New boss Csaba Laszlo was disappointed with Saturday’s result but more so with his new players failing to stake claims for league places as Dundee United exited the Irn-Bru Cup in his first game in charge.
The holders went down to an injury-time winner as they exited to Northern Irish part-timers Crusaders at Tannadice.
The Tangerines boss had changed the entire starting line-up from the one that had recorded wins in the previous two league games and Csaba conceded that was a factor.
But even from a makeshift team it was clear he’d hoped for more.
“I think for the team it was not easy because they play more or less together for the first time in this starting XI,” said Csaba.
“I definitely want to see more competition, especially from the players who come back from injury or really don’t play much before.”
While the focus is very much on promotion, he was also clearly unhappy the approach to the tie had not been serious enough.
“It’s a mistake to tell this competition is not important, put it aside and play like a friendly game.
“The players definitely listen and hear it is not so important.
“This is already bad — if you have the idea we can go with young players and you have the impression if I lose I lose.
“In this direction we have to show a little more professionalism.”
That said, Csaba knew it was a game United could and should have won, particularly in a second half that was dominated by them and saw several clear chances missed.
“We created chances, we had two or three chances and we had also a fantastic goal. The goalkeeper just had to take it from the net and make some applause.
“After, I was a little bit angry and disappointed that we don’t close this game.
“Normally I am so angry I explode. I saw the chance in extra time because the opponent was dead.
“If you are really very clever in the last two minutes you keep your shape, you go in extra time and you win the game. You feel we were the better team in the last 45 minutes so for this reason I am angry.
“You need this cleverness, keep it quiet and go into extra time. But a direct ball to the front and we made a really big mistake in the central defence.”
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