In the wake of Aberdeen’s defeat to Inverness on Monday night, aside from the calls for Wiilie Collum to be sacked, there were familiar complaints from Dons fans that have been aimed at the team a number times over the season: Aberdeen are just too weak. It is something I have certainly thought myself a few times and after seeing an angry post to the Aberdeen-Mad forum site (which can be found here: http://boards.footymad.net/aberdeen-mad/2109536529/?pg=1) it has made me think about it a lot more.

By ‘weak’ I not only mean physical weakness but mental weakness and being able to stand up for themselves. There has been a lot of criticism for the way that Dons players seem to be put off their game when opponents get physical and it did seem to have an effect on their performance as the game progressed on Monday. Another thing that was noted on Monday was the way that nobody really seemed to protest the unbelievable decision by Collum to award the penalty for the blatant dive from Ross Draper. For example, what would have happened if that had been awarded against Hearts? They would have had the entire team surrounding and hounding the referee for an explanation or to try and force him to change his mind. Is this right? Judging by what I’ve seen around Twitter and certain forums it is something a number of fans would like to see. Truthfully I don’t really think anyone wants to see a ref bombarded by angry players but does it show passion and give an indication that the players really do care? It certainly shows more class and is ‘proper’ to just accept a decision and move on but in a football world that is now designed around a ‘cheating culture’ where almost every team is allowed to openly swear and shout at the referee with almost no repercussion should Aberdeen adopt it too?

Like it or not this ‘cheating culture’ is now more a part of football than ever. Football is now a game where rules are just openly ignored and laughed at, watch any game now and I guarantee that you will see foul throws ignored, players taking the piss by ‘stealing’ yards at free kicks and throw in’s and when was the last time you saw a goal keeper pulled up for holding the ball for more than six seconds? To complain about these may seem petty but rules are rules, if they are not going to be followed why have them at all? The more money that seems to be ploughed into the game the less authority the referee’s seem to have and so if this is the case why not join in and be as dirty as everyone else? The difference in the two teams on Monday night was plain to see at the decision to award Caley’s third goal. After the linesman had chalked off the goal for offside, straight away there were five Inverness players over at the linesman screaming in his face to change his mind. The difference between this incident and the others? This decision was overturned. Does this then mean that by surrounding the referee or the linesman you are more likely to get the decision? I doubt that it really does but there is a general belief within football that you can judge how bad the decision is by looking at the players reaction. Ultimately the Inverness players proved correct with their protests, but looking at the reactions of the Aberdeen players after the penalty incident, would you get an indication of how bad it actually was? Ash Taylor just looked stunned, resigned to the fact that this referee was so inept that there was no point in protesting, maybe. Should his reaction though have been different? Would fans prefer him to rush to the referee screaming until his face turned blue a reaction of anger, of fury that this ridiculous dive managed to fool this idiot ref? I’m inclined to say that I probably would, not for every decision like Hearts, but for truly horrendous decisions such as this I would maybe like to see more of a reaction.

Does this lack of anger then translate into the players performance? The other criticism that is aimed at the Aberdeen players is that they get bullied far to easily. No matter how much you deny, this is one that sometimes cannot be argued. It did seem to be the case on Monday night after Inverness went ahead they resorted to petty foul after petty foul and denied Aberdeen a chance to play. Any time an Aberdeen player looked like creating something they were scythed down or bundled over, this was all because the Inverness players knew they would get away with it from an incompetent referee. This tactic from opponents seems to drive some Dons players into hiding to the point that they are unable to create anything. Niall McGinn and Peter Pawlett are obviously brilliant players but when the going gets tough these players can go missing. Thinking back to the Hearts Scottish Cup tie at Tyncastle even Johnny Hayes seem to crack under the strong tactics from the Hearts players. I’ve said it before but these are where you need these cocky arrogant players who aren’t fazed by people getting a bit physical. No matter how much you dislike him, would you ever see Leigh Griffiths hide or have an off day just because people try to bully him? It’s one of the things that makes top class players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic so good. The more they are hassled or mocked, the better they get. They see this as a challenge to overcome and is drives them on to be better. With Aberdeen it seems to have the opposite effect. It drives them more inside their shell when the exact opposite should be the case. Aberdeen have to get used to the fact that they have a better team and better players than the rest of the league and because of this the opposition is more often than not going to resort to rough tactics to make up for the difference in ability. Especially when they know it’s probably going to work. Therefore I think we need someone who can come in and ruffle a few feathers, who can fight fire with fire and get stuck in. It’s really bemusing that Barry Robson hasn’t seen more game time this season and I think Monday night was calling out for his presence in that midfield. It’s something I think Craig Storie with grow into, a Scott Brown type if you will, but to put all that on one player is too much at his age.

Maybe the team is too nice. Think of Considine, Reynolds, Taylor, Jack and Rooney, these are all big players who have the build to be a serious presence on the field but you wouldn’t really think of any of them as an aggressive, physical player. Being nice isn’t a bad thing, I’ve always had a small sort of pride as an Aberdeen fan that we don’t have such a detestable player such as Scott Brown in our team, but being nice doesn’t mean that you can’t throw your weight around and make your presence felt. Russell Anderson was the perfect example. Definitely one of the nicest people in football yet you would also be hard pressed to find someone who gave more for their team. Russell is a player we could really use at this moment in time, you would never see him make the same mistake Taylor did for the first goal, that ball would have been either shepherded to the goalkeeper or smashed into row Z. He would never panic in the way that Reynolds does in certain situations. It is strength of character like this that we need at the moment, and while I see these aspects in Shinnie at times, we need it felt in more areas of the pitch. In the starting 11 on Monday I don’t think you could pick out one player in there who you wouldn’t describe as a lovely guy. Maybe we need someone who is an arsehole, a loudmouth idiot that will come out and complain when we’ve been wronged and cheated.

It is a very controversial topic amongst Dons fans and I’m not saying for one second that I would like us to resort to the cheating tactics that some seem to employ but there is no denying that at some points we can be too quiet and nice and it has cost us big in the Scottish Cup and now maybe in the league. We need to be able to employ a plan B for when the opposition tries to bully us and until that is the case there might be a lot more points dropped due to the same situation. We can’t help when the referee is so useless it costs us goals but we need to find the mental strength to get past that and fight to rectify the injustice, just as we did in the 3-0 win away at Hamilton which was coincidently also overlooked by a certain Willie Collum, Monday was also more strangely exactly a year to the day since that game.