DUNDEE UNITED are out of the League Cup and sit sixth in the Championship with eight points from a possible 18.
It is early days but that does not mean to say there are not concerns about how this season is going to go for a club who literally cannot afford to spend more than a year outside the Premiership.
Ray McKinnon, the Dundee United manager, couldn’t bring himself to say anything good about his side’s performance at Morton on Tuesday night when they lost 2-1. He even refused to give them credit for an improved display in the second-half.
Tannadice is a gloomy place right now. On the evidence of the quarter-final, this is not a team who look as if they can challenge at the top of the league. The play-offs might well be their best bet, although they are not even in the top four at the moment.
Dundee United are a club which has been drifting for too long. Bad decisions at boardroom level has meant McKinnon, a hero with the supporters, has not been left with much to work with.
Nick Van Der Velden, a recent purchase from Dutch football, revealed there had been no hiding place for the players in Greenock late on Tuesday.
He said: “We did not do well and we recognise that. I have no words. I have never seen the manager so mad in the dressing room. We just didn't perform. We played very badly,
"It is a hugely disappointing result for the club. The Dundee United fans turned up in good numbers and we gave them a **** match. This is up there with my biggest career disappointments as this was chance for Dundee United to get to Hampden.
"I have never played there and I was desperate to go there and play at the national stadium. I'm bitterly disappointed and the rest of the players are but we have to bring more to these kind of situations.
"When you can't play good football, you need the power and the will to win. There was nothing there against Morton and that quality was sadly lacking.
"We just did not have the spirit that we had before. It is not a concern but we need to change our mindset and switch on.”
The Championship is not an easy league. Hibernian, Queen of the South, Falkirk and Raith Rovers, the club McKinnon left in the summer, all sit above United who made it to the League Cup Final only two seasons ago.
If they are to get back up then they have to do better than what was a nothing performance on the banks of the Clyde.
"We need to talk about this defeat and get it out of our system and never let it happen again. We have to fight for everything now,” said Van der Velden.
"The performance was a surprise to me as I know how good we are and we have shown that this season in a lot of games. I don't know what happened against Morton. They got two chances and scored two goals - one from a set-piece. We have to do better. Words fail me.
"I thought at 2-1 we had a chance to make it 2-2 but that was it. We did not put crosses from wide positions into the box. That is what we discussed in the dressing room after the match That is how you create chances and we did not do that.”
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