Craig Levein gets Dundee United's tactics against Rangers just right

It is a sheer tonic for the Scottish game to witness Dundee United’s revival under Craig Levein, and Tannadice on Saturday was another such occasion. Rangers, having been so commanding for so long, and in spite of having their one-goal lead, suddenly began to look nervous and uneasy, and the root of it surely lay in their knowledge of what United under Levein are all about.

We tend to overmilk the concept of tactical asperity, given the flukes and whims of any 90 minutes, but in Levein’s case such phrases are well warranted. The United coach has an analytical style, where he homes in on his opponents’ weaknesses and sets out his own team accordingly, and the upshot of this was that Rangers came a cropper. In a nutshell, Levein told his players that Rangers would be vulnerable to high balls flung into the box, and United scored two goals precisely via that tactic.

“We had a game plan, especially when we heard that [Madjid] Bougherra wasn’t playing, which was to get crosses into their box and attack the ball,” Levein said. “We’ve got good headers and great crossers, so if you put these two things together, you should get chances, if not goals.” It’s simple when you know how.

There is much about this United side that is pleasing on the eye: the endless probing of Morgaro Gomis, the keenness of Willo Flood and, on Saturday, the bursting runs down the left of Paul Dixon. It was Dixon who, in a sequence of early second-half raids, reduced Rangers to rubble with crosses that Lee Wilkie and Warren Feeney got on the end of to put United 2-1 ahead after Kris Boyd’s first-half opener.

Dixon later explained how United transformed the match. “We got a bit of a talking to at half-time from the gaffer because we had been a bit below par,” the United full-back said. “But in the second half we came out firing on all cylinders and got our two goals. We had Rangers on the rack a bit. The manager didn’t think we were playing as we can – he just wanted us to buck up our ideas.

“He also told us to get balls in the box, and that we’d have a lot of chances from set-plays. So that’s what we did in the second half. With the height that we’ve got – Garry Kenneth, Lee Wilkie, Jon Daly – the manager thought that Rangers were susceptible in the air. So we knew we could win our fair share of headers.”

With United in their lead, some very unseemly bickering broke out among the Rangers rearguard, and at the heart of it all was Allan McGregor. This Rangers goalkeeper has quite a passion about him – and not just in his loins – but was twice flum-moxed by Dixon’s crosses, the first of which whistled clean over his head to Wilkie, the second of which landed just on the edge of his six-yard box for Feeney, with McGregor rooted to his line. But if there was any blame to be doled out, McGregor was simply having none of it.

From the point that United went 2-1 ahead after 54 minutes, the Rangers goalkeeper huffed and puffed about his goal, the steam coming out his ears as he aimed barbs at his defenders. Steven Whittaker, in particular, took an ear-bashing, having twice let Dixon get past him to despatch a cross. Even when the play was at the other end of the field, McGregor was still muttering and cursing to himself, as he dusted himself off and rued his circumstances.

It had all started so well for Rangers, with Boyd’s lovely turn and shot past Lukasz Zaluska after 11 minutes, after which Rangers went on to dominate the opening half. Kenny Miller might have added a second just before half-time when he failed to take advantage of a confusion inside the United area involving Wilkie and Zaluska, but, even so, Rangers were in control. Some Levein-inspired trouble, though, was brewing.

Dixon streaked past Whittaker down the left and blew over a cross which Wilkie somehow converted from an acute angle. Then Feeney, muscling past Lee McCulloch, made it 2-1 five minutes later. By this point the Rangers hordes were none too pleased, and began baying at their players and at Walter Smith, the manager. Surely no group of fans does disdain and anger quite like them.

Kyle Lafferty and Nacho Novo duly arrived for Rangers and salvaged the game for Smith, the little Spaniard scampering across the United backline to lay a pass into the path of Lafferty, who sweetly shot past Zaluska at the angle from 16 yards.

This was a late salvation for Rangers, but there can be no denying the Levein influence on his team.

“He is massive for us,” Dixon said of the United manager. “He is always on at us to believe in ourselves. He knows how good we are – he thinks it is just a case of us doing what we are good at. But games like this one just show how far United have come under the manager.”

Meanwhile, the mystery of Rangers continues. In truth, they might have won this match comfortably, but instead, made it something of a slog. And Smith will surely be reconsidering his goalkeeping and defensive personnel ahead of the December 27 clash with Celtic at Ibrox.

Dundee Utd (4-4-2): L Zaluska 6 M Kovacevic 5 L Wilkie 7 G Kenneth 7 P Dixon 7 W Flood 6 S Robertson 6 M Gomis 6 C Conway 5 W Feeney 6 J Daly 6 Substitutes D Robertson (for Feeney, 77min), D Swanson (for Gomis, 87). Not used M McGovern, S Dillon, D Dods, R O’Donovan, A Shala.

Rangers (4-4-2): A McGregor 5 S Whittaker 4 K Broadfoot 5 D Weir 5 S Papac 5 S Davis 6 B Ferguson 6 P Mendes 7 L McCulloch 5 K Boyd 6 K Miller 5 Substitutes K Lafferty 7 (for McCulloch, 62min), N Novo 6 (for Miller, 68). Not used N Alexander, D Beasley, C Dailly, A Niguez, J Fleck.

Referee: I Brines. Attendance: 11,362