Quite frankly, I fear for us tomorrow. We were woeful on Saturday and haven't scored in three games. Aberdeen have picked up immensely under Craig Brown and are no longer the sorry mob we beat earlier this season and are no longer our rivals for a relegation spot. The last time we won at Pittodrie was before we'd won a third Scottish Cup, so the outlook isn't good. However, knowing us, we'll probably win - then lose to Peterhead on Tuesday night!
We really, desperately, need to start picking up some points. After the shock win over Inverness Caley Thistle we have lost two league wins on the bounce and we can't keep relying on Hamilton being useless and staying behind us for ever. We have to take control of the situation and drag ourselves to safety, rather than looking for the results of other teams as soon as our game is finished. Admittedly, Pittodrie is not the best place to start doing that, but perhaps we'll fare better as the pressure is off. No one expects us to do anything, least of all our own fans.
There must be changes after Saturday's shocker. In a game like this it would almost be acceptable to a field a midfield like we had against Peterhead, but there has to be some sort of change. It is surely time for either Aaron Mooy or Kenny McLean to be put into the midfield to add a bit of drive and attacking edge. It's also high time Paul McGowan was dropped. The reaction to his recent performances has been over the top as he was one of our better players earlier in the season, but he needs a wee spell riding pine to realise he isn't quite as good as he thinks he is. It would be nice to see Jamie McCluskey given a chance but if that didn't happen last week, it probably won't happen tomorrow.
There will be other changes. With Gareth Wardlaw out and Michael Higdon struggling, we could see the lesser spotted Paul McQuade join Craig Dargo up front. At the back, expect David van Zanten, David Barron or Lee Mair to slot in if Marc McAusland misses out. It'll be interesting to see if we stick with 3-5-2, which is criticised despite working, or we go to a 4-4-2. Personally, I prefer the 3-5-2 but would like to see some more attack minded players in midfield. If Higdon and McAusland do miss out, they can expect to be joined in the stands by fellow injury victims Garry Brady and Nick Hegarty.
Aberdeen were comically bad when they faced us earlier in the season and they managed the impossible a few weeks later when I wanted Celtic to score against them to notch up a perfect 10. That was under Mark McGhee, a man whose ego was bigger than Bobby Mann's stomach despite not having the ability to match. The Aberdeen board finally agreed enough was enough and haven't looked back after nicking Craig Brown from Motherwell. They've won three of their four games, drew with Dundee United and are now on a charge. Compared to what Brown has already done, a home game against us should be relatively straight forward.
We'll come up against our old pal Paul Hartley again tomorrow and it's perhaps proof of how bad McGhee was that we managed to keep Hartley so quiet earlier in the season. I can't see that being repeated again tomorrow. Brown has also realised that Chris Maguire is quite a handy forward and was rewarded by the striker bagging a hat-trick against East Fife last week. Scott Vernon also got a brace so their forwards do know where the net is. More worrying is the fact they've signed Nick Blackman on loan from Blackburn, who was excellent during a similar spell at Motherwell in the first half of the season. They've also acquired midfielder Robert Milsom from Fulham.
We'll also be up against one of our former players in the form of David MacNamee. He left Love Street as a youngster in 1999, heading to Blackburn to seek fame and fortune with Burton O'Brien. It didn't quite work out, but he's still had a more than respectable career (apart from being capped for Scotland under Berti Vogts). Considering we don't really have any wingers, the fullback should have a fairly easy time of it tomorrow. The Dons also have Mark Howard, but he hasn't appeared since his shocker against us earlier in the season. Perhaps it's about time Jamie Langfield produced the sort of shocking error he usually manages against everyone else.
Expectation is pretty low as we head north tomorrow, but it's often in these situations we produce a shock. Here's hoping tomorrow is one of those days.