***PreMatch Analysis*** Dundee United versus Rangers

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Dundee United versus Rangers at Tannadice Park on Wednesday, 24th.March, 2010 in the quarter final replay for the Scottish Cup. Kick-off 7:45 PM

After a mighty struggle Rangers on Sunday won the Scottish Co-operative League cup. Two players sent off and we still won after playing very poorly in the first half.

Nevertheless the first leg of the treble was achieved. The resilience in this squad is remarkable, but it is going to be stretched to great lengths if we do not raise our standard of play on Wednesday and overcome injuries and suspension.

We have Bougherra and Broadfoot missing through injury and have Mcculloch and Thomson missing through suspension. Add to that a whole bunch of players off form. It will take a magnificent effort to win this tie on Wednesday night.

McGregor will most likely be back in goal. The defence will be the same as Sunday most likely, but hopefully Weir and Wilson stiffen up a good bit in the centre. They had a very hard time of it versus Saints and the Dundee United players will have seen that. Nevertheless they did not concede a goal. Our fullbacks are not the greatest defensively, but let's hope they are on top of their game on Wednesday and drive forward to give us width.

Midfield will be a test and we will miss both McCulloch and Thomson. Edu should step in and I think he is better than both these other players when on top form. Hopefully Davis will have recovered from his illness and can join Edu in midfield. That would be best. If Davis is ill then I would think that Fleck would be our next best option at centre midfield. Could Ness be given a chance? More likely Naismith would fill in and to me that is not his best position.

We need width and I hope Beasley and Novo start out wide, but Lafferty may well play there or Naismith.

This game will be hard fought and I suspect we could lose if our attitude is not spot on. We must fight and up the tempo of the game from the very first minute.

If Davis recovers then I think Walter will play this team: McGregor, Whittaker, Weir, Wilson, Papac, Beasley, Davis, Edu, Novo/Lafferty/Naismith, Miller and Boyd.

In any event we need to up the tempo and use width to get behind the Dundee United defence. Weir and Wilson need to dominate at the back and the midfield and the strikers must go forward at pace and be clinical in any finishing attempts.

If we do that we will win.

My prediction is that this will be a very closely fought cup-tie and that we will win it by one goal. Dundee United 1-2 Rangers.