St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright has dismissed Mixu Paatelainen’s suggestion the Perth men are a long-ball team as “laughable”.
The Saints boss became used to Paatelainen’s predecessor, Jackie McNamara, portraying his side that way.
And, reacting to the Finn’s comments after Saturday’s Tannadice derby, Wright noted that “it must be a Dundee United thing”, adding that “a wee bit of humility at times doesn’t go amiss”.
Paatelainen had said: “All credit to St Johnstone. They are a powerful team. They play for set-pieces, and they play for those long balls that they’re good at.”
Wright, whose Saints side beat United at the weekend to make it eight wins and one draw out of the last 10 against the Tangerines, said: “A few of the lads have been complaining about sore ribs today because they’ve had a good laugh at another Dundee United manager calling us a long-ball team.”
“They love all that stuff, they always enjoy reading it.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=NscfuYbRD08%3Frel%3D0
“Whoever does United’s match reports might be out of a job if they think that’s what we’re about.
“It’s laughable, really. How can we play with Michael O’Halloran and Steven MacLean because you can’t go long to them.
“Michael has been brilliant for us this season and Macca is one of the best link-up strikers in the league.
“We had as much possession as United away from home and you don’t get that if you’re lumping it long.
“I don’t know what it is, it must be a Dundee United thing. A wee bit of humility at times doesn’t go amiss.”
He added: “I listened to John Hughes on telly and that was a balanced assessment of how we play because we do pass it.
“So to say that we play for set pieces is ridiculous. United had more than we did, so maybe he’s talking about the wrong team.
“I tend to only talk about the way other teams play when I’m giving them a pat on the back.”