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Dundee United v Motherwell: Freedom is United’s key to maintaining momentum

Gary Mackay-Steven, left, is congratulated after scoring Uniteds third goal against St Johnstone last month.
Gary Mackay-Steven, left, is congratulated after scoring Uniteds third goal against St Johnstone last month.

Freedom is the cry for Dundee United’s attacking talent as they aim to keep their forward momentum going.

Fresh from a dynamic display in Dingwall that left Ross County reeling, it is a confident Tannadice team that will host Motherwell.

United could have scored much more than the four goals they got at Victoria Park, such was their enthusiastic and enterprising football.

Winger Gary Mackay-Steven was one member of the forward-thinking unit that also comprised Ryan Gauld, Stuart Armstrong and Nadir Ciftci.

Collectively they tormented the Staggies and each got on the scoresheet.

So it is little wonder Mackay-Steven admitted he is revelling in the flexibility manager Jackie McNamara’s 4-2-3-1 formation is affording him and his colleagues.

“I like our new formation,” he said.

“We all move about on the park and it’s enjoyable. We have a certain amount of freedom and we can dovetail.

“Stuart, Ryan and myself get the chance to move around all the time so it’s great from that point of view.

“You are happy going into the game because you know you will get the chance to express yourself. Our game is based on attacking football and creating as many chances as possible.

“We attack from the first whistle and I think we are at our best when we do that. Everything came off for us last Sunday when we scored four goals against Ross County and played some really good stuff.

“I am sure we will try to do the same against Motherwell. We will be giving it a go.

“It won’t be easy, because they are a good side and have been getting a lot of good results recently.

“But we showed what we can do against Ross County and it was a very enjoyable day all round.

“When we came into the dressing-room after the game, we weren’t surprised as we feel we’re capable of playing like that.

“Now we can hopefully go out and try to put in a similar kind of performance on Sunday.”

Having produced such an eye-catching display on the road, the challenge is to carry on the good work in front of a home crowd.

Mackay-Steven acknowledged that, saying: “It is about keeping the momentum going now.

“We have spoken about consistency before, and that’s what we are looking for this season.

“We scored four goals against St Johnstone a few weeks ago and then lost our next league game to Celtic, so we don’t want that to happen this time round.

“We want to maintain the standard we set against County. Motherwell are always hard opponents, though, and had a great season last time.

“They are an experienced team with a great manager as well, but we will go out there with the aim of playing attacking football and hopefully scoring a few goals.”

United boss McNamara has central defender Calum Butcher available again after the Englishman missed the Staggies game because of illness.

He could come back in for teenager John Souttar alongside skipper Sean Dillon, with Gaving Gunning still serving his suspension.

That is likely to be the only change, meaning another place on the bench for on-loan frontman David Goodwillie.

McNamara has been taking note of the Steelmen’s form, saying: “Motherwell have had three wins on the bounce, so they will come here with a fair bit of confidence.

“They had a bit of transition in the summer, but Stuart McCall has done a great job. He has taken the club forward since he took over there.

“He has managed to turn things round, even though he lost some of his key players in the summer.”

Well defender Simon Ramsden returns from suspension for the visitors. Fraser Kerr returned to training yesterday following a sciatica problem but is not fit enough to make the squad.

Young defender Euan Murray remains on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.