Uninspiring, lack of ideas, no creativity and no width, hence the title of this article.I don’t know about other Dundee fans, but this seems like a fair assessment to sum up Sundays dire defeat in Perth.
If truth be told, we didn’t do too bad in first half and the team were trying but in the second forty-five, we were devoid of any real threat to St Johnstone who really did coast it against us without even playing that well.
Despite the fact that St Johnstone weren’t playing that well, they were still able to produce the basics on the field. There was the link up between the defence, midfield and forward line that we have none of whatsoever. There were the runs and penetrating passes through our defence and even though a good few were offside, they still showed the willingness to play this way. Then there was the wingers running down the byline, cutting inside and causing us all kinds of problems. We played with two wing backs which should mean we would be bombing up and down the park but we saw none of that and when we did see a glimpse, it would seem they were too scared to take on a man.
Our style of play seemed to be route one, down the middle, which the opposition seemed to suss out pretty quick. The whole frustrating ninety minutes was summed up when Faissal El Bakhtaoui decided to pick a fight with the away dugout by heading it after being substituted through injury.
We did have one glorious chance to score but big Yordi Teisse fluffed his lines with the goal gaping and no one around him by shooting right at their goalkeeper. From then on you knew it would not be our day and despite pulling back a goal from the penalty spot followed by a late surge in the dying minutes, it would have been criminal if we stole anything from this match.
I came across a horrific statistic after the game when I counted that out of our nine goals scored, six have come from set-pieces. That’s a massive come down for a team that produced around FORTY goals the previous year through two players alone. When you look at it now, it would seem that they bailed us out quite a bit last season.
If you read some of my previous articles, I have stood by the team and manager without question. I’ve predicted that things would turn around and that the new players would settle in and do well but we are now ten games into the season and none of that has happened. Other teams around us are now starting to pick up the odd point here and there while we continue to stutter on the pitch.
There is no doubting it now, we are in a dire situation and things needs to change now! Hartley has been given the go ahead to sign Canadian international striker Marcus Haber but it’s been met with more negativity than anything. We desperately need someone who can hold up the ball up front and this is something I’ve harped on about for a while so I’m happy to see what the player has to offer. This signing has had its share of negativity from fans who feel we would be better suited spending money on a playmaker to create chances.
Next up for us is Partick Thistle at Dens Park which has turned into a massive game for the club. A defeat here will see us rooted at the bottom of the table with a minimum gap of two points depending on how other games pan out that night. I honestly dread to think of what the atmosphere will turn like if we make it six defeats on the bounce and another home match without a win.
On the other hand, it could be a potential turning point in our season. The pressure is on the team and manager which only intensifies after each defeat. A win here would produce the biggest sigh of relief since Kyle Letheren’s last minute save on the last day of our Championship winning season which if it went in, would have stopped us winning the league.
After Wednesday’s game we visit Hamilton, another team who are near the bottom, in an encounter which we must take something from. One of these games MUST produce a victory and in my mind we should be taking a minimum of four points if we want to turn things around but considering our current form, it is a huge task!
Still as always, I’ll keep the faith and MON THE DEE!
