Five Thoughts For Dundee Fans After Dark Blues Fail To Beat 10 Men – Again

[JoeCovenant]

Yet again Dundee failed to see out a match from a goal, and a man, up at the weekend.

But apart from the obvious, what did we learn from the 1-1 draw at Inverness? Here’s five things to mull over…

Dundee miss their experience boys

The absence of James McPake and Kevin Thomson have been a blow for the Dark Blues

Any team in the land would be bemoaning the absence of their skipper and vice-captain. But to Dundee both Kevin Thomson and James McPake are even more crucial than most to the club’s fortunes.

Experienced heads were missing at the weekend and you could tell as the Dark Blues let yet another winning position against 10-men slip.

I suspect with the commanding presence of McPake at the back and the calming Thomson in the middle Dundee would be two points better off than they are now.

Greg Stewart is playing too deep

Greg Stewart needs to be playing further up the field.

The frontman is easily Dundee’s most dangerous player. He’s probably the only name on the Dark Blues’ teamsheet other teams fear.

And for that very reason he needs to be doing the majority of his work in and around the opposition box.

Unfortunately, in a 4-4-2, apart from winning the penalty at the weekend, that’s not been the case out on the right.

Unsettled midfield has been damaging

The return of Paul McGowan has been a boost – but a consistent midfield line-up is what Dundee need. Picture by David Young

Paul has barely been able to pick the same midfield from week to week this season – that’s having an impact.

Thomson’s absence is worrying but the lack of fitness from the likes of Nicky Low and Paul McGowan, who both returned at the weekend, has also been a concern for the gaffer.

He needs all of his key men fit and firing if Dundee are to kick on.

Calder has to play

Riccardo Calder made a big impact when he was introduced to the game.

You could see the change in Dundee’s approach from the minute the wideman walked on the pitch.

The Dark Blues seriously lack width and it looks like that’s what the Aston Villa kid, for all of his minor faults, will provide.

Everything has been too narrow this season. Calder, to me, could be the answer to many of the side’s problems.

Improvement? Well, sort of…

The Dundee players congratulate Rory Loy after his opener – but their celebrations were short lived.

Dundee are worse off in terms of points than they were at this point last season.

After 13 games of 2014/15 they had 20 points, compared to this season’s 17.

So if you look purely at that stat then it looks like they’re going backwards.

Well, we all know that’s not been the case.

The Dark Blues have got better players. They also look a more potent force going forward but all importantly the results have not matched that.

They need to start getting results, though, otherwise a lot of the early work of this campaign will become irrelevant.

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[JoeCovenant]

Not much in here that we've not been saying for the last wee while, to be honest....

[Boba Fett]

A fair assessment and pretty much all areas that we've been highlighting for weeks.. We badly need a win on Saturday!

[Cobra]

I don't agree that Stewart is playing too deep. I think we want him playing deep and charging forward when we break. Caley did a really good job of stopping him from shooting on Saturday but he was a real threat even if it was not his best game.

If we can get Stewart, Calder and Loy on the park from the start and work out how best to play them I think we'll cause Partick a lot of problems.

[sneddee]

we need to start calder from the start, he changed the game when he came on against i.c.t.

start harkins too. but who do we drop?

[chomp my root]

we need to start calder from the start, he changed the game when he came on against i.c.t.

start harkins too. but who do we drop?

PH hasn't tried 3-3-4 yet...........

[Boba Fett]

PH hasn't tried 3-3-4 yet...........

It's in the post! Any day now...

[Gedee]

Not much in here that we've not been saying for the last wee while, to be honest....

Aye your probably right there Joe.

But on the ither hand, repetition is sometimes no' a bad thing