Ian Harkes insists Dundee United will bounce back from a heavy Hearts defeat – because they’ve refused to buy into their early season hype.
United suffered their heaviest defeat of the season as they crashed to a 5-2 loss at Tynecastle to make it three games without a win.
Despite their recent form the Tannadice still in fourth place going into the international break.
United have rightly received plaudits for the way they have started the new term.
But Harkes insists they haven’t become complacent.
And he has called on his team-mates to reset and refocus ahead of the New Firm derby with Aberdeen on November 20th.
“I think we have to be pleased with where we are – challenging towards the top of the table,” said Harkes.
“We are disappointed to let ourselves down here.
“We have to work harder, use this international break to reset and go after the next run of games.
“The gaffer has said we don’t buy into our hype or the run that we’re on. We just reset each week and focus on the task at hand.
Hearts produced a five-star display to thrash Dundee United 5-2 and go second in the Scottish Premiership! 💥
Check out the best of the action! 👇 pic.twitter.com/H6Vgvgp2kv
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) November 6, 2021
“That’s what we have tried to do. The last two results and we haven’t been pleased with ourselves.
“We have let the games slip away from us before reacting to create loads of chances.
“But we are in a good position. We have to be happy, learn from the mistakes we made here and push on.”
Ian Harkes: We missed Charlie Mulgrew
Meanwhile, Harkes has backed teenage defender Kerr Smith for filling the void left by Charlie Mulgrew.
Inspirational defender Mulgrew came off injured at half-time of the Hearts defeat with 16-year-old Smith replacing him.
‘Of course we are going to miss him (Charlie) when he’s not in there,” added Harkes. “He brings so much to the team on and off the ball.
‘He was struggling with a little bit of an injury and it was tough for him to go off.
‘We just had to get on with it. We didn’t focus on that too much.
‘He’s one of the leaders of the team but we were right behind Kerr coming on.”
