Aberdeen have the chance to finally end their miserable winless run in the Scottish Cup against Elgin City this afternoon.
The Dons travel to Borough Briggs hoping to progress into the fifth round of the competition without any more added stress.
Aberdeen lost again on Wednesday night to Rangers which made it a staggering 12 games without a victory in the Premiership.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 3 |  Dundee UtdDundee Utd | 23 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 31 | 24 | 7 | 37 |
| 4 |  AberdeenAberdeen | 23 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 32 | 33 | -1 | 35 |
| 5 |  MotherwellMotherwell | 23 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 28 | 37 | -9 | 31 |
And many are scratching their heads over how spectacular Aberdeen’s fall from grace has been after an unbelievable start to the season.
Thelin has credit in the bank at Pittodrie, but the likes of Kris Boyd thinks the manager deserves plenty of scrutiny amid an ’embarrassing’ run of results.
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Aberdeen can’t feel sorry for themselves
Thelin still has belief that Aberdeen can emerge stronger from the nightmare they are in, but has warned that in order to do that, his players must show bravery and can’t feel sorry for themselves.
Moreover, the Swede has pointed towards his returning injured stars – including Pape Habib Gueye – as hope that his team will get better.
He told the press ahead of the Elgin City trip: “In normal life when you have setbacks you have to keep pushing to get out and get better. You can’t sit down, cry and feel sorry for yourself because that’s not going to help.
“Of course, you can feel some stress sometimes and that’s my job to try to calm down the stressors, and keep the belief in the right direction.
“I feel the squad has that strong belief and they are trying so hard in the training sessions. However, in games you lose to a late goal or we don’t score the chances we have.
“But you can’t feel sorry for yourself. It’s not going to help. So you have to be strong, be brave and go out and try again.
“I’m 100% sure we’re going to get out on the other side. And we’re going to get more and more stable, get some players back.
“The competition inside the squad will increase again so that everybody has to fight for their spot. And then we have a better team again.”
Aberdeen’s latest injury news
As mentioned, Pape Habib Gueye is set to return to action against Elgin City after months on the sidelines due to a thigh muscle tear.
The Senegalese striker started the season in fine fashion with five goals in four Premiership clashes before his injury.
Elsewhere, Jamie McGrath remains out as Aberdeen await the severity of his problem and left-back Jack MacKenzie won’t make the Scottish Cup tie either.
However, Thelin has said that James McGarry only suffered cramp on Wednesday against Rangers and has the all-clear this weekend.
Thelin said: “Pape is inside the squad for Saturday. He’s shown on the training pitch that he has a real hunger to play.
“Jamie (McGrath) is outside the squad. I will know more clearly on Saturday exactly how long he will be outside the squad.
“James (McGarry) was cramp, so that is fine. Jack (MacKenzie) trained well today but maybe will need until next week.”