Clarkson Praises Aberdeen’s Team Spirit and Competitive Edge

Leighton Clarkson has commended the “healthy competition” within the Aberdeen squad, stating that the players “are all best mates” in the dressing room. Aberdeen aims to continue their undefeated beginning to the Scottish Premiership season as they prepare to visit St Mirren on Saturday. The former Liverpool midfielder attributes their strong early season performance to the close bond among the playing group. He commented, “The good thing about this year is we have got that squad depth. It is about individually playing as well as you can and staying in the team. It is healthy competition, we are all best mates in there and we are happy if other people are playing. If I am on the bench one week I know that I have got to come on and make an impact and that is something this year – the subs have definitely made an impact in the majority, if not all of the games.” Aberdeen anticipates a more favorable outcome compared to their previous visit to St Mirren in March, which occurred under Neil Warnock. During that match, the Dons suffered a 2-1 defeat, even after holding a one-goal advantage into second-half added time. “That is the past now,” Clarkson added. “At the time we were going through a sticky spell and that was just one of those games where we just couldn’t see it out and sometimes football is like that,” Clarkson added. He continued, “But we are going down there really positive and really confident. We know it is a tough place to go, we know the way they want to play. I have played against them enough times to know how their manager likes to play and it will be a really tough game. We are not going to change the way we play for anyone really.”