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The Dundee United Thread 22/23


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1 hour ago, Dundee Hibernian said:

To varying degrees over the boards United fans have been quite critical of Mellon throughout the season, quite unfairly to my mind. From the first game of the season against St Johnstone, through to the recent draw with Hamilton, hardly a player has stood out, and only Benji, again in my view, has gained pass marks over the Premiership course. Edwards has improved once settled in, Fuchs shaded off, Shankland missed sitters in the matches mentioned, and Micky Mellon has had to forge a side out of very little.

I don't think any fan is beguiled by Mellon, at the same time can't understand fans not taking into account the barriers he's faced.

I'm neither up nor down about Mellon but I think it's a little generous to assume that the manager bears no responsibility for setting out a team in which no players - other than the keeper - excel. It may be because none of the players are capable of excelling but you could make an equally cogent argument to the effect that the players have been unable to perform to the best of their abilities because of the awful tactics of the manager. I offer no opinion either way other than to note that he's the most consistently negative manager which we've had in my lifetime. That may not be the best way to encourage brilliant individual performances.

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I’ll (hopefully) be in my seat at Tannadice next season watching Premiership football, which is the main thing and the staff/players deserve credit for navigating the club through a difficult season. However, if Mellon is still here, and he starts next season playing with the same style he has deployed for most of this year then he will very quickly find out how United fans feel about overly defensive football (that’s if we are allowed to boo).

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5 minutes ago, stumigoo said:

I’ll (hopefully) be in my seat at Tannadice next season watching Premiership football, which is the main thing and the staff/players deserve credit for navigating the club through a difficult season. However, if Mellon is still here, and he starts next season playing with the same style he has deployed for most of this year then he will very quickly find out how United fans feel about overly defensive football (that’s if we are allowed to boo).

This is true. Keeping us up without bother gives Mellon plenty of breathing space, but there's only so much eye-bleeding fitba we can take.

 

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1 hour ago, Pull My Strings said:

I'm neither up nor down about Mellon but I think it's a little generous to assume that the manager bears no responsibility for setting out a team in which no players - other than the keeper - excel. It may be because none of the players are capable of excelling but you could make an equally cogent argument to the effect that the players have been unable to perform to the best of their abilities because of the awful tactics of the manager. I offer no opinion either way other than to note that he's the most consistently negative manager which we've had in my lifetime. That may not be the best way to encourage brilliant individual performances.

I've highlighted that section as it's possibly close to the truth: the only player I see underperforming this season is Shankland, the rest are around where I expected, as they were average in the Championship. Shankland's form has been poor, he has missed quite a number of chances he'd have put away last season, but I'll concede we could have set the team up to provide more scoring opportunities for him. If we'd concentrated on goals for the striker, we may have conceded many more and have been involved in a relegation battle. Other than Shankland, I don't know who would have provided brilliant individual performances.

To be clear, I've not enjoyed watching United this season, and would like to think we'll be more positive in the future, but every manager has his faults. Micky Mellon kept us up, but I agree with those who recognise he had it easier without supporters in the grounds.

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30 minutes ago, Dundee Hibernian said:

I've highlighted that section as it's possibly close to the truth: the only player I see underperforming this season is Shankland, the rest are around where I expected, as they were average in the Championship. Shankland's form has been poor, he has missed quite a number of chances he'd have put away last season, but I'll concede we could have set the team up to provide more scoring opportunities for him. If we'd concentrated on goals for the striker, we may have conceded many more and have been involved in a relegation battle. Other than Shankland, I don't know who would have provided brilliant individual performances.

To be clear, I've not enjoyed watching United this season, and would like to think we'll be more positive in the future, but every manager has his faults. Micky Mellon kept us up, but I agree with those who recognise he had it easier without supporters in the grounds.

Aye, I understood the proposition you were making. I was simply offering a counterpoint.

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I don't think anyone has enjoyed the performances this season. I'm glad I've missed a good few games too be honest.

But we've done well to be where we are considering its been done with a creatively bankrupt team devoid of wingers and any sort of quality from set pieces. 

The step up in quality has highlighted these problems and I hope this transfer windows will see a playmaker and a winger be brought in or promoted from the youths / given more game time. 

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1 hour ago, mishtergrolsch said:

I don't think anyone has enjoyed the performances this season. I'm glad I've missed a good few games too be honest.

But we've done well to be where we are considering its been done with a creatively bankrupt team devoid of wingers and any sort of quality from set pieces. 

The step up in quality has highlighted these problems and I hope this transfer windows will see a playmaker and a winger be brought in or promoted from the youths / given more game time. 

Chalmers seems to be the natural bit of width and trickery to have in the team. 

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3 hours ago, ArabFC said:

This is true. Keeping us up without bother gives Mellon plenty of breathing space, but there's only so much eye-bleeding fitba we can take.

 

Tonight being a case in point. I don’t understand Mellon’s constant desperation to shoehorn Clark into midfield!

We’re playing a part-time team with a forward with a bigger gut than me and we can’t play any fitba - just launching the ball 😫

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4 minutes ago, Pull My Strings said:

Some amount of pish from McLean and McFadden tonight. Pretty low key from United, never getting out of third gear, but the lavish praise for Forfar is very odd. I don't thin Denis made a single save all night.

Keeping Shankland quiet is a remarkable achievement for any League One club, let alone the club at the bottom of that league.   Credit where credit is due I say.

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7 minutes ago, Shadow Play said:

Keeping Shankland quiet is a remarkable achievement for any League One club, let alone the club at the bottom of that league.   Credit where credit is due I say.

If you'd like to give Forfar credit for Shankland being underwhelming then you crack on. I don't think that's what McLean and McFadden were havering about though. United don't attack with any particular focus or verve this season and that applies whether we're playing against Rangers/Celtic or Hamilton/Forfar; it's just not something the team is set up to do currently. I suspect we'd be the same against Whitehill Welfare/Dundee (no offence to Whitehill Welfare). We're solid though and were never in any danger tonight. We're just boring as f**k, albeit relatively efficient. 

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2 minutes ago, Steven W said:

Certainly not a scintillating performance, but thought we were comfortable throughout. It was never going to be a cakewalk and we done what we had to do.

We were shit, that’s to take nothing from Forfar who were well organised and put in a great shift.

Speaking to a United legend last week who reckons Mellon would be getting pelters for his style of play if there were fans in the stadium.

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3 minutes ago, Baldie1980 said:

forfar did bloody well considering there part time,most of them probably did a 8 hr shift before the game,united were gash though.

Aye , you can take that view if you like, but let's not pretend that it was a tight game or that Forfar were ever in danger of winning. If United were shite compared to Forfar, it was purely relative. Forfar weren't on any objective measure better, or even close, to United. You can take the romance too far.

United, as a top flight side, won comfortably without playing well; Forfar as a shite League 1 side weren't as shite as you thought they'd be. Jings.

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15 minutes ago, captainkev said:

Tonight's just left me irritated again, and at this point I'm thoroughly fed up of McNulty. I know he has some defenders here, but I think he's a passenger and been an absolute waste of a signing.

Nah he's absolutely dog shite and offers not very much at all. 

Noticed he had a few of the boys on the team on his case tonight as well. 

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4 hours ago, Pull My Strings said:

Aye , you can take that view if you like, but let's not pretend that it was a tight game or that Forfar were ever in danger of winning. If United were shite compared to Forfar, it was purely relative. Forfar weren't on any objective measure better, or even close, to United. You can take the romance too far.

United, as a top flight side, won comfortably without playing well; Forfar as a shite League 1 side weren't as shite as you thought they'd be. Jings.

You won and made it through, mission accomplished. Give the credit to Forfar and move on - it's costing you nothing.

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