Aberdeen lose the euphoria but tooling up in transfers can still send them ahead of Rangers – Scott Burns

Most Aberdeen fans would probably have bitten your hand off to be sitting in third place at this halfway point in the Premiership season.

The Dons are currently sitting there as best of the rest but there still remains a feeling of what could have been. And being on a an eight-game run without a win certainly doesn’t help. It has seen them go toe-to-toe with Celtic to slipping behind Rangers and are now within touching distance of Dundee United and the chasing pack. Before a ball was kicked Aberdeen the internal target for new boss Jimmy Thelin would have been third place.

The Reds currently occupy that place but this is a season where so much more could be on offer. Yes, there were the early season tongue-in-cheek chants of “F*** you Celtic, we’re going to win the league” as Thelin’s side matched every early step of Brendan Rodgers’ side.

There was even talk of Aberdeen being potential title challengers but that now seems a million miles away. It was fun while it lasted and the majority of the Red Army lapped up that early season euphoria.

The bottom line is that, as it stands, second place is still very much up for grabs. Rangers are currently two points ahead with a game-in-hand. Aberdeen were well clear of them but Philippe Clement’s team managed to haul them back during this poor run. Yet if Aberdeen had won either of their last two games, against Kilmarnock or Dundee United, then they would have been back clear in second spot, albeit their rivals would still have a game in hand.

The reality is that it could still happen if Aberdeen can beat Ross County on January 2 and Rangers lose to Celtic. There is still so much to play for but Thelin and his team need to stop the rot and quickly.

What an opportunity they still