Five talking points from Dundee United 3-2 Aberdeen.
United unbeaten in five.
Dundee United extended their unbeaten run to five, not only in the league but also against Aberdeen at Tannadice, following victory in a five-goal thriller. It was a tightly contested affair, with both sides playing some good football in quite awful conditions, but it was Jim Goodwin’s side who came out on top. The Tangerines had a poor three-game run following their opening day draw against Rangers—losing 4-0 at Tynecastle and losing 4-0 against Celtic at Tannadice in the League Cup—before losing 2-0 at home against their City rivals. However, since those matches, United have only lost one in their last six matches and, as a result, sit in fourth place on fifteen points.
Aberdeen can take positives despite defeat.
Despite losing the match, Aberdeen can take positives into Wednesday night. The Dons played their part in what was a thrilling encounter at Tannadice, playing tidy football in spells and creating several chances, but, unfortunately for Stephen Robinson and his side, the defending for the second and third goals cost Aberdeen. Up next for Aberdeen is a home match against an inform Falkirk side, who have only lost one in six and come into it off the back of back-to-back victories.
The United midfield.
Once again, the Dundee United midfield was incredible. Iqbal got his first goal in Dundee United colours, with the help of two deflections. Outwith his goal, the midfielder won the most ground duels of any player on the pitch (eight) and had the most tackles (seven). Tait played the ball to Iqbal for his first goal, got on the end of a corner for his first Dundee United goal, and played a brilliant cross to Sapsford, who headed home the United winner. Two assists and a goal for the United skipper—leading by example. In addition, the former Falkirk man played nineteen passes into the final third throughout the ninety minutes, which was five more than any other player on the pitch. Although Cameron didn’t pick up a goal contribution, he created the joint-most chances (five).
Aberdeen concede poor goals.
Despite a spirited performance, when you concede three goals, you give yourself a very slim chance of picking up any points. The first goal was unfortunate, taking two deflections, which caught Muller off guard, but the other two, from an Aberdeen perspective, were very avoidable. The second goal came from a corner, which occurred because Muller failed to keep hold of a simple ball across goal, which then forced Guinness-Walker into conceding the corner. From the corner, Tait got to the ball ahead of Cadden, who wasn’t looking at the ball, to put United in front, just minutes after Aberdeen leveled. Despite the quality of the cross from Tait for the third goal, from an Aberdeen perspective, the defending was poor again. Goodwin stated that the analyst team noticed the gap between the two Aberdeen central defenders, and Tait’s ball found that gap; Sapsford ran onto it and netted what was the winning goal. Following the match, Robinson confirmed that Mayo will be sidelined for two months through injury, which is a big blow for Aberdeen, and that Knoester was ruled out of the United clash through injury, rather than the virus, but the injury isn’t serious, and Robinson is hoping to have the Dutch defender back for Wednesday night’s match against Falkirk, which would be a big boost for the Pittodrie club.
Back in the starting eleven, back amongst the goals.
Sapsford had not started any of United’s previous three matches coming into the Aberdeen match but came in yesterday and made his mark, scoring one, which was controversially disallowed due to an apparent interference with play, which the Aussie took superbly, and scoring another with a brilliant header from a teasing Tait cross, which did count. The twenty-four-year-old will be hoping to back his performance up on Wednesday, when United travel to Glasgow to take on Celtic.
