Dons defender Mats Knoester, who skippered the side for the last hour of the defeat at Tannadice, was very clear afterwards that he and the rest of the Aberdeen team need to step up and take responsibility for turning round the season after a fifth straight league defeat.

“It’s a tough phase for us now, hard times, but it’s up to us to get us as fast as possible out of this. You definitely feel a pressure, but I think that’s also good and necessary because the expectations are high and they should be high for a club like Aberdeen. I think we need to handle that and get out of this mindset, because we haven’t had a good result yet, apart from a cup game. We need to create that better mentality.

“I think in a lot of these games, we give away goals very easy, and also when we create chances, we don’t seem to force something to happen, as Dundee did today. With all due respect, they didn’t do anything special, but they put us on the back foot, they create momentum and they get something out of it. And we did not do that. It’s been like that for a few games. We’re doing quite good in the game, we’re have the ball, but we’re not getting too many chances, but then we lose a goal and we lose the game. We need to be better in surviving difficult moments and also be a lot more clinical in the end phase.

“I don’t feel tense or scared of playing or anything, but of course there’s pressure on us because the results are not good. It’s part of our job and we need to handle that. It’s as simple as that.

“We need to stick together and not point fingers. Look at yourself, but also don’t be too soft to each other, be hard on each other, be hard on yourself and then build again and build together. That’s very important because we’ll have to do it together.

“We need to get out of this for everybody. You always see the manager as the one who’s taking the responsibility, but it’s the 11 players on the pitch who are not doing well. It’s our responsibility to change it. I’ve got to say that our manager prepared us for everything and again, we gave it away in two moments. It’s a bit too easy to just say, ‘The manager is to blame.’ I think us players should look in the mirror and do better.

“If I have to look at the positive side, we’re not getting destroyed in games. It’s just small things that we have to put right. We have to fix it. Even if it’s small things in the game, it can be disastrous if it keeps on going. But we can fix it. We need to do it.

“The older, more experienced guys have to take responsibility and lift up the team. At the same time, they need to be the ones who hold people accountable as well. Be hard on each other, on yourself, but then after, get back on your feet and get together and start to turn it around. It starts on Saturday.”