GET SET FOR A BACKLASH
Davidson knows Dons will have a point to prove to boss
CALLUM DAVIDSON expects an act of contrition from the Aberdeen sinners who will line up against St Johnstone tonight.
The Perth boss has no idea which of the eight Dons players who placed the club into lockdown by breaching Covid protocols, will play.
But Davidson is bracing himself for a backlash from Derek McInnes’ side, who come out of cold storage since an opening loss to Rangers.
He said: “They’ll be up for the game and will want to prove a point to their manager. Any time I played under Derek he always got you fired up no matter the situation and this will be no different.
“If some of those who were out now play they will be desperate to prove a point to repay the faith Derek has shown in them.
They will be desperate to repay the faith Derek has shown in them
CALLUM DAVIDSON IS NOT TAKING ABERDEEN LIGHTLY
“Likewise, the ones who get a chance will be desperate to stay in the team. I can’t really second guess it.
“I know what type of team he’ll play and the energy they will play with regardless of whether they haven’t had a game recently or not.
“I don’t think match sharpness will be an issue. I played under Derek at St Johnstone and he wants training to be at a high intensity and a high tempo. So I wouldn’t say there will be a lack of match sharpness.
“They played a game at the start of the season and have had two or three friendlies. We’re only a couple of games ahead of them so I don’t think it’ll make much difference.”
Davidson, who racked up his first win as a manager with a weekend win over Kilmarnock, expects an action-packed clash with the Dons.
He added: “I don’t know why there’s an edge but they’re always tough games. And we need to make sure we’re at the top of our game to get a result against Aberdeen.
“They have a good size of squad so they will still be able to put out a good team. They’ve been excellent for the last seven years under Derek.
“We know they will be high tempo and have quality so we must make sure we match all that first and foremost.
“All I can do really is concentrate on my team.
“I need to set my team up the way I want to and make sure they perform to their highest levels.”
The original date for this fixture was August 8 only for it to be called off last minute due to the lockdown breach.
And Davidson said: “I’d like to talk about football and the performances of players and form. That’s the best part of the game.
“Unfortunately there is a lot of distraction in football all over the world, not just in Scotland.
“But I like it when we are just out on the training pitch or out on the matchday pitch doing our jobs. It’s always about performance and we will try to showcase Scottish football and show it’s a good standard.”