Following his first game as manager of Aberdeen, a 1-1 draw with Motherwell in February 2022, Jim Goodwin made a comment which would haunt him the rest of his tenure in the north east
"We have to be more solid, we have to get back to keeping clean sheets, which I think is the easy part of coaching and managing. That can be easily ironed out in the next week or so," he told the club's in-house media.

Safe to say it took longer than a week or so. In fact, it took a full 12 months before the defensive unit at Pittodrie finally resembled a cohesive, robust unit, and that was under the watch of his successor Barry Robson. 

At the time of Goodwin's exit, not only were Aberdeen not keeping clean sheets, they had the worst defensive record in the Scottish Premiership and couldn't even hold sixth-tier Darvel at bay in the infamous Scottish Cup defeat. He was sacked a few days later after an almost-as-embarrassing 6-0 loss to Hibs. As he exited Easter Road by climbing over the smirking face of a cartoon cat, Goodwin's reputation among top-flight circles lay in tatters. It didn't get much better when he took over at Dundee United less than a month later and failed to keep them from being relegated.

Fast forward to the present day and things are looking very different for the former St Mirren midfield enforcer. Having got United back to the Premiership at the first time of asking, the Tannadice club currently sit in fifth place with 12 points from seven games and, better yet, are already six points ahead of rivals Dundee. 

Encouraging for Goodwin in his quest for redemption, they've achieved this thanks in large part to their defensive solidity. The Terrors have conceded seven times, the best mark in the league for anyone outside the top three. It hasn't been pretty at times, but they've already made themselves a very frustrating unit to play against and are unbeaten across their four away matches so far.

For the most part, he's lined up in a 3-4-3 system with Declan Gallagher at the heart of the back line, flanked by Ross Graham on the left and 21-year-old Norwich City loanee Emmanuel Adegboyega on the right. Jack Walton was retained as goalkeeper, while the centre-midfield protection has recently been reinforced by Ross Docherty returning from injury to partner the ever-present Craig Sibbald. The biggest change to the defence over the summer has been at wing-back where summer signing Will Ferry has excelled on the left, and while there's debate about Luca Stephenson v Miller Thomson for the right wing-back spot, the impending return of Ryan Strain should improve things further.

Though they had a stingy defensive record in the Championship – and the main reason of how they were ultimately able to stave off the fight from Raith Rovers – it's a unit that's exceeded expectations at this level. The back-line does lack a certain degree of pace, but having them sit deep and soak up pressure has been the best way to mitigate that flaw. Against St Mirren last time out the Buddies too often resorted to knocking the ball long, with the United defence happily heading it back again on almost every occasion.

Despite some impressive work back at the highest level so far this term, Goodwin still has many detractors within the United support. Part of this is down to the fact he wasn't a popular choice in the first place. He'd become something of a joke figure toward the very end of his time at Aberdeen, so naturally United fans weren't entirely enamoured when he was picked to try to save their Premiership status in 2022/23, and they were even less impressed when he was given the gig on a full-time basis despite finishing rock bottom.

Even last season they weren't entirely happy with what they saw, though Goodwin was partially a victim of circumstance. After all, Raith Rovers put up a stronger fight than anyone could have imagined. The Kirkcaldy club finished on 69 points, a tally which would have saw them crowned champions in each of the previous two seasons – this officially extends to the last four campaigns, but two of those seasons were shortened due to Covid – but because United were pushed and, dare say it, rattled by a less prestigious club, doubts around Goodwin continued to linger.

Even this season there have been complaints about the style of play as United haven't exactly been great to watch. It's in the attacking areas where Goodwin is still staring longingly at the drawing board, furrowing his brow as he struggles for the right answer. There's some quality there. Kristijan Trapanovski is a direct and exciting winger; the aforementioned Ferry whips in a mean cross; David Babunski has plenty of technical class; Louis Moult still has match-winning qualities at this level (when fit); Jort van der Sande excels in his hold-up and link play, and the likes of Thomson, Glenn Middleton and Kai Fotheringham can provide a spark off the bench. The problem is he has yet to figure out how to make the pieces fit together, or to do so in a system which doesn't make them defensive frail, as they were in the opening day draw with Dundee. It was probably the best United have looked as an attacking unit, but they were quite open at the back and conceded two soft goals.

Certain players in defence are performing above expectations and if their form dips without the attack being improved, then United could find themselves in trouble. But for the meantime Goodwin has constructed a game plan to accentuate their strengths, mask their weaknesses and has them consistently picking up clean sheets. Who'd have thought it?