IN his own words, Derek McInnes reckons Kairat Almaty, Aberdeen's opponents in the first leg of their Europa League qualifier in Kazakhstan tomorrow night, will be "well-oiled, robust and ready to get the job done" at home.
The Pittodrie manager and his squad boarded a midnight charter from the Granite City to Almaty last night, hoping that staying in UK time will help them overcome the problems produced by a five-hour time difference, though there are no guarantees that every member of his group will emerge unscathed by the eight-hour flight.
Still, having seen his side score three goals against Rijeka in Croatia in the previous round before going through 5-2 on aggregate, McInnes is aware of their capabilities and the need to return to Scotland with a positive result.
Almaty top their league at the halfway mark in their season, however, hence his comment that they are "well-oiled".
"They don't lose many goals, especially at home," he said, "and they have good individual talent at the top end of the pitch.
"It is difficult to say where they are in relation to other teams we've faced, but they are certainly a team who are going to be difficult to overcome although I still feel we can do exactly that.
"They've still to come here as well so the challenges we are going to have going over there will be the same for them in terms of adjusting next week.
"It's important we come back on the flight having had a positive result and bring them back here with a chance of getting through the tie.
"They are like Rijeka in that they want to impose themselves on the game and will ask questions of the opposition.
"They will be conscious of getting a positive result at home and I expect them to come out and try to get the job done.
"They will be very strong at home having lost only seven or eight goals at home all season, and they have good options with the league's top scorer. There is also two or three players behind him who can cause us problems so we will have to limit them as best as we can."
The warnings, then, are there from their own manager for Aberdeen, keen to penetrate a stoic Almaty defence in order to put them under pressure before the return leg at Pittodrie next Thursday.
"Our away performances have been strong in the last couple of seasons in Europe," McInnes added, "and the only tie we haven't scored in was the Real Sociedad game last year. So we know the importance of trying to score away from home.
"It's important we do that as it will help our cause for the home leg next week.
"We can take the confidence from the Rijeka game into this match but we know there are no guarantees.
"The home tie is different depending on when you play the away leg but the home-away scenario is not hugely significant.
"We have two 90 minute games we want to try to win but ultimately an away goal on Thursday would help us a lot for next week."
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