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| A New Hope |
You know how new mangers normally get a honeymoon period? Well, Tam Courts got a cooling-off period. Looking back some of the stick that came his way from when he was appointed up until the game kicked off against The Rangers really didn't paint a large section of our support in a good light. I'm not going to bullshit anyone and say I never had a pop, because I did based on the dreadful football we played in the Kelty, East Fife, Ayr Utd and by Christ, the Aberdeen game where the criticism of him reached a boiling point that I have NEVER seen before, even under Csaba. As over the top as this stick was, our piss-poor Mellonball performance and Tam's 'Chemical Ali' post-match interview after Aberdeen didn't do himself any favours, as punters questioned if they were getting the piss royally taken out of them. The pressure going into that game against SEVCO must have been horrendous. However, the hostility to Tam's appointment was understandable, the club had talked about the need to cut back due to the eye-watering losses due to Covid (partly driven by the eye-watering spending, particularly on staffing at the club with more, "Heads of...," than you can count) and worried that this was maybe the first sign that the Ogren's had decided to cut their losses.
However, the resistance ran deeper than that and in my opinion was not the fans fault. Just about anyone who follows Scottish football at Senior level is conditioned into a mindset (snobbery?) about the need for managers to have played the game professionally, full-time and preferably at the top level as if they are part of some mythical footballing magic circle. You seen it this season when Tam was derided as a, Junior level manager," I've seen it before when an ex-player (and a decidedly mediocre one at that) turned coach shouted, "Get back to the Juniors Baikie," at the end of an East Fife game (who won their league that season). Fans are definitely immersed in this mindset even if it is only subconsciously despite the fact that our own players like Louis Appere at Broughty Athletic and Archie Meekison at Spartans have benefited from dropping down to this level. In a coaching sense, working at Junior/East of Scotland level teaches you about how to deal with personalities in a small squad as well as the importance of getting players onside, something which it would appear Tam has been able to achieve in terms of getting players to buy into his vision, something which it would appear Micky Mellon completely failed to do.
I'm probably as guilty as anyone of being something of a footballing dinosaur who craves a simpler era without the level of analysis that appears to go on at clubs these days: KPI's, XG's, GPS, Pro-Zone, high press, medium press, geggenpress, staypress etc. etc. I've always been one for thinking that football, as the beautiful game comes from ability, talent and instinct and loathed the idea of it being reduced to a set of stats on a Power Point presentation. It's weird too because I can't be the only one who, as a kid was obsessed with football statistics and could quote how many goals Paul Sturrock or Eammon Bannon had scored in a season or United's line up in an away game against Morton off the top of my head? Funny how things change. I really like the film 'Moneyball' as well which is clearly an inspiration for the model we are following when it comes to our approach to the game, tactics, fitness and the suitability of signings even though I still am not convinced football can be reduced to 1's and 0's in the way baseball is here, for me football is much more instinctive than that. I'd also argue that in this film the main criteria was that players 'get on base' by any means necessary leading to them signing a bunch of boys devoid of any flair in order to grind out results rather than entertain. In other words, 'Mellonball'. I'm not convinced United supporters would wear that for too long unless we were winning titles.
Anyway, United took absolute dogs abuse for buying into all of this stuff and placing the Head Coach, not as the dominant figure in all of this, but instead as first amongst equals. Tbh I have absolutely no idea if Tam actually buys into all this analysis stuff or not but it meant that endless accusations about the club being ran by boys playing Championship Manager on their laptop flew about for a month prior to the Rangers game in particular. At the end of the day though, what is analysis? Watching your opponents and passing on information about their shape, strengths and weaknesses then tailoring your way of playing to counter and defeat them? Looking at your own players individual and collective performances and then coaching them on how to do better, keeping a track of who does what best on the park then ensuring you have the best people taking set pieces, free-kicks, corners etc. Monitoring players weight and fitness levels, checking your potential new signing is not an arsehole? These are not new things in football, it's just that the medium we are using to track and monitor them are now more sophisticated and rather than one or two people having to do it all, we now have about 80. In the past a Joiner would have had to screw in all screws by manually using a screwdriver, now they pretty much always use their drills to do it. Things move on. XG's are still a load of shite though.
I think in this case Tam and the wider club deserve huge credit for not buckling under the pressure that was put upon them and for sticking to their strategy since, although it is early days, we are all reaping the rewards of it. Seeing us joint-top of the table on Saturday night after ten games knowing we had beaten Rangers and drawn at Parkhead was one of the best feelings I had experienced supporting United for about 6 years. In 1988-89 when we were up near the top of the league at a similar point, 'The Final Hurdle' triumphantly declared, "United are back!" in an era when we were always there or thereabouts so it's fair to say Tam and the players have brought a feel-good factor back to this generation of supporters after the Banter Years. Weirdly, he has also given himself a honeymoon period with the fans should we lose a few games. He appears to be doing it his way but also wasn't afraid to change when things were not working, from playing 3 at the back like we did in the League Cup games and against Aberdeen and also from the 4-4-2 which worked well against St Johnstone but was exposed against Hearts. It's like we are collectively learning on the job and gradually finding out things that work. As good as the Hibs performance and result were, I'd like to think that there is still more to come from this team and that at some point a few teams are going to get some hidings off of us. At the same time though, we are also showing resilience like we did against Ross County in the second half and against Motherwell last Saturday after losing a goal. That bodes really well for the season ahead and would not have happened in the last few years.
As far as our games so far this season my appraisal would be:
League Cup: Kelty Hearts: Crap and completely devoid of urgency until Kieran Freeman went to left back, never really felt like we were in danger of losing mind you.
Elgin City: The first 15 minutes were absolutely shambolic with the back 3 all over the place (Kerr Smith and Ryan Edwards in particular) but after a wee break when they should have scored we gradually got better and the second half was a masterclass in passing and linking up between some very impressive young players: Robson and Mochrie in particular, as well as Peter Pawlett who looked very good.
Arbroath: I was at this game. First half was good, we must've had about 75% possession, scored a peach of a goal but didn't really create enough chances. Logan Chalmers was at his frustrating best. After we missed a chance just after half time the young laddies appeared to run out of steam as they took total control of the game. Charlie Mulgrew's coolness under pressure and young Darren Watson running about like a mad terrier probably saved us.
East Fife: Shite performance matched by the shite stream it was on. The first of Micky Mellon's cameo appearances in the dugout it would seem judging by the complete lack of tempo, square pegs in round holes (Ian Harkes is NOT a number 10) and taking a lower league team lightly. Maybe he had to work his notice?
Aberdeen: I'm tempted to say this was the second game in Micky Mellon's notice period but instead it was like a cheap imitation of Mellonball. Holy fuck. It's lucky this blog wasn't written that day (and I was tempted) because it would not have been pretty. Getting drawn out of our shape for the first goal, the centre halves not picking up for the second. Nicky Clark and Peter Pawlett virtually playing as wing backs. Players trying to hold out for a 2-0 defeat. Taking Shankland (who was completely isolated and disinterested throughout) off and not replacing him with another striker. Tam's 'This is fine' interview at the end deserved credit only for not throwing the players under a bus but spawned a thread on Pie and Bovril in his honour ('Tam Courts Talking Shite Thread"). The good thing is he has struck a balance over time between his unflinching positivity and the business speak. Thank god, I'd have needed to buy a new tv if I'd listened to another interview like this one.
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| The Empire Talks Cack |
SEVCO: Sometimes you see the best of people when their backs are against the wall. That certainly was the case here as United flew out of the traps in a new 4-3-3 shape that appeared to get the best out of everybody. It's difficult to single people out here since they were all great but Nicky Clark won everything in the air against boys twice his size, Peter Pawlett's direct running pegged Taverneir back, Liam Smith never gave Ryan Kent a kick, Mulgrew and Edwards were immense and Fuchs was the best player on the park. There you go, I've mentioned loads of them. For as much as I and other United supporters may criticize the team and the club, I actually think we are a really appreciative bunch. When we see levels of effort and performance like this we back the players like no-one else out there because we are not daft, we know when the football is sub-standard. We've should do, we've seen enough of it over the last 6 years. This was immense though and deserved every bit of praise it got both in terms of the players but also the coaches for their preparation, the tactics and shape were spot-on and for the first time, exposed that The Rangers team and the total arse managing them (keep calling us Dundee ya fucking pap). And it was my birthday.
Ayr United: Horrific for the 70 minutes I watched. Do we EVER play well there??? And it was filmed on a toaster by a boy sitting below ground level by the looks of things. We got through and that's it.
St Johnstone: New signings finally arrived and freshened us up as did a full away end at McDairmid Park. I was there with the young lad and was well impressed as Tam schooled Callum Davidson and we were well in control throughout. Levitt brought a calmness to the team and Trevor Carson impressed in goals. Personally, I still feel a bit wary about being in crowds but it was good to see the mosh pit and limbs scenes when we scored, even if I felt a bit detached from it. The less said about trying to get out of Perth in the car the better. Do people there know that a football match is on? Why would anyone think 5pm on a Saturday or Sunday in this case would be the best time to jump in the car and go for a drive???
Hearts: Far too passive for about 65 minutes. Outnumbered in midfield, lacking width (young Chris Mochrie didn't really appear to know whether to come inside or track the boy at wing back for them) and bullied all over the park. They are the best team I have seen this season. When Callum Butcher and Darren Watson came on though what had looked a ridiculously one-sided game actually became one that we could and should have got something out of but for Craig Gordon (and GMS diving). I've heard a lot of people saying Butcher is finished at United thanks to Dylan Levitt. I'd say that talk is premature. There are going to be a lot of games like this where we are going to need Butcher's physicality to stand up to teams like Hearts. Had he started this game I think the result might have been different. That said, it's a bit of a minter losing to a team with this as their manager:
St Mirren: We played really well until Liam Smith got injured then because we had no right back on the bench and had to move the impressive Ian Harkes there, lost our way a bit and in the end a draw was probably a fair result. Getting better but the belief wasn't there yet.
Dundee: The first half was a complete non-event on the park. Off the park was ace though, "You're just a shite Jimmy Saville," is the stuff of legend. The second half was much better when Dylan Levitt and Kieran Freeman came on and gave us control of possession and width. The team that is doing well now was born here. I was hungover to fuck and struggled to enjoy the result especially when I realised that my new seat is right under a blaring tannoy speaker which made me feel like my head was going to explode by half time.
Hibs (League Cup): At the end of this game I was actually annoyed because the subbies were bizarre and left us with about 5 tippy-tappy central midfielders on and no width for the last 20 minutes so when we really needed to go for it to try and rescue a 3-1 deficit we instead started knocking it about in front of Hibs like it was a training game. However, with the benefit of hindsight this game gave our players a lot of confidence that they could go toe to toe with teams like Hibs. We were victims of two horrendous refereeing decisions with a joke penalty decision for them and Pawlett's goal getting chalked off even though he was well onside. We were carved open a bit too easily for their first and third goals mind you and despite starting Clark and McNulty, we didn't look enough of a threat even though we played some lovely football in the build-up.
Celtic: I normally watch our away games against Celtic through my fingers as goal after goal for them rain's in. After losing a goal here it looked like it was going to be another in a long line of horse-whippings at Parkhead. However, shows what I know as we went right up the other end and equalised. After that? Excellent. Passing and moving, boys taking the ball in tight areas, a 16 year old playing at centre half, no fear whatsoever. The last time I saw us play like this at Celtic Park was the game I was at where Brian Graham missed a sitter and Charlie Mulgrew scored an equaliser after Rado tried to be clever in last minute. I was fucking screaming at Graham that day and I was fucking screaming at the tv when Louis Appere missed an equally bad sitter with the last kick of the ball here. We'll slay the beast next time for sure.
Ross County: Very good first half and we should have been out of sight by half time here. When Clark missed an easy header early in the second half you knew they were going to get a lift from it and right enough, we were hanging on at the end. At least we were making chances though, or are they called XG's these days??? To think at the end of this I was saying in the pub that Ross County looked much worse than Dundee too, LOLZ. Fuck knows what happened with the racism stuff though. Even if it didn't happen Malky MacKay's response was embarrassing. Tam certainly let everyone know he's got the players backs and looked well up for a square go which is always good to see. Racist cunts be warned.
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| Return of the Digital Jedi |
Hibs: I was in Newcastle catching Covid and watching the Saudi regime getting pumped in their first game so missed this. Watched it on the Monday though and thought we were excellent. Best performance in years. Was showing everyone who would listen the goals on the Saturday night and all were well impressed. The currant buns on the trip were getting a bit dismissive about our chances this season which suggests we have gotten under their skin again. The young lad jumping up in excitement each time his phone flashed up a goal can't be beaten. This photo though, oh my god is this not what we have all been waiting for:
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| FUCKING SHED RULE YA BASS! |
Motherwell: I was isolating in the house so had to watch the stream of this whilst the young lad went to the game (had no symptoms other than a mild cold though so consider myself lucky and grateful for my two vaccination doses). I thought after being second best to Motherwell in a sort of spoiling and punt and hunt kind of way for about 25 minutes, we then worked our way into the game until half time then played well in the second half until their goal which was totally against the run of play. Mulgrew and Edwards are ace though. I'm going end up using more double-act analogies than Boaby the Barman by the end of the season.
Livingston: Still isolating. £20 for a stream. Good aine??? We really don't ever do well there do we? The only game I've been at that we've won there was in Ian McCall's first season when I was late getting in and missed Russell Latapy scoring for us, then my mate who was driving told us we were leaving after they equalised in the last minute, only to hear the roars when we were walking out the ground as Charlie Miller scored the winner for us in injury time. The plastic pitch doesn't help but tbh our record there was crap long before that was put down. A poor night for our full backs: Scott McMann lost his man at their goal and struggled thereafter whilst Kieran Freeman just kept passing the ball backwards rather than putting a cross in (channeling his inner Liam Smith?). We still looked dangerous in the first half though and our goal was sexier than Liz Hurley's Instagram page. Still nowhere near as X-rated as the tackle on Declan Glass for the red card mind you. Second half was a complete wet pump sadly. Pawlett has been excellent recently but has went off the boil last 2 games despite the goal, Clark was ineffectual and isolated again (as was Big Max when he came on) and there seemed to be a reluctance to get behind them especially after Niskanen went off (fair enough since he was walking a tightrope). Tam did acknowledge the failure in our attacking play though which is good. A chance missed but our record there is loupin so to be sitting joint 3rd and only 3 points off the top after 11 games is the stuff of dreams. We are not far away from being a right good side again.
Since I asked these questions in the last blog it's only fair that I try to update/answer these questions although clearly some are clearly not relevant anymore:
1. Will Tam Courts have any say in identifying players to sign? Will Tam Courts get to decide who should get their contracts extended? The last 4 extensions have raised question marks in their timing and rationale and suggested that people out with the coaching team are deciding who stays and who goes regardless of the player in questions performances on the pitch or injury record.
It would appear that the answer to this is yes although I do still feel this is one aspect of United's 'Sporting Director' model that still needs clarified. I watched the Falkirk Q & A to cheer myself up during my Covid isolation (and by fuck it did) and they were asked almost this exact question and their Sporting Director Gary Holt was clear that Head Coach Paul Sheerin has input and, the final say in signings. Tam was also quoted as saying he wanted to give younger players like Louis Appere and Declan Glass a chance rather than go out and sign another striker and an attacking midfielder even though the budget was there to fill these shortage positions which does suggest his importance in the decision making process. However, I do think a combination of Mark McNulty's injury/form and Nicky Clark's bad misses against Ross County have forced his hand in accepting the club signing Max Biamou. Mark Connolly and Mark Reynolds' significant drops down the pecking order despite being on longer contracts and decent wedges suggest that Tam is his own man on team selection although the inclusion of Kerr Smith out of nowhere (he'd hardly even played for the u18 team and there were no reserve games at that point) in an unfamiliar right back role in the derby raised a few question marks in my eyes. The cynic in me wondered if he was being put in the shop window due to the game being televised. It's funny how when the team is doing well that things like this become less important in fans eyes though. It's hardly been talked about since August. Long may that continue tbh. What is odd though is that both spells of signings we have made (when we signed Levitt, McMann and Niskannen and then again when we finally signed another striker in Biamou) both coincided with Mark Ogren being in the country, ie we had weeks of nothing whatsoever happening then the Chairman arrives and we sign people. I know things have been tight because of Covid but surely we don't need the Chairman's blessing in person to sign someone?
2. Will we actually address the problem areas in the team? (Lack of width, creativity, quality in full back areas and a big striker).
Yes! Eventually. This summer saw United dragging the arse out of the transfer window like no-club had ever dragged the arse out of it before. This was a cause of bewilderment, frustration, anger and fights from June to the end of August with everyone from Tam Courts, Tony Asghar, Mark Ogren, various analysts/ex-analysts (some of whom seemed to delight in waving a red rag in front of a bull on social media) to the tea lady getting it tight about the snails pace of activity. It does appear though that the club and it's recruitment team are due a massive apology in this area since they appear to have gotten most signings spot-on. Lets rank them in order of success so far:
1. Charlie Mulgrew: Women love him. Men want to BE him. Is it too early to describe him as the signing of the decade? The last time anyone had such an influence on the whole club was Andy Webster and we all know how that ended. The fact Big Sexy is our player (unlike Webster) might make him an even better signing. You can see how the players (especially the younger ones) look up to him to him during and at the end of games. So many of these types of older players come back up from England and phone it in but Charlie has given the best comeback performance since Harrison Ford in Star Wars: The Force Awakens as half of the greatest double act since Han Solo and Chewbacca.
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| The Birkenhead Baresi and Big Sexy |
3. Scott McMann: In any other transfer window McMann would be considered our best signing by miles. The word many people have used is 'seemless' in terms of how well he has fitted in after Jamie Robson but tbh, a better word would probably be 'upgrade'. Although Jamie had his critics he did well for us overall and his performance against Rangers (not just his goal) was probably his best game for the club but McMann has added something extra: height at the back post, physicality, consistency and a final ball. Although he got a bit of a hard time off the boy Jota in the Celtic game (he's not the only one in the past few weeks to be fair) he has done really well against Martin Boyle a couple of times. Slight black mark against his name for losing his man at the Livi goal but it's his first slightly off night in about 6 games so I'll let him off with it. The thing I'm most amazed about is how he was at Hamilton for so long?
4. Ilmari Niskanen: It's odd that this guy was sold as a flying winger and yet he's probably not really succeeded so far by playing that role. He's instead done well simply through his honesty and work rate. Although, on a growing number of occasions (Celtic, Hibs, at least once on Saturday against Motherwell and for Pawlett's goal against Livingston) he's done really well one on one with defenders and done what seemed like the impossible at United for about 6 years: put decent cross balls in. A wide player with end product. Imagine that. I thought they were mythical. Looks better on the left even though he is right footed. So did Craig Conway mind you.
5. Trevor Carson: Was excellent against both St Johnstone and Hearts and will do well if Benji goes I think. Feel a bit for him that he must've been promised the number 1 jersey when he signed expecting Benji to leave. At his age he surely needs first team football for sharpness. However, he clearly should have saved Hibs first goal in the League Cup game.
6. Marc McNulty: He looked out of sorts for much of last season playing wide in a front 3 (or midfield 5, or defensive 10, depending on your outlook about how Micky Mellon set us up) and he also has appeared ineffectual this season playing as the centre forward in a front 3. It is no coincidence that his best game for us since coming back was against St Johnstone when we played him in a front 2. That is probably where I think he'd work best, alongside a big target man so hopefully when Big Max and him are both fit and available in the the new year we'll see the best of McNulty. However, I don't see us playing this formation too often which does beg the question about why he was seen as the best striking option we could have signed in the summer? This signing stands out as the one that does not appear to have been done with any real planning in place. I hope I am proved wrong on this one and if there is one thing you cannot fault McNulty on it's been his work rate in games.
Max Biamou: Can't judge the boy just now. Looks like he's what we need though and if it is true that we were trying to sign him in the summer it's not the panic buy that it could be portrayed as (not by me, he appears to tick all the boxes). Needs a start soon imho.
3. Will Tam Courts get to decide if young lads play or not e.g. if they are jaded will he get to take them out of the firing line?
Clearly yes. Which is great.
4. Will the younger players be allowed to develop in the first team squad over the next 2-3 years or will they be sold from underneath Courts at the first 6 figure offer?
Kerr Smith's situation remains a question mark. Every second United supporter you spoke to in August had a rumour about how the club were trying to shunt Kerr out the door against his will in order to cash in. The #OurAcademy stuff is cringeworthy as well (Scott Banks and Scott Allan? Really???) and surely only the painfully naive see that it is nothing more than a marketing tool. However, you can see that Tam Courts has faith the in younger players given those who have made starts in important games and the fact that Declan Glass has been given a contract extension despite not really kicking the ball for 2 years. Kieran Freeman has also grabbed his chance with both hands recently. He's still got work to do defensively and in the League Cup game against Hibs he was done too easily for at least one of their goals but he's been a big upgrade on Liam Smith going forwards and has added width to us on that side given that Peter Pawlett looks to come inside and join up with the midfielders. Tam does appear to have faith in players and putting Appere as sub on Saturday was good man-management as was talking up his performance since he is in danger of becoming a bit of a forgotten man. Hopefully others like Chalmers, Mochrie, Meekison, Nielson and Fotheringham can come to the fore in the coming months and beyond.
5. Is Stephen Frail still the Dundee United Assistant Manager?
Moving on...
6. Will the football be a bit more exciting to watch next season?
Yes! Yes! Yes!
A wee tinge of reality though. Are we at 2009-10 or 2013-14 standards? No. Those teams had proper game changers and boys who were top drawer at what they did in Swanson, Conway, Goodwillie, Daly, Webster and Dixon and then Ciftci, Gauld, Armstrong, GMS, Souttar and Robertson. What the current team look like are a group of players who are hard working, pulling in the same direction behind the manager, are getting better at implementing his game plan and are playing close to their top form but, so far (bar Levitt and Mulgrew) lack those top drawer players in forward areas who can change a game single handed. However, maybe we don't need that. What Saturday showed is that this team is greater than the sum of it's parts and with astute tactics and good preparation, can go toe to toe with teams with supposedly better players. You only have to look at Man Utd vs Liverpool the following day to see what happens when 11 individuals with no real game plan come up against a cohesive, well-drilled unit, married with ability. We are passing the ball with much more of a purpose than at any time in the last 6 years and when it clicks, it's fucking great to watch as boys are willing to take the ball in tight areas knowing there is constantly movement around them and are giving our defenders options to pass the ball into, unlike last season where whoever played in midfield simply turned their back on the defenders.
7. Who will carry the can if results are poor this season and over the next few years?
Tam Courts?
The analysts?
Andy Goldie?
Tony Asghar?
Mark Ogren?
The fans?
Don't know and at the moment, don't care. It's good to see Mark Ogren is still backing us though and the possible big add-on if Harry Souttar is sold might sweeten things for us over the next few years. We'll just enjoy the ride and worry about that when the wheels fall off shall we?
Keep the faith folks. Silverware isn't far away. And if you're in Newcastle wear a mask for fucks sake.
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