Dundee United Manager Jim Goodwin spoke to the broadcast media to preview our William Hill Premiership clash with Hibernian on Matchday 28.

A defining few days in the race for the top six, Hibernian's upturn in fortunes, team news and much more were on the Gaffer's agenda ahead of a big night at the Calforth Construction Arena at Tannadice Park. 

ON THE RACE FOR THE TOP SIX HEATING UP 

This is the real business end of the season, as they say. There's still a hell of a lot to play for, for several teams. You can see now how tight and compact the league is becoming.

That battle for the top six is very much alive and there's a number of teams involved in it. I'm delighted with the position that we have put ourselves in at this stage, albeit there is still a lot of work to be done.

ON A DEFINING FEW DAYS AHEAD

We discussed it in the build-up to the Motherwell game how significant a week this could be against some really difficult opposition. 

Motherwell had beaten us in the previous three fixtures so that was a really important result for us to make sure that we took maximum points at the weekend. 

It’s a quick turnaround now into the Hibs game. They are probably the form team in the league at the moment, having gone unbeaten in their last 13.

David Gray has done a fantastic job to turn things around and they're now very much in the hunt for those European spots. We know how difficult the game is going to be tomorrow night, but we've got real confidence in the group and a real sense of belief.

Our record in the previous two fixtures has been good, with the win at Tannadice last time round and the point at Easter Road. It should hopefully make for a very good, entertaining game of football. 

ON GETTING BACK TO WINNING WAYS 

Every team in the league this season has went through a little bit of a sticky patch - I think that was our time there in the previous six fixtures prior to the Motherwell game. 

We tried to put things into perspective in terms of the level of opposition that we were playing prior to that match. We had two games at Parkhead in that run of poor results, hosted Rangers and the other three fixtures were 1-0 defeats. We were never too hard on ourselves and were quite realistic about the situation. 

We’re bang on target for the points target that we set for ourselves way back at the beginning of the season, but there’s still got a long way to go to achieve that objective of top six, which would be a fantastic achievement for this group.

ON HIBS BEING THE FORM TEAM IN THE LEAGUE AND THE CHALLENGES THAT WILL BRING

They're a really good team. I always felt, they were in a bit of a false position. They were dropping points in games that they probably should never have been. There were a lot of individual errors. 

In credit to David and his backroom team, they've changed personnel and then changed the system within that. They've gone on a fantastic run of results, which has catapulted them right back into the mix for those European places.

We know how difficult the game is going to be with the talent and quality that they've got within the team. It’s a really big, strong, competitive squad with lots of pace as well.

We have to be defensively switched on at all times, but we believe that we've got players within our ranks who can cause Hibs a few problems of their own. 

ON SQUAD DEPTH

We knew we were going to not have a huge squad throughout the campaign. Part of our recruitment strategy was to identify players who could play a couple of different positions. We've seen that throughout the campaign up to now, with the likes of Vicko Ševelj, Luca Stephenson and one or two others having to fill in in different areas of the park. 

Ross Graham, Declan Gallagher and Emmanuel Adegboyega played the game on Saturday and we've got a young, promising centre-back in Sam Harding, who we have high hopes for. Vicko can fill in there as well so we feel we've got great cover in all areas.

Coming out of the January window, we strengthened the midfield area. Craig Sibbald has been out for a lengthy spell with the injuries that he's had and Ross Docherty has had difficulties since coming to the club.

We believe now that we've got a big enough squad to handle any issues that come our way in terms of injuries or suspension. We've got good strength and depth throughout. As I said, tomorrow night we'll have a really strong, 20-man squad that will give us lots of good options within it.

If we have to make changes during the game, then we've got fantastic players on the bench to come on and make an impact. 

ON ROSS DOCHERTY’S LATEST INJURY SETBACK AND FURTHER TEAM NEWS

It's been a frustrating period for Ross and he's a really important player for us. When he's available, he tends to play. This is another setback, unfortunately, for him and for us as a team. It's still a little bit early, I think, to put a time on it. As I said, we're delighted to have Sibbald back now.

He will feature at some point tomorrow night. He'll be certainly in the squad and we’re hoping to build up his minutes gradually as the weeks come.

Louis Moult is still out. He missed the weekend and he'll miss tonight as well. We'll see how he's coping towards the end of the week with a view to him possibly being available for the game on Sunday against Aberdeen.

ON THE POTENTIAL OF ENJOYING A MORE RELAXED EVENING COMPARED TO THE HIBEES’ LAST VISIT TO TANNADICE

Yes, hopefully! Hibs are in a completely different situation now.

They're a team that's high in confidence and it looks as if they've got a real understanding of what's being asked of them - they look very comfortable in this new shape that David is playing.

They're, in a lot of people's eyes, going to be favourites coming into the game, especially off the back of Saturday's result against Celtic. But we're very confident, our home record has been good.

Our points accumulation in the games that we've played at Tannadice has been fantastic. The supporters have been brilliant and really played their part during that. Hopefully, they turn out in good numbers to get behind the team.

If we were able to get all three points, then that would open up a six-point gap between ourselves and Hibs. There are a lot of different incentives there for the group, but the most important thing is that we're back to winning ways after Saturday. We want this to be the beginning of an unbeaten run that will carry us right through to the split.

Share This:

Related News