ABERDEEN possess a weak mind-set, a lack of self-belief, are mentally soft and appear to accept second is the best they can do.

And the team Derek McInnes selected for last Sunday’s Betfred League Cup Final with Celtic was simply “waiting to get beat”.

There were probably a few more barbs Charlie Nicholas could have thrown the way of his old club, and their current manager, but there was only so much time he could give to the small group of journalists that huddled around him at the Sky Sports offices in London.

He still had time enough to let off quite a bit of steam and fire a few rockets the way of Pittodrie in the wake of that Hampden defeat and a few days before they travel to Ibrox where Aberdeen have not won a game since 1991.

And, yes, you read that correctly.

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Nicholas won a League Cup and Scottish Cup during his time in the North East. The club as a whole have won the exact same number of trophies since that 1989/90 season. The one-time champagne striker has not been impressed by what he perceived to be a lack of ambition with the supposed second best side in the county.

"When Tommy Burns was manager of Celtic he came in at a bad time and he asked us a question,” said Nicholas. “It was two weeks before the first game of the season and asked who honestly believed we could win the league and only three of us put our hands up.

“We knew what it could take but the rest didn’t. They were being honest. It’s a bit like that with Aberdeen now. If you asked them seriously how far they are from Celtic and how close Rangers are to them they wouldn’t be sure.

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“They’ve had chances in the last two seasons but last season was particularly frustrating because they’d had a year’s experience and should have gone for it with nothing to lose.

"But they threw away cheap points at the likes of Inverness and Hamilton when they should have been steamrolling them.

“I thought Derek McInnes would have had a stronger mentality in the group but it looks like they’ve gone back the way and they aren’t convinced. We used to talk about their defensive organisation but not now.

“The goalkeeper is decent because he’s had to be but they’re weaker at the back. I was disappointed on Sunday and McInnes, although he won’t admit it in public, will be wondering if these players have got it.

“You can’t say two weeks ago that they’ll soon be talking about this team, if not this season then next. What is he trying to build? If an offer came from England would he take it?”

McInnes has been known to hit back at critics during his time as Aberdeen manager, especially those who, for him, ignore the financial constraints he works within. Nicholas isn’t having that all. It would be interesting to watch if these two ever bump into one another.

“We needed a statement from Aberdeen,” said Nicholas as he looked back to Sunday. “McInnes said Aberdeen don’t always get the credit - do you want any credit now? They had to prove their point and they didn’t.

“They beat Celtic in Glasgow in the Scottish Cup before and I thought that as a big turning point for everyone in the league when I thought that, while they might not sustain a challenge over a season, mentally they knew they could take Celtic on.

“But it looks like that’s been completely blown away. It looked to me that the team he picked for the final was waiting to get beat. It was a real disappointment, and that’s taking nothing away from Brendan Rodgers winning his first trophy.

“McInnes knows how Celtic play and has beaten them in the past. I know it’s a different Celtic but it’s still a Celtic team you can get at defensively. I was also disappointed with them in the league game at Pittodrie where they were pretty soft.

"When I listened to the talk in the build-up to the Betfred Cup final it was as if there was an acceptance from Aberdeen that they are second best and as if it’s a success story.”

Scottish football is filled with myths, one of them being that even bad Aberdeen teams always give Rangers a hard time. It’s a nonsense. There have been a few red wins at Pittodrie now and then but Rangers, at least up until 2010, have been dominant in this fixture.

“I can’t believe it’s 25 years since Aberdeen won at Ibrox,” said Nicholas; Eoin Jess and Brian Grant were the scorers that day. “Sometimes when those statistics come out it scares you to death. Aberdeen were never frightened of Glasgow in my day - I know it was Alex Ferguson who started it - but it’s now a mental block.

“The first thing Aberdeen used to do when I joined was that Willie Miller would instantly pick a fight with the referee and that would get the crowd worrying about him and gradually we’d get into the game.

“Now you don’t see any characters like that in the Aberdeen team. You’re waiting for Jonny Hayes with a bit of pace, is James Maddison good enough to take on these players?

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“I know he scored a lovely free kick against Rangers the last time but there’s a mental softness about them. But that’s the case with most modern day teams because you can’t scream and bawl at players any more.

“You can tell them off with a bit of aggression but if the manager loses his head you don’t get a reaction. There’s no fear factor. That brings me back to Aberdeen accepting being second.”

And then Nicholas paused for breath.

Sky Sports will show the biggest head to heads over the festive season, including Manchester City v Chelsea this Saturday and the Old Firm derby on New Year’s Eve.