The Courier’s sports writers Eric Nicolson, Neil Robertson and Ian Roache discuss Dundee’s lofty league position, St Johnstone’s Dens Park blip, Dundee United’s top of the table clash at Easter Road and Richie Foran’s beard in this week’s Talking Football.
Q:Â Right, hands up, who thought Dundee would beat St Johnstone on Saturday?
EN: Not me. That was more down to Saints’ great away form than anything Dundee were doing wrong. The fact that Paul Hartley’s men have been the first to defeat the Perth side away from McDiarmid Park since August is a feather in their collective cap. There were so many positives for them – the clean sheet without O’Dea and Gomis, and El Bakhtaoui scoring being right at the top of the list.
NR: I have to confess when I saw the Dundee starting XI on Saturday at Dens I immediately felt Saints had a great chance of winning the game. Tommy Wright’s side did not play badly but Dundee were clinical in taking their chances and also had a helping hand thanks to Steven Anderson’s own goal. Dark Blues boss Paul Hartley now has to decide whether to return to a back three when O’Dea and Gomis are fit or to stick with the back four that worked so well against Saints.
IR: OK, so I’m not claiming I predicted it but what we should all remember is that Hartley has a happy habit of getting a great result when he most needs one. I was particularly happy for El Bakhtaoui that he scored after missing that chance at Celtic Park. Saints appear vulnerable to a surprise result every now and again. It must baffle their manager.
Q: The Premiership table is starting to look quite encouraging for Dundee. How close are they to being considered out of the relegation battle?
EN: They are six and five points away from bottom and second bottom just now. If that reaches 10 and nine then they will be out of it.
NR: It is still so tight in the Premiership that Dundee are not out of the woods just yet. There are still too many off-days for Paul Hartley’s side – Saturday’s comfortable win over Saints and the previous Friday night comeback victory against Hearts sandwiched a poor display and defeat at Partick Thistle. Dundee’s first league game after the break is a tricky trip to Aberdeen but the next two against struggling Kilmarnock and Inverness are absolutely key.
IR: Just as you can move up the table with speed so you can fall back down again. No one at Dens will be thinking they are out of danger just yet.
Q: Inverness would appear to be a team in freefall. Have we now got our relegation favourites?
EN: They are certainly ticking all the boxes. Dodgy at the back, a double figures run without a win, rookie manager who looks a bit befuddled by it all and transfer speculation about a couple of their better players. I’ll let Neil speak about Richie Foran’s beard.
NR: Ah, the beard. Each unto their own and all that but I really struggle to take a manager seriously with that ridiculous facial growth. However, Foran’s side have much bigger problems than a dodgy beard and it will be interesting to see if the club board back him this month in the form of player reinforcements.
IR: At the risk of joining in the beardism above, maybe Foran can be Samson in reverse. Out comes the shaving foam and the results improve. Maybe….
Q: Tommy Wright seemed to be quite philosophical post-match. What’s your assessment of Saints’ situation going into the break?
EN: I’d be surprised if anybody catches them in fifth and I’d give them a great chance of overtaking Hearts in fourth with all the uncertainty of how Ian Cathro’s team is going to evolve. Saints back in Europe? It could happen.
NR: I think Saints and Hearts will be battling it out until the end of the season to see who will finish fourth. If Tommy Wright’s men can sort out their home form, my money would be on them achieving that aim.
IR: I agree with my colleagues that fourth is still a realistic goal for Saints.
Q: Are you a fan of the break?
EN: I don’t have a problem with it. I haven’t heard many managers speak out against it either.
NR: The likes of Dundee played six times in December so I am fairly sure the players will welcome the chance to recharge their batteries.
IR: So it’s OK for the pampered Premiership but the rest of the players need to just get on with it? No, I would rather it was business as usual.
Q: Celtic continue to stretch away from the rest after another Old Firm win. How many points will they win the league by?
EN: It’s 19 just now so I’ll go for 23. Brendan Rodgers will start changing things up once the title is officially done and dusted, and the Scottish Cup becomes the new priority, so that will stop it getting really silly.
NR: I have said before that I felt the biggest danger to Celtic was complacency but now I just cannot imagine Brendan Rodgers allowing that to happen. Instead, I can see them keeping their foot on the pedal until the end of the season, setting all sorts of new records along the way.
IR: It’s not Celtic’s fault but the gap is unhealthy for Scottish football. Many thought that Rangers’ return to the top flight would see it narrow but the opposite is happening. I think it will be mid-20s.
Q: The Championship will get the Scottish football focus in the next couple of weeks. How significant was the swing between Dundee United and Hibs on Saturday?
EN: The significance of it is magnified by the fact that United fans would have quite reasonably been hoping it could have been the other way round. Obviously the end of United’s magnificent unbeaten run has to be put in perspective, and Ray McKinnon would have gladly accepted being one point off Hibs at this stage, but there is no denying that a lot of pressure has been taken off Neil Lennon’s side for Friday night.
NR: Having displaced Hibs at the top of the table, United will still be kicking themselves that they failed once again at Dumbarton. However, there is no better way to try to bounce back than a mouth-watering game at Easter Road on Friday night.
IR: United should be reminding themselves that they are unbeaten against Hibs this season and look at least their equal man for man. They also need to compartmentalise the Dumbarton defeat and I’m sure McKinnon will have his team ready for Friday. It is shame they are not going to Easter Road as leaders but they can leave the stadium as table-toppers.
Q: John McGinn could be back for Hibs on Friday night. That would be great news for them, wouldn’t it?
EN: Yes and no. McGinn was badly missed at Tannadice but you can’t expect a player who has been out for seven weeks to be at his best in his first game back.
NR: I think it would be a huge gamble if Neil Lennon decided to send McGinn straight back into a game of such huge importance. A place on the bench is more likely and United instead must try to keep on-loan Celtic star Kris Commons quiet.
IR: Commons is settling in and Hibs have also signed winger Chris Humphrey so there are plenty of players other than McGinn for United to deal with.
Q: How do United win this one?
EN: In a very boring fashion. Soak up the Hibs pressure, frustrate them until their main goal threat Jason Cummings is taken off and hope that Tony Andreu can show his class. They don’t need to force the game. A 0-0 draw would be a great result.
NR: Prior to Saturday’s disappointing Dumbarton defeat, United had shown they could grind out wins when necessary. That will be key if they are to triumph in Leith on Friday.
IR: They are still decent at the back because the goals they have lost recently against Dumbarton and St Mirren have been freakish to say the least. So they can be confident of keeping Hibs out. At the other end, I expect Andreu to play and if so they will have the most talented man on the park. They are obviously short of attacking options but I wouldn’t rule out a narrow win for them.
