SMITH WANTS BIG REACTION AFTER HORROR SHOW

Dundee united defender Liam Smith has urged his side to bottle the feeling of being thrashed by AZ Alkmaar and use it to kickstart their season.

Jack Ross’ men were beaten 7-0 by the dutch aces as they matched the record for the worst ever defeat by a Scottish side in europe.

Smith admitted that the game was the lowest point of his career, with the optimism following their 1-0 win in the first leg brutally extinguished as they were ripped apart in the return fixture.

The Tangerines travel to face Hearts tomorrow looking to bounce back from their evening of ignominy and Smith insists they must immediately start making amends for their euro horror show.

‘We now need to move on and Sunday is big,’ he said. ‘It was already big but now we need to react.

‘We won’t forget this feeling. That will stay with us for a very long time and we can use it going into Sunday — remember it and, although we don’t need more motivation to get a result, maybe use it as extra fuel.

‘It’s a challenge at the best of time going to Tynecastle but we’ll go there with a grit and a determination that we maybe didn’t show at times on Thursday.

‘That’s probably the lowest any of us have ever felt after a game. It wasn’t good enough. They upped their gears two or three times compared to last week — and we didn’t match that, even remotely.

‘When that is the case, and you are playing a good side, then you are going to get beat.

‘even then, there is a manner to lose. To lose as many goals as we did in such a small period of time; we need to be stronger and stick together. We didn’t do that and paid the price. ultimately, it’s an embarrassing result.’

united had appeared to be settling into the game well after getting through the first 21 minutes unscathed. However, six goals in a devastating 26-minute period put paid to any hope of them progressing to the europa Conference League play-off round.

Smith said: ‘I can’t really put my finger on why [they fell apart]. We always knew they would get chances at home and that there was a good chance they’d score. We were prepared for that and had a plan of how to react to going behind. We didn’t do it and they took advantage. They punished all of our individual and collective mistakes.

‘When you are playing good teams, that is going to happen. But a lot of it was avoidable.

‘I don’t think much needed said. The gaffer didn’t come in shouting and screaming. We know that we let ourselves down and, with the amount of fans that travelled, we didn’t give them the performance they deserved.

‘We can’t blame anyone for their reaction. We are going to take stick and criticism. We’ll shoulder everything that comes our way. We deserve it.

‘It’s how we react to that. We know we can’t put this right in 90 minutes, but it’ll hopefully get our league campaign going.’

Hearts boss Robbie neilson has already been in touch with former Tannadice colleagues to offer sympathy but that won’t prevent him from looking to add to the misery at Tynecastle tomorrow.

neilson — who led united back to the Premiership in 2020 — is expecting a backlash from his old club but, ahead of his own club’s european opener against Zurich next Thursday, he expects to make it another tough 90 minutes for the visitors.

‘I still speak to a number of people at dundee united,’ said neilson. ‘I texted them and said they need to put it in perspective.

‘Three years ago, they were playing against Championship teams. They have progressed massively and had a brilliant result last week [against Alkmaar].

‘It was a 26-minute period where they got turned over but that can happen against these european teams. We’ve all suffered defeats over the years and you have to move on quickly. It’s easier if the next game comes quickly.

‘If you’re stewing over it for two or three weeks it can be difficult. Having a game within two or three days allows you to refocus.

‘But we have a sell-out on Sunday, the place will be rocking and we are expected to win. The guys in the team on Sunday have to make sure they stay in the team for Thursday so there is that competitive side.’

Facing Hearts was already big but now we must respond in the right way