Dundee United midfielder Scott Fraser has asked anxious fans to “chill” when the Tangerines welcome Dunfermline to Tannadice today.
Second-placed United, who were knocked off the top of the Championship by St Mirren in midweek, will hope to show that last Saturday’s disappointing draw at Brechin was a blip when they play the fourth-placed Pars.
A theme coming out of the United camp in the build-up to this match has been the need for Csaba Laszlo’s men to keep their composure and listen to what their gaffer tells them rather than bow to pressure from some supporters keen to see the ball played up the park as quickly as possible.
That message appears to have certainly gotten through to Fraser, who both urged the supporters to “chill and be calm” and his teammates be less “erratic” in their play.
Fraser said: “Spirits have been all right since the draw with Brechin and we are in a good frame of mind going into the Dunfermline match.
“Obviously, the first half last Saturday was very good and in the Falkirk game we managed to keep those high standards for the full 90 minutes.
“So it’s about us learning.
“I think Brechin getting the goal so early in the second half sort of threw us off our game.
“It gave them something to hang on to and I think we got a bit erratic in our play.
“We have watched the game back with the gaffer and he touched on that.
“He has spoken about the need to be more composed.
“It was clear we didn’t keep passing the ball the way we did in the first half.
“Fair play to Brechin, they got a good point out of it but we dominated everything before half-time.
“The manager made the point that even if we do lose a goal we can still rise above it and score more goals than the opposition.”
Fraser understands that some fans were expecting, rather than just hoping, that the Tangerines would perform at Glebe Park as well as they had done at home to the Bairns the week before and therefore felt let down by the 1-1 draw.
He also accepts that standards slipped somewhat but added: “It’s about keeping things in perspective.
“Hopefully, the fans realise that as well.
“Not every game will be like the Falkirk one recently.
“There are times when we need them to just chill and be calm.
“For example, at Brechin we were knocking the ball out at the back and they were happy but when we did that in the second half you could hear them getting a bit agitated.
“I understand that because they know Brechin are part-time and expect us to be battering them.
“But I think they just need to be patient and we need to keep playing the way we want to play.
“The gaffer has mentioned about trying to ignore everything else that is going on around us.
“Personally, I felt if we had played our normal game for the full 90 minutes we would have scored again.
“This is just a message to our supporters – be patient and it will come.
“We’re confident in what we’re doing and in what the gaffer is trying to do.
“We’ve got a system which we want to stick to as it suits all the players we’ve got.”
In a bid to help the United players get back in the swing of things this afternoon, Fraser would like the opposition to oblige by playing open football.
He said: “We’re hopeful that Dunfermline might come out a bit more.
“Falkirk, to be fair, did try to come out and play a bit at Tannadice which left spaces for me to go and exploit.
“That was good for us.
“I think with Brechin the pitch kind of suits them and how they want to play. It doesn’t suit us so much.
“But as we are going back to Tannadice we expect it to be a hard but hopefully open game.
“If that is the case then, hopefully, we can score some goals.”
