IT’S been quite a hard week all round and there’s not been much to smile about in the camp given how the last two games have gone.

To lose to Hearts 3-0 was obviously a sore one and to then come up short against Falkirk didn’t help matters. We were disappointed both with the performances and the results, we thought we had enough to win the two games.

It’s just one of these things and you have to try and keep the boys’ spirits up. We’ve not had a lot of time to do anything special, it’s just about encouraging them. You don’t become a bad team overnight, sometimes these things happen.

The good thing about football is that there is always another opportunity to put things right not far round the corner, and that’s the case today with Aberdeen coming to our place, although we know how tough it’s going to be.

To be honest I still think we are waiting on our season taking off. We had 10 men against Hamilton, the second game we played the champions, then we had a good result up at Inverness. It’s been a bit stop and start.

We’ve not really clicked yet but I’m sure it will happen. I have confidence in the players.

We have been here before and we have a good bunch of lads. They know that they have let themselves down. That’s a good thing. They are hurting themselves and know what needs to be put right.

The feeling of wanting things to kick start quickly only goes to show how strong the league is this year. Probably with the exception of Celtic, Aberdeen and Hearts, every team can beat everyone else.

Things have improved from last year and the fact there is a powerful Aberdeen helps create competition at the top.

Further down, you can look at clubs like Ross County who have recruited very well and have brought a lot of players in. Even Kilmarnock, who on the face of it haven’t had a great start either, have signed a lot of talented boys.

There are a lot of decent squads in the league and, to be honest, we probably have the smallest squad in the league. Obviously we would like to have two or three more but whether we can do that I don’t know.

It is a strong league and that’s why we need to be wary. Last year there were perhaps a couple of teams that looked like they were going to stay down there and that perhaps was a bit of a safety net. You don’t have that this time but the players know that.

It will be a tough season but I also think it will be a good one, at both ends. From a Partick Thistle point of view, I don’t think we are far away. It’s just been a frustrating start.

We have every confidence we can play our way out of this, and that’s all you can do.

Aberdeen have got off to a great start as I would have expected, but like I said, we have faith in the players at this football club to do well for us and for the supporters. There is no reason for me to not think that they can go out and show that this afternoon.

I HAVE watched Aberdeen a couple of times and they have been fantastic.

They have got stronger from last year, they look experienced and they were unlucky to go out of Europe.

I believe Derek and his team will run Celtic very close this season. Ronny always plays his strongest team and now they don’t have the Champions League it may make things a bit more difficult for everyone else challenging them, but Aberdeen have real quality.

The gap last year was 17 points and that was regarded as the closest title battle we have had for a while. Does this campaign have the potential to be even closer? Absolutely. I think it will be.

I look at Aberdeen’s squad and the players Derek has brought in are all really good. Graeme Shinnie, for example, can come in and step up. A lot of them can play in different positions, it’s always good when a team are versatile like that. It means you can change the shape or personnel and they still look strong.

I watched Aberdeen against Dundee United on the first game of the season. The first thing I noticed was their bench and how much quality was sitting on it. It was between two European ties so there were changes made, but I thought they were very good that day.

It will be tough today against them, as it always is. But we have showed last year that we can play well against them, albeit this Aberdeen team look even stronger.

I just hope they don’t show it this weekend!