Sean Dillon insists it was a series of little “tweaks” and not a major change of direction that led to Dundee United’s thumping win over Kilmarnock on Saturday.
The Tannadice skipper had called a players’ meeting earlier last week where everyone had their say and then the discussion continued with boss Mixu Paatelainen and his coaching staff.
The results were plain to see on Saturday as the Tangerines took Kilmarnock apart although Dillon admitted he could understand why some would question exactly why it took so long for such a meeting to take place.
Dillon said: “I won’t say I could see that coming. It’s fair to say we changed a couple of things, we mixed things up a little bit more. Overall you could see little improvements everywhere and it paid off for us.
“The boys had their say which was good. It’s not easy but everyone got stuff off their chest which was good.
“It wasn’t a union meeting or anything like that. The gaffer and coaching staff deserve a lot of credit as well because they took what everyone said fairly well. It was quite open and the response was good.
“It was just a couple of things we tweaked and thankfully it paid off. I’m not taking responsibility for the whole thing.
“Some might say we could have had it two months ago, or six months ago, but it’s done now and we’ve had a chat.
“Sometimes little things just eat away at you but you let them go because you have that belief and you’re convinced things are turning.
“You maybe get to a stage where you’re not happy and that’s probably what triggered the feeling for a meeting.
He added: “But I’m not saying that was the only reason for Saturday’s performance. The gaffer and the staff were very open about it and tweaked things and deserve credit.
“From day one, the manager’s door has always been open. If you need to talk to him then it’s no problem.
“Everyone had their opinion on what needed changed. You can’t please 30 guys in a squad, it’s impossible. You can’t change everything to please everyone so little things were tweaked.
“We were probably a little bit more direct than we have been.”
Dillon admitted the main thing he took from the meeting was that individually, everyone in the United squad is capable of giving even more in training and on the pitch.
He said: “It’s about looking at yourself and asking if you can do a little bit more or a lot more. Are you giving 100 per cent?
“We all work hard but when you actually sit down and think about little things, you can make little improvements.
“That’s the one thing I’d take from the chat, that we can all do a little bit more.
“I’m not saying we aren’t trying or giving our all but if you look at everything you do every day and night of the week then we can all make tweaks. I don’t care how good you are.
“And when everyone does it then you get a lift and we witnessed that on Saturday. Every player is different and can make different changes.
“They have their own problems or issues at home, whether it’s sleeping in the spare room because you’ve got young kids. It could be absolutely anything.
“I’ve got two kids but my wife is great regarding that and if I’m struggling and need extra sleep, then I get it. But you just have to look at loads of little things and when you add it all up you get a bigger, better product.”
The Tangerines opened the scoring in just the eighth minute with a well-worked goal.
Ryan Dow played a pass to Simon Murray who teed up Blair Spittal to drill a shot into the far corner of Jamie MacDonald’s net.
Then in the 32nd minute Spittal sent a corner in from the right with substitute Mark Durnan bulleting a header home at the near post to make it two.
United tails were up and they made it three just seven minutes later when a cross/shot from the right by Spittal was left by everyone including the bemused MacDonald with the ball flying into the back of the net.
The Tangerine faithful were celebrating once more in the 44th minute when that man Spittal again hit a cross from the right with the ball deflecting through to John Rankin who volleyed home from six yards to send the fans into dreamland.
The fabulous fifth came in the 78th minute when Dillon embarked on a truly remarkable solo run before stabbing the ball home with the United skipper then being swamped by his gleeful team-mates.
Kilmarnock snatched a late consolation goal in the 82nd minute when Josh Magennis headed past Eiji Kawashima.
United have now closed the gap at the bottom of the table to 11 points and their confidence will have received a huge boost with another vital game to come next week at Partick Thistle.