‘Shapeless, spineless, spiritless and hopeless’

New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold was the target of merciless ribbing last week when a TV microphone picked up his remark that the New England Patriots’ swarming defence had left him “seeing ghosts”.

So completely overwhelmed was he by their total mastery of his side that his brain could no longer be certain if he was throwing the ball to their players or his own.

Aberdeen will know how he feels. They have now lost 16 and drawn one of their last 18 games against Celtic, conceding three or more goals in 10 of them.

This abominable defensive show was the worst of them all, and proved Aberdeen are currently beaten before they even take the field against this opponent.

It’s almost unfathomable that a team could defend so remarkably deep, yet concede so much time and space in its own box as to allow the ball to be virtually walked into the net four times before half time.

Shapeless, spineless, spiritless, hopeless.

It is not, in itself, worthy of particular criticism to consistently lose to a dynasty like Celtic or the Patriots.

They are a much better team and, in the case of Celtic, far more expensively built. But to lose by perpetrating the sort of amateurish mistakes and desperate decisions that would never be made against any other team is the hallmark of the mental battle being irrecoverably lost.

Derek McInnes’

Aberdeen was often accused of blowing the big occasions against Celtic earlier in his tenure, but that was rarely fair.

They were a very hard team to avoid losing to, as everyone else knew.

But if the last three thrashings are any indication, while Celtic have stuttered against others, perhaps there is now truth in it. Maybe they have taken so many hard knocks that they are spooked out of contention.