There’s no skirting around Dundee United’s performance at Ibrox on Saturday – they looked miles off the pace all day.
And that’s a big worry going into a very important part of the season.
Micky Mellon’s men have made a positive start to life in the Premiership but the last three matches have flagged up some real problems.
Yes, two of those games were against Rangers and Celtic and the other on the road to Kilmarnock.
And, of course, the performance against the Hoops was good, one that was unlucky not to earn them a point.
However, in each of those three games they only managed one shot on target.
That’s a massive concern. In fact, United have the lowest amount of shots on target in the entire division with just 15 from their seven matches.
Mellon is just newly in the door at Tannadice and I do expect changes to be made to the squad before long.
That stat highlights the need for attacking reinforcements.
In terms of the performance at Ibrox on Saturday, I thought it was very poor.
Generally, you speak of getting anything from Rangers or Celtic as being a bonus.
But the display against the Hoops a few weeks back showed exactly how you should go about it.
Saturday was nowhere near that. It was a frustrating watch because United just couldn’t keep possession for any period of time.
Continually giving the ball back to the Gers is a recipe for disaster and that’s what happened.
It’s up to Mellon to try to pick some positives out of it, there weren’t too many though.
Seeing Lawrence Shankland back out on the pitch is certainly one, even if it was just an exercise to get some minutes into his legs after his injury lay-off.
He’ll be a big help to the attack, of course, when fit and firing.
I like Nicky Clark and he’s done his best but he’s been a little lost in the way United have been playing.
He’d like to be on the ball more and, hopefully, having Shankland back as a No 9 can bring the best out of him.
And the Scotland striker will be vital going into the three games before the Betfred Cup kicks off.
St Mirren at home, Hamilton away and Livingston at home are big ones for the Tangerines.
There can’t be any hangover from the last two matches in theses ones because against that sort of opposition is where United will be judged.
This is a key spell in the season for Mellon and his men.
It was heartening to see photos of two youngsters getting a taste of first-team training at the weekend at Dens Park.
Ewan Murray and Cammy Blacklock were pictured at the weekend and may well get a run out in the first team this week as Dundee play some friendlies.
That’s where a big positive for our game could come out of the coronavirus shutdown.
Pretty much everyone has been hit hard financially and you’d expect squads to be small as a result this campaign.
So there will be chances for young players that normally wouldn’t get one.
Not this early in their development, anyway.
And you never know, that exposure to the level and commitment of first-team pros might just be the thing that kicks these young lads on.
It’s great to see James McPake isn’t worried about bringing these guys into the fold – just as he did with Fin Robertson last season.
It’s also fantastic to have the Dark Blues playing games this week.
It’s been about six months but it’ll feel like it’s been a whole year to the players.
They’ll be desperate to get out there again.
The English Premier League season didn’t half kick off with a bang at Anfield.
I thought Leeds did really well despite coming out on the wrong end of the 4-3 result at Liverpool.
Everton were good on Sunday, too, winning at Spurs. Bringing in a player of the class of James Rodriguez will be a massive boost for them.
It is the first weekend, though, and without Man U and Man City playing it was strange. Big season ahead.
Best of luck to the Scottish teams in European action this week. Rangers, Aberdeen and Motherwell all have tricky games but it would be great to see all getting through. Would be a boost for the whole country.
https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/dundee-united-shankland-rangers-reaction/
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.