Leighton Clarkson has praised the “healthy competition” in the Aberdeen squad, saying they “are all best mates” in the dressing room.
The Dons are looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the Scottish Premiership season when they travel to play St Mirren on Saturday.
And the former Liverpool midfielder believes the tight-knit nature of the playing group has been a key factor in their early season form.
“The good thing about this year is we have got that squad depth,” he said. “It is about individually playing as well as you can and staying in the team.
“It is healthy competition, we are all best mates in there and we are happy if other people are playing.
“If I am on the bench one week I know that I have got to come on and make an impact and that is something this year – the subs have definitely made an impact in the majority, if not all of the games.”
Aberdeen will be hoping to fare better than they did on their last trip to St Mirren, under Neil Warnock back in March.
On that occasion, the Dons lost 2-1, despite taking a one-goal lead into second-half added time.
“That is the past now,” Clarkson added. “At the time we were going through a sticky spell and that was just one of those games where we just couldn’t see it out and sometimes football is like that,” Clarkson added.
“But we are going down there really positive and really confident. We know it is a tough place to go, we know the way they want to play. I have played against them enough times to know how their manager likes to play and it will be a really tough game.
“We are not going to change the way we play for anyone really.”
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