More trials and tribulations at United

THE trials and tribulations continue at Dundee United with manager Jim Goodwin under week-to-week scrutiny, not to mention serious pressure from the fans.

United’s recent run of indifferent results now looks like they have very little to play for this season as they are caught in a kind of no-man’s land between the bottom two and seventh place where they currently sit. However the Tangerines should be taking nothing for granted, as Killie—who currently occupy the playoff spot—pulled off a major coup in beating league leaders Hearts recently and could easily pull back a nine-point gap to drag United into the relegation mire. Bottom side Livingston, despite a few creditable draws of late, look destined for the drop and will be United’s opponents in the final game before the split.

After an away win at Falkirk, United had a backlog of fixtures after the city of Dundee recorded more rain to the start of a calendar year for almost a century. So, it was hardly surprising United had no fewer than three games to reschedule as the playing surface at Tannadice took a battering and is still in recovery mode after resembling a ploughed field at times. United did eventually get a game to go ahead in the first of three ‘Tannadice Tuesdays’ where they managed to see off the Spartans in the Scottish Cup despite going down to 10 men after only 12 minutes and holding onto a 2-1 victory and a passage to the quarter finals.

An east coast derby with Aberdeen served up a dreadfully dull goalless draw with neither side really creating any clear cut chances, apart from a Kevin Nisbet sitter for the visitors which somehow went wide and an outrageous long-range strike from United’s Pan Camara, which rebounded off the post being the match highlights. A point really did neither for both sides who seemed almost content with their fate of playing in the bottom six for the rest of this season.

United came good the following week seeing off St Mirren with a late Amar Fatah penalty being the difference in a 2-1 victory. Fatah had missed his last spot kick a few weeks before so showed great resilience in stepping forward to erase that particular memory.

The same player—on loan from French side Troyes—has just deservedly won the Player of the Month award after a run of good form, which also saw him claim the Goal of the Month with a fine curling effort versus Kilmarnock, which ended 1-1. Here, United again struggled to hold on to a lead with the away side netting an avoidable injury time equaliser.

A trip to Motherwell was instantly forgettable with the Steelmen running out 2-0 winners and the home side playing some fine attractive football that has surprised many a pundit so far this season.

So too, a visit to the Falkirk Stadium saw the Tangerines exit the Scottish Cup, coming out the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline with the Bairns progressing to the semis.

Next up was the Dundee derby, which for United was nothing more than a horror show. Cruising at 2-0 with goals from Fatah and Luca Stephenson, the Tangerines were in complete control. Cue the added time board, where a familiar pattern emerged of conceding a soft goal in added time. That error should have been a consolation goal at most for Dundee, but low and behold, a needless challenge allowed them back into it and the last play of the game resulted in a free-kick being headed into his own net by a panicked United captain Ross Graham. It was a case of elation to deflation for the travelling Arabs who saw their side concede in an eye watering 94 and 96 minutes.

In his post-match interview Goodwin described the result as ‘pathetic’ and it has split the vote with many laying the blame directly at his door. Arguably, the players’ inability to defend cross balls combined with lack of leadership and organisation on the pitch is not down to the man in the dugout and is surely up to personnel deployed on the field, as is the necessity to concentrate for the entirety of the game.

It appears this team require a change in mindset and self-belief, as losing late soft goals has become a habit fans would all like to see them shake off and this one was particularly hard to take. Whether or not the manager is the man to drive that message home though remains to be seen and change is required one way or another either on or off the field.