By Scott Burns

Copyright dailyrecord

Mats Knoester has insisted it is crazy to blame Jimmy Thelin for Aberdeen hitting rock bottom. That was the alarming phrase the manager used after the Dons lost 2-0 at Dundee United on Tuesday night. That latest setback in the league leaves the Pittodrie side sitting bottom of the table with just one point and no goals from more than 450 minutes of Premiership football. Elements of the Red Army have turned on their manager and his team as Aberdeen’s disastrous start to the season has also seen them knocked out of the Premier Sports and the Europa League. But Knoester has defended his boss and claims Thelin has done everything to prepare his team to get results but it is the players who are letting him down and they are the ones who need to look themselves in the mirror and get the club out of their current predicament. The Dutch dedender said: “It feels like it is a tough phase because it is. It is a hard time but it is up to us to get out of it as fast as possible. “We need to get out of this for everybody. You always see the manager as the one who is taking the responsibility but it is 11 players on the pitch who are not doing well. It is our responsibility as well. “I have to say our manager prepared us for everything and again we gave it away in two moments. “It is a bit crazy just to say the manager is to blame. I understand that it is always like that in football but for me, the players need to look in the mirror and do better.” Thelin used the rock-bottom terminology after the game to try to take some of the pressure off his team, knowing they can’t go any lower and in the hope that can help get a reaction at Motherwell on Saturday. The manager claimed his players looked tense at Tannadice. But Knoester said: “Personally, I don’t feel tense, in a way of playing. Of course, there is pressure on us because the results are not good. “You definitely feel a pressure but that is also good and necessary because the expectations are high. “They should be high for a club like Aberdeen and we just need to handle that and try and get this mindset we have nothing to lose. “We haven’t had a good result yet, apart from a cup game, so we need to start from zero and create this mentality.” The 26-year-old is one of the more experienced players in the dressing room. He has been in this situation before and knows it should be a collective effort and not a time for a blame culture. Knoester said: “First of all, you all need to stick together and not point fingers. You need to look at yourself and also point out what the problem is and don’t be too soft on each other. “The next few days we have to be hard on ourselves and each other but build again. That is very important because we will need to do it together.” Aberdeen are in crisis mode just four months after they lifted the Scottish Cup. Knoester added: “It is hard to talk about the Scottish Cup now because it is a new season and we are in this situation now and we can’t look back. “If I have to look at the positive side, we aren’t getting destroyed in games and it is just small things we need to do right in games. If that happens week after week you have to fix it. “Even if it is small things in a game it can be disastrous if it keeps on going. We can fix it but we need to do it. It is the same story week in, week out.” Aberdeen are at Motherwell on Saturday, a week after the Steelmen went to Pittodrie and knocked them out of the Premier Sports Cup. Knoester said: “It is a nice thing that we can get a bit of revenge.”