Thirty games without a win against Celtic … is there ANYTHING Aberdeen can do to prevent a Hampden horror show?

It was not the night for anyone to be talking about an achievement. After a 5-1 thrashing, Jimmy Thelin was hardly in a position to congratulate himself on leading Aberdeen back into Europe next season.

Guaranteed now to finish no lower than fifth in the Premiership, the Swede has done enough in his first season to ensure the Red Army will be looking out their passports once again.

Given the side were bottom-six fodder before he arrived, without question, he’s improved matters over the piece and ticked a box. Credit where it’s due.

Right now, though, it just doesn’t feel like there’s much to celebrate. Having apparently played their way out of a pronounced mid-season slump, Thelin’s side are back in a dark place.

Insipid in Paisley, they capitulated at Ibrox. All the talk ahead of Wednesday’s clash with Celtic was of bouncing back and delivering the performance which would change the mood around the place ahead of an impending Scottish Cup final date with Brendan Rodgers’ side.

Instead, what Aberdeen produced was largely more of the same. They at least competed in the first half but failed to lay a glove on Celtic in the second period.

The Aberdeen players look dejected on a night when they were expected to bounce back against Celtic

Manager Jimmy Thelin will have to come up with something far less predictable if he is to trouble Brendan Rodgers’ side in Scottish Cup final

They were torn asunder late on, buried under a barrage of goals in embarrassing fashion. Celtic scored five and could have had any number.

Losing to the champions was not, in itself, shameful. The manner of the reverse – the first time in a decade that five had been conceded at home – most certainly was.

‘They are absolutely spineless, gutless, whatever you want to say about it,’ offered Sky pundit Kris Boyd. ‘If you’re coming to Pittodrie, you’re expecting a battle, but Celtic just played around them.’

As the visitors tormented Thelin’s side in the closing stages, doing all they could to set up James Forrest for his elusive goal, the mind wandered back to October 19 at Celtic Park.

Two goals down, the Dons came storming back to level through Ester Sokler and Graeme Shinnie. They were joint top of the table by the end of that day having matched Rodgers’ outfit stride for stride.

While talk of a title challenge still felt fanciful at that juncture, Aberdeen looked capable of worrying Celtic. How misguided that notion looks now.

A six-goal thrashing at the hands of Rodgers’ men Hampden in the League Cup semi-final sent Thelin’s side into a tailspin.

When Celtic next came into view at Pittodrie in December, the near unplayable windy conditions were a leveller. Still they lost by a goal.

Celtic veteran James Forrest shows Aberdeen’s Topi Keskinen a clean pair of heels

Kevin Nisbet provided a rare bright spot for Aberdeen when he headed an early equaliser

The Dons will need their Scotland striker to be on top form when they meet Celtic at Hampden on May 24

With a 5-1 hammering at Parkhead in February now compounded by Wednesday’s repeat horror show, the running tally in five games with Celtic is 19 conceded and four scored. Their winless run against the Parkhead men now stands at 30 games.

You wouldn’t blame any of the 20,000 Dons fans who’ve bought tickets for the Scottish Cup Final to be checking the small print.

After a stumble at St Johnstone, Celtic are now again an irresistible force. With the big day now hurtling towards them, Aberdeen look anything but an immovable object.

‘Myself and the staff and the players talk about it in the dressing room and of course it’s not acceptable,’ said Thelin.

‘Even if Celtic is a really strong team, to get a five goals against us at home in front of our fans is nothing we can accept in the future.

‘We have to think now of what we can do together with our players to do better next time we play against Celtic in two weeks.’

Thelin’s solution is normally to work harder on the training ground and to try and replenish his players’ belief.

That’s all very well. But is that, in itself, going to give his side a chance of pulling off an improbable victory at Hampden?

Striker Johnny Kenny has found games hard to come by but certainly took his chance against Aberdeen on Wednesday

Brendan Rodgers will be expected his Celtic side to complete a Treble when they face Dons in cup final

We heard the same mantra week-in week-out as a hugely promising start to his tenure became mired in a 12-game winless streak.

Aberdeen eventually broke the cycle not through changing their approach, but through perseverance, doubling down and hoping their luck would change.

Thelin is an intelligent man, but you had to question the wisdom in him standing by his guns for so long when it clearly wasn’t working.

The same applies now. He appears to be welded to a 4-2-3-1 formation. The players change – especially from middle to front – but the shape remains the same.

Because Thelin is so tactically inflexible, opposition teams can read Aberdeen like a book. There are no surprises, nothing sprung from left-field for other coaches to consider.

If they remain so predictable in the cup final then the outcome surely will be as well.

To stand any chance of causing an upset, the Swede is going to have to fundamentally change how his side shapes up. You sense it would not be a hard sell to his dressing room either.

‘It’s something that we’ll look at,’ said Dons midfielder Leighton Clarkson.

Aberdeen’s miserable night was compounded when Jayden Richardson, far right, was shown a red card by referee Steven McLean

The Dons players trudge away after a thoroughly depressing evening for the team and their supporters

James Forrest was foiled in his attempts to score but will be looking to make amends at Hampden

‘I don’t think we’ll be telling you (media) how we’re going to play, but yeah, maybe tonight we got maybe one or two things wrong.

‘We know we’ve got one more game against them and we might have to do a bit of something different to get a result.’

It goes without saying, though, that a change in strategy will only have a chance of bearing fruit if there’s also a change in attitude.

Thelin doesn’t need players making woeful challenges like the one Pape Gueye perpetrated on Reo Hatate late in the game.

But he does need them to engage opponents, to run as hard as fast as them, to tackle as hard as them.

Celtic are a fine side but the sequences of passes they were able to string together embarrassed Thelin’s players.

‘It wasn’t nice to be out there, I must admit,’ added Clarkson.

‘It’s not just to us. They’ve done it to other teams as well because they can punish you, they’re relentless.

‘We need to find a way of stopping that.

‘It’s key moments. We don’t take our chances and they take theirs.

‘They’ve done this throughout the season.

‘That’s nine goals in two games, so we definitely need to work on that side of it.’