Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Choices to make for Robbie ahead of ICT encounter
BEING a manager who prepa res meticu lously for every game, it’s a safe bet Dundee United boss Robbie Neilson already k nows h is sta rti ng l i ne-up for Sat u rday’s Cha mpionsh ip opener against Inverness Caley Thistle.
Of course, we won’t know what his thoughts on that are until an hour before kick-off at Tannadice.
And while Arabs who’ve been following the team closely since the start of pre-season will have a fair idea of most of the names on the team sheet, there are two or three areas the manager will have had to give a lot of thought to.
Although United’s spending power means Neilson has cover for every position the friendlies and Betfred Cup games over the past few weeks have given a pretty clear indication of what he regards as he strongest side – almost.
Starting from the back, that Benjamin Siegrist will be in goal against ICT is a given.
In one Betfred outing and a couple of friendlies, the returning Deniz Mehmet has shown himself to be a more-than-able deputy and if Siegrist was to suffer a loss of form or injury, there would be no worries about him stepping up.
Siegrist’s form toward the end of last season and in his games so far, though, mean he is a certainty to start the league campaign as No 1 – and rightly so.
Likewise at right-back, summer signing Liam Smith is nailed on to make his Championship debut in this one. The manager fought hard to get him and, if Ayr United had been willing to do business, would have signed him in January.
Smith fits the attacking profile Neilson wants of his full-backs and has done enough in his early games to suggest he’ll be both a regular starter and an important player in the months to come.
Next to him, the names of skipper Mark Reynolds and Mark Connolly could be written in indelible ink on the team lines.
They’ve been the first choice partnership in the middle of the defence since the beginning of February and, so long as they are fit and available, that will continue to be the case this term.
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