Levein: United better off without me

Former Dundee United boss Craig Levein has hailed the job Peter Houston has done since he left Tannadice to take over as Scotland manager. United are firm favourites for a Europa League place after netting seven goals in two victories against their nearest challengers, Motherwell and Hibernian.Their 4-2 victory at Easter Road on Wednesday also took them to five points behind second-placed Celtic in the SPL.Levein quickly took United from the league's bottom club to two top-six finishes in his only two full seasons in charge, but failed to qualify for Europe.So he believes they are now in better shape under Houston and praised his Scotland assistant for quickly recovering from the 7-1 defeat by Rangers days after he quit in the lead-up to Christmas.With United also preparing for a Scottish Cup semi-final, Levein refused to take any credit for their exciting season."My part was from when I joined the club until I left in December," Levein said."I'm thrilled to bits with what happened in that period and I think they have improved."Considering what happened round about the Rangers game, he (Houston) has managed to not just get them back to the point they were at, they have also improved since then."That's two fantastic results against teams who are fighting for third place so I've been really impressed."There have been a lot of changes going on and it's a huge credit to everybody at the club, in particular Peter."Danny Swanson typifies the confidence United are playing with, his curling effort against Hibs a contender for goal of the season, according to Houston.Levein raved about the midfielder's natural talent and Swanson believes he is now showing it on a regular basis."I am confident because I'm playing," the 23-year-old said. "I had not played regularly for two years and now I'm getting my chance. I am working hard, and I'm just lucky it came off."I was talking to my girlfriend the other day, asking what she thought my best goal was, and she said the St Johnstone goal. But I think that maybe beats it."Swanson puts United's unbeaten seven-match run down to their work-rate and he refused to get carried away by talk of a push for second place."We're aiming for third, that's what we wanted to do, and anything else is a bonus," the former Berwick player said.And Hibs boss John Hughes insists his team are not out of contention for third spot."It will be tough, very tough, as United are the form team in Scotland at the moment," Hughes told the Edinburgh Evening News."It's hard to pick up points in the SPL, but very difficult going into the split."We just have to keep digging in and see where it takes us."

Source: Team_Talk