Robinson sure of 'brilliant strides' as Aberdeen seek response

Stephen Robinson is calling for "perspective" as Aberdeen get the chance to avenge a disappointing defeat to Dundee last weekend, saying "bumps in the road" are to be expected with his new-look squad. The Dons lost 2-0 at Dens Park in the Premiership and now welcome the same opponents to Pittodrie for Saturday's League Cup tie. Robinson's side were criticised for the one-sided nature of Dundee's victory, which came after five successive victories. "Of course we wanted a better performance," he said. "But if we had looked when I first came in and went 'okay we will definitely avoid the relegation play-off, we will revamp the whole squad, we will sign 13 new players and we have won five out of six', then I think everybody would have snapped our hand off. "We have to put perspective on it and demand more than what we got last Saturday and I am confident we will get that. "We expect to have bumps in the road when there are that many changes. Had we lost to Hearts and beaten Dundee, everything would be looking in the right direction and it is still is very much so going in the right direction." The former St Mirren and Motherwell boss insisted his Pittodrie project "is going to take a little bit of time", explaining: "We are rebuilding a whole squad and to do that in one window is very, very difficult. "We have made brilliant strides but it [the criticism] is part of the territory. "You can chose to listen to it or you can believe in what you are doing which all the players, all the staff and the board – we all do. "We are very confident in what we are doing as a group. "I know that over a lot of games at this level that, if given time, there will be cup finals, top six finishes and Europe. We are all being critical of our performance ourselves, but I know that we will be better."