Dundee United Profile/Preview:The SPL mirrors TheOffside.com

By: Matt | August 15th, 2008

Most would agree that the SPL has been a two horse race for awhile now. Celtic and Rangers have gobbled up a majority of the silverware for quite some time, yet seemingly every year there is a chic pick for another team to give the big Glasgow giants a run for their money. This year’s hip pick seemed to be Dundee United. The members of the SPL TheOffside blogging team are a lot like the league we write about. The majority of posts are made by the two bloggers following Celtic and Rangers. There were Hearts and Hibs blogs that started off well, but seemed to have disappeared as the season continued, only leaving the big boys of the blogosphere. Dundee United fits into this poorly crafted metaphor as well. Wouldn’t you like to read a Dundee United blog? Sure, why not! They are a young creative team who are supposed to be the future of the SPL. Theoretically a Dundee United blog would be great, but it just cannot get started. The same can be said for the Tangerine Terrors of this season. The talk was big on Dundee, but their season never really got started after a 3-1 shellacking by new kids on the block, the Hamilton Accies.

Despite being in familiar settings, Dundee have had a bad stretch against Celtic over the past few years at Tannadice. Celtic have beaten United the last nine times in Dundee, including the 1-0 last day title clinching winner last year (as if any of you need a video to remind you of that day, but here you go anyways). The Terrors’ side remains largely unchanged of that of last year, with new signing Francisco Sandaza likely to start on the bench. United will also be without Danny Swanson and Paul Sixson due to suspension. Needless to say, Craig Levein’s troops will be looking to improve on a poor performance monday night against the Accies.

Gordon Strachan will see Japanese international winger Shunsuke Nakamura fit and available for Sunday’s fixture. Hopefully this we see Barry “Robo Cop” Robson back in the middle, generally making SPL strikers and midfielders life a living hell, as he just looks clumsy on the wing, especially on the side of his weaker foot. The previously mentioned Barry Robson has been fighting a virus this week in training and Lee Naylor has suffered an unspecified knock as well, but both should be available for Sunday. The big question is, will new bhoy Glenn Loovens be available and see any playing time Sunday. Celtic have not officially announced the signings, but major media sources (besides this one…har har) have confirmed that the deal has been done. It might be safe to presume that it is just some legal tape and perhaps a physical that is preventing the release of the white smoke.

What the “Loove-ens Doctor”’s role with the team remains still speculation. Despite a slow start…and well middle of the season…Gary Caldwell has been solid in the back for Celtic, where as Captain Stephen McManus has been shaky at times recently. However, you’d have to assume that Gordon Strachan will not be sending his Captain to the bench. Caldwell might be put in his original position of defensive midfielder and partner to Barry Robson. Yet, that makes Scott Brown a very expensive benchwarmer and sends the likes of Massimo Donati further into a Riordan-hell via the reserves. More likely than not, it will continue to be a midfield by committee but even that prevents a cohesion and fluidity in the middle.

Both Celtic and Dundee will be looking for stronger performances than the week before. Dundee United will most likely come out firing and have even more motivation playing in front of the home crowd. Hopefully some more creativity will be seen by Celtic with the return of Naka and Robson to his normal position. Dundee will play Celtic tough and it will be a close game, but Celtic make it 10-in-a-row at Tannadice with a 2-1 victory with Barry Robson coming back home and netting a goal and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink reliving championship Thursday and netting home a header.