Jim Goodwin has hailed Dundee United’s experienced players for helping to bed him into the club as they aim to avoid relegation from the Scottish Premiership.
The former St Mirren and Aberdeen manager was brought in by Tannadice chiefs after they decided to part ways with Liam Fox at the end of February.
Since Goodwin’s appointment, United have picked up two draws against Livingston and St Mirren, but they also lost out against his old side Aberdeen on his first outing as boss.
The Terrors appear to be making steady progress under the leadership of the 41-year-old and he partly puts that down to the impact of the experience in his squad.
Goodwin explained: “Steven Fletcher has been a big player for me since I’ve come in along with Charlie Mulgrew, Ryan Edwards, those experienced guys. Mark Birighitti, I have to say, too.
“As a manager, you rely on those experienced ones to look after the dressing room when you are not there, and they have been terrific.
“They are all top pros who are all extremely disappointed with how the season has gone, and they are all desperate to make amends before it’s too late.”
Fletcher scored as United picked up an important point against St Mirren at the weekend and Goodwin has been hugely impressed by the former Scotland international.
He continued: “Fletch deserves a lot of credit for how he played on Saturday, he led the line well, led by example, and scored a terrific goal.
“I always knew that Fletch was a good player, and I obviously kept an eye on his career. I saw him playing down in England and at the highest level in international football as well.
“I probably didn’t know just how good he was, or maybe didn’t give him enough credit. Since working with him in the last couple of weeks, technically he is so, so good.
“He’s one of the best target men in the league. When that ball goes up to him, centre-backs aren’t getting an easy time of it.
“He wins his fair share of headers, but not just that, his all-round hold-up play and link-up play, bringing people into the game and linking the game up is terrific.”
Charlie Mulgrew missed the weekend’s fixture against Saints, but Goodwin hopes to have him back available after the international break.
He said: “Yeah, he picked up a small injury in training on Friday and unfortunately wasn’t able to be part of the squad.
“We’re quite lucky to have such a good replacement in there in Ryan Edwards.
“But Charlie has been excellent the last couple of games, he’s a good experienced player who has played at a high level.
“He’s a calming influence sometimes on the younger ones around him too.
“We were disappointed not to have him on Saturday but at the same time, it shows you the quality and the depth in the squad that we’ve got a like-for-like replacement.
“Hopefully Charlie won’t be too long.”
On Mulgrew’s replacement Ryan Edwards, Goodwin added: “I thought he was excellent, and I said that to him.
“When we were naming the team against Livingston I had a conversation with Ryan and said that sometimes it is good to come out when you are going through a difficult period and all the attention is on you.
“When you feel as if everyone is coming for you at all angles, I think it’s good sometimes just to take a step back.
“I knew he would get back in the team, and with Charlie missing on Saturday, the obvious replacement was to put Ryan into that position.
“I thought he was excellent, he really was, I can’t think of a mistake really.He won his headers, made good decisions, cleared his lines and kept his game simple, which is all we have asked him to do.
“He’s a terrific defender, and when he is on his game he is as good as any other centre-half out there. So, hopefully he’ll take a bit of confidence and a bit of belief from that performance.”
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