Dundee Utd More Dundee Utd >
Gary Mackay-Steven makes Dundee United tick
Dundee United seem to have conquered their early season, running into mid-season, woes after two convincing wins in the past week. A 2-0 victory in the cup over Rangers was followed up by a 5-1 thrashing of St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park and I have to say, the star man in both of those games has been Gary Mackay-Steven.
While I admit Johnny Russell, among others (Gunning, Daly, Pernis, Dixon), have been outstanding this season, I think Mackay-Steven has shown the kind of consistency needed to win every game. The former Liverpool and Airdrie man is merely a diminutive 5ft 6” figure and looks more like a ball boy than Andrei Arshavin but he has shown his intelligence and quick thinking as well as quick feet are above average.
He’s only scored three goals this season in 18 appearances in the SPL but the winger gives United the kind of threat that they can use to their advantage, especially with the likes with Russell and, the ever-present, Jon Daly firing on all cylinders. Mackay-Steven makes United more impenetrable because of his willingness to attack on the break with the pace he has he forces teams to think very carefully about their positions, even when on the attack.
Rangers were forced to sit deeper than usual at Ibrox last week and struggled to contain the young winger. Every time he got the ball and made a break for the Rangers’ half, Papac, Bartley and Edu, among others, took it in turns to foul him as this was the only way they could deal with his pace. He made the same contribution at the weekend against St Johnstone and his escapades down the left-hand side bewildered their defence. Despite two of Dundee United’s goals coming from the opposition’s players, it was Mackay-Steven’s cross which made the second amongst many other chances.
Dundee United seem to have done well to replace their big players when they leave and they’ll probably have a job on their hands keeping hold of this young man in the summer.
Posted by Dundee United fan Mel Hughes
Follow Mel on Twitter @MelHews
Featured ContributorsMore >
-
Jason Burt
The Telegraph's football correspondent Learn more >
-
Luke Moore
Co-founder of The Football Ramble podcast Learn more >
Watch it on BT Vision
-
Championship
-
Sat 19 May
- West Ham v Blackpool Live 2pm, Sky Sports 1
-
Champions League
-
Sat 19 May
- Bayern Munich v Chelsea Live 6pm, Sky Sports 1
NewsMore news >
-
Yates looking forward to Wembley date
Cheltenham boss Mark Yates is relishing next Sunday’s npower League Two play-off final showdown with Crewe after his side secured a 4-1 aggregate win over Torquay. Read more >
11 mins ago -
Gill: United can compete on transfers
David Gill is confident Manchester United will be able to challenge their big-spending noisy neighbours in the transfer market this summer. Read more >
11 mins ago
Most popular
4 weeks ago
4 hours ago
Comments
Please leave your comments using the box below. Learn more
BT is not responsible for any external content or links uploaded by users of the site. Nor does the presence of information or links about other parties' products or services confer any form of endorsement of another party's products or services by BT. Please show respect to other users and avoid bad language when posting