It has been good to talk as far as Aberdeen defender Mark Reynolds is concerned.
The Dons captain and his team-mates joined the management team at Pittodrie for a discussion on what was going wrong earlier this week after two disappointing draws.
Forget the fact the team had lost once in the league since October. Performance levels were dropping and everyone wanted to know why.
This was no clear-the-air discussion or crisis talk, more a chance for anyone to express their views. It paid off as the Dons bounced back with a 1-0 win against Caley Thistle on Wednesday to move 11 points clear in second place in the Scottish Premiership.
Reynolds said: “We had a meeting earlier in the week and we spoke about the run we are on and the need to keep picking up points. Wednesday showed what we need to be.
“There are teams around us fighting for their lives or for a top spot and the performance we gave on Wednesday is what we will need to keep producing.
“The manager’s door is always open if we want to speak to him but the meeting was about reinforcing what we’ve done and remembering we still have a lot to play for.
“We’ve relied on our talented players, our matchwinners, to produce something special but on Wednesday we rolled up our sleeves and took the game to Inverness. We won first balls, second balls and dominated possession which was the big difference compared to the two previous games.
“It was good to get back to what we have been all season after two frustrating results in the previous games. The game on Saturday was unlike us with so many players off the boil and it was unacceptable.”
The Dons regained that winning feeling just when Inverness were daring to dream of catching them and, while Reynolds was pleased to increase the advantage on the Highlanders, the disappointment lingers of falling seven points behind leaders Celtic.
He said: “We’ve been cast adrift a bit by Celtic and it doesn’t look like they are going to slip up but we have to keep ourselves motivated.
“There is disappointment it looks like it will be second place as we’ve done so well to keep on Celtic’s heels for so long. It doesn’t look like they will drop three points let alone the eight or nine it would need for us to close the gap.
“We knew when the gap was five or six points we still had to play them here and if we won we would be right in about them again but we also knew one defeat or a couple of draws would make it difficult for us.
“We have to remember it has still been a successful season and we have to keep this run going to the very end and end on a high note as I don’t think there is any disgrace in finishing second to them when you consider the resources they’ve got.”
The pursuit of Celtic may be a forlorn one now but the consolation prize of securing a return to Europe has still to be claimed.
A trip to Kilmarnock tomorrow beckons and Reynolds said: “The way the league is shaping up now, everyone has something to play for and we are all fighting for a European spot or avoiding a relegation spot.
“We have to go out and ensure we don’t face a team which has more desire or hunger to win a game than we do. That’s the challenge we will face in every game between now and the end of the season.”