Tony Docherty has “huge belief” he can turn Dundee’s fortunes around.
The Dark Blues are going through their worst run of form under Docherty and could drop to the bottom of the Premiership if they lose by more than one goal on Saturday.
The opponent is the side currently at the foot of the table, St Johnstone.
The last meeting between the sides on January 5 at McDiarmid Park was Dundee’s last league win.
The 3-1 win that day opened up a 10-point gap between the sides. That gap, though, has shrunk significantly since and Saints could leapfrog their Tayside neighbours.
Dundee have lost five straight league games and conceded 19 goals in the process to see Docherty come under real pressure from the club’s fans.
“It’s part of it, any manager will tell you that, so it’s about how you come through it,” he added.
“I have huge belief in myself, in my staff and the players.
“My mantra has always been that the harder you work the more success you get, so we keep to that.
“It’s about working smarter as well, do the work on the training ground and continue to do what has always served me well.”
How to stop conceding so many goals
Dundee have the worst defence in the Premiership this season and are in danger of topping the club’s all-time goals conceded record which stands at 80.
Asked how they can stop leaking goals, Docherty replied: “You just need to keep working hard and believe, trust the process.
“Sometimes you look at it and you put it down to individual errors.
“But they have to be eliminated and make sure that there’s an accountability, that people are making mistakes.
“You need to be accountable for that.
“There’s been a lot of that this season but it just means you need to work harder and you need to stay in training longer. You need to be in an analysis room a wee bit longer.
“You need to put a wee bit more detail into it until the message goes in.
“Because the only way to develop and improve players is to learn from the mistakes.
“And that’s the challenge.
“The challenge this season has been because they’ve been so young and inexperienced in terms of their career.
“There’s been good stuff. There’s been a lot of good stuff in terms of style of play and bravery and all that.
“But there’s been inconsistency.
“And that inconsistency, it’s our job as a staff to try and iron out.”
Dundee take on St Johnstone today without Seb Palmer-Houlden, Antonio Portales, Clark Robertson, Billy Koumetio and Scott Fraser due to injury.
However, there has been “great news” on the extent of Palmer-Houlden’s knee injury.
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