Aberdeen 3 - 1 Dundee Utd: Aberdeen revival vindicates Mawene’s attempt to ‘stir things up’

ABERDEEN defender Youl Mawene said he was right to criticise his team-mates following their poor start to the season.

The Frenchman slammed his colleagues after their 2-2 draw against Kilmarnock last month but they appear to have finally turned the corner having recorded two wins on the bounce.

A 4-0 win over Dunfermline was followed by Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Dundee United and has given the Dons a major confidence boost ahead of a testing Old Firm double-header.

The former Preston North End player believes that his team-mates have responded well to the criticism. Mawene said: “We couldn’t win a game and something had to change. I was trying to stir things up a bit to try to get a reaction from the players. I’m not saying that is the reason why the results have improved but I feel that overall we are a far more determined team.

“All of a sudden the goals are going in and we look a lot more solid. We still have room to improve as we didn’t play as well as we did against Dunfermline, but we have to remain positive and continue to keep working hard.” Icelandic international Kari Arnason had opened the scoring for the Dons after just 14 minutes before Mawene and his central defensive partner Andrew Considine completed the scoring on the hour mark.

The 32-year-old says he is also pleased with the way his relationship with Considine is developing.

Of his fellow central defender, he said: “Andy has been absolutely outstanding since the start of the season. He is an absolute beast and it is really good playing beside him. We won’t take our eyes off the ball and we know that we have to stay solid and keep working hard.”

And Mawene says that he has no fears that the Dons will be able to rise to the challenge of playing Celtic and Rangers in their next two matches. He added: “We still have room to improve but we do look much more positive and determined out there. A couple of weeks can change a lot although we would probably have been expected to win both of these home games against Dunfermline and Dundee United.

“The next two matches will be a good chance for us to test ourselves on the bigger stage, find out exactly where we are and show that we can take some points from the big games.”

Meanwhile, Dundee United manager Peter Houston believes that his squad’s lack of depth has been one of the factors behind a recent poor run which has seen them drop down to ninth in the table.

He added: “I had to ask Willo Flood to play at right-back against Aberdeen, which is far from ideal but what can you do when you are missing Keith Watson and Sean Dillon? I don’t have an awfully big squad to change it from.

“When you look at some of the teams that are doing well in the SPL, like St Johnstone for example, they are a side full of experienced players. Young players need time to develop and the second season is sometimes the hardest for them.

“I have tried to change things by taking Scott Allan, Stuart Armstrong and Johnny Russell out of the team but this means we are going to be more inconsistent. The young players are really good players but what we really need is for the experienced players to help them along.”