Jimmy Thelin backs under-scrutiny Aberdeen defender Slobodan Rubezic

Jimmy Thelin stressed his full support for Slobodan Rubezic as he confirmed the under-scrutiny Aberdeen defender was available Saturday’s Premiership trip to Hibernian on Saturday.

The 24-year-old Montenegro centre-back was involved in the loss of the opening two goals in last week’s 3-0 defeat by St Mirren and asked to be substituted after the second goal went in five minutes from the interval, before running directly down the tunnel, with the home support far from happy.

Thelin, whose Aberdeen side are on a record 13-game winless league run in contrast to their terrific start of the season, said: “Rubi had some small issues.

“He didn’t train the first training session after the game, but he has trained in the later part of the week and he’s in the squad for tomorrow.

“We always support our players. Football is a game of emotions, everybody knows that.

“There are a lot of emotions out there, but we always support our players, as a footballer and as a person.

“We are in this together. The fans have been really great for us and we keep moving

“He is a human being but he is a good professional player, and he had a lot of energy today.

“He was really sharp in the training session. It can happen to anyone.

“Sometimes you need a little bit of man management, sometimes it’s more specific about the football, sometimes it can be something outside of football.

“We have a good relationship and support our players.”

Thelin revealed his presence at a Hall of Fame dinner on Thursday night reinforced how much Aberdeen means to supporters and people in the Granite City.

He said: “Football has a lot of emotions. I was at the AFC Hall of Fame dinner yesterday for four hours, more or less.

“When you go to these kind of things and you see how much the club means for people, when they tell the stories about the journey, the love for the club.

“I think there was more or less 300 people there and for me, it’s more about expectations of their football club.

“It can be some pressure sometimes when it’s not going well, but it’s also a responsibility you want to take and you’ll be proud to be the manager of these kind of clubs that they trust you and you have to do a good job.”

Hibs have recovered from a poor start to the season which saw them drop to the bottom of the table before beginning their revival in a 3-3 draw with the Dons in November.

David Gray’s side are in sixth place and unbeaten in nine games in all competitions, including a 3-1 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

Thelin said: “They are on a good run. They have scored a lot of goals and they have this flow in the game right now that we had in beginning of the season.

“The games we have played so far against them – I think we can do a much better game tomorrow and try to challenge for the points.”