Dundee United 23/24

[Pull My Strings]

Would it be tempting fate to say that we are going to absolutely horse this league? I feel like it would but we horsed it in the last season we were down here and we were largely pish that season. Shankland aside, we were no better than the opposition most weeks. This time, even when we play badly, we're rarely threatened. Two goals conceded - one a pinpoint header into the top corner and one an uncharacteristic blip from Gallagher (his one and only mistake thus far from him). Even without Moult (and I'm absolutely not underestimating his contribution) we're still getting goals from elsewhere in the team. If he were injured for a long time then it might not be as much of a skoosh but we wouldn't suddenly start chucking goals in and I reckon we'd get enough from Cudjoe, Kai, Glass, and others to win more often than not. That should be enough. Rovers and Thistle the only realistic challengers, imo, but both beaten by poor teams today.

Apologies in advance for when this comes back to bite me on the arse.

[invergowrie arab]

1 minute ago, Pull My Strings said:

Would it be tempting fate to say that we are going to absolutely horse this league? I feel like it would but we horsed it in the last season we were down here and we were largely pish that season. Shankland aside, we were no better than the opposition most weeks. This time, even when we play badly, we're rarely threatened. Two goals conceded - one a pinpoint header into the top corner and one an uncharacteristic blip from Gallagher (his one and only mistake thus far from him). Even without Moult (and I'm absolutely not underestimating his contribution) we're still getting goals from elsewhere in the team. If he were injured for a long time then it might not be as much of a skoosh but we wouldn't suddenly start chucking goals in and I reckon we'd get enough from Cudjoe, Kai, Glass, and others to win more often than not. That should be enough. Rovers and Thistle the only realistic challengers, imo, but both beaten by poor teams today.

Apologies in advance for when this comes back to bite me on the arse.

Or... we are sclaffing in last minute winners against shite whilst relying on the the rest of the league being a blob where everyone beats everyone.

I think we should win it but we are horsing nothing 

[Granny Danger]

7 minutes ago, Pull My Strings said:

Would it be tempting fate to say that we are going to absolutely horse this league? I feel like it would but we horsed it in the last season we were down here and we were largely pish that season. Shankland aside, we were no better than the opposition most weeks. This time, even when we play badly, we're rarely threatened. Two goals conceded - one a pinpoint header into the top corner and one an uncharacteristic blip from Gallagher (his one and only mistake thus far from him). Even without Moult (and I'm absolutely not underestimating his contribution) we're still getting goals from elsewhere in the team. If he were injured for a long time then it might not be as much of a skoosh but we wouldn't suddenly start chucking goals in and I reckon we'd get enough from Cudjoe, Kai, Glass, and others to win more often than not. That should be enough. Rovers and Thistle the only realistic challengers, imo, but both beaten by poor teams today.

Apologies in advance for when this comes back to bite me on the arse.

Nothing wrong with being drunk at 10 pm on a Saturday.

 

[Pull My Strings]

9 minutes ago, invergowrie arab said:

Or... we are sclaffing in last minute winners against shite whilst relying on the the rest of the league being a blob where everyone beats everyone.

I think we should win it but we are horsing nothing 

Yeah man, I covered that with the winning when playing badly bit. Every fan of every other team in this division would be touching themselves improperly at the start we've had. Modesty is fine but false modesty or, worse, preening negativity is less admirable. Given what we've seen for the last .. 8,9 years, I absolutely did not expect us to start this season as clearly, demonstratively, objectively the best team in the division and yet by every sensible measure, we are. We might collapse, and I will apologise for the hubris if we do, but I just can't see it. We are solid as f**k every week, against everyone, the only variable is how dangerous we are at the other end. 

7 minutes ago, Granny Danger said:

Nothing wrong with being drunk at 10 pm on a Saturday.

 

Thanks. I'm only pleasantly buzzed thus far but there's still time. 

[invergowrie arab]

38 minutes ago, Pull My Strings said:

Yeah man, I covered that with the winning when playing badly bit. Every fan of every other team in this division would be touching themselves improperly at the start we've had. Modesty is fine but false modesty or, worse, preening negativity is less admirable. Given what we've seen for the last .. 8,9 years, I absolutely did not expect us to start this season as clearly, demonstratively, objectively the best team in the division and yet by every sensible measure, we are. We might collapse, and I will apologise for the hubris if we do, but I just can't see it. We are solid as f**k every week, against everyone, the only variable is how dangerous we are at the other end. 

Thanks. I'm only pleasantly buzzed thus far but there's still time. 

I'm fine with the points total but my worry is whether we are getting the rub of the green or getting what we deserve. I distinctly remember being top around Christmas under McKinnon grinding out 1-0s most weeks but knowing we were going to get found out eventually.

At the moment we are W4 D2 but in terms of  satisfactory performances it's probably more 2/6 

[Twinkle]

Id really hope that United fans dont think that just because we are top, we are decent. We are top because everyone else is shite and we are not much better

[Alert Mongoose]

If we improve our home form we will stroll it (as we should with the financial advantage we have) otherwise it will be a little more of a slog.

Edited September 23, 2023 by Alert Mongoose

[captainkev]

3 hours ago, Pull My Strings said:

Yeah man, I covered that with the winning when playing badly bit. Every fan of every other team in this division would be touching themselves improperly at the start we've had. Modesty is fine but false modesty or, worse, preening negativity is less admirable. Given what we've seen for the last .. 8,9 years, I absolutely did not expect us to start this season as clearly, demonstratively, objectively the best team in the division and yet by every sensible measure, we are. We might collapse, and I will apologise for the hubris if we do, but I just can't see it. We are solid as f**k every week, against everyone, the only variable is how dangerous we are at the other end. 

Thanks. I'm only pleasantly buzzed thus far but there's still time. 

My concern is that there's still grumblings around Goodwin amongst the support. Even though we're top and unbeaten thus far, I've personally only seen two games this season, and there seems to be some unrest with fans about our performances in general. When you factor in his history against us as a player, the way his Aberdeen spell flatlined plus their dramatic recovery after his dismissal, and the fact he was in charge when we finally went down last season, I worry he's still not got enough credit in the bank. When a sticky patch inevitably comes it won't take much for a large proportion of our fanbase to vocally turn on him and push the club towards making a potentially hasty and disruptive change.

Again I haven't seen most of our games this season, but I'm feeling tentatively positive about the ways are currently going. The fact that several youngsters have already made significant contributions to our results is playing no small part in that.

If Watt finally step up and makes some decisive contributions should Moult be out for any significant length of time, then I reckon that would really help to alleviate some anxieties too.

[Cardle is Magic]

4 hours ago, Pull My Strings said:

Would it be tempting fate to say that we are going to absolutely horse this league?

Not at all. I think the vast majority of people predicted United would be champions and probably at a canter.

As has been mentioned, you have the biggest budget and therefore the ability to fix any lingering issues in January if there’s even the slightest hint of a challenge.

Should be a fairly comfortable stroll to the title IMO and anything other than 1st would be a failure.

[Sarto Mutiny]

8 hours ago, Twinkle said:

Id really hope that United fans dont think that just because we are top, we are decent. We are top because everyone else is shite and we are not much better

We don't have to be good. We just have to be better than everyone else 

[Granny Danger]

5 hours ago, Cardle is Magic said:

Not at all. I think the vast majority of people predicted United would be champions and probably at a canter.

As has been mentioned, you have the biggest budget and therefore the ability to fix any lingering issues in January if there’s even the slightest hint of a challenge.

Should be a fairly comfortable stroll to the title IMO and anything other than 1st would be a failure.

Budget isn’t everything.  Last season we had a bigger budget than 50% of the other Premiership clubs and still ended bottom.

 

 

On a different note, any word on Moult’s injury?  Was it the result of a tackle or did he just go down?

[Twinkle]

3 hours ago, Sarto Mutiny said:

We don't have to be good. We just have to be better than everyone else 

Agreed

[Granny Danger]

Only two goals conceded in six league games, and one of these was from might turn out to be our biggest defensive error of the season.  Keeping it so tight at the back will make a huge contribution to us possibly securing the title.

 

[Sarto Mutiny]

The three seasons when we failed to get promoted the last time we were down here, there was at least one team who would be reasonably consistent (Hibs, St Mirren and Ross County, in that order). The fourth season, we were that team. It seems to be a league where anyone can beat anyone else, so if we can string the results together in the way we have been doing that will be more than enough. Dundee won this league with 63 points last season and Killie got 67 points the year before, which illustrates how cutthroat it is. We already have 14.

For comparison, the last time we won this league we got 59 points in 28 games (EIGHT GAMES TO GO)

[ArabFC]

13 hours ago, Pull My Strings said:

Would it be tempting fate to say that we are going to absolutely horse this league... Shankland aside...

I mean, that was pretty fundamental to it. Most Championship winning teams have a goalscorer banging them in.

[Loemba90]

Moult getting a scan on his groin to determine how long he’s going to be out.

 

We’ll surely bring a striker in on loan this week.  
 

I thought Watt did OK yesterday but just never looks like scoring

[Sarto Mutiny]

1 minute ago, Loemba90 said:

Moult getting a scan on his groin to determine how long he’s going to be out.

 

We’ll surely bring a striker in on loan this week.  
 

I thought Watt did OK yesterday but just never looks like scoring

Watt did do ok, but his lack of confidence in front of goal was evident. Midway through the second half he had one chance where he squared it instead of having a go himself, then he had a shot when one on one with the keeper that rather lacked conviction and was saved. He just needs a goal. Easier said than done.

[Granny Danger]

Tony Watt is not a striker.  More so he’s not the sort of player who could play the striker’s role in the formation that we play.  Goodwin is unlikely to change the formation (FWIW I don’t think he should) which means either playing Watt who is not suited to the role or a young boy who is not ready at this level.

There we’re serious errors last season in terms of the balance of the squad, the only obvious one this season is not having cover for Moult.

 

[UtdFan]

I’ve been convinced since the Carlisle and Arbroath games that we’re gonna win the league by a considerable margin.

Absolutely no arrogance or blinkers on, I just feel that we have a significantly stronger squad than others in the league (which we should with our budget).

Even though we’ve not been great in certain games, we’re grinding out results every single week.

[ArabianKnight]

Right don't shoot me down here, but would it be worth it signing Liam Buchanan as a squad back up for striker?

I mean I know he's scored most of his goals at a lower level but if Watts not scoring and Moult gets injured again he's at least a fairly experienced player to come on.