Aladdin

Good to see him able to keep playing at any level. Some of the abuse he took was unwarranted, the guy was clearly fucked and has had more serious injuries than just about any other player I could think of at United.

Comprehensive analysis following the game.

Better second half. Good to get a win with a mediocre performance - wouldn't have expected that in the last couple of seasons.

Beautiful, ugly goal.

Back to reality with a bang. Fairly pedestrian, some ropey defending, poor deliveries into the box and a striker loitering ineffectively on the left wing. Almost comforting in its familiarity after last week.

Hemmings is a good signing for dundee, there's no point in denying it. It's going to be a spicy division again this year but looking forward to it. Although Neilson has said hes looking for one more player, I think much will depend on what we get out of Pawlett and Sow this year as we cant just rely Shankland and a couple of youngsters.

United now have a long and proud tradition of shunting a striker out wide just to shoehorn them into the team. Would be a shame to see it abandoned now.

Not the worst league debut from Shankland. Shown enough to convince me he'll be an able deputy for Sow.

Have we actually made a good signing?

Shankland beginning to justify his £10k per week wages.

Booth wasn't horrendous but given hes not first choice I'm not too bothered about losing him. Bouhenna is decent at this level but would likely need to be upgraded anyway in the event we got promoted - if someones willing to pay a fee then we should probably take it. Need to lose aird and loemba. If we are planning on bringing in another striker and a winger, would want to get rid of one from sow, pawlett and cammy smith too.

Decent set of penalties apart from Clark's. A point away to hearts isn't bad but performance left a lot to be desired.

The last time we had a solid centre half pairing was dods and wilkie. Not the most skilful players in the land and seemed to be on the verge of red cards almost every game but got the job done. If Connelly and Reynolds can shitfest their way through games like those two I'll be happy. Edit to say Webster and Kenneth obvs but Webster was a one season wonder.

Clear that we've always been playing for penalties knowing out stellar recent record will intimidate the Jambos.

Scott banks looks lively.

We dont look the best. We are playing 442 thought for about the first time ever under neilson with a centre mid pairing I can't remember seeing before. Sporle has had a shit half but I dont think Smith has been as bad as folk have made out.

If we haven't had to pay him off then that's our best deal of the summer.

If the signing is concluded, he'll either be class or we'll be saddled with the new Lee Miller. I think most United fans have come to terms with these extremes recently, with most of our signings turning out to be utter dross. Anyway, an attacking midfielder and we're about ready to go.

I dont get the hate towards Sow. He came in, clearly wasn't match fit but offers something different. He was also a bit unlucky not to grab a couple more goals. I think hes also one of these players, being bigger, that looks slower than he is. I'm happy enough to wipe the slate clean for next season and see what he can offer.

Dont see Aird playing for us again if accounts are to be believed. In any case, he hardly tore it up at QotS so we likely need better. I dont think we need another centre half in this league. Priority has to be an attacking CM, unless Pawlett can play there, a LW and another striker.

Interesting signing. At least we've now addressed both full back positions which have been a problem for the last 3 years.

Influxes of south Americans have never been anything less than astounding successes at United. Stick on argentinian international within 12 months.

I'd keep siegrist - apart from one moment of mayhem against ICT in the playoffs hes been decent recently.

Theres no point in sacking neilson. Hes too negative and hesitant but he can get a team out of the championship. As people have pointed out, results have improved dramatically since he came in, even though there's been some stinking performances.

Whilst I'm moderately raging I just can't go full on seething. We looked awful over 180 minutes and followed it up with the worst penalty shootout I've ever seen. Giving it your all and just coming up short feels far worse but we deserved to stay down. Bring on the derbies next season.