Dundee United skipper Jon Daly has pleaded for patience from the club’s fans.
He added: “The international break has left what happened against Motherwell weighing on our minds and we want to get back on the park and try to put it right.
“Hopefully, we can do that at Aberdeen on Saturday.
“They had a cracking result against Dunfermline who as we discovered when they came to Tannadice, are a tough side to play against.
“For Aberdeen to score four goals against Dunfermline was a great achievement and will obviously give them a lot of confidence.
“So we will need to make sure that we are on our game and don’t give away any silly goals like we did against Motherwell.”
Daly and the two others of United’s Irish contingent Sean Dillon and Willo Flood used the first week of the international break to continue studying for their coaching badges.
He added: “I think the week went well. Myself, Sean and Willo have taken the young lads a couple of times just to build up our confidence about coaching.
“I think that is a big part of it, being confident enough to get your point across.
“The final assessment is in November so hopefully we can do enough in the next month to prepare ourselves for that.
The supporters voiced their displeasure at the result and performance during the last game against Motherwell as their favourites in tangerine slumped to a dismal 3-1 defeat.
One fan subsequently directed a barrage of abuse as United centrehalf Garry Kenneth left Tannadice with his partner and young child.
While acknowledging that sort of incident is rare, Daly has called on the club’s fans to give the youthful United squad more time to gel.
He said: “Obviously everyone was annoyed by what happened against Motherwell.
“We didn’t perform and never really turned up on the day. The first goal knocked the stuffing out of us for some reason and I can’t put my finger on why that happened.
“It is frustrating for the fans, the manager as well as the players when things don’t go right.
“But the worst thing that can happen is if the supporters start to get on our backs, especially as we have a young squad it doesn’t help the situation.
“I understand fans pay good money to come and watch games and they want to see us play and perform well.
“But when things don’t go right, that’s when players need the fans the most to encourage and support us to turn it around.
“As I said, we have such a young squad and when the fans start to turn, you can see it transferring on to the park. So it would be really helpful for all the boys if the fans got right behind us.
“The sort of incident with Garry Kenneth thankfully doesn’t happen very often and I would imagine that the fan who did it now feels a bit foolish for his actions.
“If people shout at you on the park, you try to ignore it but when you are walking out of the ground with your missus and your child and someone abuses you like that, it is not nice.’Bigger man'”Sometimes you just have to be the bigger man and walk away. But it is a good club here and the majority of the fans are really great. So I would just ask the few who do boo to give the boys a bit of time.
“We have lost a lot of good players such as Craig Conway, Morgaro Gomis and Prince Buaben to name just three.
“We have young boys coming through and they are going to need time. I know myself from when I was a young lad that you can have a really good game and then maybe go three matches where you just can’t seem to get involved.
“With youngsters, it’s all about achieving consistency and it takes them a while to get that. So I would ask the fans to be patient.”
Daly and the rest of the United squad have had to be patient themselves as they bid to exorcise the demons of that disappointing game against the Steelmen.
The international break deprived them of an immediate chance to make amends and they are all determined to seize their chance when they travel to face an Aberdeen side buoyed by their thumping win over Dunfermline two weeks ago.
Continued…