Csaba Laszlo last night challenged Dundee United to stand up to Livingston's renowned "physical" approach, but insists they won't change their own free-flowing style.
The Tangerines head to second-top Livingston for tomorrow night's crunch Championship encounter with David Hopkin's men who've earned a reputation for not taking any prisoners since coming up from League One at the start of the season.
Laszlo's men, who trail league leaders St Mirren by 14 points but have three games in hand, hope to breathe new life into their faltering title bid with a win in Friday night's televised clash.
But Laszlo is adamant the trailing Taysiders are not all set to ditch their normal passing game just to counter the imposing threat of their opponents who're still buzzing from their comprehensive 4-1 victory over high-flying St Mirren last weekend.
"Livingston are absolutely flying at the moment," said the Dundee United manager. "They got a very good result against St Mirren as everyone knows.
"We cannot take this game lightly. We are well prepared for sure and have spoken about this match.
"It will be a really difficult game because they are a physical side.
"So everybody needs to be 100 per cent focused for this match. And we need to show we can be physical as well.
"They might not always play very nice football but they are effective.
"It's not always about playing pretty football anyway. It's about getting results.
"Everything they [Livi] have done since coming into the league has been good so they are doing things well.
"I appreciate what they have done maybe without the quality which some other teams have.
"They have team spirit too which is a big thing.
"But we won't change our style but we just have to make sure we match that physical aspect and play our own game as well.
"Dundee United also have strong players as well and it's about mixing that with skill and quality."
United are gearing up for a crunch week which sees them welcome both Queen of the South and then St Mirren to Tannadice after their match with Livi.
But Laszlo is keen to play down talk of it being make-or-break as they bid to keep their promotion push on track.
He added: "We have 14 games to go and the table is still very tight.
"We have 42 points still to try and collect.
"I don't like doing the mathematics but my favourite number just now is three points for every game.
"We have to take each game as it comes and see where it takes us."
Meanwhile, United duo William Edjenguele and Jordie Briels are continuing to step up their comeback from injury, and played in Tuesday night's under-20 match away to Hearts.
Laszlo said: "The good thing is that everyone is back in training - William , Jordie and Tam Scobbie as well.
"We are getting more bodies back.
"Some of them played 60 minutes and 45 minutes earlier in the week which is great for us."
St Mirren, meanwhile, have told disgruntled supporters that next Tuesday’s match with Falkirk was postponed to aid manager Jack Ross’ bid to deliver the Championship title.
The scheduled February 27 clash has been rearranged for Saturday, March 24 after that weekend became free for both clubs due to Dumbarton and Inverness reaching the Irn-Bru Cup final.
The switch has angered some Buddies fans but the Paisley outfit, who are currently 11 points clear at the summit, insist avoiding a run of three games in six days will benefit the squad.
A club statement read: “The club would like to address the decision to rearrange our match with Falkirk from its scheduled Tuesday 27th February date to Saturday 24th March.
“The team were due to face Dumbarton in a Ladbrokes Championship fixture on Saturday 24th March.
“Dumbarton's win over The New Saints last Saturday saw them reach the final of the IRN-BRU Cup meaning that match would have to be rearranged.
“Falkirk were due to face Inverness Caledonian Thistle the same day, but as Inverness also made the final it too would have to be rearranged.
“We understand the frustration and disappointment this fixture change has caused some supporters.
“However, we can assure supporters that this decision wasn't taken lightly.
“The team are due to play Brechin City this Saturday (24th February) and Dundee United a week on Friday (2nd March).
“The decision taken means the players won't now face three matches in six days.
“We would like to apologise to any supporters who have been inconvenienced by the fixture change, but hope they can understand the reason behind the decision.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here