Dundee United v Saints preview

Last updated : 17 February 2012 By Stuart Gillespie

United are, rather oddly, one of the teams we've managed to fair rather well against in the last few years. They've yet to beat us in any of the five meetings since Danny Lennon took charge, although late goals have stopped us winning more than one of those. That's not new - United used to regularly come up with more and more novel ways of doing us out of victories with late goals during Gus MacPherson's time in charge and part of me wonders if it's karma's way of paying us back for Ricky Gillies' last minute winner against the Arabs back in 2001.

United are in good form at the moment and gave a large proportion of Scottish football fans a good laugh a fortnight ago when they dumped Rangers out of the Scottish Cup. This was not a lucky wee win - they should have been more than a couple of goals up  at half-time and they were probably better in that match than in last week's Peter Enckelman assisted drubbing of St Johnstone. If they play like they did in the first half at Ibrox then we'll be in real trouble.

Our league form hasn't been too bad of late but chances of a top six finish are diminishing with every passing week and our continuing failure to win - or even score a goal. Tannadice is not an easy place to go but we really need to be looking to win this one to kick start our season and let us push on in the final months of the season. If things continue as they are then relegation shouldn't be an issue but there's a fair chance we won't finish any higher than 10th - inexcusable considering the talent we have at our disposal.

Most people knew we would have a problem at some stage when we loaned Jon McShane to Hamilton last month but I doubt anyone felt it would spring up so soon. Steven Thompson's red card on Tuesday night leaves us without any height in our front line for the next two games while he sits on the naughty step. Dougie Imrie, who United made a failed attempt to sign last month, will come back in for him but he has nowhere near the physical presence. The only way to deal with that problem would be to move Gary Teale up front, but he's done reasonably well in midfield in recent weeks so that wouldn't be the best move. Imrie will help form a three pronged attack with Paul McGowan and Nigel Hasselbaink, the latter the most likely to play through the middle on his own - something he struggled with at Hamilton.

It'll be interesting to see if Danny Lennon decides to freshen things up after having to play the best part of an hour with 10 men during the week. The problem is his options are rather limited thanks to Thompson's suspension and injuries to Kenny McLean, Hugh Murray and Darren McGregor. Aside from Imrie his other options are Aaron Mooy, Steven Thomson and David van Zanten, then you're on to assorted youngsters. It therefore would be a surprise to see anything other than Imrie replace Thomson, although he might decide to go a bit less adventurous and drop Teale, Carey or Hasselbaink for Thomson. As long as we don't go with just McGowan and Hasselbaink up front as that was a disaster at Parkhead.

While we are struggling to make the top six United are right in the hunt and it would be a surprise if the Arabs weren't in the top half of the table come the split. They got off to a dodgy start and Peter Houston was under severe pressure at one stage - something I've previously said was unfair considering he'd lost half his squad and had sod all money to bring folk in. He's managed to make it through that sticky patch and they could still make Europe, while they're in with a decent chance of winning the Scottish Cup - although they'll need to dispose of the other half of the Old Firm if they're to take their place in the semi-finals.

While we were able to enjoy some fine trickery from Nigel Hasselbaink last week, Gary Mackay-Steven produced an even more outrageous piece of skill in Perth. The former Liverpool kid is in superb form at the moment has more than repaid the gamble United took on him in the summer when they plucked him from Airdrie United. He had injury problems earlier in his career but seems to have put them behind him and is now fulfilling the promise he displayed that saw him make the switch to Anfield. He's still only 21 and undoubtedly has a bright career ahead of him.

So too does Johnny Russell, the striker stepping up a level this season following the departure of David Goodwillie in the summer. He and Jon Daly have been banging the goals in this season and are one of the best strike partnerships outside the Old Firm. Daly's experience will only help Russell and he will almost certainly follow the likes of Goodwillie, Scott Allan and Craig Conway in getting himself a move down south in the next few years. It wouldn't be a major surprise to see him in the Scotland squad later this month - after all, he does play for Dundee United.

Someone else who fancies his chances of a summer move is big defender Garry Kenneth, who has already decided to do one when his contract expires in the summer. It means Houston will need to find another replacement although the ones he brought in over the summer - like Mackay-Steven, John Rankin, Willo Flood and Gavin Gunning - have done fairly well. Robbie Neilson arrived slightly later and has settled in, while Ritchie Ryan and striker Milos Lacny came in last month. Danny Swanson is another one who could be leaving - partly due to injury problems - and is one of a number of talented players United managed to bring in from the lower leagues, with Scott Robertson and Paul Dixon doing a superb job after they switched sides in the City of Discovery.

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