Liam Kennedy: My Four-Point Plan To Save Dundee’S Year

[JoeCovenant]

Kevin Thomson, Gary Harkins, Riccardo Calder and Greg Stewart — these are the four players who can turn Dundee’s faltering season around.

The Dark Blues are on the Premiership slide. And no matter what manager Paul Hartley seems to do he can’t arrest the decline. Far too many draws and far too few wins has seen them slip from the relative safety of the top six to bottom four and a nervy Christmas period filled with lots of anxious looks over the shoulder.

To be honest, I have no fears Dundee will go down. I reckon they have far too much quality in the final third to get involved in a relegation scrap which city rivals Dundee United are almost certainly consigned to from here to May. But they should be looking up rather than worrying about things at the bottom.

This season so far has been a big let down, especially after expectations were risen with word from the dressing-room in the summer that a spot in the top-flight top four, as well as a cup run or two, was the overall aim. For me, the problem is a simple one, though. The Dark Blues need to stop gifting goals to anyone and everyone they play. That way it would give their forward players the chance to shine, like they did in the opening exchanges of the campaign.

If Dundee can get the first part right then the onus is on manager Paul Hartley to make some changes further forward. Change one would be to give flying winger Riccardo Calder an extended run in the team. He’s not the finished article and has his faults but his pace out wide can cause problems. He needs a fair crack of the whip. Inside Calder, Paul needs to get Gary Harkins firing again. He was out of this world at the start of the season. He’s looked nowhere near that lately. His talent is too much to waste seated on the bench.

Next to him is the biggest task of all — keep Kevin Thomson fit. The gaffer needs to patch up his skipper and protect him sufficiently so he can play his part. Thommo is missing far too many games at present. And the icing on the cake would be to get Greg Stewart back to his old self. Maybe then the points would start to flow at Dens again.

Gary Harkins was excellent early in the season for Dundee — his goal at Motherwell might just reignite his form.

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