Dundee United Manager Jim Goodwin spoke with the broadcast media to preview our William Hill Premiership clash with Motherwell on Foundation Day.
Ahead of an exciting afternoon at Tannadice, the boss discussed taking the rough with the smooth in his role as Manager, keeping faith in the hard work done behind the scenes and repaying the unwavering support of the Tangerine Army with a much-needed triumph over the Steelmen.
Watch the full press conference below!
ON DEALING WITH THE UPS AND DOWNS OF FOOTBALL
It’s only natural when you’re on the type of run that we are on that the confidence is going to take a little bit of a hit. But we believe in what we’re doing here at the football club.
We believe in the recruitment model that we’ve put in place in the summer. I’ve signed all of these players because I know they’re good players and over the course of the season up to now they’ve shown that.
We are going through probably the toughest period that I’ve experienced in my time as United manager. Over the last couple of years prior to this one we’ve enjoyed some good success.
We’ve won the Championship in style and then last season finishing fourth in the league with the European football to look forward to in the summer was great.
Football is not a bed of roses all the time. You’ve got to find a way to get through these difficult periods. Every team in the league has suffered at one point or another, maybe barring Hearts and Motherwell.
We’ve shown up to now that we’re capable of being a good team. It’s important to contexualize some of our results in terms of some really poor decisions that we feel have went against us.
Some mistakes that were punished at the time and they’re the things that sometimes you can’t control. We believe in the group, I’ve got great staff around me and it’s moments like these where you find out more about people and the types of characters that you’re working with.
ON TRUSTING THE PROCESS
It’s my job to reflect on results and look back on the reasons for why we maybe haven’t got the wins that we’ve desperately wanted. Supporters want to see their team winning games of football and sometimes they don’t really care how that happens.
If it’s an ugly 1-0 win and it’s three points on the board then they’re delighted. Nobody wants to hear me telling you about poor refereeing decisions or mistakes because they sound like excuses. I’m the manager and the buck stops with me. It’s up to me to get the players performing to the level that we feel they’re capable of.
We very much believe in what we’re doing at the club. In the two and a half, three years since I’ve been here, we’ve made huge changes behind the scenes in terms of staffing and players.
We’ve made the club a lot more sustainable than what it was when I first came in. The accounts that have been released show that in comparison to some of the teams that we’re competing with who have huge losses on the board – we’re trying to do things properly.
At the same time, we’re trying to get the results on the pitch. At this moment in time, that hasn’t happened but I believe that we’ve got the capability to turn that around. It sometimes only takes one win, it doesn’t matter how you get it, just to restore that confidence in everybody and to kick on.
ON ADDING TO THE SQUAD DURING THE JANUARY WINDOW
I firmly believe in the group that we’ve put together. They’ve shown numerous times already this season what a good team they’re capable of being. Even just last week against Rangers, we’re winning the game 2-1 and there’s 10 or 15 seconds to go and we shoot ourselves in the foot by giving away a soft penalty.
The game before that down at Rugby Park, we get a penalty given against us that everybody is in agreement is extremely soft. There’s two games there that we could have won. We could be sitting here talking about a completely different conversation. The reality is the run of form that we’re on doesn’t look great on paper.
We’re coming into the January window, we’re pleased with the squad that we’ve built but at the same time we’re a progressive club and we don’t want to stand still. If we feel there are players out there that can strengthen the group and add to the quality that we have then we’re in a position to do that.
We’re working on one or two things. The work doesn’t stop after the summer window closes, we’re continuously looking towards the next transfer window and when we come out the other side of that I’ll be confident that we have added a couple of players at least.
ON PANUTCHE CAMARA’S ABSENCE AND A MIDFIELD RESHUFFLE
Pan has been huge loss for us – he’s been a really important player. Particularly in a game like that one at the weekend against St Mirren where they’ve got such a physicality in the middle of the pitch, we really missed him in there. It’s a disappointment the injury that he’s picked up against Rangers but we don’t think it’s going to be a long-term one, we hope it’s only going to be a couple of weeks.
Luca Stephenson’s best position is in the middle of the pitch and we haven’t been able to utilise him in that position because of the injury to Ryan Strain but now that Strainer is back and he’s getting up to full fitness that will allow us to use Luca in the middle of the pitch.
Pan is very different to the other midfielders that we have, his work off the ball, out of possession is exceptional, he’s got great energy levels and when he wins the ball in those transitions he’s got the composure and the running ability to go and drive with it and we certainly lack that.
There are players within the group, not just in the midfield area, that can increase their performance levels and we’re open and honest with each other in the conversations that we have regarding that. Those players are in agreement that they have to get back to producing the types of standards that they did last season.
There’s too many of us at the moment that just aren’t consistent enough but that’s hard work on the training pitch, that’s getting confidence back, belief back and if we do that we’ll be fine.
ON TEAM NEWS
Max Watters missed the weekend against St Mirren – he picked up a bang against Rangers and it was more precaution and following the guidelines regarding head knocks that he missed out but he’s been back in training this week.
We’ve done all the checks with the doctor and the medical team, Max feels great, he’s trained well so he’ll be in contention for the game on Saturday.
Dario Naamo is getting a lot closer, we hope in the early part of next week to get Dario back into the squad. Julius Eskesen trained this week so we’re not in too bad a position at the moment.
ON OUR HIGH-FLYING OPPOSITION
Motherwell are the most in-form team in the league, the new manager has been incredible. They’ve won five of their last eight games, unbeaten in those eight games, kept four clean sheets in the last four games so it’s as difficult an opponent as you can face at this moment in time.
But we have to believe that we’re capable of winning the game. We didn’t do ourselves justice at Fir Park a couple of months ago and the second half was a lot better from us – we have to make sure that we start this game the way that we did the second 45 down there.
ON CONTINOUS LEARNING
As a manager you’re always analysing all different types of teams. I watch a lot of football anyway during the week, watching Champions League football, watching English Premier League and analyse all of the teams that we compete with on a regular basis.
There’s always new things to learn, there’s different styles of football, you’ve sometimes got to play a style that suits the group of players that you’ve got available to you.
Take nothing away from the impact that the Motherwell manager has had on his team, it’s quite a remarkable transformation and he deserves a huge amount of credit and I would imagine given the results at the moment and where Motherwell are sitting in the table, there’s a lot of people out there all over Europe taking notice.
ON UTILISING A HOME TRIPLE-HEADER TO BUILD MOMENTUM
Our home form hasn’t been good enough – we have to start winning games of football at home in front of our own supporters. If there’s one section of the club where the finger cannot be pointed, it’s at the supporters.
They’ve turned out in great numbers, supported the team brilliantly both home and away and they’ve been brilliant with me in the two and a half years that I’ve been here – we owe them a lot.
It’s time that we repaid the faith that they’ve shown in us with a really good performance at the weekend. It’s going to be a tough week, this schedule around Christmas puts big demands on all of the teams.
But if you can pick up some positive results, you can gain a lot of momentum from it. Three difficult games, Motherwell, Celtic and Hibs, but we’ve performed really well in the big games this season and we have to do that next week.
