Motherwell midfielder Andy Halliday was surprised not to see a reaction from Aberdeen in Sunday's 2-0 defeat by Rangers.
It was the second straight loss by the same scoreline for the Dons against the Ibrox side, following Tuesday's match in Glasgow.
Peter Leven continues his third spell in interim charge as Aberdeen open the defence of the Scottish Cup at home to Raith Rovers on Sunday.
"I don't think Aberdeen have been a great side this year, but given that Peter Leven's came in, you always talk about this new manager bounce," Halliday told the BBC’s Scottish Football Podcast.
"[He] managed to do that previously when he was in interim charge and given how poor I thought they were during the week at Ibrox, I just assumed there had to be some form of reaction.
"I thought the Aberdeen crowd would demand it, I thought the players would demand it from themselves, but I even thought from the first whistle I didn't feel there was real threat at any point for Aberdeen, real intent, real physicality.
"It was just a game that I thought was really, really comfortable for Rangers without Rangers being great. I don't think they had to go out of third gear."
