Dundee manager Paul Hartley felt his players failed to get the basics right as they lost 3-0 to Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
Ryan Jack opened the scoring for the Dons before man-of-the-match Niall McGinn added another couple to wrap up a comfortable win last night.
Hartley wasn’t happy with the way the Aberdeen players found space inside the box or the amount of cross balls that made it into the Dark Blues’ goalmouth.
“I thought we started well but defensively we have to be better,” said Hartley.
“Our goalkeeper Scott Bain kept us in it with some great saves.
“I thought we started well but defensively we have to be better.
“It was basic stuff like picking people up when they come into the box and doing your jobs properly.
“It’s pretty, pretty simple.
“You also have to try to stop the ball coming into the box in the first place.
“You can’t always do it but hopefully you can try.
“You can’t leave people unmarked, not when it’s quality like Aberdeen have got.
“At their third goal there was no one within five to 10 yards of him (McGinn).
“It’s not something that we didn’t speak about and that people didn’t know about.
“They just weren’t doing their jobs properly.
Dundee’s Craig Wighton had the ball in the net in the first half but the “goal” was chalked off for offside against Marcus Haber.
Hartley added: “I couldn’t really see whether it was offside or not.”
Dons boss Derek McInnes praised McGinn, especially for the second Aberdeen goal.
McInnes said: “It was different class.
“His first touch was superb to pluck it out of the air and it was a fantastic piece of skill to connect with it so cleanly.”