DFC1974

Did McCann's players not hit a bit of good form end of Nov - Jan before McIntyre changed the whole team? I know JM's first few games were shambolic as he tried to assess who was who and gave everyone a chance, but I thought he had a spell of stability that gave us a false hope? It wasn't until Celtic got that 127th minute winner at the end of Feb that the wheels well and truly fell off. Either way, Nelms needs to assess whether he believes McPake can achieve a play off position and put in a strong challenge. If he has any doubts that McPake can do this then McPake should go. Any replacement (unless its McCann or McIntyre!!) couldn't do any worse!!

Last week I thought that another management change will just see us start yet another rebuild which the club needs like a hole in the head. However, I can't see how this nightmare can continue to go on. Monitoring our 'shots on target' is becoming an unhealthy obsession for me and I bore myself when discussing it, so I apologise for bringing it up yet again but... it took us an hour again today and we didn't look like getting another. Our system is just so laboured and predictable that it's almost laughable. QotS had more shots on target today than we've had in the last 3 games. I never thought I'd be comparing a manager to McCann ever again, let alone so soon yet this one, unbelievably, seems worse.

I'm pleased that it's not just me. I dont think I've ever 'not celebrated' a last minute equaliser before which is a shame because the quality of the finish was sublime. The fact was though, I was still raging at the inept performance and it was still 2 dropped points as far I was concerned. Of course 20 seconds later it was 3 dropped points. Again.

This dire. Utter garbage served up again.

Hemmings is ruthless when he gets half a chance. Only trouble is, we are incapable of creating a half chance. There lies the difference between the 2 sides today so far. Dundee 5 shots, zero on target. QoTS 7 shots, 5 on target.

Close call with Bazza, but Hartley for me. The truly awful transfer window combined with losing Hemmings & Stewart and the fallout with GGH was probably as much of an unfortunate perfect storm than it was poor management. However, he produced the most entertaining Dees team since Bonetti. Promotion, top six finish and dooned the dabs is a decent return.

This is my thoughts about the slow sideways buildup thing. We saw McCann try this and apart from being 99.99% of the time to our detriment, it is just brutally boring watch. Its inevitable in every game that one or two of our sideways passes will go wrong and puts us under immediate pressure. Equally I can't think of any examples where I would attribute any if our goals scored or games won to being a direct result of this tactic. 1 shot on target all day against a league rival is just pathetic and is maybe evidence that a tactical switch is required. I think we only had 2 shots on target against the dabs and the first took 70 minutes to happen (although it was more like a passback) so in 180 minutes of football we've assembled 3 shots on target. Dropping points is inevitable in this league but it's the manner in which these games are lost is why my confidence in McPake is rapidly draining.

Whilst I was never in favour of the McPake appointment, I feel we need to stick with him (for at least the season) irrespective of whether we make the play offs or not. I don’t think another reshuffle of the management and squad will fix anything in the short term.

According to the realisable source that is Wikipedia...we are all correct!! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journeyman_(sports)

I interpreted journeyman as being someone who moves from employer-to-employer. In footballing terms, someone who played for a large number of clubs.

Unless I’ve completely misunderstood you...but ‘Journeyman’ is the last word I’d use to describe Bazza. He gave us 11 years of his professional playing career almost unheard of nowadays (and even in his days).

If there was a sizeable sell-on clause incorporated into the transfer fee, then perhaps we got a good deal after all.

I think the title race will be burst wide open once Celtic capitalise on United's recently publicised financial woes and offer them peanuts for Shankland in the Janurary transfer window. The weegie media will start the speculation around November so that the psychological seed is planted and Shankland holds 'Nacho Novo' style talks with the Dabs BoD about having always wanted to play for the OF. United will then go into their traditional winter season flat-spin while the Dees go about their business effectively and enter a 2 horse title race with Ayr United. However, the Dees will prove too strong for them and have the league title sewn up by mid-April.

And the less said about what 2 up front v the dabs at the dump did to us defensively, the better

It was hardly a wild lunge. He made an attempt to stop a cross and was late (fractionally late at that too). Surely we cant be expecting our players to carry out some sort of risk assessment of how many players we have, they have and if our keeper is in position before making a challenge? If McDaid (or any other player) had stood off and allowed that cross to be made without challenge, they would be equally as culpable. Damned if you do, damned if you dont. I think what was obvious at this stage (and from start of second half) is United were pulling us all over the place at pace. Our attempts to slow the game down had been completely overpowered and the dabs goal was always coming.