Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes blasts under par stars after Motherwell drubbing

ABERDEEN manager Derek McInnes read the riot act to his under-performing stars in the dressing room at Fir Park following their poorest display of the season.

However, he insists that he and the players will work this week to right the glaring wrongs from this display in time for Sunday’s Hampden showdown against Celtic.

“It was an awful performance and a total contrast to how we’ve been on late,” he said.

“We’ve shown resilience, kept plenty of clean sheets and restricted our opponents but today we were well beaten all over the pitch and two of the goals we conceded were calamitous.

“To lose a goal 10 seconds after winning a corner is something you cannot legislate for and, at the second goal, we missed Mikey Devlin.

“We lacked some size at the back but you could see Danny Johnson wanted to get on the end of the ball to put it in the back of the net more than we wanted to keep it out.

“I looked for a response but the substitutes never offered much to change the game.

“The third goal came from a ricochet but it was no less than Motherwell deserved and we have a lot of work to do ahead of the cup final.

“It’s not worrying, though, because I know we are capable of better and we’re a good team. That’s why we’re in the final but we weren’t a good team today.

“We need better performances individually and we need to be less gracious in giving opportunities. Our result was self-inflicted today.”

McInnes expects his squad to man up and produce a positive response to this drubbing when they turn up at the national stadium.

“Stephen and his team took a sore one a couple of weeks ago and he got a reaction from his team today,” he said.

“I need the same from my team. My players are honest and they know it was nowhere near what is needed to come here and play Motherwell.

“Next week the demands will be far greater and, hopefully, the bigger the game the bigger our performance will be.

“We’ve got to look at this performance but we can’t dwell on it and we have to focus on what could be a fantastic weekend for us. It’s important we all knuckle down and bring a performance that is needed to win a cup final.”