It’s dispiriting watching European football and recalling the prestige which the two Dundee sides once enjoyed there.
Dundee and United’s downward trajectory was brought home to me by the midweek Europa League and Conference League fixtures.
Anderlecht were in action against West Ham while Manchester United faced Neil Lennon’s Omonia Nicosia in Cyprus.
In the 1962/63 European Cup quarter finals, Dundee beat Anderlecht – the then Belgian champions – 6-2 on aggregate, before a Belgian record attendance of 64,703 at the national stadium.
The two Uniteds met in1984 in the UEFA Cup 3rd round, with the Tannadice side narrowly going out after a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford and a 3-2 defeat at home.
The key point is both Dundee sides, who’ve each been European Cup semi-finalists, could at one time compete with the best in the business.
Now, the way they’re performing, you’d struggle to make one decent side out of both squads.
They’ve made heavy weather of competing against some average sides in Scotland, never mind the top ones.
United, for all that they look a good side on paper, are duff in defence, have a marshmallow midfield and are powder puff in attack.
At Dens, inconsistency sees Gary Bowyer’s side already languishing adrift of leaders Partick Thistle, with four defeats and a draw in nine league games.
A leaky defence and an inability to keep their boot on the throats of opponents such as Cove in midweek after going ahead needs remedied pronto.
The weekend games against Aberdeen and Arbroath are filled with danger for United boss Liam Fox and his Dee counterpart.
At this rate, the derby might be back next season, but in the unedifying setting of the Championship.
Fans have a right to demand much more from two sides who have been well backed financially by their owners.
What supporters are being treated too just isn’t good enough.
Dundee is a city where a lot of folk are up against it financially.
Both sets of fans back their teams solidly with their hard earned cash, both home and away.
At present they’re being seriously short-changed.
A ‘holding midfielder’ is a term which does my head in.
I don’t buy the notion of the vital nature of this supposed link to protect the defence.
Good defences protect themselves and midfielders should be competent in winning the ball, holding the ball and passing the ball as and when required.
We’ve talked ourselves into a very tight corner in football with specialised positions for players.
The essentials for all players are fitness, an ability to control, tackle, pass and shoot, as well as dribble.
Every player will naturally have elements of their game which are stronger than others, but we’ve given too many an opt-out clause by pigeon-holing them into narrowly defined positions.
It starts early with kids of eight and nine telling you they’re left sided midfielders or, yes, holding midfielders.
I don’t expect a return to total Dutch football any time soon, but we need to rid ourselves of this obsession which constricts players and allows too many an easy excuse for poor performances.
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