Anything other than victory at Dundee tonight will see relegation confirmed for Dundee United.
But Tangerines’ gaffer Mixu Paatelainen believes the only way that scenario can be avoided is if his players are 100% focused on the job in hand at Dens Park.
Anything less and he knows they are down.
Kilmarnock’s thumping win at Hamilton on Saturday means, unless they win the derby, United go down today and, by kick-off, Mixu will have spoken to his team about that.
But he’ll use his team-talk to stress they can’t let that affect their performance.
“Of course we talk about a lot of things to the players and they are not daft. They realise the situation,” he said.
“But if the players think secondary things, that harms their performance for the actual match.
“The players should only think about their jobs and their roles in the game
“If a player’s mentality is so weak that he crumbles because of the possible threat of relegation or something like that then unfortunately the mentality is not strong enough and that player does not deserve to play in the Premiership or for a club like Dundee United.”
In the wake of last week’s home defeat to Hamilton that left United looking doomed, Mixu has spoken about a “softness” that has cost them on a number of occasions this term.
But he believes it will not rear its head this evening.
“Yes, I have mentioned a few times about that softness that keeps surfacing but I hope, and want to do my part to make sure, that it’s not there in this game.
“We need to be really, really strong because Dundee, we must remember their attacking force.
“They have scored loads and loads of goals and they have two players who were nominated for the Player of the Year in Scotland.
“So they are dangerous and we must be ready for that.
“We know it’s not just another game and it’s a Dundee derby.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for us and I know our players will do their best.”
One plus for United is that Mixu has a fully-fit squad to pick from.
Coll Donaldson is set to return to the heart of the defence, while the need to get goals is likely to mean either Edward Ofere or Henri Anier start up front alongside Billy Mckay.
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