Fired-up Richard Jensen knows Aberdeen's start to the 2023/24 season hasn't been up to standard.
The centre-back made only his second Dons start as they were defeated 2-0 by Hibernian at Pittodrie on Sunday. Goals from substitutes Adam Le Fondre and Christian Doidge were enough to see managerless Hibs leapfrog their hosts in the Scottish Premiership table and left Jensen and his team scratching their heads at their failure to register a victory.
Aberdeen prop up the table alongside St Johnstone with two points from four games. They will now have a two week break until they face Hearts at Tynecastle and Jensen is adamant that the extra time on the training pitch will pay dividends upon their return to league duty.
He said: "Obviously we were hoping for three points. I think we could've deserved those three points, I think our fans deserved them as well, but unfortunately those two goals that we conceded, they were just too easy today. We need to analyse them and go through what happened but the international break gives us that opportunity to do just so. So, we are going to use that and get better and develop as a collective unit."
Jensen was one of 13 new recruits as he made the summer switch from Polish top-flight side, Gornik Zabrze. Aberdeen have yet to pick up a domestic win this campaign, with manager Robson insisting his new look squad needs time to gel. The Dons were booed off following their recent home defeat to Hibs but Jensen believes there's plenty to be optimistic about and echoed his gaffer's call for patience.
"I think he's completely right. I agree," he replied. "You can also see the good things that's happening on the pitch. I'm sure everybody can see that so I think we just need to focus on that and keep on developing those factors of our game and to analyse, for example, what went wrong with those two goals that we conceded today, and prevent that happening in the future.
"We also managed two systems today as maybe you noticed. So, it's obviously something that can work as our strength in the future to be able to quickly operate both systems during the game. We have a bit of time to do so and to get it right."
The 27-year-old has spent the majority of his career in the Netherlands, with spells at Roda JC Kerkrade and FC Twente. His dream was finally fulfilled when he joined up at Pittodrie less than two weeks ago as he was handed an opportunity to pursue a lifeline ambition of playing football in the United Kingdom.
"I think it's everybody's ambition to some day come to the UK to play football," he confessed. "It's obviously known for the high level of football so when the opportunity presented itself, I jumped on it and I'm very happy to be here."
One of the key factors in Jensen coming to Aberdeen was the chance to play group stage European football. The Dons fell short in their Europa League play-off against BK Hacken but last season's third place Scottish Premiership finish ensured they had the safety net of the Conference League, where they will now face Eintracht Frankfurt, PAOK Thessaloniki and HJK Helsinki.
The Finnish defender acknowledges that a tough challenge lies ahead, however, he is confident Aberdeen can give a good account of themselves in their first taste of group stage football for 15 years.
And he can't help but relish a meeting with Veikkausliiga champions HJK. He continued: "It's going to be a tough group. But I think there's definitely chances for us so I can't wait to get the group started. I'm also looking forward to facing HJK. It's going to be interesting but Eintracht and PAOK are definitely two very good teams, so it's going to be a tough group but hopefully we can fight our way through."
Jensen will also get another opportunity to represent Finland in two important European Championship qualifiers versus Kazakhstan and Denmark. He has nine caps to date and is eager to increase that tally over the next week.
He added: "Definitely, they are very important games for Finland. I hope to get us as many points as possible. We are on top of the table right now so hopefully we will be able to keep that position."
