Dundee United boss Jackie McNamara has tipped David Goodwillie to rediscover his goal-scoring form after returning to Tannadice in the summer.
The 24-year-old striker, who rejoined United on loan from Blackburn Rovers, has had a frustrating time of things in front of goal in his first two SPFL matches and missed an open goal in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at home to Inverness.
But McNamara is convinced that his side will click into gear soon after their stuttering start to the league campaign, and believes they will be able to count on Goodwillie’s goals in the first half of the season.
“I think once David gets a goal it will spark him off on a good run,” he told Courier Sport.
“I was happy with David’s workrate but the service to him wasn’t good enough against Inverness.
“I don’t think the balls up were great and Inverness were very strong in central defence, so they were just coming over the top of him and winning headers.
“So it was a hard shift for him, he was isolated and at times I think we were maybe a wee bit too deep. We need to give him better service and if we do that there’s no doubt he’ll score goals.
“But I feel that with the rest of the squad. You can see that there’s a wee bit of apprehension and pressure on them and it’s just getting maybe that first win or first goal just to spark them off and hit the ground running.
“I’m sure once we get off the mark and scoring then things will fall into place.”
With just four members of Saturday’s line-up having played against Inverness in May, McNamara admits his new-look side have got to gel together properly. However, he still expected better from the weekend’s outing.
“There are new faces there and coming in here they’ve got to gel with the players who are already in there, playing as a team and not as individuals,” he said. “But too many had an off day on Saturday.
“As the game went on we got a wee bit more desperate than trying to do things properly. I wouldn’t say you try too hard but you try and force things, and you lose your discipline and concentration.
“It’s about taking responsibility and making things happen by passing and moving. The way the game went, we weren’t getting forward properly and it wasn’t sticking up front.
“The amount of times we got in behind them we caused them a problem and we maybe should have scored, but there wasn’t enough of it.”
McNamara will welcome back Gary Mackay-Steven, Stuart Armstrong, John Souttar, Ryan Gauld, Aidan Connolly and Darren Petrie following their spells with the Scotland set-up this week ahead of this weekend’s game away to Hibs.