Mats Knoester confident after stunning Celtic as Aberdeen star looks to smash Hearts hoodoo

Daily Record

5 days ago

The Dons haven't won at Tynecastle since 2017 and kick off their season in Gorgie against old gaffer Derek McInnes and a team in form
Mats Knoester believes Aberdeen can smash their Hearts hoodoo – after crushing their Celtic curse to lift the Scottish Cup.
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The Dons haven't won at Tynecastle since 2017.
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But Cup hero Knoester is confident that is about to change when Jimmy Thelin 's men head there for their Premiership opener on Monday night.
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The 26-year-old Dutch defender stated: 'They're a good team, a big team as well. I think it's going to be an exciting game.
'It's not going to be an easy game away, but I think it's going to be interesting to see.
'Always the first game in the season is interesting to see how the teams are after the pre-season.
'We're aware that it's a tough game, away at Hearts, but I also think the past doesn't really matter.
'And if I can go back to Celtic at Hampden – we don't have a really good record against Celtic and then you win the game.
'So, in football I don't think you should go too much back to the past and then look forward.'
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Hearts have appointed former Dons boss Derek McInnes and Knoester expects them to be one of their main rivals for third spot.
He accepted: 'Yeah, if we look a bit further, I think they're also one of the competitors.
'Of course, as Aberdeen, you're one of the bigger teams, and Hearts is that as well.
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'So, in that way, I think we should compete with each other.
'But I prefer to just go week by week. I do that with myself and also with the team and their goals.'
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Knoester knows that Aberdeen's Cup win will mean they will have a target on their backs this season, but he is confident Thelin's men can handle the extra pressure.
Knoester admitted: 'Yeah, it can be. (It's) No problem. If they want to see it like that, it's fine.'
The Pittodrie side wrapped up their pre-season with defeats to English Premier League Fulham and Ipswich, who were relegated from the tip flight last term.
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They lost the games 4-1 and 3-1, respectively, but Knoester believes the games were exactly what Aberdeen needed. He claimed: 'I think that was the goal, to have some big opponents, let's say, like Fulham and now Ipswich, especially going into Europe as well.
'We have a tough season coming, so I think if you want to improve something, you also have to play against the better teams, because they will show you what's needed to be on that level.
'I think one big difference was consistency – you see how consistent they are, and if they do make a mistake, they make up for it. They make a foul or they're back fast enough.
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'Also, if there's a rebound, there's somebody there who taps it in, while we just miss it.
'Stuff like that, I think we can learn from that. You're the one that sets a standard for yourself.'
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Boss Thelin also experimented in the two games and former Ferencvaros stopper Knoester added: 'What we wanted to do is play a high line, maybe a bit more extreme than what we normally do.
'Just to try and create pressure on them and take a bit more risk.
'That's one thing that makes it sometimes a little bit more difficult or challenging to cover every space.
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'Obviously we need to adjust a little bit on that towards next Monday.'
Guaranteed European group stage football will also put an additional strain on the Aberdeen players.
Former boss Barry Robson lost his job when Dons struggled with European games last time but Knoester believes that won't be the case now.
He said: 'We trained under really heavy circumstances, in pre-season a lot of high-intensity metres.
'We did everything we could to be ready for that.'