FALLING SHORT
Mixu’s men show fight but lack any real bite to hurt Hearts
YOU certainly can’t fault them for effort. Or heart. Nor, indeed, a willingness to put their heads where others might f ear to place their size 11s. Yet, f or all Mixu Paatelainen’s new-look Dundee United side clearly took umbrage at suggestions they were previously ‘soft-touches’, there remains a chronic lack of creativity and craft about them when it comes to the business side of the game.
By time up, the muted ripple of applause from the home fans was at least an appreciation of the backbone their side had belatedly shown. It was not before time.
However, guts and graft alone will not dig United out of what is a deepening hole. Now four points adrift at the bottom of the Premiership, the sense of concern is growing by the game. Celtic away next week, with Ross County and Aberdeen quickly following, is scarcely an open escape hatch from trouble.
Paatelainen probably did not need any reminder of the scale of the task he faces to get his side scaling the table once again — but the lack of penetration in the final third here was truly alarming.
Of no little consolation, though, will be his players’ unstinting application throughout 96 l argely uninspiring minutes.
By the time referee Kevin Clancy’s whistle called a halt to proceedings, he had flashed his yellow card six times at United players — twice at Blair Spittal. His early bath compounded his rash challenge on Sam Nicholson that defined the outcome of the game in the first half.
Ensuring that crunching tackles are successfully married with attacking quality in the coming weeks is now the task.
For Robbie Neilson’s Hearts, this was a deserved return to winning ways courtesy of Juanma’s penalty conversion — their first league triumph since the end of August.
Bruised and battered t hey may be after the most brutal of encounters but, with just four points now separating them from second-placed Aberdeen, their discomfort will not last long.
Paatelainen made three changes to the side which plumbed new depths at Firhill before t he international break, with Aaron Kuhl, Mark Durnan and Billy Mckay displacing Callum Morris, Ryan Dow and Euan Spark.
John Souttar, regularly played in central midfield under Jackie McNamara, was deployed at right- back with skipper Sean Dillon unusually stationed on the left side of defence.
Shaping with a narrow diamond in behind Mckay and Darko Bodul, the clear strategy was to deny their opponents space to play.
Neilson also made three changes, with Jordan McGhee, Miguel Pallardo and Danny Swanson stepping up for the benched Morgaro Gomis and Jamie Walker and the suspended Callum Paterson.
Resplendent in a sharp, dark suit, Paatelainen took the acclaim of the home fans as he made his way up the touchline just before kick-off.
There was unquestionably a hunger and a sharpness about his new charges in the opening exchanges.
Yet, the danger that such youthful exuberance might prove counterproductive manifested itself in the concession of a needless penalty kick after 15 minutes.
Nicholson displayed the nous of a seasoned pro to kill the ball and make sure his first forward movement was across the path of Spittal. Given the work the Hearts’ winger still had on his plate, there was no need for the United man to commit himself but his rash attempt to win the ball ended with Clancy pointing to the spot.
Juanma paid no heed to Luis Zwick’s posturing on the line, calmly rolling the ball low inside the German’s right-hand post.
The Spaniard’s composure was in sharp contrast to much of the ragged fare that followed.
Dillon, Swanson and Prince Buaben were each booked for their unwelcome contributions, the yellow cards punctuating a game low on quality and high on individual errors.
A lapse in concentration by Durnan gifted Swanson a free sight of goal and United keeper Zwick had to scamper to prevent the former Tannadice f avourite doubling Hearts’ advantage with a swerving shot from 20 yards.
The visitors were finding space in their opponents’ penalty box easier to come by than United. When Osman Sow popped up in one sizeable pocket, only John Rankin’s precision slide-tackle denied the Swede a clean hit.
Swanson, a Scottish Cup winner with United in 2010, continually served reminders of the way things used to be. He arced a peach of a free-kick up and over United’s wall shortly before the break with an effortless flick of his right boot.
Only Zwick’s starting position allowed him to tip the ball over the bar.
By and l arge, Hearts were untroubled by United’s directness. One minute f rom the break, though, keeper Neil Alexander’s failure to clean out Souttar’s cross gave Rankin a rare opening. Blazej Augustyn’s smart charge towards the ball meant only a corner was conceded.
United were sleepwalking towards another defeat. Paatelainen replaced the again ineffective Bodul with Adam Taggart at the break, but a lack of supply was really the pertinent issue.
Hearts might well have had the job done by the time the second half got going. Sow’s strength when running with the ball had unsettled United all afternoon and another 30-yard surge ended with Juanma’s shot being deflected into Nicholson’s path, with Zwick only just beating the winger to the loose ball.
A set-piece increasingly looked like United’s best hope of salvation. Scott Fraser and Kuhl did conjure up an imaginative routine between them but, despite the latter’ s passing resemblance to David Luiz, his tame effort left Alexander untroubled.
All too literally, Hearts began to hobble towards the finish line. Both Pallardo and Juwon Oshaniwa departed the scene after feeling the full-force of United’s robust resistance, with Gomis and Liam Smith deputising.
Yellows for Durnan and Rankin underscored the home side’s intention to go down fighting, but Spittal earning himself an early departure for two rapid bookings in the dying minutes scarcely achieved anything.
They certainly gave it all they had until the last of six added minutes had expired.
Just before the end, Neilson clenched his fist on the touchline and implored his side to see it out.
He need not have fretted. Damningly, for all they huffed and puffed, United failed to carve out a single chance from open play in the entire match.