It is amazing how quickly things can change in Scottish football.
Prior to last Friday’s game against Aberdeen at Dens, Dundee were in fine fettle following back-to-back wins over Rangers and Ross County.
Despite playing well against the Dons, they suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat and then lost again against Hearts in Edinburgh on Tuesday night.
All of a sudden, Saturday’s game against bottom side Partick is a massive one with Dundee hoping to put more distance between the Jags and themselves.
It is incredibly tight at the bottom of the Premiership but it is important to keep a bit of perspective about the last two results for the Dark Blues.
Aberdeen have consistently been the second-best side in Scotland while Hearts were always going to come good again especially after their return to Tynecastle.
It is still disappointing that Dundee could not build on the momentum of their two wins but there is no disgrace losing to the Dons and the Jambos.
However, Dark Blues boss Neil McCann was certainly not willing to simply accept the Hearts defeat and he did not miss his players afterwards, labelling their performance a “joke”.
I was not there but by all accounts Dundee did OK, especially in the second half.
Despite that, the manager was far from happy and he made his feelings known to the players within the confines of the away dressing-room at Tynecastle.
Those sorts of blasts can work, especially when the team are not expecting them.
I was on the wrong end of some rollickings in my time although one of the most memorable came when I wasn’t even playing.
It was back in 2003 when I was at Celtic and we went up to Inverness in the Scottish Cup and lost 1-0.
I was on the bench as our boss Martin O’Neill gave some fringe players a chance but I will never forget his blast in the dressing-room at full-time. Let’s just say, he didn’t hold back.
Neil McCann has now done the same with Dundee and he will no doubt be hoping his words have the desired effect and there is a big reaction against Partick.
There were a lot more angry words between the respective Manchester United and Manchester City camps after their high-profile derby last Sunday.
With City winning 2-1 at the home of their bitter rivals, emotions spilled over at the end with all sorts of allegations about fighting and drinks being thrown.
It all made for great telly and it was no surprise that the stories of what went on started leaking out as that always happens.
Once the dust had finally settled, the simple fact remained that City had taken another massive step towards the Premier League title and are now 11 points clear at the top of the table.
United boss Jose Mourinho has achieved so much in the game but I think he could be past his sell-by date and is being found out.
Pep Guardiola’s City side are a real force at the moment and I can only see them going from strength to strength.
Can the same be said about Mourinho and United? I don’t think so.
Everyone and their uncle has had their say about Derek McInnes deciding to turn down the chance to leave Aberdeen to manage Rangers – so here’s my tuppence worth’s as well!
When the news broke, it was a development that shocked a lot of people but I was not one on them.
I always felt that if the Rangers move didn’t happen in the first week or two after Pedro Caixinha had been sacked, then McInnes would be going nowhere.
He has a great relationship with his chairman Stewart Milne and he probably feels he has unfinished business at Aberdeen especially with plans for a new stadium and training complex in the pipeline.
There were also so many unanswered questions about going to Rangers – for instance, if he had moved, would he have had money to spend?
Where the Ibrox club goes from here is anyone’s guess. Getting McInnes was their plan A but it seems they did not have a Plan B.
