Sloppy defending has to stop, but Jon Daly still wants to be a striker

After throwing away a three-goal lead against Inverness Caley Thistle and only salvaging a 4-4 draw thanks to a last-minute penalty by Daly himself, the Tannadice team were 2-0 down after half an hour at Tynecastle on Sunday. They pulled a goal back after the break but still lost 2-1, and, although they have looked technically solid in midfield and have been creating a reasonable number of chances up front, errors at the back have continued to let them down.

“We shot ourselves in the foot again in the Hearts game,” Daly said. “It seems to be the same old story this season. We give ourselves mountains to climb.

“They were two sloppy goals to give away [against Hearts], and we definitely had enough of the ball and enough chances to go and win the game. Never mind getting a point, we should probably have got the three points. But it was the same old story and we came away with nothing.

“I think we’re playing some good stuff. Even at 2-0 down in the first half we were playing some good stuff.

“We just never got a break. The keeper made a save from one of my shots, Brian [McLean] was following in and hit the post. On another day he scores that and we’re right back in the game. That was at 1-0 even.

“It’s frustrating but we have to believe that, when we go 2-0 down, we can still come back and get something. It didn’t  happen against Hearts, and you’re going to get games like that if you keep giving yourself mountains to climb – you’re not going to get that second goal and get back in the game.”

Daly has helped out in defence in the past but, despite the mistakes at the back in recent games, he does not think that making such a move again should be necessary.

“I’m a centre-forward and we’ve got enough centre-backs and defenders to be able to stop the goals going in,” he added. “I think we just need to work a bit harder on the training park with it, and make sure we give ourselves the best opportunity.

“Last week we went 3-0 up and still managed to go behind, so we need to address that quickly. The games are coming thick and fast and we don’t want to fall behind. We want to get right back in the group, and that has to start against St Johnstone.

“We’re playing some good stuff and creating chances, and we’re confident that we’ll score goals. We’ve got plenty of players in the team that can go and produce and score goals. It’s just trying to cut out the slackness at the back, the sloppy defending that’s costing us at the moment.”

United are eighth at present, having won two and drawn two of their last seven league games. But Daly pointed out that, in such a compact league, a relatively modest improvement in results could have a big impact in terms of position in the table.

“It is frustrating, because you look at the league table and between six or seven teams there’s not that many points. It’s only a case of winning three or four games on the bounce and you could even find yourself up in second place. We look at the games that we’ve dropped points in and probably should have done better in, and you think if you had got what you deserved out of games then we would have been better off in the league.

“But we can’t dwell on it. We are where we are for a reason. We’ve not been good enough defensively, and like I said, we need to work on it and stamp it out. St Johnstone are a decent side and have got good experience. If we play the way we’ve been playing, they’ll punish us.

“It’s a derby game, always a good game and quite feisty as well. There’s plenty of tackles flying in and there’s always a good atmosphere as well. The last few games have been quite close and this one is going to be tight too. It’s up to us to pick up our home form and hopefully it will start in this game.”

The visitors lost 2-0 at Pittodrie on Saturday and are a point ahead of United with a game in hand. Like Daly, Tannadice manager Peter Houston expects a tough encounter this afternoon.

“I watched St Johnstone [against Aberdeen] and first half I thought they played exceptionally well under farcical conditions,” he said. “St Johnstone’s a tough match, but we have to start putting a run together with regards to our home form. Our away form has been good. We played well and lost [against Hearts], but we have to make sure we start a wee run at home.”

Gary Mackay-Steven and Sean Dillon will both miss out again, but the latter may return before the winter break starts after the New Year round of fixtures. “Gary’s still a bit away,” Houston added. “Sean is getting closer. Hopefully in the next week or two we should have him back.”