Aberdeen came crashing back down to earth on Saturday with defeat to St Mirren.
The hitherto unbeaten Dons lost ground to Celtic at the top of the table after returning from Paisley pointless with Richard Taylor’s late header deciding the game.
They have already lost in the Premier Sports Cup but that was Jimmy Thelin’s first league loss as manager of the Pittodrie side.
And talk of a potential title challenge has cooled slightly ahead of two games in Edinburgh this week against Hibs and Hearts.
Shinnie brands Aberdeen title chatter ‘nonsense’
That chat was nonsense anyway, according to Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie.
The Dons may have had quite a remarkable start to the campaign but the time to raise notions of a title challenge would be if they have kept it up come the end of the season, he says.
The 33-year-old wasn’t letting himself get carried away with the form and also isn’t going to overreact to one defeat.
And he insists the focus is simply on winning the next game, at Easter Road tonight.
Shinnie said: “People will talk, it’s the way it goes. It’s a long season, people talk about title challenges in October and November – which is madness.
“It’s so early because within five games it can look very different if you get carried away. I know it’s not what people want to hear and it’s boring but things can change very quickly if you let yourself get carried away.
“In-house, we are just focused on getting back to winning ways and letting the outside noise be as it is. There’ll always be the scrutiny of, ‘Can Aberdeen keep it up?’.
“That’s not something we can control and is natural in football. It’s up to us to carry that pressure, that’s what it’s like being at this club.
“Whether it was last season when we were underperforming or this season when we’re at the top end of the league. There is always pressure at clubs like this whatever you do.
“It’s about handling that and it’s also about controlling what we can do and not letting it affect us. We’ve had a great start to the season, we have to remember that and can’t let one defeat derail what we’re doing.”
Jimmy Thelin reacts to first Aberdeen league defeat
Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin was of a similar mind to Shinnie in terms of ensuring they don’t get too down about the defeat.
The Swede said post-match: “I don’t want to over-analyse because I also know we have done really good things this season. I’m not going to feel like everything is bad right now because we lose one game.
“But, of course, some parts we have to do better in the future and that’s important for us. How we prove our identity on the pitch.
“The most important thing is what’s happening in the next game and how we learn from this game. I know how good they are, how they train, how many times they have saved us.
“Also the timing of the (St Mirren) header. I don’t want to blame anyone. It’s football and it happens. Sometimes also the opponents are good in some parts and you try to prevent it, but sometimes you can’t. It’s football and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.”