Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin admits the nine game winless run his side are experiencing has been a stressful time.
But the Swede has urged to remain calm despite the horror run of form that has saw the Dons slip down to fourth in the Premiership.
Ross County inflicted more pain on Aberdeen as they secured an impressive 2-1 victory at Pittodrie on January 2.
Thelin says standards need to rise again and that includes doing the basics well, which Aberdeen have surprisingly struggled with after a blistering start to the season.
Thelin demands calm amid stressful Aberdeen run
Speaking ahead of Aberdeen’s away game with Motherwell at the weekend, Thelin said: “We have to push it. These basic things that we want to do demand higher standards and being accountable.
“You can’t find an easy way out of it, it’s not easy football and especially when you are on this run, it can be stressful.
“So don’t get panicked, be stable and calm, and keep doing the things and believing in it. The work for me is to push the standards and the performance higher and higher.
“There’s no other way around it. You have to keep doing the work and you have to put the standards higher, push in the performance and be consistent and accountable.
“That’s the way to be stable as a team. Do the basics really well. I think we need to be calm and put the standards higher.
“I think some games, like Kilmarnock and some games before that, we were quite unstable and then at United we were quite stable again.
“After that I thought ‘now we can take a push’ but the first half against County we were back some steps. In the second half when we get the momentum they scored to make it 2-1 and then we were a bit stressed.
“But then, because of the support who are still here and believe in us, we had a chance in the end to get an equaliser at least. But overall on Thursday the performance was not really there.”
Thelin previews Motherwell trip
It’s a battle between two out-of-form sides on Sunday as Aberdeen face Motherwell on the road.
Thelin said: “It’s going to be a tough game, it’s an away game and they’re on quite a good run and we have a more difficult run.
“But for me it’s still the same as when we’re winning and when we’re losing we have to focus and try to be better in the performance.”