Aberdeen and Kilmarnock meet at Pittodrie this weekend with both clubs still searching for a foothold in the Scottish Premiership after four rounds that have gone almost entirely wrong for each of them. Of the 24 points available to the pair so far this season, only three have been collected between them.
Pre-season optimism at both clubs has evaporated quickly. Neither side was tipped to challenge for the title, but the scale of the early struggles has gone well beyond what either set of supporters expected.
The upside for both managers is that they could hardly have picked a better opponent to try to turn things around. Aberdeen fans will fancy this as the game to kickstart their campaign, and those following Kilmarnock will be thinking exactly the same.
Aberdeen's toothless attack
This season was supposed to mark the start of a new era at Pittodrie, with manager Stephen Robinson handed a full summer to reshape the squad in his own image. There has been little sign of that so far.
Some context is due. Aberdeen faced Hearts, Rangers and Celtic in three of their opening four matches, a brutal run against last season's top three, and few would have expected them to take much from those games. They also lost at Dundee.
It is the manner of those performances, rather than the results alone, that has started to cause concern. Aberdeen have looked among the hardest teams to watch in the top flight. Robinson proved during his time at St Mirren that he can combine physicality with a more inventive style to get results, but that ingenuity has been largely absent in Aberdeen's final third.
With a heavy turnover of players over the summer, some settling-in time was always likely for the new arrivals. Even so, the Dons have looked short of ideas and short of goals. New signing Mitchy Ntelo has shown glimpses of quality, including a stunning goal against Dundee in the Premier Sports Cup, but is still finding his feet. Fellow recruit Ayoub Mouloua was substituted at half-time on his first start for the club during Wednesday's 3-0 defeat at Celtic Park.
Tony Yogane, who impressed for Dundee last season, has looked a shadow of that player since his move, while Toyosi Olusanya continues to show flashes of ability without producing them consistently.
Kilmarnock's defensive crisis
Kilmarnock's problems have been even more stark. Wednesday's 1-0 home defeat to St Mirren was actually viewed as something of a step forward given how the season had started before it. Killie have conceded 14 goals in their four league matches, a return described as embarrassing, even though the team has not always played as badly as that number suggests.
Manager Neil McCann, who replaced Stuart Kettlewell during last season, did not get an immediate lift when he took over but eventually steadied the side and did so while playing a more expansive style of football than Rugby Park had been used to in recent years. That approach counts for little, though, if the team cannot stop conceding.
Kilmarnock have fallen behind within 16 minutes in each of their four Premiership matches this season, leaving them chasing games from the earliest stages.
There is a lack of balance throughout the team. The full-backs are being pushed forward to provide width, leaving them exposed to counter-attacks whenever possession is lost. Kilmarnock have also struggled badly to deal with crosses into their box, with panic setting in at the first hint of danger and no one taking clear responsibility.
That is not being laid at McCann's door. The view is that his senior players need to take more responsibility in the dressing room, and that a more pragmatic approach may be needed in the short term to arrest the slide.
Echoes of a relegation season
Dundee, coincidentally managed by McCann at the time, were the last Premiership club to lose their opening five matches of a season, doing so in 2018-19. They were relegated that year.
It is far too early to draw that comparison for Kilmarnock, but the pressure to turn results around is building. For this weekend at least, Kilmarnock will not need a win. A clean sheet at Pittodrie would represent real progress on its own.
