I'm beside a swimming pool in Majorca feeling pretty chilled out for once. Maybe it's my relaxed mood which has shaped the tone of this blog. Basically, this, unusually for me, is an appeal for cool heads. The fallout from Friday's debacle at Alloa is still raging on various United platforms and it is not a pretty sight.
Friday was horrendous, we started really badly (or they started quickly, or both) and it was no surprise when they took the lead, carving us open with a through ball followed by a cut back to an inrushing striker. We looked pedestrian whereas they played a similar high-tempo style to Ayr. At this point though, I'll correct that, they played a similar high-tempo style to us; the us who scored 6 against Morton last week, the us who scored 6 against Dundee, the us who should've scored 6 by half time against Dunfermline, the us who scored 5 against Inverness. This tempered my thinking somewhat. We turned in similar performances to Friday night under both Ray McKinnon and Czaba Laszlo. However we never blew anyone away under either of those two managers who many in the growing 'Neilson Out' threads on Tekel Towers, East Football and various groups on Facebook argue, Utd waited too long to sack and legitimately fear history repeating itself if Mark Ogren fails to pull the trigger.
United defeats in recent years have generally fallen into one of two categories.
1. We play the one up top, slow-paced, tippy-tappy style with endless passing across the back four, no-one showing for the ball and allowing the opposition to get into their shape forcing a defender to simply launch the ball to an isolated striker. Think East Fife, Arbroath (88 minutes) and dozens of other dire performances too many of which have came under Robbie Neilson.
2. The opposition gets in our face right from the off, they dictate the tempo and our midfield allows itself to be over-run. Games like this are a test of character in my opinion. You have no choice but to do the dirty work, start making tackles and matching runs. If you have the ball you have to do something with it. This season the Ayr game and the Alloa game both fell into this category. However, against Ayr I always felt we looked dangerous whenever we went forward and gradually we did start to match them, making more chances than any of the games against them from last season. Granted, we should have been 4-0 down at half time; but we weren't. In the second half especially, it was missed chances at crucial times which cost us: the chance right after half-time when Appere played a ball right across their 6 yard box with no takers and Nicky Clark's header hitting the post. If either of them go in we win that match, no doubt, regardless of how shite Jobby McCall thinks we are. Meanwhile, the Alloa game was lost in midfield. Ian Harkes was showing but kept getting caught on the ball whilst Sam Stanton was posted missing altogether (his performance was unacceptable tbh). McMullan and Sporle struggled with being doubled up on whenever they got the ball. Peter Grant had clearly watched Morton's pathetic 'efforts' from last week and prepared to counter us in full flow. Unfortunately, McMullan reacted to this in true winger style by letting his head go down, whilst Sporle looked like what he is: a left back playing at left midfield in a foreign country on a slow plastic pitch which he stated in an earlier interview, he'd never experienced. However, the big question for this blog is this: Was the Alloa performance down to the manager setting us up negatively or was it simply a case of too many of the players bottling it and/putting in shite performances?
In my opinion (and I suspect that plenty of people will disagree with me), most of the blame for this defeat was lies at the feet of the players rather than the manager. Firstly, Butcher being out was a big loss and the non-performance of the two who did play can't be blamed on Neilson. Having to subby Stanton, Harkes (and Sporle) tells you something and at least Neilson actually admitted it wasn't working by taking them off (and in his post-match interviews). Two of these three were outstanding last week then turn in performances like that? I would also add that we were NOT playing 4-2-3-1 on Friday. Pawlett was playing up front with Shankland. It does seem that because Pawlett is not a recognised striker (in fact people have him pigeonholed as a winger, a role he stopped playing for Aberdeen in 2013 due to knee trouble robbing him of a yard of pace and McInnes seeing his greater effectiveness as a number 10) that people lose their shit and immediately cry one up top. It looked to me that he was playing exactly the same role as last week when he helped create loads of chances against Morton and had a goal of the season contender cruelly disallowed. Against Alloa he was totally denied service though by our non-existant midfield. Pawlett has ability, but he's also lacking a bit when the chips are down but on Friday he started to go deeper and deeper trying to get on the ball and make things happen which leads people to cry 4-2-3-1. It does appear that because people have a fixed idea of a front pairing as being Shankland and Appere staying rigidly up front that they won't accept anyone else playing there, and immediately cry one-up front. Is it the managers fault that our midfield couldn't defend or create anything against Alloa and yet destroyed four other teams this season? Tbh I'd like to see Louis Appere get played up there with Shankland. He's not going to develop as a striker playing out wide or sitting on the bench, but I can also recognise that i) We started with this against Dundee, were getting over-run and the game turned on Connolly going off and us switching Louis out wide with Pawlett going into the 10 role (and it was a 10, unlike the last two weeks when he had played up front) ii) Louis played up front with Clark in a 4-4-2 against Arbroath in the Challenge Cup and was bullied by Tam O'Brien and tbh, did fuck all.
Does this mean that Robbie Neilson should be exempt from criticism for Friday's debacle? No way. I couldn't believe his comments in the press conference where he talked about how he expected us to have long periods without the ball due to Alloa's posession game. Fucking hell. ALLOA'S POSESSION GAME????? If the players went out with this mindset then no wonder the first half panned out as it did. Though I can maybe understand why he talked up the opposition following the fallout from Ayr United game and Jobby's MOCK OUTRAGE about Robbie's 'better coaching' comments. However, this is Dundee United versus Alloa Athletic for gods sake. Surely the players should be getting told in the dressing room to get after them in the first 20 minutes and to go for an early goal. I remember berating an entire busload of people (they looked bemused) after the 2015 League Cup Final when people suggested that McNamara had no choice than to play a right back at right midfield and three central midfielders including John Rankin at left midfield instead of at least playing two out and out wide players. My take was we were Dundee United not some Mickey Mouse outfit like St Mirren, Motherwell or Kilmarnock and in a cup final we shouldn't be changing our approach for anyone, Celtic included. I still stand by that comment. However, my unhappiness with with the manager is still outweighed by a feeling that too many players either bottled it or unexpectedly under-performed on Friday night. People have cited that the manager signed most of these players but I'd counter that he signed these players who everyone was lauding just over a week ago after the Morton game. The Scottish Championship is without a doubt the most fucked-up league in world football with bi-polar shifts in form and results on an almost weekly basis: Morton beat Alloa 4-1, we beat Morton 6-0, Alloa beat us 1-0. Everyone down there suffers from it, not just us.
I've had my fair share of online meltdowns after results, I've vented against Robbie Neilson, including in the first edition of this blog, but I feel that Friday was not his fault and is not a sacking offence. How anyone could work in a situation where one week you win 6-0, and are universally lauded then lose 1-0 the following week and people demand you are sacked (this also occured DURING the Arbroath game a couple of weeks after the 6-2 game) is not a healthy pressure and for me is becoming counter productive. Yes, we are Dundee United not some Mickey Mouse outfit. But, we are where we are. Poor performances and unexpected defeats happen (Livi beat Celtic, Wolves beat Man City last weekend too).
An experienced, but now retired successful manager recently told me how he had been asked for some advice by a young manager who was finding results hard to come by. His advice was, 'Don't be afraid to change.' For me that is great advice, whether that is during a game or for a run of games, style or formations. Too many managers are stuck in one mindset and doggedly stick to one way of playing regardless of results and often fierce opposition and refuse to swallow their pride and make adjustments that go against their footballing 'principles'. Arsene Wenger spent about 14 years churning out teams full of wee tippy-tappy technical players who were easily dominated physically and were totally devoid of grit. He believed that he was right and everyone else was wrong and that at some point he'd win a trophy and appeared to become more and more entrenched with every passing comment from fans or pundits. He never did change and this mindset was completely at odds with what had made his great Arsenal teams successful in the first place (Adams, Keown, Campbell, Viera, Petit etc who could play and mix it physically). This stubborn belief eventually cost him his job. In fact, this dogged refusal to play in more than one way is becoming more common amongst young managers. Recently, Neil McCann was punted by the Fun much more quickly for exactly the same reasons (today Jack Ross was punted from Sunderland because of a combination of inconsistent results and dour football with no really convincing performances or wins: sound familiar?). If United were consistently churning out the dour ponderous performances of last season (like we were in 3/4 Betfred Cup games this season also) then I'd be calling for the manager's head, but we've finally started to show we can play another way that is both exciting and very effective and compleletly different from McKinnon and Laszlo. The thing that is currently lacking is doing it consistently and against teams who really go for it themselves against us. It's a slow process and I think that is frustrating people. In my opinion, the alternative upheaval of punting him may actually create more problems than it solves if we end up with a manager of similar stubborn ilk. However, my belief is we are learning and Robbie Neilson is showing signs of changing and showing more adaptability. The emphatic wins we've already had reflect that. Maybe its cool heads and patience that are required for the next wee while. There is a bigger picture developing at the club. I can see that the signs of us changing are there and we will be much better off points wise (and goals wise) this season than any of the previous three seasons as a result. No doubt I've jinxed the QotS game now. Ach well.
P.S. Will our support stop trying to fucking sell Lawrence Shankland online every two fucking minutes! Fucking fatalists and masochists galore everytime I go online. It's almost like some people want it to happen. If you are unhappy with how we are doing just now then Christ knows what you'll be like if he goes and there is no-one to pull us out of the shite like in the Arbroath game. Mark Ogren did not spend £4-£5 million for us to make a fraction of it back selling our best player in January thereby blowing our chance of getting up this season. Make no mistake, we need to get out of this league this year because next year will be a nightmare in the Championship with potentially, a relegated St Johnstone, one of the Edinburgh clubs along with Dundee, ICT, Ayr and a financially boosted, McCall-led Partick Thistle. Just enjoy the boy playing eh FFS. Arabest. Viva Espana.
Friday was horrendous, we started really badly (or they started quickly, or both) and it was no surprise when they took the lead, carving us open with a through ball followed by a cut back to an inrushing striker. We looked pedestrian whereas they played a similar high-tempo style to Ayr. At this point though, I'll correct that, they played a similar high-tempo style to us; the us who scored 6 against Morton last week, the us who scored 6 against Dundee, the us who should've scored 6 by half time against Dunfermline, the us who scored 5 against Inverness. This tempered my thinking somewhat. We turned in similar performances to Friday night under both Ray McKinnon and Czaba Laszlo. However we never blew anyone away under either of those two managers who many in the growing 'Neilson Out' threads on Tekel Towers, East Football and various groups on Facebook argue, Utd waited too long to sack and legitimately fear history repeating itself if Mark Ogren fails to pull the trigger.
United defeats in recent years have generally fallen into one of two categories.
1. We play the one up top, slow-paced, tippy-tappy style with endless passing across the back four, no-one showing for the ball and allowing the opposition to get into their shape forcing a defender to simply launch the ball to an isolated striker. Think East Fife, Arbroath (88 minutes) and dozens of other dire performances too many of which have came under Robbie Neilson.
2. The opposition gets in our face right from the off, they dictate the tempo and our midfield allows itself to be over-run. Games like this are a test of character in my opinion. You have no choice but to do the dirty work, start making tackles and matching runs. If you have the ball you have to do something with it. This season the Ayr game and the Alloa game both fell into this category. However, against Ayr I always felt we looked dangerous whenever we went forward and gradually we did start to match them, making more chances than any of the games against them from last season. Granted, we should have been 4-0 down at half time; but we weren't. In the second half especially, it was missed chances at crucial times which cost us: the chance right after half-time when Appere played a ball right across their 6 yard box with no takers and Nicky Clark's header hitting the post. If either of them go in we win that match, no doubt, regardless of how shite Jobby McCall thinks we are. Meanwhile, the Alloa game was lost in midfield. Ian Harkes was showing but kept getting caught on the ball whilst Sam Stanton was posted missing altogether (his performance was unacceptable tbh). McMullan and Sporle struggled with being doubled up on whenever they got the ball. Peter Grant had clearly watched Morton's pathetic 'efforts' from last week and prepared to counter us in full flow. Unfortunately, McMullan reacted to this in true winger style by letting his head go down, whilst Sporle looked like what he is: a left back playing at left midfield in a foreign country on a slow plastic pitch which he stated in an earlier interview, he'd never experienced. However, the big question for this blog is this: Was the Alloa performance down to the manager setting us up negatively or was it simply a case of too many of the players bottling it and/putting in shite performances?
In my opinion (and I suspect that plenty of people will disagree with me), most of the blame for this defeat was lies at the feet of the players rather than the manager. Firstly, Butcher being out was a big loss and the non-performance of the two who did play can't be blamed on Neilson. Having to subby Stanton, Harkes (and Sporle) tells you something and at least Neilson actually admitted it wasn't working by taking them off (and in his post-match interviews). Two of these three were outstanding last week then turn in performances like that? I would also add that we were NOT playing 4-2-3-1 on Friday. Pawlett was playing up front with Shankland. It does seem that because Pawlett is not a recognised striker (in fact people have him pigeonholed as a winger, a role he stopped playing for Aberdeen in 2013 due to knee trouble robbing him of a yard of pace and McInnes seeing his greater effectiveness as a number 10) that people lose their shit and immediately cry one up top. It looked to me that he was playing exactly the same role as last week when he helped create loads of chances against Morton and had a goal of the season contender cruelly disallowed. Against Alloa he was totally denied service though by our non-existant midfield. Pawlett has ability, but he's also lacking a bit when the chips are down but on Friday he started to go deeper and deeper trying to get on the ball and make things happen which leads people to cry 4-2-3-1. It does appear that because people have a fixed idea of a front pairing as being Shankland and Appere staying rigidly up front that they won't accept anyone else playing there, and immediately cry one-up front. Is it the managers fault that our midfield couldn't defend or create anything against Alloa and yet destroyed four other teams this season? Tbh I'd like to see Louis Appere get played up there with Shankland. He's not going to develop as a striker playing out wide or sitting on the bench, but I can also recognise that i) We started with this against Dundee, were getting over-run and the game turned on Connolly going off and us switching Louis out wide with Pawlett going into the 10 role (and it was a 10, unlike the last two weeks when he had played up front) ii) Louis played up front with Clark in a 4-4-2 against Arbroath in the Challenge Cup and was bullied by Tam O'Brien and tbh, did fuck all.
Does this mean that Robbie Neilson should be exempt from criticism for Friday's debacle? No way. I couldn't believe his comments in the press conference where he talked about how he expected us to have long periods without the ball due to Alloa's posession game. Fucking hell. ALLOA'S POSESSION GAME????? If the players went out with this mindset then no wonder the first half panned out as it did. Though I can maybe understand why he talked up the opposition following the fallout from Ayr United game and Jobby's MOCK OUTRAGE about Robbie's 'better coaching' comments. However, this is Dundee United versus Alloa Athletic for gods sake. Surely the players should be getting told in the dressing room to get after them in the first 20 minutes and to go for an early goal. I remember berating an entire busload of people (they looked bemused) after the 2015 League Cup Final when people suggested that McNamara had no choice than to play a right back at right midfield and three central midfielders including John Rankin at left midfield instead of at least playing two out and out wide players. My take was we were Dundee United not some Mickey Mouse outfit like St Mirren, Motherwell or Kilmarnock and in a cup final we shouldn't be changing our approach for anyone, Celtic included. I still stand by that comment. However, my unhappiness with with the manager is still outweighed by a feeling that too many players either bottled it or unexpectedly under-performed on Friday night. People have cited that the manager signed most of these players but I'd counter that he signed these players who everyone was lauding just over a week ago after the Morton game. The Scottish Championship is without a doubt the most fucked-up league in world football with bi-polar shifts in form and results on an almost weekly basis: Morton beat Alloa 4-1, we beat Morton 6-0, Alloa beat us 1-0. Everyone down there suffers from it, not just us.
I've had my fair share of online meltdowns after results, I've vented against Robbie Neilson, including in the first edition of this blog, but I feel that Friday was not his fault and is not a sacking offence. How anyone could work in a situation where one week you win 6-0, and are universally lauded then lose 1-0 the following week and people demand you are sacked (this also occured DURING the Arbroath game a couple of weeks after the 6-2 game) is not a healthy pressure and for me is becoming counter productive. Yes, we are Dundee United not some Mickey Mouse outfit. But, we are where we are. Poor performances and unexpected defeats happen (Livi beat Celtic, Wolves beat Man City last weekend too).
An experienced, but now retired successful manager recently told me how he had been asked for some advice by a young manager who was finding results hard to come by. His advice was, 'Don't be afraid to change.' For me that is great advice, whether that is during a game or for a run of games, style or formations. Too many managers are stuck in one mindset and doggedly stick to one way of playing regardless of results and often fierce opposition and refuse to swallow their pride and make adjustments that go against their footballing 'principles'. Arsene Wenger spent about 14 years churning out teams full of wee tippy-tappy technical players who were easily dominated physically and were totally devoid of grit. He believed that he was right and everyone else was wrong and that at some point he'd win a trophy and appeared to become more and more entrenched with every passing comment from fans or pundits. He never did change and this mindset was completely at odds with what had made his great Arsenal teams successful in the first place (Adams, Keown, Campbell, Viera, Petit etc who could play and mix it physically). This stubborn belief eventually cost him his job. In fact, this dogged refusal to play in more than one way is becoming more common amongst young managers. Recently, Neil McCann was punted by the Fun much more quickly for exactly the same reasons (today Jack Ross was punted from Sunderland because of a combination of inconsistent results and dour football with no really convincing performances or wins: sound familiar?). If United were consistently churning out the dour ponderous performances of last season (like we were in 3/4 Betfred Cup games this season also) then I'd be calling for the manager's head, but we've finally started to show we can play another way that is both exciting and very effective and compleletly different from McKinnon and Laszlo. The thing that is currently lacking is doing it consistently and against teams who really go for it themselves against us. It's a slow process and I think that is frustrating people. In my opinion, the alternative upheaval of punting him may actually create more problems than it solves if we end up with a manager of similar stubborn ilk. However, my belief is we are learning and Robbie Neilson is showing signs of changing and showing more adaptability. The emphatic wins we've already had reflect that. Maybe its cool heads and patience that are required for the next wee while. There is a bigger picture developing at the club. I can see that the signs of us changing are there and we will be much better off points wise (and goals wise) this season than any of the previous three seasons as a result. No doubt I've jinxed the QotS game now. Ach well.
P.S. Will our support stop trying to fucking sell Lawrence Shankland online every two fucking minutes! Fucking fatalists and masochists galore everytime I go online. It's almost like some people want it to happen. If you are unhappy with how we are doing just now then Christ knows what you'll be like if he goes and there is no-one to pull us out of the shite like in the Arbroath game. Mark Ogren did not spend £4-£5 million for us to make a fraction of it back selling our best player in January thereby blowing our chance of getting up this season. Make no mistake, we need to get out of this league this year because next year will be a nightmare in the Championship with potentially, a relegated St Johnstone, one of the Edinburgh clubs along with Dundee, ICT, Ayr and a financially boosted, McCall-led Partick Thistle. Just enjoy the boy playing eh FFS. Arabest. Viva Espana.
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