Nicky Clark has revealed Dundee United players plotted their revival on the bus journey home after an opening day defeat at Aberdeen.
United crashed to a 2-0 loss at Pittodrie as the Tam Courts Scottish Premiership era got off to the worst possible start in August.
But while some United fans feared the worst after that loss, the Tannadice side transformed their fortunes a week later with a 1-0 win over Rangers.
Courts has seen his stock rise considerably amongst the United fans since the opening day – with wins over St Johnstone, Dundee, Hibernian and a draw at Celtic Park helping them into fourth place.
And as United prepare to welcome Aberdeen to Tannadice for Saturday’s New Firm derby, Clark reveals the journey to success began on the A90.
“After the Aberdeen game, four or five of the more experienced ones sat down on the bus and spoke about it,” said Clark.
“We wrote a few things down to talk about on the Monday – to clear the air a bit.
“It was a case of a few things that didn’t work for us and what we maybe needed to do in the training to get things exactly as we wanted it.
“We only wrote it down so we’d remember so we knew what we’d speak about on the Monday.
Flynn Duffy and Nicky Clark combine 👊 Benji ⛔#UnitedTogether pic.twitter.com/TjRRYwlBHS
— Dundee United FC (@dundeeunitedfc) July 6, 2021
“It worked for us. Since then we have been taking what we’ve been doing in training into matches.
“We were disappointed to lose and at the time we knew why. We didn’t follow through what we’d done in training.
“The following week against Rangers we took everything we worked on during the week into the game and got a great result.”
Nicky Clark: We’re a different team now
Clark believes Dundee United are now a different animal from last season.
United fans are enjoying the free-flowing, attack-minded football – epitomised by Clark’s recent goal in the 3-0 away win at Hibernian.
The Tannadice side have lost their last two games to St Johnstone and Hearts.
But Clark is confident they can get back on track against Dons.
“There was a bit of an overreaction after the Aberdeen game,” said Clark. “But we took it on the chin and showed from there what we can do.
“Everything we have been doing in training we have been doing on the pitch.
“This weekend is a chance to show how far we have progressed since that day.
“We are a more attacking team this season. You see that from the amount of chances we create. It’s definitely different from last year.”
