Jack Ross insists he has no problem with his Dundee United players locking him out of their dressing room debrief if it helps clear the air at Tannadice.
It’s been a bruising start to the campaign for the Tangerines after shipping 12 goals in three straight defeats to Livingston, AZ Alkmaar and Hearts. The 7-0 pumping from the Dutch outfit saw Ross’ team match Scotland’s worst ever European loss but there was further misery in stow at Tynecastle last Sunday as United slumped 4-1 to Robbie Neilson’s rampant Jambos.
Ross is wary of feeding the negativity hanging over the club by spending too much time moping over those mortifying results but felt it was necessary to sit his squad down and reexamine the footage of the calamity of errors that has cost them so dear. And he’s also been pleased to see his troops stage their own post mortem, even if he was kept out of ear shot.
Now having got a few things off their chest, he believes United are ready to move on when St Mirren visit this weekend. Ross said: “I speak to players a lot individually and as a group, but I knew they were going to have their own meeting.
“I was pleased to hear that because undoubtedly there will be players who feel more comfortable speaking when I’m not there. I get that. Sometimes there are subject matters they will speak about when the manager isn’t there.
“I like the fact they did that of their own volition because it shows an understanding that they’ve dipped in the last few games but also that they’re strong enough to do things to put it right. This is a new group with a few new faces and it’s a good group to come into.
“I have never been a huge one for feedback, I prefer to feed forward because that’s something you can affect. But you can’t ignore the failings you have and there has been things we haven’t done well enough.
“It might sound a bit daft, but it was in the Hearts game I felt we had more to address and that’s what we have done this week. There’s an honesty in the group, they recognise that and there has been a lot of hard work in the last few days.
“To get to where they are in the game players have to be resilient and they’re more robust than people think. I have not really got any concerns that way, they have trained very well and are very keen to right the wrongs of the last week or so.”
Belief was sent soaring round Tannadice by the club’s thrilling first leg win against AZ - only to be dragged crashing back down by the brutal results in Holland and Gorgie. But Ross reckons the experience will teach the younger members of his squad a valuable lesson.
The United gaffer - who hopes to welcome Dylan Levitt back from the injury that forced him to sit out the Hearts hammering - said: “I don’t think the AZ game put a false picture on things because I did think we’re in a good place. But it maybe just heightened the expectation very quickly and then we have come crashing back down to earth.
“The truth is it’s a group that has been put together late in pre-season so is still feeling its way into each other. You always learn more about each other in times of difficulty.
“Things are magnified these days, the praise is usually over the top when you do well and the criticism when you don’t is usually over the top too. So you have to stay on an even keel, even more so nowadays because things do switch so rapidly.
“It gets easier with age, I have told the players that because they are a lot younger than me now. They have to learn how to put mechanisms in place to cope with that.”
United fell 6-0 down against AZ after conceding in the first minute of the second half at the AFAS Stadium and repeated that sloppy start in both halves against Hearts - losing the opener to Lawrence Shankland after 42 seconds.
And Ross admitted: “The early goal at Tynecastle on the back of the Alkmaar game was the last thing we wanted. Losing goals makes you have to chase the game, especially at home when people expect you to be on the front foot.
“So we have to give ourselves a platform to win games and that means keeping things tight. It’s important for us to keep a clean sheet full stop given the last few games. We need to have that defensive solidity.”
READ NEXT
