Jim Goodwin says Dundee United must avoid slow start against St Mirren after recent early setbacks

Jim Goodwin has stressed the importance to his Dundee United players of a quick start against St Mirren at Tannadice on Saturday.

They Taysiders have gone behind in their last three William Hill Premiership fixtures, losing 2-0 away at Kilmarnock, drawing 1-1 at home to Livingston and drawing 2-2 against Rangers at Ibrox albeit the visitors conceded a late equaliser to halt all three points going back to Tayside.

Dundee United are fourth in the table, one point behind Hibernian, after eight fixtures as they prepare for the visit of the Paisley side and Goodwin spoke about the need for speed.

The United boss, who captained and managed St Mirren, said: “There was a lot of positives to take from the game against Rangers last weekend, particularly in the second 45 minutes,

“The learnings from the game are similar to the previous two games where we can’t afford to have a slow start, especially in the game like tomorrow against St Mirren, where you know what you’re going to get with Stephen Robinson’s side.

“I don’t know what else I can add to what I have said in previous interviews regarding the way that Stephen Robinson sets his team up.

“They are one of the most difficult opponents in the league, physically so strong, so athletic, everyone has a real understanding of what the manager is asking them to do.

“It’s really important that we don’t get off to a slow start tomorrow, because if we do, then we’ll find ourselves in a similar situation to that of the previous three games, which is us trying to chase the game.

“I look back on things in terms of preparation for games but I don’t think there’s a whole lot wrong with what we’re doing in terms of the training day-to-day, the analysis that we’re doing, the message that we’re giving to the players.

“It’s not like before we go into games that we’re saying, ‘let’s just ease our way in here, lads.’ That’s never been the message.

“Sometimes it’s got to come from within, mentally, you’ve got to be prepared. I think the players have played eight or nine games up to now and understand what the Scottish Premiership is all about.

“You can’t afford to have slow starts and give the opposition the encouragement, especially an opponent like tomorrow, they will come flying out of the traps at us tomorrow.

“We’ve talked long and hard about that this week. The message is clear before the game of how we want to approach it.

“We know we have to win all those individual battles against St Mirren and if we do that, then we get ourselves a good chance of having a good day.”