Jimmy Thelin provides Aberdeen verdict on David Gray ahead of Hibs battle and what Dons won't think about

Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin isn’t reading into Hibs’ position at the foot of the Premiership table ahead of their meeting on Tuesday night.

The Dons come into the game off the back of their first defeat of the Premiership season away at St Mirren on Saturday, but still occupy second in the division. They have an eight-point gap built on third-placed Rangers and how Hibs would love to be in their shoes.

David Gray’s side are bottom of the league and lost 4-1 at Dundee on Saturday night, but this is a chance to reduce the defecit on those around them, even if they go into battle as underdogs. Thelin has cast his verdict on head coach Gray and Hibs ahead of the game at Easter Road, with a clear focus on Aberdeen instead of opposition position in the table.

He said: “No, personally I don't believe in these things. I think it is better to focus on what we can do. I don't know how they are going to prepare themselves, maybe they use this to also try to be better, etc.

“For us it is more important what we do and don't think about their situation. I know their manager is probably a really hard worker and they are going to try to find solutions. The most important thing for me is how we want to act.”

Thelin added: “What we want to build into our DNA, how we want to act in certain situations. How we want to start a game away against a difficult team. So those were the things have to focus on in the first 20 minutes of the game.

“Then the game went how it went and we did some good things in the second half. We had some parts of good momentum, but sometimes the ball goes in and sometimes it doesn’t, but also St Mirren did some good things in the transition and created situations from that.

“So we have to keep moving and think about the next game and then we leave that behind. But we have to just talk about the first 20 minutes because that was not the way we wanted to act as a team.“