Talk about a sense of déjà vu.
Having watched Kilmarnock demolish Aberdeen in the easiest of manners last October I did not think it was possible to play that badly again. How wrong I was.
On Saturday at Rugby Park Neil Warnock’s lacklustre side somehow managed to mirror that awful performance from last year. Kilmarnock are now three wins out of three against Aberdeen this season without conceding.
Aberdeen Football Club is fast becoming a complete shambles from top to bottom and if they are not careful a relegation battle could well and truly become a reality. There’s no point sugar coating this, the club is sleepwalking towards an abyss.
The 800 brave souls who made the long trip to Ayrshire deserved so much better for their efforts to cheer on their heroes, it's a shame that same effort was not matched on the pitch. Aberdeen mustered only one effort on target all game and even that was a half-hearted effort from Dante Polvara.
Ahead of the game you'd have expected the players to match Killie’s physicality but they were nowhere near it, constantly getting bullied off the ball and looking more for a white towel than taking the battle to Derek McInnes’ side.
Make no mistake, Aberdeen is now in a street fight and if they are to survive a huge amount of bravery will be required. That fills me with nothing but a sense of dread.
Neil Warnock in his post-match interview with Aberdeen’s club media said his lads are “too nice” and that he would liked to have seen “one or two yellow cards”. He also went on to say that ‘it’s not my type of team really” which raised an eyebrow or two.
Is he throwing the players under the bus, playing to a gallery or is he lambasting the fact that he does not have the type of physical player that he’s worked with before? I would like to think it’s the latter!
Whatever the case Warnock has got to sort this mess out and remedy these issues starting with a hugely improved performance against St Johnstone on Wednesday. Just a thought, if you can help it Neil, please don’t make the Perth side favourites in your pre-match press conference ahead of the game, it’s not a good look!
In fear of repeating myself for the hundredth time in the past few weeks this is a must win game for Aberdeen, a loss is almost unthinkable given our current League position. I have no doubt St Johnstone will head to Pittodrie without any fear knowing they could pull level with the Dons on 27 points.
It's not just the boss who needs to work hard, the players need to stand up and be counted. Too many many passengers are being carried at the moment. Defensive displays in recent weeks have been nothing short of comical particularly in central defence.
One more than one occasion at the weekend you could see heated debates between members of the back four which you could interpret as a serious lack of understanding between them all. Their lack of concentration and awareness of what is going on around them has proven on more than one occasion to be our downfall.
It’s just another aspect of the general play that must improve if the team is to be clear of trouble. As for set pieces, you can only despair. There are simply too many flaws currently and those very same flaws are being exposed time and time again by teams who have sussed the team out.
A season which promised so much is fast becoming a campaign to forget. In truth, this squad is miles away from where everyone associated with the club wants it to be and that’s a sad state of affairs.
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