Dundee United boss Micky Mellon admits he may need to switch things up if the Tangerines are to get their Premiership season back on track.
United have gone seven games without a win and, following defeats at the hands of St Mirren and Hibs last week, have dropped out of the top six.
Ahead of tomorrow night’s trip to face Motherwell, Mellon hopes they can get back to the United of old from earlier in the season – keeping clean sheets and picking up points.
“We’re in a process here,” he said.
“I probably had a look at little things myself over the last couple of games where I tried some different things.
“We tried to play with wide men and things like that but we’ve been losing too many goals.
“That’s the very reason why I tightened things up.
“I always look at the games to give me answers and we’re losing too many goals from set plays. We need to make people better at defending them or change the personnel.
“We’ll certainly need to address that. We’ll still try to score goals and create chances.
“We want to keep the back door shut and get back to keeping clean sheets.”
Former Fleetwood managers Mellon and Alexander to go head to head
Mellon will go up against a familiar foe in the opposite dugout in ’Well boss Graham Alexander.
The United gaffer played against the 49-year-old as Scots who spent their entire careers down south, with Alexander taking over the reins from Mellon at Fleetwood Town after he was sacked in 2012.
Alexander picked up where Mellon, who led the club into the Football League for the first time, left off and steered them into League One.
The Tangerines boss added: “I know Graham really well from many years playing against him and management as well.
“I don’t know if I’ve laid the foundations for him as a manager but I built that football club, that’s for sure.
“I built it from nothing to when Graham got there and he carried it on.
“He’s an experienced manager, like myself he’s managed a lot of games and won a promotion in England, which is very tough, I tell you.”
Chalmers making good progress in injury comeback
Besides Declan Glass (ACL) and Logan Chalmers (ankle), recently returned to first-team training, Mellon will have a full pool to choose from at Fir Park.
The only concern surrounds a player with a personal matter to attend to with a decision still to be made on his status.
“We have a few bits that we’re still monitoring,” Mellon said.
“We have a personal issue with one of the players who has a family matter so we’ll see how that pans out.
“Apart from that, we should have what we need to go out there and try to get a result.”
Of Chalmers’ return to training, he continued: “Logan did OK. He’s still kind of non-contact at the minute but he’s moving quickly in the right direction.
“As he knocks off the training minutes, the time on the grass with us, he’ll move towards coming back into the group again.
“He’s a talented boy.”