Nadir Ciftci has paid tribute to the new additions to the Dundee United “family” following Sunday’s stunning 3-0 victory over Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
As well as securing all three points, the win was also notable for being the Tangerines’ first clean sheet since December.
That was in no small part due to a new-look back four with on-loan Hull full-back Conor Townsend along with the centre-half pairing of Callum Morris and Jaroslaw Fojut all making their competitive debuts for the club.
And Ciftci is hoping for more of the same against Motherwell at Tannadice.
The big striker said: “The new signings have settled in. When I joined last season I said it’s like a family and you can get to know each other really quickly. The same has happened with the new boys and they looked good on Sunday.
“Our last clean sheet was in December so it said a lot about our defending at Pittodrie that we didn’t concede. It’s not just the back four, we must work hard as a team. That was good on Sunday and we want to keep improving.
“Jaroslaw is a big character. He’s a really good guy as well, a really nice guy. He’s already one of my better friends. He gives everything when he goes out on the pitch.
“It must be hard for strikers to play against him. He loves to win all his headers and tackles and as soon as he gets the ball, he gives it to the midfield. He keeps it simple.
“You can hear him shouting a lot as well and that’s what you want, a leader in the team. But you want leaders throughout the team to make everyone’s job easier.
“We played really well as a team on Sunday and it’s vital to follow that up against Motherwell. We believed in ourselves and we’re up for it again.”
When the new season fixtures were released, United were handed what looked a daunting start with their first three games against the sides that finished third, second and first in the SPL last season.
However, following Sunday’s result, Ciftci is hoping that the Tangerines can complete what would be a perfect treble with a win over Motherwell and then Celtic at the weekend.
He added: “I hope we keep this going early in the season. I don’t want to say it’s a difficult start because we’re going to face these teams anyway and if it’s the beginning or the end of the season it doesn’t matter. We look fresh and pre-season went well.
“If we can get through the first three games with good results, then it will be a platform to build on and we’ll get more belief. If we got nine points from three games then that would be the perfect start but we must take it a match at a time and it’s Motherwell first then we can worry about Celtic.
“Last season’s away game at Celtic was 1-1 and we played really well. We could have won it but we gave it away in the last minute. We need to do the same things again and believe.”
Like his manager Jackie McNamara, Ciftci treated SFA performance director Mark Wotte’s comments about Ryan Gauld and the Sporting Lisbon B team being possibly better than United’s first team lightly.
He added: “I don’t know what the Sporting Lisbon B team is like. But I’m pretty sure if Ryan trains with the first team he’ll improve every day because they are a Champions League team and the quality is a different class. Maybe we could challenge them to a game and find out who is best!”