We made one costly mistake in the four games that is likely to cost us a last 16 place. That’s down to Graham not Goodwin. I feel for him as he’s not played a minute since that first half.

SuperMario wrote:

Rose Tait and Forbes look like massive upgrades on last season especially Forbes- really been impressed with him in all the games- makes defending look easy.

Randall looked more lively in the last 30 mins, not sure in keen on him on the right looks miles better on the left. Sapsford lively.

Naamo is a full back- miles better with the ball in front of him- never a winger. Actually think that performance tonight puts him ahead of Rawlins for me- really tidy on the ball is Naamo and does actually have a turn of pace, saft as shite though.

Eskesen decent again, gets stuck in for a wee lad

Not looking good that we’ll progress which is a shambles tbh

 
I'll judge them better against Premiership opposition myself, although obviously we know already that Tait is good enough for the top flight. It’s really hard to have an opinion on the defence when its barely been tested. I would have liked to see both Goalkeepers get a chance but the fact that Walton has had nothing to do hasnt really helped with that. Perhaps we will see Amissah against Salford? But strikers scoring early into their United careers is no bad thing regardless of opposition and hopefully Rose turns out to be a gem. I'm still annoyed that we are now sitting waiting on other results to try and scrape through from a group that we absolutely should have breezed through.

On the plus side, Hearts got their arses handed to them tonight and came down to earth with a resounding bump 🤣

Last edited by Arabdownsouth (21/7/2026 11:47 pm)

Tait and Forbes look great. Forbes a real calming influence. Though I suppose I thought Bert would be the same last season. Early days, but Randall looks lively, and I like Rose's movement. Hope he can keep up the habit of getting goals. Naamo was good at right back - the first time I've seen him play in his best position, I think.

Last edited by Monny (22/7/2026 12:22 am)

Again I felt it was a very mixed bag. Some real positives but also some negatives. The biggest of the negatives is so many new players trying to gel quickly into a fluid Scottish Premiership side with aspirations of Top 6, starting in about 10 minutes time.

For the first 60 minutes I was thinking this side is nowhere ready to face the Rangers. Too many stray passes, too many attacking decisions that came to nothing.

On the other hand I can see what the manager is trying to do. He's actually trying to get us to play FOOTBALL! Passing football, flowing football. Flowing football with a style and identity - this will never catch on Jim.
Joking apart I'm partly surprised partly impressed but also partly worried that we won't be good enough at this new lark by the time Sevco get off the bus.

Good to see strikers scoring, strikers assisting, Tait playing forward balls, and more minutes for exciting kids. And good to get more minutes into legs.

Negatives, looked unable to create absolutely clear cut chances in that first half, and defence didn't really get properly tested. Another negative is that Vicko is still allowed to shoot.

Last edited by redford_must_score (22/7/2026 12:26 am)

The chat on socials a couple of weeks ago was we picked Leiper up from Aberdeen's academy, not sure if they released him or not.

JerryDungle wrote:

Tek wrote:

redford_must_score wrote:

Again I felt it was a very mixed bag.

This is where i'm at. Was it a good win? Yes. Did we score good goals? Yes.

Was it enough? Possibly, but it also didn't look like we were all that bothered about scoring more. A strange lackadaisical attitude at times. Like we felt the goals would come. 

Not sure if that's enough, but let's hope so. Montrose actually losing a match would be nice (but we shouldn't need to be waiting on that).

My player ratings -

Walton 6 - Nothing to do in any of the 4 league cup games. 3 out of 4 clean sheets is decent.

Naamo 6 - Thought he played pretty well.

Iovu 6 - Not much to do defensively, but was fine.

Forbes 7 - Looks measured, calm and a player who can lead from the back. Early days though (given the opposition).

Ferry 6 - Not great tonight. Very evident by his 60th minute sub that United are not interested in anyway shape or form in keeping him by this window. I find the whole handling of this disgusting tbh. Tait, Captain tonight for example when it should have been Ferry. Why was he stripped of Vice Captain? I'm not even his biggest fan btw (been highly critical of him in the past), but i think it's utter bullshit from United. They have decided he goes this window, by hook or crook.

Tait 6 - Not a massive fan, but good finish tonight for his 1st United goal.

Camara 5 - I wonder what happened to him (Jim Goodwin)? A shell of the player he was.

Eskesen 6 - Was 'ok'.

Randall 7 - Pretty much involved in everything.

Rose 7 - Two poacher goals. He'll do for me, if he keeps that up.

Sapsford 6 - Frustrating again, but again pops up with a good goal. I guess we should accept that trade off, if it's consistent.

Subs -

Rawlins 6 - Was ok.

Sevelj 7 - More like it tonight.

Metsoko 5 - Quiet. Nice cushioned pass to Dylan Tait for his goal, however.

Sassetti 6 - United's youngest ever player? I think it must be. He tried to be attacking, but a couple of heavy touches let him down. Great to see him feature though. I hope it's not just cynically to prop up the development fee we receive. Get the kid into our first team squad.

Leiper 7 - Where has this lad came from? I have been highly critical of our Academy, with good reason, but this lad really impresses me massively. DO NOT SEND HIM ON LOAN. He is a kid who can be an asset from our bench this season. His cross for Sapsford's goal absolutely out of this World.


 

Totally agree with your wider points oLeiper and Sassetti. Leiper has shown enough that he should at least be part of the first team squad this season, getting minutes from the bench at least initially, I’d move out Miller Thomson, who’s not likely to make it at this level and give Leiper his minutes.

Haven’t seen Sassetti yet, but if he’s as highly rated as folk say, get him in the first team squad, it’s literally the only slight chance we have of getting these boys to stay. Arsenal managed to give a 15 year old meaningful minutes when they were chasing a title last season, I’m sure we, as a mid-table Scottish team can afford to do the same. The only way we can stop all these young players leaving for some English academy is if we show them there’s a proper pathway to the first team here. Some will still take the easy money, but the odd one might pause for thought if they and their parents see a legitimate route to first team football.

Integrating the best young players into the first team would be an absolute non-negotiable for me if I was the owner. Any manager that refused to do it wouldn’t be around very long. With that though, I would try and give a manager more patience if I could see he was trying to give young players a real chance in the first team.

It’s something that fundamentally needs to change throughout Scottish football as whole, not just at United. We’re playing with matchday squads of 20 now, I would make it a rule that a minimum of 5 of the 20 have to be homegrown players under the age of 21, and possibly at least 1 has to be on the pitch at any given time.

 
This isn't an idea you've just come up with, its actually something thats in the FIFA pipeline and was mentioned on this board not long ago
https://www.google.com/search?q=new+eufa+directive+on+young+players+in+the+matchday+squad&oq=new+eufa+directive+on+young+players+in+the+matchday+squad&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIKCAEQABiiBBiJBTIHCAIQABjvBTIKCAMQABiABBiiBDIHCAQQABjvBTIHCAUQABjvBdIBCTI1MzEyajBqNKgCAbACAQ&client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sourceid=chrome-mobile&source=chrome.ob&ie=UTF-8

Arabdownsouth wrote:

JerryDungle wrote:

Tek wrote:

This is where i'm at. Was it a good win? Yes. Did we score good goals? Yes.

Was it enough? Possibly, but it also didn't look like we were all that bothered about scoring more. A strange lackadaisical attitude at times. Like we felt the goals would come. 

Not sure if that's enough, but let's hope so. Montrose actually losing a match would be nice (but we shouldn't need to be waiting on that).

My player ratings -

Walton 6 - Nothing to do in any of the 4 league cup games. 3 out of 4 clean sheets is decent.

Naamo 6 - Thought he played pretty well.

Iovu 6 - Not much to do defensively, but was fine.

Forbes 7 - Looks measured, calm and a player who can lead from the back. Early days though (given the opposition).

Ferry 6 - Not great tonight. Very evident by his 60th minute sub that United are not interested in anyway shape or form in keeping him by this window. I find the whole handling of this disgusting tbh. Tait, Captain tonight for example when it should have been Ferry. Why was he stripped of Vice Captain? I'm not even his biggest fan btw (been highly critical of him in the past), but i think it's utter bullshit from United. They have decided he goes this window, by hook or crook.

Tait 6 - Not a massive fan, but good finish tonight for his 1st United goal.

Camara 5 - I wonder what happened to him (Jim Goodwin)? A shell of the player he was.

Eskesen 6 - Was 'ok'.

Randall 7 - Pretty much involved in everything.

Rose 7 - Two poacher goals. He'll do for me, if he keeps that up.

Sapsford 6 - Frustrating again, but again pops up with a good goal. I guess we should accept that trade off, if it's consistent.

Subs -

Rawlins 6 - Was ok.

Sevelj 7 - More like it tonight.

Metsoko 5 - Quiet. Nice cushioned pass to Dylan Tait for his goal, however.

Sassetti 6 - United's youngest ever player? I think it must be. He tried to be attacking, but a couple of heavy touches let him down. Great to see him feature though. I hope it's not just cynically to prop up the development fee we receive. Get the kid into our first team squad.

Leiper 7 - Where has this lad came from? I have been highly critical of our Academy, with good reason, but this lad really impresses me massively. DO NOT SEND HIM ON LOAN. He is a kid who can be an asset from our bench this season. His cross for Sapsford's goal absolutely out of this World.


 

Totally agree with your wider points oLeiper and Sassetti. Leiper has shown enough that he should at least be part of the first team squad this season, getting minutes from the bench at least initially, I’d move out Miller Thomson, who’s not likely to make it at this level and give Leiper his minutes.

Haven’t seen Sassetti yet, but if he’s as highly rated as folk say, get him in the first team squad, it’s literally the only slight chance we have of getting these boys to stay. Arsenal managed to give a 15 year old meaningful minutes when they were chasing a title last season, I’m sure we, as a mid-table Scottish team can afford to do the same. The only way we can stop all these young players leaving for some English academy is if we show them there’s a proper pathway to the first team here. Some will still take the easy money, but the odd one might pause for thought if they and their parents see a legitimate route to first team football.

Integrating the best young players into the first team would be an absolute non-negotiable for me if I was the owner. Any manager that refused to do it wouldn’t be around very long. With that though, I would try and give a manager more patience if I could see he was trying to give young players a real chance in the first team.

It’s something that fundamentally needs to change throughout Scottish football as whole, not just at United. We’re playing with matchday squads of 20 now, I would make it a rule that a minimum of 5 of the 20 have to be homegrown players under the age of 21, and possibly at least 1 has to be on the pitch at any given time.

 
This isn't an idea you've just come up with, its actually something thats in the FIFA pipeline and was mentioned on this board not long ago
https://www.google.com/search?q=new+eufa+directive+on+young+players+in+the+matchday+squad&oq=new+eufa+directive+on+young+players+in+the+matchday+squad&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIKCAEQABiiBBiJBTIHCAIQABjvBTIKCAMQABiABBiiBDIHCAQQABjvBTIHCAUQABjvBdIBCTI1MzEyajBqNKgCAbACAQ&client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sourceid=chrome-mobile&source=chrome.ob&ie=UTF-8

 
Where did I say I came up with it?

Leiper gives off Ben doak vibes, I’d be keeping around the match day squads. Could argue he’s been our most impressive winger with the little minutes he’s had

JerryDungle wrote:

Arabdownsouth wrote:

JerryDungle wrote:

 
Where did I say I came up with it?

 
Your last sentence that begins with I would make it a rule

I'm not familiar with how to highlight part of a post but thats the part I was referring to

 
I said “ I would make it a rule that a minimum of 5 of the 20 have to be homegrown players under the age of 21, and possibly at least 1 has to be on the pitch at any given time”.

Not “I was brainstorming what to do about the lack of young players coming through and here’s what I came up with…”

You’re just a pedantic little fanny who doesn’t have any proper argument to the legitimate criticisms I make of the manager and the club, so just tries to make out I have a personal vendetta against people, and resorts to daft wee point-scoring, it’s silly and embarrassing for you really.

 
At no point have I ever tried to defend Goodwin. I defended season ticket holders who seemed to be incurring your wrath ( Of which you have a lot btw) for supporting the club they love. Show me the post where I accused you of personal vendettas against anyone? Think you've fallen out with so many posters you're now getting us mixed up. And I suggest you keep the personal abuse on the downlow too. I think you've got some issues to work through so I'll let you get on. Hit me up when you've found that post though yeah?

Conway11 wrote:

JerryDungle wrote:

Tek wrote:

This is where i'm at. Was it a good win? Yes. Did we score good goals? Yes.

Was it enough? Possibly, but it also didn't look like we were all that bothered about scoring more. A strange lackadaisical attitude at times. Like we felt the goals would come. 

Not sure if that's enough, but let's hope so. Montrose actually losing a match would be nice (but we shouldn't need to be waiting on that).

My player ratings -

Walton 6 - Nothing to do in any of the 4 league cup games. 3 out of 4 clean sheets is decent.

Naamo 6 - Thought he played pretty well.

Iovu 6 - Not much to do defensively, but was fine.

Forbes 7 - Looks measured, calm and a player who can lead from the back. Early days though (given the opposition).

Ferry 6 - Not great tonight. Very evident by his 60th minute sub that United are not interested in anyway shape or form in keeping him by this window. I find the whole handling of this disgusting tbh. Tait, Captain tonight for example when it should have been Ferry. Why was he stripped of Vice Captain? I'm not even his biggest fan btw (been highly critical of him in the past), but i think it's utter bullshit from United. They have decided he goes this window, by hook or crook.

Tait 6 - Not a massive fan, but good finish tonight for his 1st United goal.

Camara 5 - I wonder what happened to him (Jim Goodwin)? A shell of the player he was.

Eskesen 6 - Was 'ok'.

Randall 7 - Pretty much involved in everything.

Rose 7 - Two poacher goals. He'll do for me, if he keeps that up.

Sapsford 6 - Frustrating again, but again pops up with a good goal. I guess we should accept that trade off, if it's consistent.

Subs -

Rawlins 6 - Was ok.

Sevelj 7 - More like it tonight.

Metsoko 5 - Quiet. Nice cushioned pass to Dylan Tait for his goal, however.

Sassetti 6 - United's youngest ever player? I think it must be. He tried to be attacking, but a couple of heavy touches let him down. Great to see him feature though. I hope it's not just cynically to prop up the development fee we receive. Get the kid into our first team squad.

Leiper 7 - Where has this lad came from? I have been highly critical of our Academy, with good reason, but this lad really impresses me massively. DO NOT SEND HIM ON LOAN. He is a kid who can be an asset from our bench this season. His cross for Sapsford's goal absolutely out of this World.


 

Totally agree with your wider points oLeiper and Sassetti. Leiper has shown enough that he should at least be part of the first team squad this season, getting minutes from the bench at least initially, I’d move out Miller Thomson, who’s not likely to make it at this level and give Leiper his minutes.

Haven’t seen Sassetti yet, but if he’s as highly rated as folk say, get him in the first team squad, it’s literally the only slight chance we have of getting these boys to stay. Arsenal managed to give a 15 year old meaningful minutes when they were chasing a title last season, I’m sure we, as a mid-table Scottish team can afford to do the same. The only way we can stop all these young players leaving for some English academy is if we show them there’s a proper pathway to the first team here. Some will still take the easy money, but the odd one might pause for thought if they and their parents see a legitimate route to first team football.

Integrating the best young players into the first team would be an absolute non-negotiable for me if I was the owner. Any manager that refused to do it wouldn’t be around very long. With that though, I would try and give a manager more patience if I could see he was trying to give young players a real chance in the first team.

It’s something that fundamentally needs to change throughout Scottish football as whole, not just at United. We’re playing with matchday squads of 20 now, I would make it a rule that a minimum of 5 of the 20 have to be homegrown players under the age of 21, and possibly at least 1 has to be on the pitch at any given time.

Great post JD.

Also think it’s a good post. I would go further with 3 players that have come through the youth system and uefa banning clubs stealing kids at 15 or change the rules so they can sign contracts. This is for United’s and scotlands long term future.

I don't think you solve this until we have a bigger top league.  There is just too much riding on every game to blood youngsters properly.  Only us and Falkirk were safe from relegation/not fighting it out for a Euro spot at the end.  Even then we were scrapping each other for sixth and a bigger gate fee/position bonus.  Every other team had pressure on for a prize or to avoid a relegation battle.  

In that atmosphere its very tricky to introduce youngsters.  We've seen that particularly with Stirton where we have actually tried to give him game time but he isn't quite ready.  If we had a 16 team league there would be a fatter 'middle' which would allow more teams to test youngsters more regularly.  That coupled with some mandatory rules on giving youngsters game time would greatly assist.  You can't actually blame the youngsters for taking the cash when there isn't a clear route to playing for a top league team. We have to give them a credible alternative.

Take Finlay Curtis at Rangers.  Can get in the national squad but can't get into the Rangers XI and had to be loaned out to weaker opposition to prove himself.  That's not right.

Last edited by Finn Seemann (23/7/2026 9:56 am)

Finn Seemann wrote:

I don't think you solve this until we have a bigger top league.  There is just too much riding on every game to blood youngsters properly.  Only us and Falkirk were safe from relegation/not fighting it out for a Euro spot at the end.  Even then we were scrapping each other for sixth and a bigger gate fee/position bonus.  Every other team had pressure on for a prize or to avoid a relegation battle.  

In that atmosphere its very tricky to introduce youngsters.  We've seen that particularly with Stirton where we have actually tried to give him game time but he isn't quite ready.  If we had a 16 team league there would be a fatter 'middle' which would allow more teams to test youngsters more regularly.  That coupled with some mandatory rules on giving youngsters game time would greatly assist.  You can't actually blame the youngsters for taking the cash when there isn't a clear route to playing for a top league team. We have to give them a credible alternative.

Take Finlay Curtis at Rangers.  Can get in the national squad but can't get into the Rangers XI and had to be loaned out to weaker opposition to prove himself.  That's not right.

 
That is an issue. And the way to solve it is to have a 16 team league, but that’s not without its drawbacks either, you end up with a lot of teams in the same position we were in towards the end of last season. Wasn’t much fun was it? I’m sure a lot of clubs and managers would find that palpable, but it definitely takes a lot of the excitement out of it. I can’t see the clubs ever agreeing to it anyway.

What needs to happen is the league needs to be bold and put mandatory quotas in place to force every club to play young homegrown talent. I doubt much can be done from a legal perspective to stop players leaving at 16, as they aren’t slaves. What we need to do is show them that staying in Scotland is the best thing for their development in the long term instead of chasing the money down south early. Giving them first team football at a young age is the best way to do that.

With 20 spaces in a matchday squad nowadays, there’s no reason that at least 5 of them shouldn’t have to go to homegrown U21 players. Put that rule in place and I guarantee you Scottish football will be in a much better place in 5-10 years time. Coaching also needs to improve. We need to send people to Spain and figure out what they’re doing right from a coaching and development perspective, and try to implement it.

JerryDungle wrote:

Finn Seemann wrote:

I don't think you solve this until we have a bigger top league.  There is just too much riding on every game to blood youngsters properly.  Only us and Falkirk were safe from relegation/not fighting it out for a Euro spot at the end.  Even then we were scrapping each other for sixth and a bigger gate fee/position bonus.  Every other team had pressure on for a prize or to avoid a relegation battle.  

In that atmosphere its very tricky to introduce youngsters.  We've seen that particularly with Stirton where we have actually tried to give him game time but he isn't quite ready.  If we had a 16 team league there would be a fatter 'middle' which would allow more teams to test youngsters more regularly.  That coupled with some mandatory rules on giving youngsters game time would greatly assist.  You can't actually blame the youngsters for taking the cash when there isn't a clear route to playing for a top league team. We have to give them a credible alternative.

Take Finlay Curtis at Rangers.  Can get in the national squad but can't get into the Rangers XI and had to be loaned out to weaker opposition to prove himself.  That's not right.

 
That is an issue. And the way to solve it is to have a 16 team league, but that’s not without its drawbacks either, you end up with a lot of teams in the same position we were in towards the end of last season. Wasn’t much fun was it? I’m sure a lot of clubs and managers would find that palpable, but it definitely takes a lot of the excitement out of it. I can’t see the clubs ever agreeing to it anyway.

What needs to happen is the league needs to be bold and put mandatory quotas in place to force every club to play young homegrown talent. I doubt much can be done from a legal perspective to stop players leaving at 16, as they aren’t slaves. What we need to do is show them that staying in Scotland is the best thing for their development in the long term instead of chasing the money down south early. Giving them first team football at a young age is the best way to do that.

With 20 spaces in a matchday squad nowadays, there’s no reason that at least 5 of them shouldn’t have to go to homegrown U21 players. Put that rule in place and I guarantee you Scottish football will be in a much better place in 5-10 years time. Coaching also needs to improve. We need to send people to Spain and figure out what they’re doing right from a coaching and development perspective, and try to implement it.

Don't disagree with this either.  Of course nobody should be aiming for mid-table but if you end up there I'd have more time for giving youngsters a chance.  Whatever way you look at it, it would allow more scope to take more chances with personnel on the park.  We don't get fans of too many mid-table clubs in the premiership down south moaning about the mediocrity of their league.  It's not inevitable that it becomes a boring middle.