McInnes on red alert as he faces most crucial period of his Pittodrie reign

He has to show all his managerial capabilities and sort out the issues Miller pinpoints games against Motherwell and Celtic as most crucial of Derek’s Pittodrie reign

WILLIE MILLER believes Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is now in the most crucial period of his two-and-a-halfyear tenure at Pittodrie.

Having lost four games on the trot — and been replaced at the top of the SPFL Premiership by Celtic — questions are being asked of McInnes and his players. And the answers may come in their next two games. Positive results at home to Motherwell on Saturday and at Parkhead the following weekend will silence the critics.

Miller (below) wants to see his beloved club get out of their recent slump and knows McInnes will be demanding better things from his squad in training this week to help make things right.

Miller said: ‘Derek has to make sure he keeps faith in the players he has put trust in. He must also point out that he is not happy, so it’s a fine balance.

‘This is a situation where a manager earns his corn. It is probably the first time Derek has been in that position.

‘He has a lot of support but now he is being tested. He took the team to second top and has to show all of his managerial capabilities to sort the issues out. If he does, which I’m sure he can, he then regains the trust of the supporters.’

In his two full seasons at the helm, McInnes has taken the Dons to third in the league and then runners-up last season. He has also instilled a work-rate and a change of mentality to a club that, for far too long, accepted being well off the pace. Pittodrie has that presence, once again.

Aberdeen got off to a blistering start this campaign and won eight on the trot, including a 2-1 defeat of Celtic. They will be anxious to get back to winning ways. On Saturday they face Mark McGhee’s Motherwell and Miller is adamant nothing less than three points will do. He said: ‘Looking at last season — and since Derek came to

the club, really — they have been rock solid. It’s been the same at the start of this season. To let in two goals in eight games is quite incredible. It’s a record I’d have been proud of in my playing days.

‘Then you look at the last four games and they have leaked 11 goals. I didn’t see this coming and I’m sure Derek didn’t either. It’s something that has got to be put right quickly because the Celtic game is coming up.

‘Unfortunately, it may end up spoiling a season where we expected so much in terms of a challenge to Celtic. They are well capable of recovering, but they must do it very quickly.

‘It must be difficult to come to terms with seeing a lead disappear but you have to look deeply to find the problem.

‘Sometimes you can get carried away with a good start to the season. They all read newspapers and the good publicity that went with it. Maybe sometimes you stop doing the things that have got you in that position. Perhaps that’s where the problems lie.

‘Defensively, they have got to be more aggressive. The defence has got to be more organised, more concentrated, but I think Derek knows that himself and is working on it.

‘The question is: Can he repair it within the next two games? He has an ex-Aberdeen manager coming to Pittodrie looking to prove a point. They then play Celtic and Derek somehow has to solve the problem and get results out of these games, otherwise people will say it was a false dawn.’

Miller is well aware how quickly things change in football and, to flip the coin on to the ‘positive’ side, would allow talk of Aberdeen On the bawl: Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes will be working hard on the training ground to turn things around at Pittodrie being back on top of the table by next weekend. For all of their poor results in the past month, they are still only two points behind Ronny Deila’s side.

But can they go to Parkhead and win? Miller said: ‘I always thought it was going to be critical, but more as a statement of intent rather than trying to prove the wheels haven’t come off completely.

‘They can take points at Celtic Park. It’s almost a resurrection they need from the next two games to take full points.

‘It can be repaired. I don’t think they are gone. They are capable of being a well-organised team. They don’t score an awful lot, but they have players who can score goals at crucial times. I played in a team that won a lot of games 1-0 and, if Aberdeen can get back to that scenario, they will be doing OK.

‘But if you are leaking at the back then you have a major issue. That’s the area that has to be repaired, and if they do that I think they can still put in a title challenge.’

Miller was speaking at the Scottish Hall of Fame dinner where he presented Maurice Malpas with his award as the Dundee United legend was inducted.

Miller said: ‘I played alongside Maurice at international level and he was a tremendous professional. I always felt safe with him in the back four along with Alex McLeish, Richard Gough and, of course, Jim Leighton.’