All things Dundee FC

[Fifespud]

Thank f**k. 
 
Better looking team today. The only difference I would’ve had was Elliot in for Kerr. 

Kerr can’t be criticised so far anyway.

[Dee Bliss]

5 minutes ago, Fifespud said:

 

Kerr can’t be criticised so far anyway.

 

Yeah he’s done away fine. Needs to improve his use of the ball tho. 

[Fifespud]

Yeah he’s done away fine. Needs to improve his use of the ball tho. 

You can say that about the other 10 players too.

[Ludo*1]

1 minute ago, Fifespud said:

 

You can say that about the other 10 players too.

 

You're being asked for in the match thread.

[Dee Bliss]

Ferrie done well today. Thank f**k. 

[DieDee]

Morton were far from decent. A single, early, goal ends up being the difference and they played long enough with 10 men.  3/10 from me, huge improvement needed. More tactically than individual performances, just no cohesion 

[Ludo*1]

1 minute ago, DieDee said:

Morton were far from decent. A single, early, goal ends up being the difference and they played long enough with 10 men.  3/10 from me, huge improvement needed. More tactically than individual performances, just no cohesion 

3/10 for a win and clean sheet regardless of the opposition is harsh!

[RossBFaeDundee]

6/10, adequate performance overall imo from the whole team. First half was good, second half wasn't near as good. A win and a clean sheet is nothing to be sniffed at though.

Ferrie - 6/10
Kerr - 7/10
Ashcroft - 6/10
McGhee - 6/10
McDaid - 7.5/10
Byrne - 7/10
Adam - 5.5/10
Dorrans - 5/10
Marshall - 5/10
Mullen - 5/10
Afolabi - 7.5/10

Elliott - 5/10
McGowan - 5/10

Need to be improved for next week, Raith look very dangerous right now.

Edited October 24, 2020 by RossBFaeDundee

[Dee Bliss]

Mullen done well to get a 5.

Ferrie better than a 6. 

It’s a win and another clean sheet minus Hamilton  

Defensive set pieces might be an issue for us this season. We must’ve had around  12 corners or so and I don’t think we won a header at any of them. Going by the reaction around Muirhead the 1st corner from our left looked a penalty for handball. 

[Fifespud]

It was turgid pish. I thought the whole defence did well, back to a 4 and Byrne did a decent job. Special mention for Ashcroft who looked solid to me. The jury is out on Ferrie. Had f**k all of note to do, despite the commentators trying to big up his ‘saves’, they were the sort you’d expect your keeper to cope with easily. He spilled one of them which on another day results in a goal. Looks dodgy at cross balls too. McDaid was very good in the first half, linking well with Cammy, faded in the 2nd and is pretty predictable. Afolabi is a decent player but raw, clearly. I thought Dorrans had a half decent game but Adam not so much. He’s got a great delivery but sometimes an extra touch wouldn’t go amiss. Mullen tried hard but produced nothing. Disappointed that Anderson didn’t get on. This ‘protecting’ a one goal lead against a ten man Morton - fucksake.

[Bigmouth Strikes Again]

7 minutes ago, Fifespud said:

It was turgid pish. I thought the whole defence did well, back to a 4 and Byrne did a decent job. Special mention for Ashcroft who looked solid to me. The jury is out on Ferrie. Had f**k all of note to do, despite the commentators trying to big up his ‘saves’, they were the sort you’d expect your keeper to cope with easily. He spilled one of them which on another day results in a goal. Looks dodgy at cross balls too. McDaid was very good in the first half, linking well with Cammy, faded in the 2nd and is pretty predictable. Afolabi is a decent player but raw, clearly. I thought Dorrans had a half decent game but Adam not so much. He’s got a great delivery but sometimes an extra touch wouldn’t go amiss. Mullen tried hard but produced nothing. Disappointed that Anderson didn’t get on. This ‘protecting’ a one goal lead against a ten man Morton - fucksake.

Spot on, bringing on subbies to defend a one goal lead, clinging on at the end as well against ten men, not impressed.

Thank you.

[Dee Bliss]

4 minutes ago, Bigmouth Strikes Again said:

Spot on, bringing on subbies to defend a one goal lead, clinging on at the end as well against ten men, not impressed.

Thank you.

It’s what McPake does. 

[DA Baracus]

Ashcroft is a good player at this level. He wants to be a solid leader type, and he had the potential to be, but sometimes lets himself down with daft errors, which is why he always works better with a more experienced guy beside him. It's no surprise that his best season with us was with Callum Morris alongside him. 

Afolabi is indeed raw but has great potential. He looked decent with us last season but clearly lacked fitness. Think he'll do really well for you this season.

[LM_0803]

Spot on, bringing on subbies to defend a one goal lead, clinging on at the end as well against ten men, not impressed.
Thank you.

At least some fans are realising how boring the footballs been under McPake. Seems like other fans are being delusional in thinking McPake has improved us since he joined. He's not brought in a good goalkeeper since he was appointed. He persists on playing Byrne even though he's not good enough (although some fans will say he "does a job", whatever that means, is that sole thing really good enough for a professional footballer to have, when we have 3-4 midfielders* that are similar to him??). He doesn't have a clue what his best team is, like his predecessors, and he is always swapping players and formations about every week.

We can't say it's been exciting to watch, nor has it been for years, but when he came in there seemed to be an emphasis on giving youth a chance. Are Dorrans, McGowan and Adam going to be the future of Dundee? I somehow doubt it. While young players have been making the bench under McPake, apart from Robertson, who has been given a proper chance in the starting eleven?

Even when Robertson has been given a chance, McPake still dropped him the week after, like he did in the 6-2 derby for McGowan last August, and for the Morton game in place of Byrne. Interestingly enough in the lead up to the second 6-2 derby all the talk was whether McPake would stick with the 16 yo for the high pressured and physically demanding derby, and in the end he buckled to press pressure, and dropped him. The first derby Robertson starts, we draw away and he's brilliant, in a game we deserved to win last December.

As you can probably gather, I am not McPakes biggest fan, and while I liked him as a player, it's not worked out as manager.

People will say I'm being too negative after we have won, but things aren't going to drastically improve at the club after we've barely managed to beat 10 men Morton 1-0 at home. Rant over.

[Ludo*1]

Think using Dorrans and Adam as a stick to beat McPake with is harsh. Fans have been greeting about Adam coming in for years and now that McPake delivers on that front, he's criticised for it? Plenty of stuff to criticise McPake for and plenty of reasons to want him gone but that's not one.

As for Byrne, he was one of our best players yesterday and excels in the role he was played in.

I agree with your overall point in that McPake hasn't improved us and that the goalkeeping situation is a shocking indictment on his managerial ability.

[RossBFaeDundee]

Always happy to see LM back with his monthly moans in the middle of the night.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

Think using Dorrans and Adam as a stick to beat McPake with is harsh. Fans have been greeting about Adam coming in for years and now that McPake delivers on that front, he's criticised for it? Plenty of stuff to criticise McPake for and plenty of reasons to want him gone but that's not one.

As for Byrne, he was one of our best players yesterday and excels in the role he was played in.

I agree with your overall point in that McPake hasn't improved us and that the goalkeeping situation is a shocking indictment on his managerial ability.

The point is that if you play with Dorrans and Adams you need the others in midfield to chase down and win the ball. In the Hearts game no-one was really capable of doing this role - having Byrne there I think makes a difference - using him in the way he should have been used last season - but didn't.

 

[Ludo*1]

7 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

The point is that if you play with Dorrans and Adams you need the others in midfield to chase down and win the ball. In the Hearts game no-one was really capable of doing this role - having Byrne there I think makes a difference - using him in the way he should have been used last season - but didn't.

 

Completely agree.

I hope it doesn't stifle Robertson's development, but our current strongest midfield set-up is Dorrans/Adam/Byrne (And I've been critical of Byrne in the past).

Likes of Anderson, Robertson and McGowan are good players to have to try and push that midfield to performing every week.

[RossBFaeDundee]

36 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

The point is that if you play with Dorrans and Adams you need the others in midfield to chase down and win the ball. In the Hearts game no-one was really capable of doing this role - having Byrne there I think makes a difference - using him in the way he should have been used last season - but didn't.

 

Very well put, I think the current setup is a lot more conducive towards Byrne's style of play.

28 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

Likes of Anderson, Robertson and McGowan are good players to have to try and push that midfield to performing every week.

I'm pretty certain that Gowser's role in the team will be up front rather than in midfield, considering McPake prefers him there in a forward/CAM role. Robertson and Anderson will defo have their roles to play in that midfield.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

I'm pretty certain that Gowser's role in the team will be up front rather than in midfield, considering McPake prefers him there in a forward/CAM role. Robertson and Anderson will defo have their roles to play in that midfield.

I think he'd be looking to swap McDaid, Robertson and Anderson about depending on the opposition.