Aberdeen Manager Thelin Stresses Long-Term Strategy Amidst Performance Dip

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin has underscored the “long-term journey” his team is undertaking, following a recent period of declining results. The Dons currently hold second place in the Premiership, but they enter Saturday’s match against ninth-place St Johnstone on the back of a four-game winless streak. Thelin stated: “The season is our target, we try to grow and nothing has really changed for us. It is still a long-term journey and we are always thinking game by game and then we are going to know in May wherever we end up. We are still in some early stages but can be a little bit better in how we manage different kinds of games. So step by step I think we mature in our way to play, but still you can see the identity is there how we want to be on the pitch, which kind of energy we want to play with, the intensity we are searching for, all these kind of things I think are coming slowly step by step. I think the expectation is always high, we have ambitions in this club and nothing has changed. We want to try to arrive to European qualification and that is why we are trying to build something strong in the long term.” Thelin also commended the positive influence that Simo Valakari, the recently appointed Saints boss, has already demonstrated at McDiarmid Park. He commented: “Valakari has done really well. I think the identity has been across how he wants to play, so he has done a really good job and has used the qualities of the squad in a good way.”