Dundee United boss Jackie McNamara insists he has learned from the one match he has lost since taking charge at Tannadice.
The solitary defeat in 11 games since becoming Peter Houston’s successor was extremely painful, with the Tangerines going down 6-2 away to Celtic in the SPL on February 16.
McNamara will take his players to Glasgow on Sunday to once more face the club he served so well as a player, this time for the Scottish Cup semi-final.
The Hoops are strong favourites to go through to face either Hibs or Falkirk. However, the Tangerines can’t be written off, especially with McNamara having seen what went wrong the last time and suggesting he will do things differently.
The route to a United success, it seems, is to stop the Celts getting success from set-piece situations.
“We did lose 6-2 at Celtic Park in the league but we didn’t defend well that day,” said McNamara. “We will need to do much better at Hampden.
“It was not that we were gung-ho that day, it was more that the goals we lost were poor. We scored a good goal ourselves but within a minute we had conceded following a corner. That changed the whole dynamic of the match.
“That was the upsetting thing for me because we showed that we can go to Glasgow and cause Celtic problems with our forward play.
“We should have seen it through the next 15 to 20 minutes and then taken it from there. So, in this semi-final, we need to make sure we do our jobs properly all round the pitch.
“You can go through systems and tactics as a manager before a match like that one but if one person switches off at a corner or a set-piece then your plan is out of the window.
“It is a mental thing with the players and they have to take responsibility for their own jobs out there, both during open play and at set-pieces.
“Celtic are a big threat at corners and free-kicks, as has been shown in the Champions League this year when 60% of their goals came from set-pieces. We need to look out for that.”
While United will be on their guard throughout the match, that does not mean they will not also be taking the game to the opposition whenever possible.
“We won’t just be going there and expecting Celtic to come and attack us,” he said. “We won’t be lying down. Instead, we will be going there intending to play the way we can play.
“The second half of Saturday’s game against Aberdeen showed how I want to play. We passed the ball, got forward and created chances. I go for it in every game and this will be no different.”