Robinson has come under pressure from supporters of the Pittodrie club in recent weeks despite steering his men from 10th place to seventh spot in the Premiership and through to the semi-final of the Premier Sports Cup.

Many fans are unhappy with the quality of football which their heroes are playing and remain unconvinced the Northern Irishman can, despite the improved results they have enjoyed in the last two months, flourish in his high-profile role.  

Richard Foster, the former Aberdeen defender who is now a UEFA Pro Licence-qualified coach as well as a BBC Scotland pundit, watched his old club’s home league victory over St Mirren on Saturday and can understand why the man in the dugout is under scrutiny.

He was a huge admirer of the St Mirren side which Robinson led to a historic League Cup final victory over Celtic at Hampden last season and he confessed that he would like to see Aberdeen start to show some of the same qualities as his Paisley team.

“Getting the win over St Mirren at the weekend was far more important for Aberdeen than the performance,” said Foster. “But they weren't great for large parts of the game. They were just marginally better than they have been previously.

“His St Mirren sides got the ball forward early and played in the opposition half. As a fan of football, I enjoy watching teams playing with the ball closer to the opposition goal than their own goal. But we haven't really seen that from his Aberdeen team.

“In the past, everybody in a Stephen Robinson team knew what their job was. They got the ball up into forward areas, picked up second balls, put the ball in the box and made teams defend. But, as I say, we haven't seen that.

“St Mirren put a lot of crosses into the penalty box and also had attackers in the box who knew the ball was coming in and who made the most of these crosses. But at Aberdeen the ball either doesn't come in the box at all or high, floated, aimless crosses are played in.

Aberdeen manager Stephen Robinson and his assistant Stephen Craigan (Image: Alan Rennie / Shutterstock)

“It all feels a bit disjointed. The players are all looking at each other waiting to see what is going to happen instead of being proactive and making things happen. There doesn't seem to be that connection between the players at the moment.

“I’ve seen the manager on the sidelines getting really, really frustrated. I've got no doubt he’s telling the players to do certain things. Whether the players don't agree with it, whether they can't do it, whether they just don't want to do it, I don't know.

“But the players aren’t, it doesn't look to me, trying to do anything that specific. A lot of the time, the ball goes back to the defenders, the midfielders go short, it gets knocked long and there's nobody there to pick up second balls. It looks like they're a little bit unsure about what to do."

Foster continued, “But there's probably been a different thing missing in every Aberdeen game that I’ve watched this season. They've had no energy, they’ve lacked quality, they’ve made bad decisions. It's not joined up.

“The number of new players undoubtedly has something to do with that. But we are quite far into the season now and have just come off the back of a three-week international break. So I feel there has been enough time.

“I think at times fans just want to see a combative, energetic, competitive side - all the things you would expect from a Stephen Robinson side. If they were to bring that to every single game I think it would make a difference because, no disrespect to St Mirren, there is more quality in this Aberdeen team.”

Robinson, whose side take on Dundee United at Tannadice in the Premiership this weekend, has used 4-1-4-1, 4-3-3, 3-5-2 and 4-2-3-1 formations during the 2026/27 campaign and Foster also feels the Aberdeen manager has to settle on one system and persevere with it.   

“I would like to see a consistent run with the same formation,” he said. “If that happens, the players would get better at that formation and the fans would maybe see a progression week to week. They would then accept the occasional dip in form or poor result.

“But the onus is on you as a football player to give fans something to buy into, to get their teeth into. So the guys on the pitch also have a responsibility. Aberdeen took the lead on Saturday and then sat back. The manager didn’t tell them to do that.

Aberdeen fans (Image: Stuart Wallace / Shutterstock)

"I think the players have to step up a little bit. Everyone has to take their portion of the blame. It's not just the management team, it's not just the players, it's a combination of everyone.

“I predicted that Aberdeen would finish third this season under Stephen Robinson with the quality of the squad they had and the experience of the manager. I was confident they would have a really strong campaign.

"That can still happen. I hope for their sake they do. But they're going to have to start improving performances, that's for sure.”