Jimmy Thelin admitted that the Dons have hit rock bottom in defeat at Tannadice and called on his team to take responsibility for the situation they are currently in.

“We can’t hide. When you see the team playing today, when we have nothing to lose in the end, you see some players stepping out and showing more and we start creating more. But in the beginning, we are quite stiff as a team. I think we can’t go deeper than we are right now, so now on Saturday we have nothing to lose, we have everything to win. We have to have this feeling as a team that we are stepping out there and doing the best as an individual and trusting your own strength as a player. Then you create a good team from that. Because right now we are playing a little bit stiff because of the pressure around us.

“The goal came really, really badly for us in the two minutes before half-time. Then we go out in the second half and they score another goal in a corner, also in a bad way. You have to have focus on these small details and get a clean sheet. When you are struggling so much to score a goal, we can’t let goals in that way against us.

“We have seen now in these games that it is not fluent right now. We are trying to find the answers to make it much, much better. But if the results don’t come, then the pressure comes. We have to break this chain now and find another way to come back and play much better on Saturday. That’s the way we have to do it together with the players now. We can’t talk more now, we have to show our fans.

“Playing with composure is really, really important, the way Stuart Armstrong used his experience. I have to find a way to get the players to take the pressure off them and then they take responsibility on the pitch and play with the individual qualities they have, but together as a team.

“How we prepared for this game, we were expecting ourselves a much better performance today. Now we have some more days and I think we talk about this after the game. We have to find this rhythm in the game and do the best we can. Now we are last in the table at one point, zero goals. We have nothing to lose, you have to step out on the pitch and play without this tension. We are already rock bottom. The only thing we can do is do better. We can’t go deeper now, we have to go better and that’s why you can hopefully get this tension out from your body when you play, and push as a team and find a good result.

“This club has a long, long, long history and it means so much to so many people. When you sign a contract as a manager or a player, you take a responsibility to give them everything you have. I think everybody is working hard, but right now we don’t do things right in the games. We don’t have the performance level that they should expect. The way we want to build this team, how we want to progress from the last season with the cup and take another step. Right now we’re not showing that.

“Of course you see the frustration and anger among the fans after the game. They are fans of Aberdeen Football Club and right now we have one point and zero score goals so far in the season. We have big expectations, so we feel the same. We feel anger, we feel frustration. But the only way to fix this is to step up and do much, much, much better on Saturday.

“When you see the emotions, you see the anger, you see the frustration, of course it hurts you. But the only way to give something back is to do a better performance. Because as a manager and as a team, our job is to put a smile on the faces of the fans. That’s our job, to create a really good performance out there so they can be proud and see that everybody is fighting with everything they can and they can feel this connection. I think we have a strong connection in the city with the club, so we have to give more and see the smiles coming back with our performances.

“We should never give up. I think that’s the most important thing when you are in tough times in life or in football or whatever. You have to give everything and then if you do it, you find the answers. And that’s what we need to show them on Saturday.”