What the Hell has happened at Aberdeen?
In the wake of our bad Champions League performances we were behind the Dons in the league, and we were going into each league game knowing we couldn’t afford to fall further behind.
They were playing with verve and confidence and looking capable of beating anyone.
They’d proved it, by winning against us with ten men.
No-one realised, at the time, that this was to be the high point of their season so far.
We’ve now passed the quarter point of the season and the league table has a familiar look to it; Celtic on top.
Yes, it’s by a mere two points but we’re getting results now whereas Aberdeen aren’t.
In fact, they seem to be in freefall just at the moment we’re pulling it together.
I said on Facebook at the weekend that two types of teams win leagues.
You get the teams that blaze a trail, beating all comers and enjoying their football, and then you get those who can grind out results and get wins on sheer graft.
We looked like neither, and they looked like the first.
They were playing with real confidence and talking like a team who’s players believed.
Now they’ve collapsed and we’ve found that grim determination and will to win that separates the best from the rest.
They cracked under the pressure.
We dealt with it, and kept on going.
Whatever else you might accuse our players and our manager of, we’ve got mental toughness and that winning mentality.
We’re still in Europe and all three domestic competitions. Aberdeen are out of Europe and have already crashed out of the League Cup.
Part of this is Derek McInnes, who I had always liked as a manager but who, in recent months, seemed as if he’d started to believe the portrait of him that had been emerging in the media; that of an innovator and tactician capable of achieving great things in the game.
He still might, but he’s nowhere near that level yet and his career could easily be derailed in the next 12 months.
He had betrayed a cocky arrogance that was unbecoming of a man with a single trophy to his name. He constantly tried to put down Ronny’s achievements at Celtic, perhaps forgetting that our manager arrived at Parkhead with a few already.
There’s another blindspot with this guy, and it’s the comparative riches of his own side.
Take Celtic out of the equation and McInnes has better players than any other side in the league.
The defeat against St Johnstone was so alarming to Aberdeen fans because the score line adequately reflected the display, and that simply should not have happened to their team.
They look shattered and bereft of confidence, and all it took was a single defeat, their first of the season, a month ago against Hibs, to start the tumble.
But did it start before that game, with the pressure that goes with being on top?
They’ve now lost four on the bounce, blowing to Hell and gone a promising league lead and the chance to set a marker and go for the first domestic cup competition.
In contrast, Ronny Deila’s side has responded to the challenge with four wins out of five and a good performance in the League Cup.
We’ve also played two European ties and drawn both.
We’re still lacking the spark – the Dundee game being a notable exception along with two marvellous first half performances against Ajax and Fenerbahce – but we are capable of winning hard fought encounters and coping with the pressure that makes you champions.
Ronny Deila has taken a lot of stick. I know, because I’ve given him plenty, and although he’s not got the team playing the kind of scintillating football we’d hoped for he has got that extra little bit out of the players that’s necessary to get over the line on the days when the going is tough and you need to grind it out.
We have better players than Aberdeen, but as I said a moment ago, they have better players than most of the other sides in the league; it’s what you get out of them that wins titles.
Celtic are on course for glory.
Aberdeen fans, who started the season with such optimism, are now wondering whether their manager can turn around this bad spell and still make a challenge.
More defeats will increase the pressure on him, as their previous good form had put pressure on our own boss.
The turnaround is satisfying.
We’re back where we belong, and not even one of the worst refereeing performances I’ve ever witnessed could change that.
In the end, that’s why we’re champions.