Laszlo: Times they are a-changing at Tannadice

Dundee United manager Csaba Laszlo has shot down the suggestion that the game against Falkirk will be his first “real” match in charge.

The Tangerines suffered an embarrassing defeat at home to Northern Irish side Crusaders on Saturday in the IRN-BRU Cup and you might have thought the new Tannadice boss would jump at the chance to downplay that result.

However the Romanianborn Hungarian instead dismissed any notion that last weekend’s horrible exit from an uninspiring competition didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.

Asked if Sunday’s home Championship match meeting with the Bairns would mark the legitimate beginning of his United career, Laszlo said: “Is it the real start in the league? Yes.

“This is not my first game, though. That was in the cup, which was an important match for me. I was angry that we lost because it was not a friendly.

“Even if it was a friendly it would be important because it’d give a player the chance to show his talent and attitude. I don’t want to talk about having an A, B or C team – we are Dundee United. If you have the jersey on the pitch then, for me, this is the first team.

“So don’t just think ‘Oh, I’m young’ or a senior player who hadn’t been playing or had been rested.

“That is not OK. We scored a nice goal and went in front but then we were thinking that the game was over and that we didn’t have to do too much.

“There were a lot of mistakes, especially before the two goals, and our organisation and discipline were not good and we lost the game.

“For me, it was a signal that we have to change some things.”

Csaba Laszlo