Dundee United boss Jackie McNamara sympathises fully with the Tannadice faithful following their defeat to Inverness on Saturday because it ruined his weekend too.
McNamara was disappointed to see his side take nothing from their opening home game of the season thanks to Billy McKay’s 20th minute goal for the visitors, and admitted yesterday it had been a “bad day at the office all round”.
United were second best throughout and there was an air of discontent among some supporters at Tannadice at the nature of their team’s lacklustre performance at full-time.
But while urging fans to be patient with what is a new-look United squad, McNamara has called on his players to show the right kind of character to bounce back from their early setback.
“I’ve watched the game again, it wasn’t good viewing,” he said.
“I can understand the supporters’ frustrations because I felt that way myself. It spoiled my weekend too and the players were the same.
“We were disjointed at times. You could see the confidence going out of players and that disappointed me. I’m not saying we tried too hard but we forced things and lost discipline and concentration.
“Had there been seven or eight players playing to a reasonable standard then you can afford it. But we weren’t getting forward, it wasn’t sticking up front and everything was backs to our goal.
“We should have scored but we didn’t so it was frustrating.”
But McNamara continued: “I’ve been in that position myself, and it’s all about how you react to it now.
“We’ve got to be braver on the ball, that doesn’t mean getting it and running with it. It’s getting on the ball, passing and moving to make things happen.
“We didn’t do that and we’ve got to start. It’s down to me to put things right.”
There were relatively few pass marks for United players at the weekend and some sections of the support appeared to jeer new signing Chris Erskine as he left the pitch just after the hour mark.
However, McNamara has tipped the former Partick man to put that behind him.
“Obviously I feel for him because he wanted to make an impression in his first game,” he said.
“I’ll speak to Chris about it, it happens to everyone. You can’t play well every game but again it’s how he responds to it.
“This is where mental toughness comes into it. We are a new team, we need to gel together and we have to play as a team.”
In better news for United, trialist Mark Wilson is likely to get a run-out in Tuesday’s Under 20 game against St Johnstone, while defender Gavin Gunning will continue his incredible recovery from knee surgery by also featuring in the same match.