The pressure is on Aberdeen’s manager, chairman and players after falling into the Premiership bottom six.
All that pressure is self inflicted as Aberdeen must not be in the bottom half of the table.
Aberdeen are now experiencing testing times after a disappointing defeat at Dundee United saw them drop to eighth in the Premiership.
It is how everyone at the club deals with the pressure that counts.
Now is the time to show they can all handle the heat that will inevitably come with Aberdeen sitting in the bottom six of the table.
The Dons must stand up and prove they have the steel and backbone to deal with this situation and rise back up the table.
They have to deal with Celtic at Parkhead on Sunday first before must-win home games against Livingston and St Mirren next week.
Aberdeen must take all six points from that Pittodrie double-header.
It had looked like the tables were beginning to turn after an impressive week where they beat Hearts and Hibs and drew with defending Premiership champions Rangers at Ibrox.
Aberdeen were superb during that triple-header and it really looked like they had finally turned a corner after a dip in form where they had failed to win in 10 games in all competitions.
However, the Dons failed to follow up the momentum of that impressive week and were bullied out of the points in a 2-0 loss to Motherwell at Pittodrie.
The Dons switched off at the back for seven minutes against ‘Well and were punished by conceding two goals in that period.
Yet again they switched off defensively in the derby clash at Tannadice and it was costly as Ian Harkes capitalised with the winning goal.
Defence is an area that needs fixed, but Aberdeen also failed to score at Dundee United.
It is the second successive game they have failed to find the back of the net.
When you are leaking at the back and not scoring, it is a bad recipe.
The derby clash with Dundee United was competitive and gritty with both teams giving everything.
All Aberdeen’s hard work ultimately counted for nothing though, as they conceded from a set-piece – which is a situation where they should be organised and disciplined.
At set-pieces, Aberdeen should make sure everyone is picked up and they paid the price for failing to do that when Harkes netted in the 80th minute.
The defensive frailties Aberdeen are showing are still concerning.
They need to be able to build on a solid foundation and that has not been there this season due to the lack of clean sheets.
There are a number of reasons for that, but the defensive problem has still not been sorted.
I’m sure manager Stephen Glass is searching for the answer as to why Aberdeen could take seven points from the triple-header with Hearts, Hibs and Rangers before losing the next two games.
The defensive injuries haven’t helped as it has been decimated in recent weeks with the absence of Calvin Ramsay, Declan Gallagher and Jack MacKenzie.
Although MacKenzie returned – after missing four games – for the Dundee United game, he had to be replaced at half-time.
Scotland international defenders Andy Considine and Mikey Devlin have also both been long-term injury absentees.
The defence has changed from a back four to a three with captain Scott Brown going in there as well.
When you are searching for answers and you are dogged by injuries and changing formations, I don’t think it helps the situation.
However, the change in formation is done to search for an answer and that’s the correct way to go about it.
What is the magic pill that is going to cure the defensive ills?
I don’t think there is one.
It is a case of hard work on the training ground and key players returning from injury – hopefully sooner rather than later.
A cohesion needs to be found throughout the team to produce performances and get results – and it needs to come quickly.
Sympathy for Aberdeen’s Funso Ojo
Referee Bobby Madden should not have sent off Funso Ojo in the 1-0 loss to Dundee United at Tannadice.
I have real sympathy for Ojo who showed real restraint after an incident involving a fan, but was still issued with a second yellow and ordered off.
It is an absolute nonsense Ojo received a second caution.
I don’t think the rule whistler Madden was following was put in place for him to blindly follow.
Doing so was patently wrong and the authorities should be able to rectify it after the fact.
I wasn’t holding my breath expecting a reaction from the authorities, as unfortunately administrators tend to just administer laws as they are written down and don’t show any leeway. This looks like it will be the case here and Ojo will miss Sunday’s game against Celtic.
Over the weekend, I watched footage of Rangers defender James Tavernier being confronted by a fan at Easter Road in 2019.
The fan entered the field of play to kick the ball away before the Rangers captain could get it to take a throw in.
Tavernier actually pushed the fan and I am not for a second suggesting Tavernier was in any way out of order.
The referee didn’t take any action and seemed to be more concerned about the safety of Tavernier, which was the right thing to do.
When you have a set of circumstances like that, even if it means the referee will be marked down, they should abandon the rule which says they have to show a yellow.
In the eyes of fans, they will be respected more for that if they show common sense as the referee did on that occasion with Tavernier.
No fear for World Cup play-off draw
Scotland’s involvement in Friday’s World Cup play-off draw is hugely exciting due to the quality of their last performance.
Steve Clarke’s Scots not only defeated Denmark, but really put Group F winners Denmark to the sword in the 2-0 win at Hampden.
Scotland were the better team by a country mile on that memorable night.
Denmark came to Glasgow with a 100 percent record in the group, but were well beaten by the Scots.
If Scotland can reproduce that level of performance the outcome of the play-off draw is ultimately not that important.
With that type of performance, at Hampden in particular, Scotland are capable of beating any of the teams in the play-offs.
Securing that seeded spot with the defeat of Denmark was vital as they face a home tie which makes a huge difference.
A repeat of the performance against any of the teams in the draw gives them a great chance of getting to the final.
If they can get to the final and they get a bit of fortune by coming out of the hat as the home side, I would back them to win again at Hampden.
To have that home advantage, with the Tartan Army right behind them, that would be a strong combination.
Scotland already ended a long major tournament drought by qualifying for Euro 2020.
To back that up by reaching the World Cup in Qatar would be a tremendous achievement.