Jimmy Thelen has told Aberdeen to ‘put your ego down’ after another heavy defeat

After an unbeaten run of eight games, which included a narrow win over league leaders Hearts, it looked as if a corner had been converted at Pittodrie.

Now, Aberdeen have turned another corner, and another, and have ended up where they were at the start of the season.

“I’m not going to talk too much about the game, more about ourselves,” he began his interview with BBC Scotland.

“Football is much more than technique and systems. It’s more about how you behave on the football field. I have to say it, and I don’t like to say it, but Falkirk had this desire to win a football match.

“We have to change that as quickly as possible. It’s more about responsibility. I’ve been there before and then we bounced back, and now we’re back some steps again.

“Even if we don’t have a perfect match or we don’t win a match, they should always feel that we are giving everything. Right now, we can’t give them that and that’s not good enough.”

Thielen has taken players out before, specifically during a 14-game winless run last season that prematurely ended their title push and saw them eventually surrender a third-place finish to finish fifth.

“Of course I am the coach and the official, but sometimes players have to look at themselves in the mirror and see what football is more about.

“The problem is how we lose these games. Now we have to let go of our ego and play much better as a teammate, as a teammate who you actually play for, the traveling fans and the club. We have to do much better.”