No Happy New Year so far for United

DUNDEE United’s start to 2026 has been nothing short of abysmal, as Jim Goodwin’s side have lost all four league games so far.

This has obviously set off alarm bells among concerned Arabs as they watch their side slowly slide down the league table.

It’s been a dramatic turn of bad form when we consider United played seven games in December losing only one, away at St Mirren. A highly unexpected victory over Celtic was probably the highlight of the month as well as picking up a rare three points at bottom side Livingston, which has not been a happy hunting ground over the years. United also picked up points in drawn games with Rangers, Hibs, Motherwell and Aberdeen—all of which were above them in the table.

So going into the New Year it looked like the ship had been somewhat stabilised, albeit with some rough spots needing to be ironed out, including the problematic goalkeeping position which saw Ukranian Yevhen Kucharenko moved out to the Greek Super League.

So into 2026 we went, full of hope and New Year cheer for a derby at home in front of a sell-out crowd and the TV cameras. The day would end in disaster as our visitors from across the street left with all three points, after capitalising on a mistake from the returning Pan Camara to score the only goal of the game on the stroke of half-time. It was no more than Dundee deserved after a series of misses in front of goal could have easily put them two or three up.

United eventually woke up in the second period and tried wave after wave of attack to no avail as they found the resilient Dark Blue defence in fine form. A splendid save from Jon McCracken in the Dundee goal late on put paid to any comeback from the Tangerines and it was indeed Dundee’s day as they extended their undefeated record at Tannadice to four games.

United then had to visit Celtic Park where it was soon evident that this was a very different Celtic side from the one who had lost at Tannadice under Wilfred Nancy. Unfortunate then for Goodwin and his men that this was the day Martin O’Neill returned to the hot seat, which was for sure a telling factor in a one sided contest. United offered very little throughout the 90 minutes and were fortunate to come away with a 4-0 defeat, in what could have been a far greater drubbing.

The next league game saw league leaders Hearts come to Tannadice, with United again losing heavily and outclassed on the night. Hearts were runaway 3-0 winners and to add insult to injury, United went down to nine men for the last 15 minutes of the game after the dismissal of both Amar Fatah and Camara, ruling both out of our midweek trip to the capital to face the green and white half.

Hibs took a first half lead through Martin Boyle, but it was United who took advantage of some poor defending to go into a 2-1 lead scoring both from corner kick deliveries from the impressive Kristijan Trapanowski. Hibs though, were not to be outdone as a free-kick from Nicky Cadden resulted in an own goal and a late equaliser on 90 minutes. With two games already drawn between the sides this season, you would have been forgiven to expect the same outcome. Hibs though had other ideas and that man Cadden again whipped in a cross that saw the United defence in disarray enabling debutant striker Ante Šuto to grab a winner with a looped header in additional time.

After these run of results United now find themselves in eighth position in the league table and with the gap widening, it now looks unlikely that they will end up in the top half of the table.

Head coach Goodwin, as ever, is under fire, with his insistence of playing with three at the back a major cause of frustration, as well as the regular chopping and changing of personnel which is also proving most unpopular amongst Arabs. Nevertheless, he cannot be held responsible for costly individual errors that have also been a contributory factor in his side losing 18 points from winning positions this season, which is the worst record of any side in the division and certainly nothing to be writing home about.

The win over Ayr United in the cup offered at least some distraction from the poor league form and United now face Spartans for a place in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup, giving them the opportunity of putting some kind of dent in the ever increasing darkening mood around Tannadice Park.