Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Jack Walton pulls no punches after Tannadice flop – but insists Dundee United CAN handle title pressure

Walton was beaten three times by George Oakley.

Jack Walton on Dundee United duty
Jack Walton and his defence endured a miserable afternoon against Morton. Image: SNS

Jack Walton insists gutted Dundee United stars laid out the “facts” during candid talks in the aftermath of their disappointing 3-2 defeat against Morton.

However, the Tangerines goalkeeper is adamant there is no sense of “panic” following a third failure to win in their last five Championship fixtures.

George Oakley notched a perfect hat-trick at Tannadice and bullied the hosts throughout, with United turning in an uncharacteristically tame defensive showing.

You need to have conversations about the facts.

Jack Walton

Walton and co. have garnered plenty of praise this term, having only conceded seven league goals in 18 games prior to the weekend – but that doesn’t make the failings against the Ton any more palatable.

Asked about the mood in the dressing room following the meek loss, Walton said: “We have a really good group of lads and we’re a close unit, but that means you need to have conversations about the facts, too.

Disappointed Dundee United players trudge off at full-time against Morton
Disappointed United players trudge off at full-time. Image: SNS

“We won’t accept that (performance); we didn’t do the basics right and collectively we need to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Nobody hides away from that.

“Normally, I have been talking about how good we are defensively, but we weren’t on Saturday, and it has cost us.”

He added: “You can’t get too low and just because we’ve lost a game, it doesn’t mean anyone is panicking. But it’s a reality check.”

Handling the pressure

The reverse – United’s second in the league this season, both of which have been at Tannadice – blew an opportunity to usurp Raith Rovers at the summit following their defeat at Airdrie.

And the full-time whistle was met with the ire of Arabs.

However, Walton has no doubt United have the character and quality to handle their status as title favourites.

The pressure is on us, as the club that came down from the Premiership,” continued the on-loan Luton Town man. “We understand that pressure – but we were never going to have it our way all season.

“Each game has different challenges, and we have the tools and the players to break them down. But you NEED to do the basics right and we didn’t do that against Morton.

“If you come to a big club like Dundee United, you accept the pressure. That’s the expectation of the supporters. We need to control (the pressure) and use it positively.

“The lads all understand that.”

Response needed

A response will be demanded when United travel to Inverness on Friday night in their final match before a 15-day break.

“This is a hard league,” continued Walton. “I hadn’t played in it before but any league that only has one team going up automatically; that means there’s no margin for error.

“We have to analyse Saturday, see what we need to do better and put it into action for another hard game against Inverness on Friday.”

Conversation