Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin says his players are ready for an intense start to the second half of the Scottish Premiership season.
The Dons return to action following the World Cup break this weekend when leaders Celtic head to Pittodrie on Saturday lunchtime.
That will be followed by the visit of Rangers just three days later but Dons boss Goodwin says his players are relishing the Old Firm double header.
With both Celtic and Rangers likely to be missing players who are involved in the World Cup, the Dons may feel it is a good time to take on the two teams sitting above them in the top flight.
Christmas Eve trip
The Dons then face a Christmas Eve trip to Paisley to meet St Mirren before facing Kilmarnock away on December 28 and bringing in the new year with a home game against Ross County on January 2.
Goodwin said: “As a manager, you probably don’t particularly like it a great deal because of the lack of time between games to prepare for the next opposition.
“You are limited with time with what you can do when it comes to doing all the analysis and talking about the patterns of play.
“If you are playing at the weekend and then again midweek then the two or three of the build-up to the midweek game includes one day of recovery.
“Forty-eight hours after the game the guys are still a little bit stiff so you are limited with what you can get out of them in terms of volume and you are doing a lot of walk-throughs.
Goodwin loved ‘thick and fast’ games
“But from a player’s perspective, I used to love when the games came thick and fast.
“The lads enjoy training but they certainly enjoy playing games more.
“They are more excited when it goes Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday than we do as managers.”
With a demanding fixture list on the horizon, Goodwin is confident his squad is in fine shape to deal with the deluge of games with only winger Callum Roberts (hamstring) on the injury list.
This Saturday’s match will be Aberdeen’s first game for five weeks but the Dons boss is confident his players’ fitness levels will be unaffected by the World Cup break.
He said: “We haven’t had a great deal of time off. After the last game against Dundee United (a 1-0 win on November 12) we went to Atlanta for a week.
“The boys worked hard over there and we had the friendly.
“It was a great experience for the lads. The game itself wasn’t one we would look back on and say it was a brilliant game of football but it was a good way of keeping the boys ticking over.
“We did some training at the Atlanta facility which was out of this world.
“The people of Atlanta were very hospitable and put out the red carpet for us.
“We didn’t want for anything during our time there.
“The guys got a little bit of downtime which helps bring the team together.
“They had a few days off when we came back from Atlanta but we have been back training for a couple of weeks.
Jim Goodwin: ‘They are in great shape’
🎄 After the World Cup break The Dons will be coming home for Christmas with matches against Celtic, Rangers and Ross County at Pittodrie!
⬇️ Tickets on sale now.
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) December 2, 2022
“They are in great shape. You don’t lose a lot of fitness with only having a week off.
“The summer is different when the guys are putting their feet up for a month. That can be a tougher process to get them back to their levels.
“We are in a great place right now and injury-wise we don’t have too many out at the moment.
“Callum Roberts has been a long-term one. He had a slight setback before the break but nothing too major.
“He is working hard with Kevin Bain and the rest of the medical team.
“Everybody else is pretty much where we need them to be at this moment in time.”
Goodwin confident after home form
Goodwin believes the Dons should head into their Old Firm double-header with confidence given their impressive home form this season.
Aberdeen are the joint top scorers on their own patch this term, netting 22 goals from their seven home games – the same total as Celtic and Rangers.
The Reds have also won six of their seven games but will face a stern test on their return to action.
The Dons boss said: “Sometimes you find at the big clubs that players who aren’t mentally strong enough can’t handle it and prefer to play away from home.
“They don’t have that level of expectation from the 15,000 or 16,000 we have had here cheering the boys on.
“It’s a good reflection of what we are seeing on the pitch that people are coming to watch in good numbers.
Jim Goodwin commends players
“I have to really commend the players for how they have reacted to playing here at Pittodrie in front of such big, expectant crowds.
“A lot of the players who were brought in have never played for a club of this size before.
“The players deserve a lot of credit for how they have handled it. At the same time, the supporters deserve credit for the support they have given them.
“The Red Shed has been brilliant this season. I played up here numerous times for St Mirren and I can’t remember it being quite as atmospheric as it is at the moment.
“What they generate for the match-day experience has been brilliant.
“We could do with four Red Sheds to be honest with you so if we could get one in the Main Stand, one in the RDS and one on the far side then that would be fantastic.
“I can only thank the support for what they have given me in the 10 months I have been in charge.”