Bottom of the Premiership heading into March and thrashed 4-0 at home by the side sitting in ninth, Dundee are staring down the barrel of relegation.
There’s no point dressing it up any other way because the future of this season looks bleak for the Dark Blues.
They do still have 11 matches to lift themselves out of trouble but, on the evidence of Saturday’s weak defeat to Livingston, that appears a long shot.
The weekend reverse was just another in a list of big defeats for this squad but the ease in which they were swept aside is deeply worrying.
Team selection and setup
New management team Mark McGhee and Simon Rusk have been in the job less than a fortnight and are still getting to know their squad.
But the team they picked to face Livi was an odd one.
All the creative players were left on the bench – Charlie Adam, Niall McGinn, Luke McCowan, Paul McGowan and Paul McMullan.
It was the strongest bench the Dark Blues have had all season.
By the time any of those players came onto the field, the match was over. And it only took 21 minutes.
Zeno Ibsen Rossi was the one getting the early hook after 23 minutes for McMullan as Dundee changed from three at the back to a straight 4-4-2.
There was a small flurry from Dundee before half-time but then the second half was a procession as Livi took the foot off the gas at 4-0 up.
The weak manner of defeat will have taught McGhee plenty about his new team – he certainly needs to come up with a new plan to face Hibs on Wednesday.
Spirit
This Dundee squad have had bad defeats before but this one felt different.
There was no fight, no urgency, no spirit about the Dark Blues – against this Livingston side, that’s only going to end one way.
The first three goals showed all that as well as an uncertainty over how they were supposed to combat their opponents.
All three first-half goals were similar – get to the byline, cut-back and finish.
Defenders beaten too easily down the flanks and strikers allowed to roam free in the six-yard box, there was no reaction at the time or plan to stop it happening again.
The good thing about this squad is they have shown the ability to bounce back from bad, bad days before.
This next couple of weeks will be their biggest test of all.
Fans
After the reaction to McGhee’s appointment, going 3-0 down after 21 minutes was never going to be taken well.
A decent number left before it was even 3-0, however.
Abuse was hurled in the direction of managing director John Nelms and boss McGhee sat next to him in the director’s box.
And the interaction between a young fan with his phone and the Dens manager wasn’t a good look for the club or for anybody involved either.
In among the anger there is a fair amount of apathy, too.
In a relegation battle, a passionate support gives a team a major boost – getting fans back onside is a big problem for Dundee.
It’s an issue that can only be solved by performances on the pitch.
Performances far, far better than the one put in on Saturday.
