For Jimmy Thelin, it is still a case of his Aberdeen team remaining humble rather than being humbled.
The Aberdeen squad and staff have been left licking their wounds after their six-goal Hampden thumping against Celtic at the weekend. Yes, it was a sore one. Not many people would have predicted such a one-sided encounter. But the fact remains it is still Aberdeen’s first defeat under Thelin. They are still unbeaten in the Premiership and are just behind Celtic on goal difference.
There is still an awful lot to be upbeat and to look forward to. The highly-rated Swedish boss described the Premier Sports Cup semi-final defeat as a bump in the road. It was a shuddering one but one Thelin and his squad will recover from.
The bottom line is that Celtic, on their day, could do that to anyone in Scotland and beyond. Look at the way they dismantled RB Leipzig in the Champions League. Aberdeen and Thelin are very much at the start of a journey together. Would he have expected his Aberdeen team to have made such an amazing start, having gone 16 games unbeaten? Winning 15 and drawing the other away to Celtic away in the league. The answer is probably no, but the fact he has shown there is a foundation there for his Red revolution. Even when Aberdeen were winning every game, Thelin never got carried away.
His mantra remained the same. We remain humble and we take it one game at a time. It was the same after the Celtic draw and the home win over Rangers. He never gets too up and after last weekend he is unlikely to get too down. He will continue to put the work in at Cormack Park to make his team the best they can be.
Even before the semi-final he spoke about how there were a few games in the unbeaten run where his team had got the rub of the green when it could have gone either way. Thelin will probably have gotten more of an insight into his players over the past few days than he did in his first few months.
He will now see how they act in and after adversity. The former Elfsborg boss had never seen them lose a game and a lot of managers claim you learn more about your players in defeat. Yes, he and the Red Army, will be expecting a reaction from his players when they take to the pitch at home to Dundee on Saturday evening. The likelihood is they will get it.
Thelin has proved he is a top man-manager and a shrewd tactician. That isn’t a bad combination. The fact that he has given a new lease of life to a number of Aberdeen players who had looked surplus to requirements says it all. Look at Shayden Morris now, Pape Habib Gueye before his injury and even the likes of Vicente Besuijen has come in from the cold to make an impact.
The reality is that this current Aberdeen squad is probably a million miles away from Thelin’s ideal one. He has only had one transfer window but he has added value to the Dons squad. Not only in terms of his signings but also in increasing the value of players who maybe had looked to be on the way out.
Thelin will add again in the January window, players who match more of his preferred profiles. If his side can continue to win the majority of their Premiership games then he can add more quality and players he wants then his Aberdeen team is only going to get better! It is now about getting back on the road.