Glenn Middleton insists Dundee United paid the price for defensive lapses and a lack of control against Motherwell following yet another “chaotic” showdown with the Steelmen.
The Tangerines were uncharacteristically porous at Fir Park, allowing Apostolos Stamatepoulos to bag a brace, adding to strikes by Andy Halliday and Tom Sparrow.
The visitors lost the midfield battle against Stuart Kettlewell’s men, failed to stop crosses and, when those deliveries did arrive, didn’t dominate their own box as has become commonplace this season.
“You can’t concede four goals in any game of football and expect to get anything,” Middleton said bluntly.
“We made it hard for ourselves with the goals we conceded. If there’s anything we’ve been all season, then it’s defensively consistent. We fell short on that at the weekend.
“We just struggled to control the game. I think we’ve been good at that; just taking the sting out of the game when we need to. We didn’t do it on Saturday. That’s no-one’s fault. It’s no individual’s fault. It’s just how the game was panning out, at times.
“I’m sure the manager will reflect on that for us in the coming week and we’ll work on it.”
Too little, too late
Despite looking wobbly throughout, United were effective going in the other direction.
Sam Dalby notched another double, extending his lead at the summit of the Premiership scoring charts, and Louis Moult struck against his former club. He also rattled the crossbar.
United were much improved after the break, which spoke to their character and resilience. However, in Middleton’s words, the Tangerines were left with “a mountain too high”.
“It was clear when we went into the changing room that we had to pick it up,” he continued.
“You can’t concede three goals in a first half of football and just down tools. You need to go for it. That’s the mentality the manager has drilled into us this season.
“Unfortunately, we gave ourselves a mountain too high. That’s frustrating because there were a few sloppy moments that we could have avoided.”
Motherwell hoodoo
Jim Goodwin’s United have now lost four successive matches against Motherwell, dating back to the 3-2 defeat that saw the Terrors officially relegated from the Premiership in May 2022.
It is their longest losing run against the North Lanarkshire outfit since 1974.
“Unfortunately, the games we’ve struggled in seem to all be against Motherwell,” Middleton rued.
“When we’ve played Motherwell, games have been quite chaotic. It’s just how they seem to be. You sometimes get matches like that; you get games like that in every season. It’s no-one’s fault and the results are definitely not for a lack of trying.
“If it was for a lack of trying, we wouldn’t have almost got back into the game. We still showed moments of quality.”
Monumental Celtic challenge
United’s bid to get back on track – and rediscover their defensive diligence – will be a challenging one, with Celtic, fresh from winning the Premier Sports Cup, visiting Tannadice next Sunday.
Middleton added: “Facing Celtic is always a tough game, regardless of how the match against Motherwell went. We know that.
“But we’ve gone into every game this season with the mentality that we’re not there just for the sake of it. We’re there to stamp our authority on the game and we’ll try to do that next week.
“The manager will have his game-plan and, as always, it’s over to us to carry that out.”
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