St Mirren may well provide Dundee United with some more stuffy opposition this afternoon, but John Rankin reckons the home side should take it as a compliment.
The Tangerines have gained plaudits for the free-flowing style of football they have played this season, although the United midfielder believes many teams coming to Tannadice have set their stall out to try and counteract that.
Danny Lennon’s Buddies will try their luck today and Rankin is well aware the onus will be on United to take the game to the visitors.
“To be fair, I don’t know what St Johnstone tried on Wednesday night but it seemed to work,” he said.
“I don’t even know if it was them or if it was us but we struggled to play and we were not as sharp as what we should have been.
“At the end of the day, it’s up to us to break teams down. Teams were coming here and playing like that earlier on in the season I think Ross County played like that before Christmas, came here and we knew it was about being patient and the goal would come.
“The disappointing thing against St Johnstone in midweek was that we conceded first and, if we hadn’t, I think we would have went on to win the game.
“We gave St Johnstone something to defend and they defended it well.
“We’ve set a marker now and probably the expectation will be higher because of the way we have been playing, and that’s something we need to deal with.
“Possibly, with other teams seeing the way we have been playing, they want to put one up on us.
“Being a professional, that’s what it’s all about because you want to beat your peers.
“We’ve had a lot of credit this season and teams are obviously setting up to try and stop us playing.
“That’s their choice, but on our day if we play the way we can play then I’m sure we will pick up more victories between now and the end of the season than we will losses.”
United had been going for a sixth straight win in midweek and, although St Johnstone brought that run to a halt, Rankin sees no reason why success over St Mirren today will not spark a renewed run of form.
“We had a great run pre-Christmas and then we had a run of games that were disappointing,” he continued.
“Obviously, losing to St Johnstone has put an end to another run that we put together, so we need to bounce back on Saturday and put another run together rather than continuously struggling for a victory again.
“Hopefully, this time we can eradicate the problem again and get back to winning ways.
“People had questioned us before and said: ‘Is that it? Are you going to struggle the rest of the season now because you’ve got a young squad?’
“But I think we’ve proved the point that we’ve got a bit of strength and character in the dressing room and showed it again.
“Obviously, Wednesday night was bitterly disappointing and, if I’m being honest, I don’t think we played well enough.
“I don’t think we got the ball down and passed it, and that’s credit to St Johnstone because they stopped us doing that.
“But we need to be bigger and stronger, and mentally stronger, and be prepared to take the ball and pass it when teams are going to play like that against us and, hopefully, we’ll break them down.
“I felt the second half we went a bit more direct I didn’t feel we were panicking but looking on it now we probably did, which is disappointing because if we kept playing the way we were playing we certainly would have broken them down.
“You get these frustrating nights and afternoons, but if we can keep playing the passing game we have been playing, we will be OK.”
Rankin also added his voice to those supporting keeper Rado Cierzniak after his mistake in midweek.
“You’ve got to give Stevie May credit because he’s hit a shot from 35 yards, took a gamble, and it’s paid off for him. Albeit, it was a soft goal to concede,” he said.
“To be honest, I didn’t even see it. I turned away, turned around and saw that Gavin Gunning had his head in his hands.
“Then I saw Stevie May running away and thought: ‘That was going by, the last time I saw the ball.’ But it’s just one of those things.
“Rado has been great for us all season and he’s maybe made a mistake that cost us against St Johnstone but I’m sure he’ll bounce back and he’ll be stronger for it.
“We were bitterly disappointed in the dressing room and, to be honest, I felt we had the better chances in the game especially the first half.
“We had four really good chances and on another night we would probably have taken all four but that’s the nature of the beast.”
Dundee United are understood to be writing to the SFA over an alleged shove on McNamara by fourth official Iain Brines on Wednesday.