be better offensively, but it had to start with not conceding goals.

“To stop losing games, we have had to go into a low block, have everyone together.

“There’s a different way of managing the game now.

“I think it’s working. We are doing better – but I still want us to do more offensively than we have been until now.

“How are we going to create more chances? It’s a good question because from my point of view we come quite low, our block is low and you don’t get the press.

“We are running around so when we win the ball, it’s still too far to the goal.

“We have to work on our build-up and find better alternatives, because we have dropped down and only two up front.

“It has been Marko (Lazetic) and myself against how many players, I don’t know?

“We are trying to find ways to come out of their press, so it’s something we have to work on.

“We have a break now, then we come back for more big games. We have to step up again and be better. It’s small steps, but it’s positive for sure.

“We are going in the right direction, we are making improvements and have found our way of managing games now.”

Switching off for Well’s goal was unacceptable

The challenge of European matches and domestic football has tested the Aberdeen squad, but Karlsson, who has scored four goals for the club since joining, believes the Dons are learning to cope with the added demands placed on them.

But the cheap goal conceded against the Steelmen in Sunday’s 1-1 draw also served as a timely reminder why the level of concentration cannot drop after the Reds switched off at a quickly-taken corner by the visitors.

Karlsson said: “It’s not possible to let in a bad goal like that, to switch off.

“If you want to get to the top end of the league then you cannot do this. It’s small details – it’s not good enough.

“The mentality from all of us is that we want to get better and we’re getting there. It’s getting better and better.

“The last five games have been better – the AEK Athens game (6-0 away thrashing) you can take away because I don’t want to think about that again. But the other games have been better, so I think it’s positive.

“When you get these kind of games against AEK Athens, you learn a lot from those experiences.

“It’s not easy to play European games away. You learn a lot from those nights.

“We are stronger than that day. It can make you strong and we have found that.”

[Source: Press and Journal]