Review: Aberdeen's next challenge is to bounce back quickly... remember what happened to Craig Levein's Hearts
It always seemed a little unfair to suggest that Aberdeen’s remarkable transformation under their new Swedish manager, Jimmy Thelin, had not been properly tested.
He has long since passed the first test, which was to put in place new foundations and ensure that there was no more floundering about in the bottom half of the Premiership.
He went on to pass another, which was to establish Aberdeen as best of the rest in a top flight dominated by the Old Firm. The Pittodrie side are 19 points clear of Hearts, who finished third last season.
It can also be argued that Thelin’s team are well on course to answering another question, namely whether they can split the Old Firm. They opened a nine-point lead over Rangers by beating them last midweek.
What they haven’t done is pass the test it was quite unreasonable to present them with in the first place. Beating Celtic to the title is almost impossible.
Jimmy Thelin suffered his first defeat as Aberdeen manager at a rain-soaked Hampden Park
Their 6-0 mauling by Brendan Rodgers’ side at Hampden on Saturday did more than just knock them out of the Premier Sports Cup. It put in perspective a league table that shows both teams on 28 points after 10 matches.
It was a reminder of what, in our heart of hearts, we knew already. Despite Aberdeen’s fantastic start, they are some distance behind Celtic right now, never mind over the course of a long, hard season when experience, depth and resources will all come into play.
In truth, Celtic were not the real test of this Dons side, who are not at that level yet.
Instead, the most meaningful question after their traumatic defeat at the national stadium will be how they react to it.
Will they maintain the standards they have already set? How will they handle adversity, especially when it’s as sobering as it was on Saturday?
Their first defeat of the season takes them into new and uncertain territory.
Thelin has been lauded for the style of play he has introduced, but 15 wins and a draw from their first 16 games created a self-perpetuating sense of belief that was crucial to their run. To what extent will it be eroded by what happened at Hampden?
It is not the first time in recent history that a potential challenge to the Old Firm has been touted.
After all, every neutral is desperate for a change to the menu, so much so that they have seized upon the merest hint of it.
Maeda celebrates the first of his three goals in a rout that puts the league table in perspective
Nicky Devlin and his Aberdeen team-mates must quickly put their 6-0 defeat behind them
Six years ago, Hearts were in Aberdeen’s position, winning eight of their first 10 league matches and topping the table for three months.
As title talk gathered strength, their manager at the time, Craig Levein, refused to rule it out.
His team were flying until late October when, you guessed it, they came up against Celtic in a League Cup semi-final. A 3-0 defeat at Murrayfield proved to be a turning point in their season — and not for the better.
Hearts won none of their next six games, a run that included four straight defeats. They managed just one more win by Boxing Day, when they had slipped to fifth in the table.
By the end of the season, they were sixth, 27 points behind second-placed Rangers.
A run to the Scottish Cup final (aided by a series of favourable draws) disguised a steady decline in their fortunes.
They gleaned just one point from their last seven league matches, starting the following season badly and sacked Levein in October.
Nobody is suggesting that anything similar will happen to Thelin, but the Hearts example is instructive.
A team unaccustomed to success can acquire a losing habit just as quickly it can a winning one.
Which is why Aberdeen need to get back on the horse as quickly as possible, regain the feelgood factor and keep intact the belief that has been their biggest asset.
It all starts with a match against Dundee at Pittodrie on Saturday. It might just be the most important game they play all season.
Hearts manager Neil Critchley was delighted that his team dug deep to beat St Johnstone
Critchley’s side are up for the fight
If resilience is the quality Hearts need most in their quest to edge away from the foot of the Premiership table, Neil Critchley will be glad to have seen plenty of it in their 2-1 win against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park on Saturday.
An own-goal by Nicky Clark had given them a first-half lead but they had all manner of challenges to deal with after the interval.
Not even the Saints defender, Kyle Cameron, claimed for a penalty when he got into a grapple with Cammy Devlin, but VAR intervened, the referee gave it, and Clark converted for the home side.
Given their recent struggles, Hearts could easily have been demoralised by the injustice.
Instead, they bounced back with a goal from Kenneth Vargas and withstood a late onslaught by the home side. Critchley’s second-bottom side are still in a hole, but they look more than capable of digging themselves out.
