If anyone at Pittodrie thinks Aberdeen are too good to be dragged into a relegation battle they are wrong.
If there is not a stark realisation within the club that sinking into the relegation play-off is a threat, they could sleepwalk into danger.
Aberdeen have failed to win a Premiership match since returning from the winter break – eight games with a return of five points from a possible 24.
That shocking form is not top six – instead, it screams out bottom six and potential scrap against dropping into the relegation play-off zone.
However, it is not time to press the panic button yet, because the situation can still be salvaged.
This week will be a sliding doors moment for Aberdeen as they face St Johnstone at Pittodrie tonight and St Mirren away on Saturday.
Aberdeen are five points behind sixth-placed Dundee and four points ahead of Ross County, who currently occupy the relegation play-off spot.
The Dons’ fate is finely balanced and which way the scales tip will be hugely influenced by the next two games.
If Aberdeen can emerge with two wins, it can reignite the bid for the top six.
However, if the winless run continues, the threat of the relegation play-offs suddenly becomes brutally realistic.
Since the turn of the year, Aberdeen, with confidence low and a defensive fragility, have offered little evidence of delivering a winning run.
Veteran boss Neil Warnock has been drafted in as interim manager in a bid to salvage the season.
The new manager bounce has not happened, yet, and the hope is that he will quickly get a tune out of the Reds.
This Aberdeen squad have beaten Rangers, Hearts and German giants Eintracht Frankfurt this season – so are capable of hitting high levels.
The problem is that they have so rarely hit those heights, particularly in the Premiership, in an unacceptable league campaign.
There was significant investment last summer into a squad who have underperformed.
Aberdeen’s hierarchy have sacked four mangers in under three years, with the axe dropping on Barry Robson, Jim Goodwin, Stephen Glass and Derek McInnes.
Sacking Robson and installing Warnock took the heat off the board briefly as they search for a permanent manager for the 2024-25 campaign and beyond.
However, the pressure is ramping up on the Pittodrie hierarchy again as supporters want victories to ease any fears of battling the drop.
Some supporters in the 908-strong travelling Red Army chanted “sack the board” at full-time at Rugby Park.
If Aberdeen lose to St Johnstone, the atmosphere at Pittodrie will become toxic as an expensively-built team face the threat of the relegation play-offs.
For anyone thinking that is an overreaction, look at the facts.
Aberdeen have won just six of 26 Premiership games this season.
After 26 games in the 1994-95 campaign, the Dons had won six times and finished in the relegation play-offs, eventually beating Dunfermline to stay up.
In the 1999-2000 season, Aberdeen again had six wins after 26 league matches and finished rock bottom of the table.
Aberdeen were not relegated in 2000 as they avoided a play-off by a technicality.
The Dons should have faced Falkirk, but the Bairns’ ground was not compliant with SPL regulations, and they were not allowed to play in the top-flight.
There is no safety net this season.
Aberdeen’s fate hangs in the balance – and Warnock and the players must ensure it tips the right way by winning tonight.
Pittodrie far from a ‘fortress’
Aberdeen’s inability to make home advantage count has been hugely damaging to the Premiership campaign.
The Dons are failing to make the most of the Red Army and the noise generated by the Red Shed.
Regardless of how bad performances have been this season, the supporters have always backed the Dons during game-time.
Granted there have been incidents where they have booed, but that has been post-match.
During the cut and thrust of a match, the fans’ backing remains resolute – yet the Dons continue to struggle at home.
It is a conundrum, like the leaky defence, that interim manager Neil Warnock must quickly find a solution to.
Aberdeen have won only three of 13 home Premiership games with a return of 15 points.
Even second-bottom Ross County have more home league wins, with four.
If Pittodrie was once a fortress, the drawbridge has been dropped and teams are marauding across the moat.
That has to stop if the Dons are to begin moving up the table instead of nervously looking over their shoulder at the teams behind them.
Rubezic set to return this season
Aberdeen received a fitness boost with the news centre-back Slobodan Rubezic is set to return to action before the end of the season.
There were initially fears the defender could be out for the rest of the campaign after suffering a knee injury.
Thankfully Rubezic did not require surgery and interim boss Neil Warnock revealed he is set to return this season.
Rubezic brings more selection options to a defence who cannot deliver a clean sheet.
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