Ross McCrorie has branded Aberdeen’s loss to Kilmarnock as “atrocious” as he called on his teammates to stick together to bounce back as soon as possible.
Jim Goodwin’s side have failed to register a point since returning to competitive action following the World Cup break and the Pittodrie boss has faced criticism for his tactics on the pitch.
Defeats to Celtic and Rangers were followed by shock results to St Mirren and Kilmarnock and now the Dons are set to take on Ross County on January 2.
McCrorie insists recent performances have been way off the mark, but he is confident that he and his teammates can bounce back to help in their quest for third place in the Premiership table.
He said: “We need to stick together, first and foremost. Since we came back from the break we’ve not picked up any points at all and it’s not been good enough.
“Wednesday night was, pretty simple, it was atrocious. The performance we put on – especially that first half. The way we went out, we never won a battle anywhere on the pitch.
“We were second to every ball. It just wasn’t good enough at all. We’ve got a lot of new players this year. It was a wee bit of as learning curve on Wednesday that at times it’s no going to be nice, especially when you go to places like Rugby Park when the weather is cold and windy.
“You need to roll your sleeves up and just battle. You need to win your individual battles. We certainly didn’t do that – not enough of us anyway.
“Killie won every second ball. Every time it landed, they were first to it in the first half. The start wasn’t anywhere near it. The amount of crosses they got into our box was far too many.
“We weren’t able to build up a head of steam. As I say, we need to stick together. It’s not the start we wanted after coming back from the break points-wise.
“We’ve got a big game coming up against Ross County at home. We need to be ready for it.”
McCrorie is adamant that recent results are on the players instead of manager Goodwin and he feels he and his teammates have some making up to do.
On the pressure that is mounting from the Pittodrie support, he added: “What I will say is it’s got nothing to do with the gaffer. He set us up in a really good way in a really good shape.
‘’We’ve got really good players on the pitch to go out there and put on a good performance. It’s the players’ responsibility and we weren’t good enough on the night. We need to rectify that in the game against Ross County.
“We just need to stick together and back each other. We need to make sure no one goes into their shell.
“We have to keep the confidence up by backing each other in each moment of the game and encouraging each other in certain moments.
“Recently I feel as if we’ve let the manager down. I wouldn’t put anything on the gaffer. It’s us – the players who have the responsibility. We’ve got a team full of talent. There are some real quality players.
“We need too put on a show. Playing at a big club, there’s pressure every week. There’s probably that wee bit of added pressure now because of the run.
“This is when we need to stand up. Each players needs to stand up and be a man and handle this pressure.
“If you wan to play at a club like Aberdeen then you are expected to win the majority of games. We are going to have to put in a big performance on Monday.”
