Aberdeen defender Mats Knoester has accepted that the club need to start using Pittodrie to their advantage after a difficult run of home form in the Premiership. The Dons have won only once on home turf in the league this season, with that victory coming on the opening weekend against Hearts. Since then, they have drawn with Kilmarnock and lost to St Johnstone last week.
Knoester: Home form crucial for fans and team
Speaking ahead of the clash with St Mirren, Knoester stressed the importance of home games. He said: “Yes, very important because that's where the Aberdeen fans are. So you want to create a good energy, a positive energy in the stadium, which helps us as well to perform again.”
The defender dismissed the idea that he feels extra pressure at home, saying: “Not if I speak for myself (I’m not feeling any pressure at home), because I think it's always like that when you play for bigger clubs, that, at home, if you lose, they're not happy. It's quite simple - we are not happy at all if you lose, if it's away, home, whatever.”
He added: “I think that's the same for everybody. When there are more people, there is also more sound, so they're more there (the fans) - so it can be positive and negative. I don't really see a difference.”
Understanding fan frustration and set-piece improvements
Knoester acknowledged the frustration of the Aberdeen support, saying: “Yeah, I understand the frustration. That's not any different from me - I'm also frustrated if we're not in the position where we want to be.”
The Dutchman also revealed that the team have been working on set-pieces, which he believes can make a difference. He said: “Yeah, we talked about that a lot because it's a big part of football nowadays. We looked at it, tried to improve it because we weren't always doing the right things. And if we did, we probably would get the first touch or it would be a chance. So we did have a look at that, yeah. It 100% per cent can make a difference.”
Defensive shape and consistency
Knoester also responded to criticism of the three-man defence, insisting that it can become a four when pressing. He said: “I think if you have a bad result, the focus is always on those things - if you win, nobody speaks about it. And it's not that we're three against one. We have three defenders, but if you look at how we play - we're two against one. As soon as we're three against one, something is wrong, because we don't want to end up three against one.”
He added: “On paper, it's a three, but it's not when we want to apply pressure. It's more of a four. When we're building higher up the pitch, it's more of a two centre-back.”
Knoester believes the team are not far off, but need results. He said: “When you have bad results, like I said, there's always going to be like, people are going to zoom into things, and things look sometimes worse than it is. And I'm not saying that: ‘Oh, we're fine. We can just go and do whatever.’ - But if you really analyse the game, it's true that we're not far off. But then on the other hand, it's not good enough because we're losing last week.”
He concluded: “So it's a bit of a mixture, I would say, of both. And that's also what I mean with consistency - don't panic and start changing everything around. But try to build on what was good, improve what was bad, and then eventually you hope that sooner or later, hopefully fast, it comes together.”
