Not too good to be too good to go down?

Lets get straight into it:

1. The keeper has now turned into a liability and his confidence is clearly shot to pieces. He needs to be taken out of the firing line for his own sake as much as ours. His limp-wristed, one-handed punches might work abroad but are being exposed almost weekly in the more direct game in Scotland. His inability to think for himself or deviate from instructions is also putting us under real pressure in some games. People have suggested a loan in January. Scotland have four keepers none of whom are first choice at their clubs (two of them are at the same club ffs) all of whom will want to be first choice come the World Cup. Worth a shout.

2. Not replacing Pappoe when he got injured in August was a massive mistake which needs to be rectified in January. Bringing in Eskessen then allowing the media team to portray him as a like-for-like replacement was also a mistake. The boy has shown nothing so far whatsoever in any sense. I'd go so far as to say if wages need to be freed up for a more direct replacement for Pappoe then I'd just cut our losses and release Eskessen. It's obvious that Pappoe was bought to be Ross Docherty's replacement and to play with Camara to give us the legs and ability in a 2 man midfield. The only game this season imho we have actually dictated the tempo was Falkirk away which is the last time Pappoe played a full game. Him buzzing about, getting on the ball, with Sibbald sitting and Camara pressing high looked really promising. It's just typical of our luck that we've been robbed of that. Make no mistake, the midfield is the biggest problem in Utd's team this season.

3. On the subject of midfield, Sevelj's form (and attitude) appear to have fallen off a cliff. Yesterday, as well as a few other games this season like Motherwell away it was like playing with two men down when him and Eskessen were in there. Ultimately, he's a defender playing in midfield and is never going to offer a great deal in a creative sense, but this season he's not even making any attempt to protect the defence. Him and Sibbald were like a pair of statues first half yesterday as Falkirk played through us at will. Both were also hiding whenever our centre halves had the ball making it much harder to have any meaningful possession or to try to build attacks. It was the same last season but was masked by either our solid defence and 'punchers chance' tactics of scoring from set pieces or from when Ross Docherty was playing because he actually wanted the ball and could start moves. Oh for him back honestly. 

4. I read someone else drawing parallels between David Babunski last season and Ivan Dolcek this season. Both had great starts then their form deteriorated. Is it down to the individual themself or is it down to how we are set up and the way we play? Plenty of other teams seem to be able to play with inverted wingers so why does it always look so awkward when we try to do it? Is it because we are simply not set up to pass the ball and keep possession? I get that Dolcek (like Babunski) is a bit lazy but I can also see he is feeding on scraps in most games often turning into traffic and is almost being expected to pull a worldie out on the rare occasions he gets the ball. It has to be said though, his efforts first half yesterday against Falkirk were utterly pathetic, especially at the first goal. My understanding is he was more keen for a contract than Utd were which sets alarm bells ringing. However, I can also see we are not getting the best out of him. Why don't we get the wingers to switch sides occasionally during the game, especially if they are struggling? Stubbornness? Frustrating.

5. The defence has suffered from not having much of a midfield in front of them, particularly Bert Esselink (who showed early on he has a really good range of passing but now has nothing to aim for due to a lack of players offering themselves in midfield and attack) but their lack of pace and aggression is not also being exposed far too often. Someone once said, "You can't teach aggression." We are not winning nearly enough headers in either box so are losing cheap goals at one end and offering no threat at corners or long throws at the other end. We were also promised a team that would have a high press but tbh two of our back 3 are no quicker than what we had last season and we really struggle with attacking midfielders who run at us like yesterday. I'm not at the point of writing Bert off (like some are) but feel he's needing to adapt. He's also needing some help and protection from the midfielders in front of him. Getting Ross Graham back fit will help you'd think. It's where he plays that will be interesting. Goodwin took a lot of plaudits last two years for our good defence but I now wonder if this was more down to individuals like Gallagher and Holt who were just very good at their jobs rather than anything the coaches were doing. When you look at us this season we seen incapable of eradicating these mistakes.

6. We were also told that the pre-season would be the toughest the players have ever experienced and yet we always seem to struggle playing 2 games in a week and despite having a ridiculous amount of free weekends due to the League Cup and Scotland games we seem to often lack sharpness and zip in games. Yesterday I also saw two of our defenders (Ferry and Keresztes) stretching second half because it looked like they were cramping up which is unacceptable.

7. The fact that it is now almost December and Strain, Graham and Watters are just coming back, Nammo (who remember was also injured in the summer and missed all of August and some of September) is injured again has once more exposed the numerical limitations of the squad. The lack of a reserve league and the refusal to use fringe players and players returning from injury in B Team games in the KDM Trophy (aka Challenge Cup) is just baffling considering we have boys that surely need competitive games to either get fit or stay sharp. Of course we are now knocked out of that tournament which means there is effectively no competitive reserve team football until the reserve league cup section starts next year (I think) and no doubt, we'll just use a bunch of 15-17 year olds in that too and get papped out again anyway. The fact Sam Harding and Scott Constable have played more minutes for Scotland u21's/u19s than at any organised competitive level for Utd this season is ridiculous. Big Sam is one who at least has chosen to stay at United rather than go for the glamour of Norwich u21's and has has not had a sniff with us despite our defence being dreadful. No wonder young laddies push to go down there. If you were given the choice of not making it at Norwich whilst getting paid something like five grand a week versus never getting a chance then not making it at United whilst getting paid £300 a week what would you do? People keep mentioning the co-op agreement with Airdrie and how it's still not started yet but I don't think it was ever going to start until we had our full squad back fit again and I think Airdrie were made aware of that at the time we set up the agreement. Thing is, unless we get more bodies in, we are just one or two injuries away from recalling them. Btw, how will that work anyway when it finally starts? Surely they'll train with Airdrie?

8. It's been a feature of United under Jim Goodwin that we do not have a discernible style or identity and that we struggle to build attacks through the midfield. We got away with it in the Championship and last season largely due to good strikers and a solid base whilst on the occasions Ross Docherty was fit, he at least showed a willingness to get on the ball and try to make things happen. Nothing appears to have changed this season apart from we now have no Docherty, a less reliable defence and no Dalby or Moult. Our style appears to be to stop opponents playing and hit them on the break. We never attempt to impose ourselves on the opposition regardless of who we are playing, even at home leading to the ignominy of dross like Kilmarnock, Livingston and Falkirk coming to Tannadice and absolutely bossing it for long spells and the complete horror of what we witnessed at Fir Park in the first half where we looked set up for a game away to Real Madrid and spent the game chasing their players about whilst giving the ball away as soon as we finally won it back. In away games it has actually worked up to a point. We've drew games at Hibs, Hearts and Rangers but in all three we ended up throwing away points because we were incapable of taking the sting out if the game and seeing it out when we were leading because we are not set up/are incapable of keeping the ball for any length of time. Everything appears to be off the cuff and reliant on good individuals rather than being borne out of a coherent, well-drilled strategy. It's telling that Zac Sapsford looks like a different player in away games than at home where he looks lost when we have to take the game to the opposition. Personally, I'd like to see us get another coach in who can support the manager in building patterns of play and beating a press, because from the outside looking in, it doesn't appear that the existing coaches know how to coach a team to do this.

9. It appears to be a feature of modern football management that the most important thing is not winning trophies, it's not winning football matches, it's not entertaining, it's not even avoiding relegation. No, it appears that all that matters is that a manager sticks to their guns regardless of how results go. Think that absolute clown Postecoglu who was happy to lose not one, but two jobs in the space of a few months rather than adapt how he done things. Whilst I'd not put Jim Goodwin into that bracket since he is clearly honest about things that go wrong, he's needing to start making some changes if we are not going to slip into danger this season. On yesterday's evidence, relegation is not off the table by any means. Whilst Dundee look like they are certs for last place, the play-off place looks like it could be up for grabs because the league is so tight and if we are not careful we'll sleepwalk into 11th position if we end up bottom six. Would you fancy us in a do or die game against Livingston? Would you fancy us to have the dig in a 2-legged play off?

10. Goodwin has done really well and he's turned things around when we've had setbacks and really poor performances before. But make no mistake this season is looking like his biggest test since he doesn't appear to have the same strong characters he had last 2 years. We don't look motivated in the early part of games most weeks, especially at home. It's looking more like the kinds of mental weaknesses that led us to lose all five post-split games 3 years ago are resurfacing here. Goodwin couldn't stop that then. He needs to do something different to stop it now before things become really serious.