Aberdeen skipper Graeme Shinnie was the player who spoke to the press this week to preview the William Hill Premiership match against Hearts on Sunday at Pittodrie.
“Really looking forward to the game.
“The international break – you have to deal with the stop start part of the season. September, October, November you have breaks so that is the last one for a while. The schedule now is very hectic with a lot of games coming thick and fast.
“We had a good bit of time to work on the training pitch but also a chance for a mental reset to get you ready for a busy spell of games.
“I think we have got something like nine games in December, with the mix of European and league games. There is so much at stake, you want to put as many points on the board as you can in both competitions.
“We want to start climbing up the league. After this busy spell, going into the new year, that is when things start to take shape.
“The boring cliché, you just have to take each game as it comes and don’t look too far ahead of yourself.
“Every game is different.
“Recently we have had some good results and defensively been pretty solid. That always gives you the platform to win games. It is just about trying to continue that on. Yes it is all about winning, none more so than that on Sunday, but you also want the performance there as well.
“It’s difficult to explain. (the Dons record at home to Hearts). We’ve had the ones with St Mirren and Kilmarnock too. It’s hard to pinpoint it. It’s difficult games. Going away from home can be difficult at any place, but I don’t think it will have much bearing on the game.
“Every year there’s different players, there’s different managers sometimes, different styles. Teams are in different form. So it’s not something that will probably have a bearing on the game. It’s difficult to pinpoint why it happens, but we’ll be looking to try and keep our side of it going.”
“Hearts have got a good squad, a good manager. They’ve had a brilliant start to the season. They’re in a very strong position. But we try and obviously focus on ourselves. We’re at home and we are looking to try and get the win that we need to start climbing the table.
“Yes, they’ve had a good start to the season, but we want to change that.”
