Derek McInnes has brushed off the effects of the personal criticism that has come his way since Aberdeen’s 4-0 home defeat by Celtic.
The four-goal first-half rout came soon after a 5-0 thrashing at Ibrox which could have been even worse.
McInnes knows the only way to halt the criticism is by finding some winning momentum so he is focused on Wednesday’s trip to Hamilton in the Ladbrokes Premiership.
When asked how he was coping with the comments, McInnes said: “I’m absolutely fine. I just expect more from the players and if we can go and win, we start to feel better about ourselves. If we can get another win on the back of that, then we start to build a bit of momentum.
“It’s not where we have not been before, we have lost heavily to the Old Firm in the past. We have always shown a resolve and response and I’m not going to get too downbeat.
“My job is to support my players and try and instil the positives we have got. We have a good squad here, we just need to demonstrate it and try and be at our best more often.”
The 48-year-old added: “There’s always pressure here. I have been manager here six-and-a-half years and I know what managing Aberdeen is all about, the hysteria when you lose a game, and it seems to have been a bit more this season, and I get that.
“But we need to go down and concentrate on our performance and concentrate on trying to win a game. There is no certainty we can do that because we are playing against a team who always have a decent home record and always do enough to stay in the league, and they deserve enormous respect for that.
“So we have a tough game on our hands but we have got to go down there and show the response we are looking at.
“I think it’s important now that we try and build some sort of momentum and confidence.”
Craig Bryson could start after returning from injury off the bench against Celtic and McInnes will be delighted to get the benefit of the midfielder’s experience.
Skipper Scott McKenna stated after the game that the players needed to talk about what went wrong and McInnes hopes they heed that call.
When asked whether they had discussed it, he said: “I don’t know but I totally agree with him, I think players need to talk more to each other We are in an era now where that maybe isn’t always the case. They come in and do their bit.
“We have always tried to encourage those conversations with each other. I would like to see more talking on the pitch and that’s something that was made clear as well.
“I felt we got that influence when Bryson came on, bringing the back four up at the right times and showing people where they need to be. That’s invaluable for a manager and a team, that type of encouragement and barking instructions on the pitch. It’s something we need to get better at as a team.
“But any time the boys are reflecting and talking about what they aim to do better, I think should certainly be encouraged by me.”
