Dundee’s cup woes continued with a dreadful home defeat to Championship strugglers St Mirren. In the wake of their second early exit from the knock-out competitions in one season, Courier Sport finds three reasons for fans to be optimistic and three reasons to be worried.
1 League is the priority
It wouldn’t have felt like it on Saturday, and still probably doesn’t, but staying in the Premiership has to be the primary goal for Dundee this season. That was the case from the moment they were cut adrift at the bottom of the table in October.
It has been a pretty impressive turn-around.
As bad as Dundee looked at the weekend, they were in a worse place after that midweek Partick Thistle match. Five wins and a draw in their last 10 league games is a sequence that, if repeated, would take them comfortably clear of the play-off picture and possibly even into the top six.
Few will be predicting any points at Pittodrie on Friday night but the Dark Blues face Kilmarnock, Inverness, Motherwell and Partick in four of their five matches after that. A mid-table finish, probably just below the cut line, is still to be expected.
2 The manager is still in credit
Paul Hartley deserves credit for the reasons mentioned above – getting his team out of real trouble – and for a promotion, as well as establishing Dundee as a Premiership side.
He has had to sell his two best players – relatively late in the summer window – and hasn’t had the funds to replace like with like. He hasn’t lost his eye for a player and if this turns into a rebuilding season, that shouldn’t be cause for panic. Hartley will be a better manager for the tough times Dundee have had in the cup and the league.
3 The transfer window isn’t shut yet
The 3-0 defeat of St Johnstone in the last game before the break probably wouldn’t have helped Hartley’s cause if he was hoping to persuade the American owners that he needed January reinforcements.
Better that the bucket of cold water is thrown over the money men now than in February.
This must be an infuriating squad of players for Hartley to manage – capable of beating an excellent Perth Saints one week and then losing to a poor Paisley Saints in their next fixture – and I suspect the benefit of the doubt will no longer be given to a few of them.
FEARFUL
1 No excuses
There is no mitigation for a performance like Saturday’s. Ring-rust? No chance. Plenty of other Premiership sides hit the ground running after the three-week break, most of them against better teams than that St Mirren one.
It was just the latest example of Dundee failing to deal with the requirements and pressure of cup football. Forget talk of hoodoos and stuff like that.
At least when St Johnstone and Hibs were struggling with the weight of history they were getting to semi-finals pretty regularly.
The cup defeats, particularly to lower league teams, have shown up mental fragility and/or an attitude problem. That doesn’t come from the manager – who, admirably, hasn’t hidden from the fact that cup success is a priority.
2 They’re not safe yet
If avoiding relegation is the goal, Dundee’s league position isn’t one to fill you with dread. However, the defeat to St Mirren, the manner of it, and the soul-searching such a performance and result provokes in a dressing room has the potential to send a season spiralling downwards.
Friday night at Aberdeen is now key.
A heavy defeat and all of that Hogmanay optimism will have been wiped out. Teams have gone down from better positions than Dundee’s.
3 The natives (or at least, some of them) are restless
Of all the sets of supporters in the Premiership, you could argue a case that Dundee’s have been the most agitated this season.
The league campaign hadn’t even started when Paul McGowan was trying to calm irate fans down in Peterhead.
Dundee United’s failures the previous year, and Dundee taking the opportunity to send their local rivals down, probably papered over some cracks.
It should be remembered that those who shout loudest don’t always represent the majority of the fan base, but there’s no denying that there is a section of the Dens Park crowd who are sceptical about the owners, and aren’t happy with their manager.
If the anger in the stands at another cup horror show festers, it will take a strong head coach and strong players to make it go away, and stay away.
