Dundee United goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist has warned the Tannadice side that they have to face what is a very real threat of relegation.
United have not won in their last games – indeed, they have posted just one victory from their last 12 outings – and this weekend’s game against Ross County in Dingwall is huge.
The Highlanders have been boosted since the arrival of John Hughes and picked up a significant midweek win in Hamilton.
It has left United just five points better off than Ross County with Siegrist calling for a candid heart-to-heart in the dressing room ahead of the trip north.
“There’s going to have to be some hard conversations because that’s the only way you move forward,” he said. “It’s the only way you move out of — I don’t want to use the word crisis — but the situation we are in right now.
“We need to have honest conversations about our performances so I don’t mind if people have a little go at each other because cards need to be put on the table.
“It’s not could be in a relegation battle. It’s here now, there’s no could be. I don’t want to sound dramatic but that’s the reality. We are better than how we are playing right now but we have to face reality and make sure we come through as men because we can’t keep going behind and chasing games and saying: ‘oh, the second half was good.’
“The bottom line is we had a chance to draw against Motherwell on Wednesday night and we missed it.
“It’s a test of character for us now. Now is not the time to panic but we have to face reality and I challenge my teammates to deliver because the only way we are going to get through this is with togetherness.
“We need to show that out on the pitch and we haven’t quite done that with the results we’ve had recently. We’ve not won in eight games. That’s not good. It’s not what we want to be. It’s not how we see ourselves. But if we don’t get the basics right we give ourselves a mountain to climb every week — and you can’t sometimes overcome them.”
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