Dundee United may not have won in six matches but boss Jackie McNamara insists his players cannot allow the fear factor to creep into their game.
The Tangerines lost again last weekend to Ross County in Dingwall and are sitting in fifth place in the Premiership table which is a far cry from the heady heights just before Christmas when they were in second spot in the league.
However, the Tannadice manager believes his players are more than capable of rediscovering their best form and still qualifying for Europe this season.
McNamara said: “The boys were obviously down after the game on Saturday. We were all unhappy with the way we played and that’s something we have to put right.
“We are determined to get back to winning ways and it is good in many ways that it is a derby (against St Johnstone) we have next.
“We need to be brave and stand up and be counted. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. Certain things go for you, some don’t, that’s part of football.
“You sometimes learn more from defeats. Football can bring you disappointments as well as the adulation and the good things when you are winning.
“It’s part and parcel of football but we have to get back to winning ways as soon as possible.
“It has been a big learning curve for the lads recently and it is something that will help them in their careers going forward.
“But for me, the most important thing is we get back to doing what we are good at, that the fear doesn’t come into it because of results.
He added: “I want to progress the club into playing European football, to get to that next stage. We were in second place at Christmas. We wanted to stay there and keep on improving.
“I want them to be able to deal with the expectation of the fans. It is a big club because of what happened in years gone by in the 80s. It is the same with Aberdeen and obviously Celtic and Rangers.
“There are not a lot of clubs who have that level of expectation but if you want to take the club forward, the players have to handle that.
“We want to finish second or third and play European football next summer, but we want to go there knowing we can handle it, compete and cause teams problems.
“At the moment we are not at that.”