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Stuart Armstrong adamant Aberdeen will right their wrongs in Dundee rematch

· Scott Burns; Ruaraidh Britton · 2026-08-10 · nguồn gốc

Stuart Armstrong adamant Aberdeen will right their wrongs in Dundee rematch The Dons fell to their first defeat of the season in their Premiership encounter with the Dee and will have to make a swift improvement when they face off days later at Pittodrie. A deflated Stuart Armstrong has insisted Aberdeen will redeem themselves against Dundee when the two sides meet again this weekend. The Dons suffered their first defeat of the season after an abject display sent them to a 2-0 defeat at Dens Park in their second Premiership outing. They now have to regroup and fight to keep their flawless Premier Sports Cup run intact, with Steven Pressley's side making the short trip north to Pittodrie. It was a damaging defeat, but Stephen Robinson's men now have a shot at an instant reaction, while the Dark Blues are looking to end the Reds' first pursuit of silverware this season, writes Record Sport. The Northern Irishman had set his sights on doing a double having lifted the League Cup with St Mirren last season, but his side's performance will need a significant improvement from their Tayside showing. Armstrong conceded: "It was very poor, a bad performance throughout. The second half was a little bit better but conceding the second goal deflated us because if you can keep it tight at 1-0 you always have a glimmer. "We didn’t find enough solutions on the ball, we were poor off the ball. We didn’t win enough second balls either, so there was an accumulation of a lot of bad stuff. "The most disappointing thing is we have won a lot of games consecutively, getting that winning feeling back. So I think that’s what was most disappointing; the result yet but also in terms of how we played. "For us, the thing is we get a chance of redemption next weekend. It’s a chance to learn and a chance to play a lot better." Robinson claimed his team didn’t match Dundee’s physicality in the middle of the park. Armstrong admitted they lost too many individual battles. The former Scotland cap stated: "There’s pride to that, us on the pitch winning our individual battles. That always helps and I think in the first half in particular we didn’t do that. "We didn’t dominate physically on and off the ball - and that’s never a good thing. If you ask every individual player, nobody ever wants to be dominated physically. "So regardless of stature or size, we should all be held accountable to win our own individual battles." Aberdeen have signed 13 players this season. Armstrong knows it is still early days and they are waiting for his squad to completely gel, but is also well aware of maintaining standards. A big crowd had travelled south in anticipation, but were left disappointed. Armstrong said: "This club, there’s expectation, pressure and the fans. We are still gelling again, the last few seasons there has been a lot of players in and a lot of players out. "That always takes time and is necessary for the club to move forward. It’s about gelling together the existing guys and the new guys to create one identity and a structure. "New players always take time to bed in. Speaking from my own experience being a new player at clubs, you always take a few weeks or months to feel comfortable in the group and with how the group wants to play. We’re getting there but this was a little step back." The Dons had won their first five games before this one but there is no need to hit the panic button. The key is righting the wrongs from Dens and making sure they don’t happen at home this weekend. "We have had a lot of positive results so far and showed a lot of character last week to come back and win," Armstrong insisted. "But this was disappointing. I always think you learn more from a defeat than you do from a win. Hopefully we can learn from this. It was disappointing to let the supporters down and hopefully we can individually perform at a better level next time."