Dundee 1-2 Aberdeen (AET): Playing for Aberdeen 'not easy' - Derek McInnes
Last updated on .From the section Aberdeen
Derek McInnes has warned his new signings that playing for Aberdeen "is not always easy" after their struggling start to the season.
The Scottish Premiership side were on the verge of a fourth defeat in a row before Andrew Considine's equaliser in the League Cup against Dundee.
Sam Cosgrove's extra-time winner put them into a last-eight tie with Hearts.
"The players have come through tough games, but they know what playing for Aberdeen is all about now," he said.
Aberdeen laboured to victory against the Championship side, but McInnes is confident his team will improve now that they no longer have to juggle domestic and European games.
He pointed out that he was not able to make the 10 changes Rangers made from Thursday's win over Midtjylland.
"My teams needs training, we've not had proper training days - we've been doing a lot of travelling and recovery," McInnes told BBC Scotland.
"The Old Firm can freshen up. I tried to freshen up last week at St Mirren. Today, I did think about naming more changes because we went down to 10 men against Rijeka.
"Our players will have learned a lot today about playing for Aberdeen, it's not always easy.
"Two weeks ago we left Pittodrie after beating Hearts and people were saying to me how euphoric everyone was. We can't be that high and then as low as we've been in the past few games - we need to get a better balance to it all."
