It's always tough at Pittodrie?

“Statistics are like mini skirts, they give you good ideas but hide the most important thing.”

That quote, from Ebbe Skovdahl, the former Aberdeen manager, is as memorable as any of the performances or results achieved while the Dane was in charge of the club from 1999 to 2003.

When Skovdahl was at Aberdeen I seem to remember us having a pretty good record against the Dons but then again we did have the king of kings, Henrik Larsson, in our team so we had a good record against most teams that we played against.

I know that we do not have an equivalent player to Henrik and may not ever have another player as good as what he was but we are still more than capable of going up there and coming home with three points this weekend.

At this stage of the season, I think the points are more important than performance. More so when Rangers drew against Hearts. I know that most folk will say they don’t care what the opposition are doing but I’m certain them not getting three points in their first match will have given us a boost. I suppose points are always more important than performances but us fans also want to be entertained.

I have started off this piece using Ebbe Shovdahl’s quote because it is something that our players, fans and all others connected with the club will have to keep in mind when we travel back up the Granite city on Sunday for the early kick off.

Secondly, it’s one of the best quotes that I have heard in football, I know it’s not related to us playing Aberdeen but do you have any similar quotes that you’ve heard from an opposition manager or player? If so, please share them.

For folk who can’t remember, I have given a break down of our recent record against Aberdeen. Over the past five years, the statistics say that we have played Aberdeen twenty two times. We have won seventeen times, lost twice and have played out three draws.

Of the two defeats, I’m sure most will remember our dramatic collapse in Jan 2009 when we lost 4-2 up at Pitoddrie. That was the game when we were 2-1 up and ended up losing 4-2.

We were so bad that day that we conceded two goals to Aberdeen’s centre half, Zander Diamond. Now I’m not saying that he is a bad player, just that losing two goals to a centre half was not acceptable. The important thing to remember with that result, is that it could well happen again if we are not on the top of our game.

To go back to the quote at the start of this piece, the important part that can be covered up by the stats that I have quoted is that we generally always have a tough game against the Dons.

Seventeen wins from twenty two matches suggest they are an easy enough opposition for us. However, of the seventeen wins that I have referred to, ten of them have only been a one or two goal margin – most of which have been pretty tense affairs.

From talking to Aberdeen fans, it’s safe to say that they dislike Celtic almost as much as they dislike Rangers so their fans will be very well fired up for the occasion as will their players, staff and management.

It also seems that Craig Brown is trying to use the 9-0 defeat that we inflicted on the dons as a motivation for them to up their game against us. 

I think that we all know the 9-0 game, despite being a great day to say you were at Parkhead for, was just a one off so is it realistic to expect us to go up there and walk over them this season?

I don’t think it is. Not because I don’t think we are good enough, I just don’t think it is practical to be expected to play and beat the same team as often as we play against each other up here.

I think it’s important to go to the ground of any opponent and believe that you can beat them but I think it’s also important to show some respect to the opposition to ensure that our own players are 100% focused – I’m sure Neil Lennon will be able to get the players in the right frame of mind.

Last season, with 5 games, 5 wins, 21 goals for and 1 goal against, most will agree that it’s a pretty impossible task to emulate.

Aberdeen and Craig Brown are one year on and they have brought in a few new faces who will be keen to show what they can do and they are also pretty settled.

Despite the fact I am not a big fan of Brown, he will have has team up for the occassion, he will have them set up in such a way that will make it difficult for us to create chances and I guess he will want to try and hit us on the break.

I think it makes for an intriguing clash so bring on Sunday and hopefully, bring back another three points to Parkhead.

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