‘United could win the Treble’
Tannadice No1 Cierzniak makes outrageous claim for McNamara’s men:
DUNDEE UNITED goalkeeper Radoslaw Cierzniak has made the astonishing claim that the Tannadice outfit are capable of winning the Treble this season.
Jackie McNamara’s team have underlined their status as title challengers in recent weeks after a fine home 2-1 win over Celtic was followed by an historic 6-2 New Year’s Day derby victory over city foes Dundee.
In between those games, however, they undermined their own bid to take on leaders Aberdeen and reigning champions Celtic by losing 2-1 at St Johnstone and drawing 1-1 at Partick Thistle.
That has not deterred Polish goalkeeper Cierzniak, however, who believes United can land all three prizes of l eague crown, Scottish Cup and League Cup.
The 31-year- old acknowledges that people will scoff at his claims, but is adamant that McNamara’s men can have the last laugh.
‘We want to win the two cups and win the league — and I believe we can win all three,’ said Cierzniak, whose side are eight points behind leaders Aberdeen with a game in hand ahead of tonight’s televised trip to Hamilton.
‘Why can’t we? This is the biggest chance for Dundee United in the last 30 years.
‘People might laugh at me saying that but I don’t care. We’ll see what happens.
‘Maybe in May we will have won the league and the cups and I will be the one who is laughing!
‘The bottom line is, we are a strong team and I think we can achieve it. Everyone here believes we can win the league.’
Cierzniak admitted he didn’t have the same level of confidence going into the campaign.
But Celtic’s stuttering start to the season under Ronny Deila has left him convinced there is nothing between the Parkhead club, United and Aberdeen going into the second half of the season.
‘At the start of the season, I didn’t even think about (the title) because everyone knows that in Scotland only Celtic — and nobody else — can win i t. But now, everyone has played each other twice and we’re confident. We believe we’re as good as Celtic.
‘ Before the season, we were thinking it would be nice to challenge. But now we know we’re a solid team and we are capable of doing something good this year.
‘This is the strongest the league has been in the three seasons I have been in Scotland.
‘The teams are getting better. Celtic are still strong but the rest of the teams have got stronger and are much closer to them now. This month is going to be important but, at this time of the season, they are all like that.
‘At the end of every month, we will look at it and see if we’re closer to where we want to be.’
Cierzniak’s optimism is tempered by the fact that, while Dundee United are the highest scorers in the Scottish Premiership, only Dundee and the bottom three clubs Ross County, St Mirren and Motherwell have conceded more than McNamara’s side.
Ahead of tonight’s vital match at fourth-placed Hamilton Accies, who are now under the temporary stewardship of skipper Martin Canning following Alex Neil’s departure t o Norwich City, Cierzniak knows that he and his defence have to up their game if his l ofty ambitions are to be achieved this season.
‘To win games, we need to keep clean sheets,’ he said. ‘If you do that, then you will always give yourself a great chance to win matches.
‘At the start of the season, we didn’t play that well but we were winning games.
‘The fans were not happy because it wasn’t spectacular, but we were still winning, grinding the results out every week.
‘Right now, I think we play better football, our passing is better and we’re keeping the ball better.
‘We’re scoring more goals and are playing more open football. What we need to do is keep that part of it — the good things about our performances up front — but to also be more solid in defence.
‘ If we can’t get all three points from games, we need to get at least a poi nt because t he difference at the end of the season can be huge.
‘But we go to Hamilton for three points. The spirit is there.
‘We believe we can win every game we play.’