Dundee United defender Charlie Mulgrew admits former club Celtic were difficult to cope with on Sunday but he accepts there are improvements needed to rekindle his side’s form.

Celtic won 3-0 at Tannadice but missed a host of other chances and the home team rarely threatened.

It was a major difference from the 1-1 draw between the teams in Glasgow in September and another sign that United have hit a difficult moment in their season.

Tam Courts’ side remain fourth in the cinch Premiership but have now won just once in seven matches.

Mulgrew said: “You can’t just accept things, there are things we need to work on. We know what the problems are and we need to do better with them.

“At the same time, overall, we’ve done well. But we need to go again and pick up results, not just rest on our laurels.”

The 35-year-old added: “Celtic played very well, but we’re still disappointed. We feel there’s a lot we could’ve done better.

“We came up against a class side but we’ve got to look at ourselves and it’s about what we do.

“We came into the game and didn’t expect it to be that one-sided. But that can happen against Celtic. They are a good team.

“We probably didn’t get close enough to them. But it’s hard.

“It’s easy to say we didn’t get close enough but there’s a lot of spaces and a lot of good movement. It’s not by accident that, so fair play to their manager and his team because they played some right good stuff.

“They took positions all the time. When they had the ball one pops out of position and another pops in. It’s not easy to deal with.

“Maybe if you get them on an off day then you can get close to them, but we didn’t this time and we’re gutted about that. We have to move on quick.”