Aberdeen head to Ross County this evening and the Dons will be absolutely desperate to head into the winter break on a positive note.
Both teams will want to go into the shutdown with a morale-boosting victory but the stakes are much higher for Dons boss Barry Robson.
Saturday’s 3-0 defeat by St Mirren was a really poor showing. It is unacceptable for an Aberdeen team to lose in that manner at home.
Aberdeen should always be expected to win games at home against teams who are operating under a smaller budget, such as St Mirren.
It was a really sore one.
It was also unexpected because the Buddies haven’t been in good form and Aberdeen should have been fresh after their meeting Motherwell was postponed.
The Dons need to pick themselves up very quickly because Barry is under severe pressure.
They have games in hand but they are 12 points off the top four and there is no guarantee they will win those games in hand.
Barry knows what the reaction will be if they were to lose again in Dingwall so he will be hoping and doing everything he can to have his team ready for that match.
Things can change quickly and everything can look very different after a couple of wins.
But chairmen and directors can also get into a panic after a few bad results, especially if it looks like a big target, such as qualifying for Europe, is starting to disappear.
We are now into the January transfer window and on the eve of a short break in the Premiership schedule.
Some people will look at this as an ideal opportunity to change managers, while the other way of looking at it is that it’s the perfect time to back a manager by bringing in a couple of players to bolster the squad.
Aberdeen need to do something because it isn’t working on a consistent basis at the moment.
There is no point having these sporadic – and very good – victories against teams such as Rangers and Eintracht Frankfurt and then struggling to take care of teams that an Aberdeen side should be beating.
It has been happening a bit too often.
The players have to take responsibility as well as too many haven’t performed.
Staggies impressed at Tynecastle
The Dons are going to come up against a Ross County side who will also be aiming to start the new year with all three points.
The Staggies were unlucky not to beat Hearts at Tynecastle, leading 2-0 before being eventually pegged back for a 2-2 draw.
I wasn’t sure how County would perform in their first game since Derek Adams’ controversial post-match interview following the Dundee defeat.
It was clear from the performance that he still has the players on side.
Derek would have probably taken a point before the game against a Hearts side that would have been brimming with confidence after defeating their rivals Hibernian midweek.
A draw at Tynecastle is an impressive result so they’ll be feeling positive and will be looking to build on that good showing against an Aberdeen side that won’t be feeling so confident.
Yan Dhanda once again proved his worth with a superb free kick.
He is out of contract at the end of the season and I’m sure County are hoping to keep him.
But there will be bigger clubs taking a close look at him because he has that ability to conjure up a moment of brilliance.
Ross County are used to this. They had Regan Charles-Cook and Joseph Hungbo in the team a couple of years ago and they would have loved to have kept them in Dingwall for longer but they weren’t able to do so.
It is a continuous rebuilding process and if a player performs well at Ross County then they will have opportunities to move on.
I have no doubt there will be a lot of clubs looking at him as he enters the final six months of his deal.
Finally, the final game of 2023 I attended – Caley Thistle against Morton – was unfortunately one of the worst games I have seen for a long time.
Everything was played between the boxes – there was precious little in the way of goalmouth action.
Inverness had a lot of possession but couldn’t break Morton down.
They never conceded a goal but it may have given Caley Thistle boss Duncan Ferguson some food for thought as he looks to add to his squad.
I’m heading to Dingwall for the Ross County v Aberdeen match so hopefully my first game of 2024 is more entertaining.
