Aberdeen's Premiership struggles will count for nothing when Ross County visit Pittodrie, insists Staggies manager Malky Mackay
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Malky Mackay is reading nothing into Aberdeen’s Premiership form – insisting he is expecting a tough game as always at Pittodrie on Sunday.
The Dons are yet to pick up a victory in the league this season, sitting second-bottom of the standings going into the match against Ross County.
Matches between the two sides are generally tight affairs though, with nothing to separate the teams since Mackay was installed as manager in Dingwall.
As a result, he expects more of the same this time around regardless of where Aberdeen sit in the table.
“This is going to be nothing other than a really tough game,” he said.
“I love going to Pittodrie. It’s a great stadium and a great environment to go and play in.
“Aberdeen have clearly invested heavily in players and have a big squad.
“Right now Barry (Robson) is dealing with something like we have in the past couple of years with the amount of new people arriving in a short time.
“He is trying to navigate that, create that blend in the squad.
“I am not getting carried away with some of the criticism going Aberdeen’s way. This will be a tough game for us on Sunday.”
Aberdeen also have the distraction of European football to deal with, last night travelling to Germany to play Eintracht Frankfurt in the Conference League.
That will have been their focus early in the week while County were preparing for Sunday, but again Mackay does not expect that to have a significant impact at Pittodrie.
“I don’t think that’s an advantage because come Friday morning (they will),” Mackay stressed.
“Thursday night, on the way back on their plane, someone will be watching and working on us.
“They know us anyway, it isn’t as if there’s anything hidden here, and given the size of their staff they might even have had someone back home working on us while they were in Germany.
“The biggest issue for them will be the physical recovery, from Thursday to Sunday.
“They have a big squad though and they have invested heavily, they have experienced players and are a big club – I’d expect them to put a team out there against us on Sunday that will be running hard.
“It will be a tough, hard game for us.”
