Dundee United captain Dylan Tait has admitted his side were naive and soft in their 4-0 defeat at Tynecastle, and they must learn lessons quickly ahead of Saturday's Premier Sports Cup clash with Celtic.
Second-half collapse
Tait conceded that his team were off it in the second period, after a poor start saw them concede two goals. He said: "It's a sore result, especially after last week (drawing with Rangers). We played well against Rangers and came into the game with confidence. We thought we'd get after Hearts – then obviously it's a bad start, losing two goals. After that, I thought we came into the game a bit and made chances. We just didn't take them."
The midfielder added: "The second half is naive and soft from us. It's something we're going to need to learn quick. It's a tough league and we're a new team. There are loads of new boys trying to gel and things, but it's still a sore one to take."
Soft goals prove costly
Tait highlighted the manner of the goals conceded as a key issue. "I just think we lose two soft goals. We can make a foul in the middle of the park for the third goal, and then we get done with a one-two for the fourth. I just think it's naive and soft. As a team, we need to look at that, see how to be better and how we can manage games better."
Despite having plenty of possession, Tait felt they didn't do enough with the ball. "If you look at the game as a whole, we had loads of possession, we get into good areas. I just don't think we've done enough with the ball. It's something we'll look at and try to address. Obviously, it's good to be good on the ball and look nice, but off the ball, you still need to win your individual battles and run harder than the opposition. In this league especially, it's so important to do that. Today, it just didn't quite happen."
Sticking together
The skipper stressed the importance of unity in response. "I just think we're really a new team. There are a lot of boys who haven’t played in the league before and that's what can happen against the good teams in this league. You need to just stick together. That's what I was saying in there. You need to work harder than the opposition and run hard. When the going gets tough, you need to stick together. That's the most important thing."
He added: "But I think when we do look at the game back, there were a lot of good things in the game and, in possession, and we got into good areas. But it’s about: when you get into the good areas, can you make something happen and really take your chances like Hearts did?"
Celtic test ahead
United now face a daunting task against champions Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup. Tait acknowledged the challenge: "Celtic coming to our place on Saturday is going to be another hard game, but one we'll really look forward to. It's a chance to progress in a cup and that's what we want to do. Against Rangers at home, that was a really good performance, and we wanted to build on that on Sunday. That’s not happened, but we'll go away, analyse the game and see where we went wrong and take it into the Celtic game and hopefully, we can have a good result."
He concluded: "Celtic are the best team in the league and they've won everything for however many years. So, it's going to be a hard game. But we'll have a game plan, and we'll try to execute it."
