With a footballing Dee Day having become an ominous prospect since the fixtures for the last five matches of this season were announced Mixu Paatelainen knows the looming derby has also added extra significance to this weekend’s visit of Hamilton Accies.
Victory at Tannadice on Sunday would remove the threat of Dundee United being relegated by their next door neighbours and in a week that has already brought a high profile and as yet essentially unexplained departure from the club with the resignation from the board of director Justine Mitchell, sister of club chairman Stephen Thomson, their under pressure manager is only too aware of how important that has become.
“You never want to lose at Dens Park or at Tannadice against Dundee. The players know this. They are not stupid and they don’t want it to happen either. I’m sure Dundee would love it but it’s up to us,” he said.
It could be interpreted that in addressing the subject two games in advance the Finn is accepting that it is a case of when rather than if his side goes down, but for all that he recognises the odds against a team that has not won more than two successive matches all season will suddenly reel of a string of victories he believes they have nothing to fear.
“If someone tells me we can’t beat Hamilton, Dundee, Caley Thistle, Partick Thistle or Kilmarnock I disagree,” he asserted.
“It’s very unlikely we will win all the matches, but we can win them. I don’t know how many we need to win, I really don’t. All we can do is our best and whether we’re good enough or not we will just have to see.”
That United now have nothing but avoiding relegation to focus upon has the potential to be demoralising in itself and Paatelainen reckons he will learn a lot about his players from the way they handle it.
“Everyone is disappointed after last weekend but we have to lift the spirits again,” he said.
“It will be difficult to do for the people who are weak because they will see the pressure that’s on them, but it’s so motivating to the strong ones because they will want to get to Sunday, win the match and give ourselves a chance.
“Do we have the dressing-room to handle that? We’ll see, but so far the lads have shown great character and spirit.
“They have confidence and determination, they have shown that in certain matches.
“In other games they haven’t taken that chance, like when we had the opportunity to get to within two points of Kilmarnock, we didn’t take it.
“Whether it’s a mental thing or whether it just didn’t happen, I don’t know.
Among those who should have what it takes is veteran Guy Demel and the manager seemed to acknowledge that the imposing Ivorian could have spent more time since joining the team in the central defensive berth he filled when taking the field as a replacement on Saturday.
“Guy has played as a centre half before and we know how comfortable he was,” said Paatelainen.
“He reads the game well and is a powerful unit. His awareness is good and his passing is solid. Defensively he’s solid, so he can play in many positions.
“He’s played a lot as a right back or as a defensive midfielder, so he can play in several positions. I’ve not played him as a striker yet, but who knows.”
That final observation was made jokingly but touched on a serious issue he knows he has to address as a priority with some 368 minutes playing time having elapsed since they last scored a goal other than in losing Saturday’s penalty shoot-out.
“The Partick Thistle game is one where we should have scored four goals in the first half… we didn’t take our chances,” Paatelainen observed.
“Last weekend at Hampden we had chances to score but didn’t take them either.
“The same things happen all the time, it’s not just those two matches, but it has happened.
“You shouldn’t need better opportunities than we have created to score goals, but it is what it is.
“Whether it’s a case of we’re simply not good enough or whether it’s mentality, it’s difficult to pinpoint.”
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