The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Tangerines could be ‘hard to stop’
DUNDEE UNITED: Striker feels demolition of Bairns proves quality in squad
Scott McDonald believes Dundee United will be “hard to stop” if they continue to play like they did against Falkirk.
United totally dominated the match at Tannadice on Sunday and should have won by at least a couple more goals, thus giving new manager Csaba Laszlo a flying start to his promotion push. However, McDonald warned that there will be times when it doesn’t go as well as it did in the 3-0 demolition of the Bairns.
The former Celtic and Motherwell striker, who got the Tangerines off and running with the opening goal on 21 minutes, said: “I think you have to say that’s the best the team has played this season. It was one-way traffic throughout the game and there were so many chances created.
“It was a really enjoyable day, even though I am disappointed not to have scored a couple more goals and I think a couple of other boys are as well.”
The striker added: “For example, Scott Fraser is kicking himself, but he can’t be too frustrated because he’s been excellent for the past three games.
“The goals will come for him and the most important thing is we are winning games regardless of who is scoring goals.
“On another day, it could have been a lot heftier but it’s still a fantastic result. Long may it continue.
“We are going to be hard to stop if we can play like that week in, week out.
“Realistically, though, we might not be able to do it all the time. There will be times when it’s going to be sticky but we have the quality to break through teams and I think that’s just starting to show now.
“The goals haven’t been there up until now but I think that’s one of the things the manager wanted to address straight away.
“He’s mentioned already that we haven’t scored enough and he is demanding we do that, albeit I think he was very happy with 3-0.”
McDonald has been enjoying life under new gaffer Laszlo, even though days off have been rationed and the hours on the training pitch extended.
“The manager has a very infectious personality,” he said.
“What I have definitely noticed in the past week is that he has some good banter!
“More importantly, he is tactically sound, wants us to play and is an experienced manager.
“He also knows, at the moment, not to tweak things too much because he is aware that a lot of things have been working.
“There are just a couple of little things he wanted to change, which you probably saw in the Falkirk match. So it’s been great even though we know there is still a lot of hard work to be done.
“We will get back to training on Tuesday and start getting ready for Brechin on Saturday.”
Meanwhile, captain Willo Flood is expected to be fit to face City after being taken off at halftime as a precaution.
The midfielder, who had a terrific first half and scored United’s third goal, stayed in the dressing room but that was done as a preventative measure after the Irishman suffered a dead leg.