Jim Goodwin has told his Dundee United players “to not feel sorry” for themselves ahead of the battle with relegation rivals Kilmarnock on Wednesday night.
The Terrors’ boss was dismayed by the goals conceded in the 2-1 defeat at Livingston on Saturday and their third successive loss after three straight wins kept them bottom of the cinch Premiership, two points behind Ross County and three behind Killie, with two fixtures remaining.
After the visit of Kilmarnock, the Tannadice side take on Motherwell at Fir Park in the final fixture of the season on Sunday and Goodwin, who was appointed United manager on a short-term contract in March, stressed positivity to his players at a meeting on Monday.
“The key message was to not feel sorry for ourselves,” said the Irishman, who will make a late decision on Steven Fletcher’s groin injury which kept him out the trip to West Lothian.
“I don’t want to see anyone mumping and moaning about the place.
“I want to see everyone nice and bright which I think I got at training this morning, there was a positive reaction.
“We are not brushing anything under the carpet.
“We have spoken about the mistakes we made on Saturday and we emphasised again the importance of Wednesday in terms of making better decisions in those key moments and if we do that then we give ourselves a really good chance.
“I don’t think there is a great deal between the two teams.
“I think it will be a close affair again like most of the games in the league are but there is lot of stake for both teams.
“But we have some very good players in that dressing room who are more than capable of turning it on and hopefully we see that on Wednesday.
“Every game since I came through the door has been massively important and the next one is the most important but Wednesday night is the biggest game of the season.
“We don’t need to over-emphasise what is at stake. We are still in the fight.”
Yamal revels in 'dream' Euros bow as Spain crush Croatia
Lamine Yamal described his historic Euro 2024 bow as a "dream" after Spain hammered Croatia 3-0 in their Group B opener on Saturday.
Starting at the age of 16 years and 338 days, Yamal became the youngest player to ever feature at the European Championships, and he rewarded Luis de la Fuente's faith with a terrific performance.
The Barcelona winger saw his inviting cross prodded home by Dani Carvajal for La Roja's third goal, after Alvaro Morata and Fabian Ruiz had put them in control.
Only fellow youngster Pedri matched his total of three chances created, while he led all players for crosses (three) and saw his three successful dribbles equalled only by Dani Olmo.
Speaking after the game, Yamal said of Spain's fine display: "We trust ourselves a lot. We went out to give it our all, because three points already does a lot in the group stage.
"It's a dream. I'm very happy to have played in the European Championship.
"The team is very confident. Now we have to go all out against Italy. Nothing changes for one game. We go with the same confidence. The work of these last few months has been reflected today."
Spain are now in the driving seat in a group many regard as the toughest at the tournament ahead of facing Italy and Albania.
Captain Morata moved to seven European Championship goals with his opener, with only Cristiano Ronaldo (14) and Michel Platini (nine) ever scoring more.
Morata later seemed to be holding his leg in discomfort when he was withdrawn for Mikel Oyarzabal, but the striker has assured fans he will be fit to face Italy on Thursday.
"It was important to start like this," Morata said. "We pressed a great team very well. We must go for the games from the start and now think about the next one."
On the knock he suffered in the second half, he said: "It was just a blow, I was loading other parts of my leg.
"The best thing was to go out and have another team-mate play better."
Bajrami scores fastest goal in Euros history against Italy
Nedim Bajrami scored the fastest goal in European Championship history as Albania made a stunning start to their Group B clash with Italy on Saturday.
Just 23 seconds into the teams' first game at Euro 2024, Bajrami pounced on a terrible throw-in from Italy left-back Federico Dimarco before powering his shot inside Gianluigi Donnarumma's near post.
The strike – which was just Albania's second at the Euros – was officially timed as the fastest after kick-off in the competition's 64-year history.
However, Albania's lead lasted just 10 minutes as Alessandro Bastoni equalised, the Inter centre-back heading Lorenzo Pellegrini's cross home at the far post.
Within another six minutes, Albania were behind as Nicolo Barella lashed home from range to put the Azzurri on top.
Kane dreams of Euro 2024 success as England captain aims for 'pinnacle' moment
Harry Kane dreams of winning a major tournament with England to mark "the pinnacle of anyone's career", with the Three Lions star hoping to end his trophy drought at Euro 2024.
Bayern Munich striker Kane will lead his country out once more when Gareth Southgate's side open their European Championship campaign against Serbia on Sunday.
Having fallen short in the delayed Euro 2020 final against Italy, as well as World Clup semi-final elimination to Croatia in 2018, Kane is without international glory – and his lack of club success is much discussed, too.
Kane acknowledged his own shortcomings as the England captain aims for national success in Germany.
"I love playing for my country," he said at Saturday's pre-match press conference. "It means the world to me every time I step out onto the pitch wearing that shirt.
"To win a major tournament with England would be the pinnacle of anyone's career. That's the aim.
"For me personally, the trophies haven't quite happened yet, but it just makes me more determined and more hungry to go out there and do that.
"It starts with this summer, where we have a good opportunity. We have a lot of hard work in front of us, but that opportunity is there and I'm looking forward to making it happen."
Kane is England’s record goalscorer overall (63 goals) and their most prolific player at major tournaments (12 goals at World Cup/Euros).
He scored or assisted in all seven of his starts in qualifying (eight goals, two assists) and heads into this tournament after a fine club season with Bayern.
The former Tottenham forward scored 36 goals in 32 Bundesliga games for the most prolific debut campaign in the competition's history.
Yet international success is all that matters over the next month for Kane.
"Every tournament brings different expectations," Kane added. "We've earned the right to be classed as one of the favourites.
"In past tournaments, we've done a lot of things well and done the country proud but, ultimately, we're here to win it and there'll be nothing better for us and the nation itself than if we do that."
As for his own success, individual achievements are far from Kane's priority.
"Back in 2018, the Golden Boot was an amazing achievement, but that's always a consequence of winning games and trying to win the European Championship, which is what we're trying to do," he said.
"If I win the Golden Boot along the way, fantastic as I'm helping my team.
"We have some great goalscorers in the team, players who are on form, who've had fantastic seasons, so now it's about taking that into a major tournament."
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