The bottom six of the Scottish Premiership is not where Neil Critchley wants Heart of Midlothian to be, but the head coach is only focusing on what he can control.
A trip to Hampden Park and a Scottish Cup semi-final lies in wait, and the chance to make something of a difficult season.
Critchley defended his record and the improvement he has seen in a club that was bottom of the table when he arrived, winless domestically.
That defence will not be sufficient for some supporters who feel that despite the uptick in form the team has failed repeatedly when faced with a big test.
Critchley can understand where those views come from but he has blocked out the noise. He can go some way to winning those particular fans back with a win over Aberdeen on Saturday.
“I don't look at anything. I don't look at social media. I don't look at media,” he said. “It is what it is. I put pressure on myself in terms of the way that the players prepare and perform.
“I understand this football club has an expectation to win games. We want to be at the top end of the league in the season. We're not. But you just have to accept it.
“I can't change that now. We can't change that. We can only change what's in front of us. That starts on Saturday.”
Hearts’ main issue this season, big game or not, is finishing enough of the chances they have created. Some defeats could have turned out differently – even some wins could have been more comfortable.
Hearts go into Saturday’s game having failed to score in their last three matches. Critchley denied any suggestion the issue was due to a lack of confidence.
He explained what he can do to address it: “It's just repetition of practice. You have to keep putting them in situations that you think they'll encounter in the game. Try and replicate that in training. You can never replicate the pressure situation because you can't put 20, 30, 40,000 people on the training pitch.
“You can certainly repeat technical actions or runs or movements and you hope through that repetition that they gain the confidence that when they get there in the critical moment that they take it.”
Hearts have no fresh injury concerns ahead of facing Aberdeen. James Wilson will return from suspension before missing the next league game and Zander Clark will again sit out with “a slight ligament strain in his foot”.
“It's not serious,” added Critchley. “It just requires a bit of offloading and then we start to build him back up. Hopefully that won't be too long.”
One player who has been left out of the squad for the last two weeks is Kenneth Vargas, though there is no injury concern.
The Costa Rican has been training as usual but has just not made the cut come match day.
“I can only pick so many players,” explained Critchley. “We have a big squad here and as I said to other players, I can't keep everyone happy.
“Sometimes when you look at the bench and you have to pick players, there might be tactical reasons. Alan Forrest scored four goals here recently in a behind-closed-doors game.
“I think it was last week or the week before. Musa [Drammeh, who started last week versus Motherwell] scored three or four goals in that game.
“You have to train well. It's best for your best and then I have to pick the team and the squad that I think gives us the best chance of winning the game.”
The Hearts head coach is looking forward to leading out a side at Hampden for the first time and called on his players to embrace the pressure that comes with it.
He wants them to “thrive” in the environment of the national stadium, backed by a jam-packed Hearts end.
“That saying, pressure is a privilege, is true,” he said. “The players have worked damn hard in their careers, so have I. You deserve to be in this situation. You deserve to be in this moment.
“So let's enjoy it. Let's enjoy being at Hampden in front of all our supporters and let's go and give it everything we've got.”
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Critchley recalled his trip to Wembley with Blackpool in the League One play-off final where they emerged victorious.
He will be hoping for a more straightforward afternoon on Saturday after that day started with an own goal that put his side behind in the first minute.
They showed “character” to bounce back to win 2-1 and Critchley sees similar traits in his current squad.
“But what we did do is we overcame that disappointment, we stuck to the plan and I think that's when you find out about your group, the character within your group,” he added.
“That was a good group, great character and I'm confident this group has got a similar amount of character and hopefully we get to show that.”
