Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Betfred run would do Csaba no harm
IT’S been an encouraging summer for Dundee United with the quality and number of signings made at Tannadice.
After another failure to get back up to the Premiership last term, it was clear the Tangerines were going to need a major rebuild to give them a fighting chance of getting promotion this time round.
It’s well under way now and the new faces that have been brought in look to me to be of the quality required to get the team back up.
Hopefully, the finishing touches to the squad will come soon and, for me, that means getting another central defender in – and maybe even a striker.
At the back, Frederic Frans should be a good addition. He’s a presence in any defence and also knows the Scottish game well.
I would like to see another of his type because there’s no question one of the problems last season was, until the arrival of Bilel Mohsni late on, United lacked those kind of dominant defenders.
The same could be said for their attack and that’s why, although Craig Curran and Nicky Clark will be capable of doing a very good job, it would be good if the budget can stretch to one more front man.
If nothing else it would add to competition for places and that’s always a good thing.
Another thing I’m keen to see Csaba Laszlo add is another couple of pre-season friendlies.
To date the only one they’ve pencilled in is up at Brechin a week tonight.
Time is tight because the Betfred Cup group stages kick off in mid-July but if another two outings can be squeezed in it would be nice.
Of course, those Betfred games could be used as part of the build-up to the all-important league kick-off in August.
As Paul Hartley found out a couple of years back at Dundee, that can be risky for a manager.
While, realistically, United are not going to win the Betfred, failure in the group stages followed by a bad start to the league campaign can put pressure on the man who is picking the team.
They are competitive games and the fact rivals Ross County are in the same group gives added importance to them.
A good result in the cup for either team would be a big plus.