One loss is to be expected.
Two in a row is disappointing.
But three in a row will have served as a major shock to the system at Aberdeen.
The problem with defeats is that, no matter how many games you have won, the more matches you lose consecutively the more the confidence erodes.
That’s why, in the fickle world of football, an eight game run counts for little if the runaway train suddenly slams into reverse. That is precisely what has happened at Pittodrie in the last three games.
How else can you explain a team which had conceded two goals in 720 minutes inexplicably conceding nine in the last 270?
It’s the conundrum which Dons manager Derek McInnes and his players will be working overtime at solving during the international break.
Saturday’s 5-1 home defeat to St Johnstone was a shocker. There’s no other way to describe it and no positive which can be spun no matter how good your public relations skills are.
McInnes knows it too and clearly took time out to spell it out to his players given he did not visit the Pittodrie press room until an hour after the final whistle.
Talk of bubbles bursting at Pittodrie are premature but clearly they’ve deflated somewhat due to the last three results.
Any team can lose a game but there are ways to lose and the weekend defeat is an example of the worst way possible.
The Dons manager felt the need to criticise his players’ first half display at Caley Thistle in the previous outing and that should have been enough to rally his side.
But even in his worst nightmare he could not have imagined a capitulation of the likes which he and 13,000 supporters endured against the Saints.
From the much deserved and earned position of top dogs in the Scottish Premiership, the Dons now find their rivals snapping at their heels and they must find a way of handling the pressure.
It has looked like a challenge they are struggling to handle in the last two matches but the one saving grace for McInnes is that the problems, defensively at least, are blindingly obvious.
The loss of Mark Reynolds before a ball had been kicked domestically has forced Aberdeen into a tactical tweak as the pace of the former Motherwell man is a crucial component of McInnes’ favoured approach of playing on the front foot with a high defensive line.
But Reynolds’ absence was not the reason for the shambolic defensive lapse at Pittodrie. It was the inability to do the basics of marking opponents, winning the ball and clearing your lines which cost Aberdeen dear for four of the five goals.
McInnes prides himself on his meticulous preparation and that’s why the manner of the loss will have hurt him so much.
The return of Reynolds for the next league match at Ross County on October 16 could not have come at a better time. McInnes will be hoping his availability can help shore up what has become a frightfully concerning and alarmingly porous backline.
Aberdeen’s defeat on Saturday was their worst home defeat since the days of Mark McGhee and the heaviest McInnes has suffered in his tenure.
It is a feeling which he has not been used to experiencing in his managerial career. One suspects he will endure many a sleepless night in the next fortnight replaying the lapses and putting plans in place to ensure there is no repeat.
With champions Celtic doing enough to win at Hamilton to reduce the deficit to one point, the Dons manager knows another slip-up from his side risks undoing all the hard work of August and most of September.
Maybe the break has come at the best possible time. We won’t know the answer to that one until the conclusion of the next game in Dingwall.