Liam Fox has outlined the reasoning behind dropping Carljohan Eriksson in favour of Mark Birighitti between the sticks for Dundee United.
The Australia international goalkeeper returned to the United starting line-up on Saturday as Motherwell claimed a 1-0 victory at Tannadice.
He got a hand to Sondre Solholm’s headed winner but was unable to stop the ball from bouncing over the line.
It was Birighitti’s first appearance since shipping 11 goals in two matches against AZ Alkmaar and Hearts in August — and Fox is adamant the decision was a deserved reward for his efforts in training.
“I have two No.1 goalkeepers and Mark has been training really well,” explained Fox.
“I thought, off the back of a couple of defeats, that it might give us a little spark that was needed.
“Potentially, if Mark gets a weaker hand on it (Solholm’s header), then it maybe goes over the bar — but he gets a strong hand on it and it goes straight up.”
While Birighitti will hope for an extended run as United’s first-choice keeper, Fox’s huge call will be a hammer-blow to Finland cap Eriksson, who started the club’s previous 11 matches.
“I have to manage all the players carefully because they are all human beings with feelings and emotions,” continued Fox, when asked about the impact on Eriksson.
“They are all on different journeys and it’s my job to handle that.
“But I made a decision and that’s the way it is.”
Tough
United briefly slipped to the bottom of the league following defeat against the Steelmen, only for Hearts’ win at Ross County to ensure the Highlanders went back to propping up the Premiership.
However, the Tangerines’ three remaining fixtures before the World Cup hiatus are daunting: Celtic away on Saturday, followed by the midweek visit of Kilmarnock, then on the road again to play Aberdeen.
“We’ve got three very tough games coming up in the space of a week,” continued Fox.
“Celtic Park is always difficult, then Kilmarnock come here in midweek then it’s away to Aberdeen before the November break.
“We all knew it was going to be difficult and there are very small margins between the teams.”
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