United reviewed
Wednesday, 28th Aug 201928/08/19: SC: “There were a lot of things that we have looked over that we can improve on.
Reflecting on last Saturday’s defeat Pars manager Stevie Crawford felt that his side never really managed to press Dundee United enough into making mistakes.
“I think on Saturday that was what was difficult to take after the highs of playing at Celtic Park with a few plaudits albeit that we lost the game.
“Dundee United are a very good side with a decent size squad for their promotion campaign and on the back of a good performance at Celtic Park, we just felt that we were a little disjointed. We have addressed that earlier this week over a few meetings to make sure that we rectify the problems that we faced.
“There has to be a reality check, not to accept that Dundee United are coming down here and taking the points by winning games against us but they have financially backed themselves to try and get into the Premiership. That doesn’t mean that we can’t compete on any given day with them.
“We have taken the weekend to watch the game back, we have spoken to the players. There were a lot of things that we have looked over that we can improve on.
“We have a young squad but we are not going to use that as excuses. It is right that we tell the players when they have done well, point out why they have done well and equally when they have not done so well we show them why we struggled.
“We struggled in the first half on Saturday. We never created any chances, we never collectively got after the ball, we never played as a team.”
Of the suggestion that following their Celtic Park performance Dunfermline showed the same kind of hangover as bigger teams do after midweek involvement in the Champions League, SC responded:-
“I think it a different experience with everything that comes with playing the Celtic game but equally playing Dundee United at home in the Championship is going to be a big fixture to us.
“What I will say is that it is a different type of game. Celtic was a case of trying to sit in and soak up the pressure. If we had done that at home against Dundee United I think we would have been shooting ourselves in the foot. Collectively we never did things as a team which have done in the earlier parts of the season.
“Against Queen of the South in the second half we defended more as a team. We had not intended to go and do that, but that is where we found ourselves. Then we go into a game where you are trying to cause them problems and we didn’t. It is a simple as that and we have addressed it. I am not going to single out individuals because that is not fair and it is not the way I work.
“Equally as a coaching staff we have learned something as well so it is important that we have learned. We understand that we have only taken two points from the first three games now and we are disappointed with that but for as much as we are disappointed, we do not want that leading into the Arbroath game.”
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