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Dundee United v Hibs: Toiling Tangerines urged to keep faith in flowing football

Jackie McNamara.
Jackie McNamara.

Dundee United boss Jackie McNamara says sticking to the principles that gained them praise from far and wide will see them return to winning ways not by dwelling on a dismal week of results.

United have slipped from second to fifth spot in the Premiership following an eight-day spell which saw them suffer defeats away to St Mirren and St Johnstone before a late setback at home to Aberdeen soured their start to 2014.

Red cards, changes to personnel and poor weather conditions have all contributed to United’s recent slump, although McNamara needs only look to the six straight wins they enjoyed prior to their dip in form to realise not a lot needs to change for fortunes to turn once again.

Hibs are the visitors to Tannadice on Sunday on the back of Thursday’s Edinburgh derby win, but the United boss reckons his side should have nothing to fear if they stick to their guns.

“We can hit balls into the corner and chase lost balls but when you’ve got the players we’ve got in our team it’s important we try and play to our strengths which is passing the ball and getting players on the ball,” he told Courier Sport.

“We’ve taken a lot of plaudits over the past couple of months for the way we’ve been playing, not by winning ugly.”

“The circumstances of the first couple of games, obviously we went down to 10 men and in the St Mirren game I didn’t think we played badly.

“It was just concentration in that game and obviously the St Johnstone game was a different story because the sending-off changed the game after 20 minutes.

“The Aberdeen game was more of a battle and a derby, it wasn’t pretty at times.

“It was a good atmosphere and it was a good occasion but it wasn’t a great performance.

“But to be honest it’s only a week. Everybody is saying the young kids have gone off the boil and it’s the first thing everybody looks to everybody looks to the negatives instead of the positives.

“Obviously it’s my job to get the players back up and ready for the game on Sunday.

“We know, having watched the Hibs game on Thursday and watching Terry Butcher throughout the year, what to expect from his team.

“They will be organised, hard-working and in your face, so we have to be better on the ball, take responsibility and make sure we are doing our jobs properly.”

As United boss, McNamara is well aware the team has to take the bad with the good.

He feels some of the criticism levelled at him and his players in the wake of their three defeats has been unjustified, particularly in relation to the changes he had to make at St Johnstone.

He continued: “I think everybody jumps on what’s happened because we had a good run of it there with six wins.

“But in the space of the week, from starting Boxing Day in second place, by the end of New Year’s Day we were in fifth so it shows you how quickly things can turn around in the game. It’s something we have to try and put right.

“Everybody’s talking about the state of the pitches and the conditions and how they don’t suit us playing football but I believe in the players and what the players have got.

“Not just the 11 there (who played against Aberdeen), the ones who played against St Johnstone as well.

“A lot was made of that (the number of changes made) which I think was really disrespectful to them. It’s not as if they were young boys and reserve players, these are guys that have been in the game for a long time: Dillon, Goodwillie, Gomis, Erskine and young Dow.

“I’ve got to try and get the best out of everybody and we knew that period was always going to be tricky for us.

“I think you’ll see us start to settle down again and that period was always going to be a worry, with wee knocks here and there.

“Most of the players were not fit enough for the St Johnstone game so it was not as if we were resting them for the Aberdeen game that was never the ploy.”

McNamara revealed he is looking to add a striker to his squad in the transfer window, with David Goodwillie’s loan agreement not being renewed when it ends on January 13.

“There’s a few things we’re looking at,” he said. “Obviously, with Goodwillie’s loan deal up, we’ll maybe try and look to see if we can strengthen to help Nadir (Ciftci)

and Brian (Graham) up in that area so there’s a few things we’re looking at there.”

United are also understood to be working on new deals for full-back Mark Wilson, whose short-term contract expires this month, and midfielder John Rankin.