AFTER beating Celtic on Saturday, Aberdeen now host Hamilton looking to get five points clear. Chris Graham (@chrisgraham79) isn't convinced though.
Aberdeen v Hamilton | Tuesday 19:45
I'm just trying out a wee hunch here if you don't mind. The mark of a great team is to come back from huge success to go on and enjoy more success. It's an incredibly hard feat to achieve.
Look at England's top-flight for example. Only three clubs since the dawn of the 1960's have defended their title. Liverpool in the 1980's, Manchester United in the 90's and 00's and Chelsea in 2006. Arsenal have never done it, nor did double European Cup winners Nottingham Forest while Man City have tied themselves in knots trying to do it.
What I'm trying to illustrate here is how difficult it is to maintain that level of performance after a climax has been reached. On a much smaller scale does this make opposing Aberdeen on Tuesday night a sage move?
The Dons didn't win any titles at the weekend but they did beat Celtic after five successive defeats against their Glasgow rivals. The last four of those defeats came last season when Derek McInnes's side were pushing Celtic hard in the title race and beating almost every other side. Sadly for them though they couldn't lay a glove on Celtic and it cost them. Things changed on Saturday though.
The weekend win was even more epic when you consider the Dons were down 1-0 and a man down at 1-1. It would have been easy to fold and succumb and just accept another frustrating defeat. But they didn't.
So just imagine how exhilarating the last few days have been for the players and McInnes. They must be buzzing. Now though it's straight back into the groove with a tricky tie against Hamilton.
Will they have the same intensity in this game? That's going to be tough. Will they drop off the pace a little from Saturday? That's likely you'd have to say after the physical and mental toil they would have went through.
There were a number of incidents last season in England where teams produced incredible results and then in their much easier match next time out they flopped. Examples? Stoke beat Man City at the Etihad before losing to Leicester at home in their next fixture. Spurs beat Chelsea on New Years Day before flopping against Crystal Palace and Bradford followed up knocking out Jose Mourinho's side in the FA Cup by failing to beat lowly Colchester at home. It's a thing guys! It's a thing!
So with that in mind I'll test this theory on Tuesday and back Hamilton to avoid defeat at 2/1 with Bet365. How are Hamilton playing? Well that's irreverent my friend, this is all about Aberdeen's psyche.
Best Bets
Aberdeen v Hamilton – Hamilton +1 (2/1 Bet365)
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