Dundee United boss Jackie McNamara expects Ross County to provide typically stiff opposition on Sunday, despite the Dingwall side’s stuttering start to the season.
The Staggies have taken just four points from their opening five Premiership fixtures and have shipped nine goals in the process, while a shock League Cup exit to Stranraer has also blotted County’s copybook.
However, McNamara has not been fooled by County’s early woes and points to their most recent league games, namely a 3-0 win over St Mirren and a 0-0 draw at Hibs, as proof that they may have settled into their usual rhythm.
“I think Derek Adams has got a lot of new players in and it takes time to bed them in,” the United boss noted. “But they had a good result against St Mirren and looked OK against Hibs as well and had a few chances, so we know it’s going to be tough.
“I think they are back to a 4-1-4-1 system, which is quite rigid, and they’ve got goals in their team. But again it’s a game where we’ve got to try and move them about and get in behind them to cause them problems.
“We’ve got to try and move their back four, which has always been the basis for a good solid team. They were very consistent last year in terms of not conceding and not losing their shape, so it’s important we try and move them about.
“We’ve got make sure it doesn’t turn into a battle or just playing long percentage football.”
United went into the international break on the back of a 1-0 loss to Celtic but it’s a defeat that McNamara hopes his men have managed to get out of their system ahead of the weekend trek north.
“We can’t take any frustrations from the Celtic game into this one that’s finished now and we look forward to the next one,” he continued.
“This is a different match altogether and it’s one where we need to try and pass the ball properly, cause them problems and move them about. I think our performances have been coming on.
“Results are obviously the most important thing but if you are doing things right then results will come from that.”
Meanwhile, McNamara admits his bid to give Mark Millar some game time may have backfired after the midfielder was shown a straight red card in Tuesday night’s under-20 match against Hamilton.
That means Millar has joined defender Gavin Gunning on the suspended list and will miss Sunday’s game.
“We wanted to get him an under-20s game just to get him fitness but it kind of worked against us with him getting sent off,” McNamara added.
“We’re just trying to get him some game time and get his fitness back. He came on against Dumbarton but he had missed a good chunk of pre-season, so he was playing catch-up with the rest of the team.”
In better news on the injury front, Ryan Dow has trained this week and should be available for selection if required.