Liam Smith admits Dundee United’s chastening 7-0 defeat against AZ Alkmaar was a career low.
Leading 1-0 from the first leg, United completely capitulated following Vangelis Pavlidis’ opener, going on to ship six goals in 26 minutes before Mayckel Lahdo completed the scoring.
The result was the Tangerines’ heaviest EVER in European football, while it matched the Scottish records of Celtic (Barcelona, 2016) and Hibernian (Malmo, 2013).
Smith is no stranger to continental catstrophes, having been part of the Hearts squad beaten by Maltese minnows Birkirkara in 2016.
But Thursday represented a new nadir – and he reckons the same can be said for the majority of his Tannadice teammates.
“That’s probably the lowest any of us have ever felt after a game,” said the United full-back.
“They (AZ) upped their gears two or three times compared to last week — and we didn’t match that, even remotely.
“When that is the case, and you are playing a good side, then you are going to get beat.
“Even then, there is a manner to lose. To lose as many goals as we did in such a small period of time; we need to be stronger and stick together.
“We didn’t do that and paid the price.
“Ultimately, it’s an embarrassing result.”
The meek surrender was a spectacular let-down for the 1,300 United fans in the AFAS Stadion and many hundreds more who remained in Amsterdam after a ticketless pilgrimage.
And Smith added: “I don’t think much needed said after the game. The gaffer (Jack Ross) didn’t come in shouting and screaming.
“As a group of players, we know that we let ourselves down and, with the amount of fans that travelled, we didn’t give them the performance they deserved.”
Goalkeeper Mark Birighitti, who had enjoyed a bright start to his United career, endured a particularly tough night in the Netherlands.
The Aussie international flapped at Pavlidis’ header to make it 3-0, spilled another simple cross – almost leading to a goal – and could arguably have done better with strikes from Reijnders and Lahdo.
‘Stick together’
“We’ve all got to stick together,” said Smith. “We’ll get around each other. It’s never nice for a goalie to concede the amount of goals he did.
“We’ll get around Mark.
“We need to group together, go over the game honestly — looking at our individual and collective performances.
“The schedule at the moment means that, although we can’t forget this result, we also can’t dwell on it.”
Indeed, Smith hopes the pain of a galling night in Alkmaar will ‘fuel’ United when they return to his old stomping ground, Tynecastle, to face Hearts on Sunday.
“We won’t forget this feeling,” said a sombre Smith.
“That will stay with us for a very long time and we can use it going into Sunday — remember it and, although we don’t need more motivation to get a result, maybe use it as extra fuel.
“It’s a challenge at the best of time, going to Tynecastle. But we’ll go there with a grit and a determination that we maybe didn’t show at times on Thursday.”
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