Dundee United boss Peter Houston has stressed there is no need to panic despite the club’s SPL slump.
Saturday’s hammering from Inverness Caley Thistle has left the Tangerines sitting second bottom of the table, with only city neighbours Dundee below them.
That 4-0 thumping means United have now gone five league matches without a win and the performance in the Highlands was so bad it produced apologies to supporters from both Houston and club chairman Stephen Thompson.
The manager, while admitting his players are lacking confidence, nevertheless was defiant about their ability to turn things around.
”They are hurting,” said Houston.
”They know they are better than that and they let their heads go down at the weekend.
”That performance wasn’t anywhere near the standard we are capable of reaching it wasn’t good enough.
”I honestly felt in the first 30 minutes we were the better team but there is a pattern there.
”We have lost three goals in eight minutes against Kilmarnock, two inside two minutes against Hearts, lost two goals against Inverness within two minutes then the third and fourth were within a couple of minutes of each other.
”Clearly, our heads go down after we concede a goal.
”We have managed five clean sheets in other games but what has happened is that three teams playing against us have scored three (Killie), three (Hearts) and four (ICT), which is why the goal difference is so poor.
”So there have been games in which we have been defensively sound but there is a lot of room for improvement.
”Sure, the boys are lacking a bit of confidence just now but the only thing we can do is do our work on the training pitch and try to become hard to beat again.
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”That’s all we can do and that’s all we will do.”
Houston insisted he wasn’t looking for ”excuses” but did stress his belief that having to build another new team after losing players in the summer takes time.
”The performance wasn’t good enough and I am not here to make excuses,” he added.
”But we are building a new team again. The team has changed again, just like last year quite considerably in fact.
”You can’t go without guys like Scott Robertson, Paul Dixon and Dusan Pernis without needing time to adapt to becoming a good team again.”
The Tannadice boss also asked for people to look back 12 months to see how United managed to transform themselves after flirting with the danger zone.
”You will remember last season we were in a similar position, although we are actually better off points-wise now than we were at this stage last year,” he said.
”I understand why the supporters are frustrated, though.
”I think it’s because the standard Dundee United have set over the last number of years has been so high.
”When I came here with Craig Levein six years ago, we were bottom of the SPL and then we built over the following couple of years and then it all started to come to fruition.
”We then began to lose our best players but that’s football.
”I would like to think that it is early days. There’s no need to panic.
”I would also like to think it’s a time for calm heads all over the place with regards to myself, the players and the supporters.
”When you look at St Johnstone, they have just won three league games in a row and shot up the table.;
”I still believe on our day we can beat anybody.”
iroache@thecourier.co.uk