Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Jackie McNamara backs players to handle high expectations

Jackie McNamara.
Jackie McNamara.

Dundee United boss Jackie McNamara insists his players can cope with the rising levels of expectation surrounding them.

The Tangerines are the talk of Scottish football at the moment thanks to their free-flowing front play that has seen them notch 13 goals in their last four league matches.

The attacking talents of the likes of Ryan Gauld, Gary Mackay-Steven, Stuart Armstrong and Nadir Ciftci have had pundits and purists purring.

United were at it again last weekend scoring four goals and threatening to run riot against Partick Thistle.

However, the Tannadice gaffer admits that he was equally as pleased with the way his side stormed back after Partick scored a controversial penalty to equalise.

McNamara said: “Expectation levels probably have risen but that’s what you want and hopefully the players will react in the right way to that.

“I think there was a lot of expectation on Saturday. You saw that when we got the early goal, everyone is wanting us to then get a second and a third.

“In some ways it is good the way the game went, that we showed when things go against us and we don’t get a rub of the green at the penalty that we can go again and score another three goals.”

Expectation levels may have risen but so have the numbers of fans flocking through the Tannadice turnstiles at the moment with 6,700 at Saturday’s game.

Lapsed followers appear to be returning, attracted by the promise of thrilling, attractive football and that is something the manager is delighted about.

He said: “To be honest, it was the first thing I noticed on Saturday when I was at the dug-out just how full the stands were. It is great for all of us, the players and staff to see the numbers there.

“People want to watch football, not just to worry about results but to see their team playing the right way and to be entertained.

“I said that at my first press conference when I came in that I wanted Dundee United fans to look forward to a Saturday.

“There is still a long way to go in the season but so far it has been positive and the players have responded well to what we are doing. It has been reflected in their results and their performances.”

Several of United’s attacks on Saturday were started from the back with teenage centre-half John Souttar storming forward from defence.

In what turned out to be an eventful afternoon for the 17-year-old, he also found time to produce an outrageous piece of trickery in the first half before conceding a penalty in the second.

However, McNamara insists he will not be looking to revoke Souttar’s licence to roam any time soon.

He said: “It is part of his game. I would never take that away from him. He might make wee mistakes, getting caught or a pass isn’t just right but you have to be consistent with him.

“When he did that wee flick in the first half for a 17-year-old it takes a lot of confidence and ability to be able to do that.

“It wasn’t showboating or whatever you want to call it, and it wasn’t as if he did it when we were coasting in the game. We were only 1-0 up at the time and there was still a long way to go.”