Mark McGhee has revealed he told his players when he was appointed Dundee boss in February that they wouldn't win many games.
The former Aberdeen and Motherwell gaffer set his squad up for setbacks as he still searches for the first win of his tenure.
The Dens Park club have played eight games, losing five and drawing three under McGhee's guidance.
However the 64-year-old is convinced he can mastermind them to survival, insisting they only need to win a couple of games - despite sitting bottom of the Scottish Premiership, six points behind Tayside rivals St Johnstone.
McGhee told Sky Sports News: "The most important thing for me, and I think it's one of the reasons I was brought here, it's not just about playing on the pitch and tactics, but how you react. And that's the most important thing that I've kept driving home to the players.
"I said to them on the first day, look we're not going to win very many games, so we are going to be going home on a lot of Saturday nights disappointed.
"But it's what you then do, how you react the next time round.
"So for instance, we played Livingston here and lost badly.
"But we came out against Hibs in the next game still positive, still on the front foot.
"And that's probably been the most important thing during this time is to keep them positive, even when you are losing."
Dundee are favourites to fall down to the Championship but McGhee isn't fazed by the circumstances they currently face.
"It's not head in the sand," he said. "But I think we can mitigate it.
"We only have to win a couple of games to stay up, we don't have to win seven games.
"The important thing is that message that we keep going again and again until we do that and get the couple of results we need."
