All things Dundee FC

[Chateau Lafite]

Can't be sticking a 17 year old laddie in Wighton up top on his own! That's craziness.

totally but he needs to play just behind Clarkson or Tank.

[rambling syd rumpo]

Can't be sticking a 17 year old laddie in Wighton up top on his own! That's craziness.

For what it's worth I don't see Heffernan's arrival restricting Wighton much. At least it won't while Hartley wants to play a 4-2-3-1 formation, which seems to be our default setting. Wighton can slot into that as one of the three behind the lone striker. I agree he won't be playing up front on his own. He might have been under our previous manager, but I don't see it happening under Paul Hartley.

[Ludo*1]

rambling syd rumpo, on 03 Feb 2015 - 12:39, said:

For what it's worth I don't see Heffernan's arrival restricting Wighton much. At least it won't while Hartley wants to play a 4-2-3-1 formation, which seems to be our default setting. Wighton can slot into that as one of the three behind the lone striker. I agree he won't be playing up front on his own. He might have been under our previous manager, but I don't see it happening under Paul Hartley.

Either do I, but the default argument seems to be that Heff is hindering Wighton's progress and I don't understand it.

[rambling syd rumpo]

I was tempted to start a rumour that the bigger two McGinn brothers were working hard on baby brother John to join the family set up at Dens when he's out of contract in the summer, and that it's looking like a goer.

However, the poor St Mirren fans are so bereft after they flogged Kenny McLean that I'm worried they'd actually believe me. I wouldn't want to be responsible for the consequences.

[Deefiant]

Can't be sticking a 17 year old laddie in Wighton up top on his own! That's craziness.

totally but he needs to play just behind Clarkson or Tank.

For what it's worth I don't see Heffernan's arrival restricting Wighton much. At least it won't while Hartley wants to play a 4-2-3-1 formation, which seems to be our default setting. Wighton can slot into that as one of the three behind the lone striker. I agree he won't be playing up front on his own. He might have been under our previous manager, but I don't see it happening under Paul Hartley.

I agree with his - I wasn't saying batter him up top on his own (although it is something he will need to learn at some point if he is to be the striker we seem to be touting him as).

He has shown that he can come on and play up top and make an impact though, Partick at Dens being an example. When we are chasing a game at home and perhaps switch to a 442 you are potentially looking at 3 strikers on the bench o choose from?

It could be that Hartley ses him as an attacking midfielder / just off the front man type player - I personally think hats what he is suited to just now but he's not going to start ahead of Harkins and doesn't seem to be the go to man when Harkins comes off.

ETA - My work keyboard hates me - thats a clusterfuck with typos but I'm not going back and changing it.

Edited February 3, 2015 by Deefiant

[Moo]

I was tempted to start a rumour that the bigger two McGinn brothers were working hard on baby brother John to join the family set up at Dens when he's out of contract in the summer, and that it's looking like a goer.

However, the poor St Mirren fans are so bereft after they flogged Kenny McLean that I'm worried they'd actually believe me. I wouldn't want to be responsible for the consequences.

He hasn't stood out in the games against us so far this season and Saints fans say he hasn't performed as well as last season. If Saints get relegated, he will probably end up at another Premiership club.

[rambling syd rumpo]

Us, hopefully. I mentioned we were looking to bring him in on a thread and was told that the three of them don't work together.

The same poster was honest enough to admit that those words have been said before and that turned out pretty laughable.

Plus, John lost someone at a corner once.

I think he was riffing on a much loved old P&B theme there.

[dburns]

My opinion on the signings

Heffernan - Short term contract not on loan, waste of us paying his wages unless he shocks us - someone who Wighton can learn off of and nothing more.

Stephen McGinn - Given he hasn't kicked a ball in a competitive game in almost 3 months before the Hamilton game, will be good to see him when he's fit as he gave us trouble in pre-season when we played against him.

Ben Priest - Defender prospect, looking forward to seeing if he can get involved before Davidson if we have problems at the back.

Outs:

Roberts - Hopefully Bazza can frighten some responsibility into the boy.

Carreiro - To be fair he's an attacking mid/striker. ahead of him as Attacking Mid we already have GGH, McGowan and McAlister. As a striker Stewart, Tank, Clarkson, Wighton and now Heffernan would get the nod before him. Totally makes sense he's been loaned out again.

[Deemons]

Kyle Letherens brother retweeted something which contained this link -http://www.soccerladuma.co.za/news/articles/categories/south-africa/kyle-letheren-linked-to-the-psl/199402

"He is willing to come to South Africa to further his career here" wouldn't really "further" his career...

[1320Lichtie]

Arbroath have tailed off down to the fact our entire back 4 have gotten themselves injured, still probably should have won more than we have but 21 played 14 wins 4 defeats and 3 draws isn't bad.

Carreiro was incredible for us, probably the best loanee we've had ability wise and I feel he'd be playing week in week out for yous if he bulked up a bit and got a bit more physical. I'm sure he will make an impact next season with you.

Edited February 3, 2015 by 1320Lichtie

[dundeefc1783]

Hopefully Carriero can pick up where he left of at Arbroath and come back and make an impact next season.

He does look very lightweight but am I right in saying PH isn't keen on players doing weight training and bulking up?

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[Mon Dieu]

McPake in particular has been a very good signing. He's been fit for almost every game (*touch wood*) and has been a calming influence. The way we have played this season is to try and outscore teams so we often leave the defence pretty exposed and it would be a lot worse without him. He's ovbiously got his shortcomings though but looks like he'd be a good defender for any of the bottom 6 sides so he's one that might have made a difference but it's more bad luck than anything else that he wasn't that fit last year.

Thomson is a bit weirder because he's had a few spells out but when he has managed a conistsent run in the team, he does exert a strong influence. Seems like he was sort of thrown back into the Hibs team last season and I'm not really sure that you get the best out of him after only a couple of games with things changing.

To be honest, from an outsiders perspective, it didn't look like Hibs had that bad a squad. Players there have done good elsewhere in their careers and of that 11 that started in the relegation match, I wouldn't have been opposed to signing them all apart from Maybury, Nelson and Haynes. Even the bench had Collins, Cairney and Thomson who have something about them. Just seems to be that so many things went wrong at one time that when low confidence was combined with panicked team selections, things can go wrong very fast.

Good lesson to everyone that even a squad that looks too strong for relegation can manage it.

Haynes was a loan signing, but the rest of your post is spot-on. Things went wrong fast when Butcher came into the club and openly slammed the side early-on.

McPake's back problem was an underlying injury that intermittently flared up throughout the 2012-13 season.

Not too long ago, that type of injury would have ended a player's career. He put off getting surgery in the hope that he could cope with it.

Instead, it led to a gradual deterioration in performances and fitness. He missed the second half of last season, after finally undergoing surgery.

McPake was one of the many players ^allegedly told to bugger off by Butcher, long before the season had ended.

He went from being our saviour and leader, to a lambasted figure. We didn't know who/what to blame with McPake; whether it was him becoming a poor player, a bad relationship with the staff, a disappearance of commitment & determination or if it was just the injury.

Thomson was just the same, no-one seemed to know what was going on with him. He managed to divide opinion between the Hibs support from the moment he signed, to the moment he left. Back in 2007, he didn't leave the club in a great light and came back to half the support maintaining a dim view of him. There were consistently claims of a bust-up/row between him and other players, not to mention Fenlon and Butcher. He had struggled with injuries before joining Hibs, but there were some fans dubious over his sporadic times out of the team due to an 'injury'. There was usually a story to go along with each 'injury' that he and Fenlon/Butcher didn't get on, etc. His performances were unpredictable in quality and I don't believe they were down to injuries/fitness.

Thomson was also one of the many players ^allegedly told to bugger off by Butcher.

He was told to find a new club in January, then ended up getting played toward the end of the season as we desperately tried to avoid the playoffs.

Heffernan was a good striker for us when he wasn't injured (and when he played).

He was a good goalscorer and finisher, but he runs in ever-thickening treacle. He was one of the most significant sufferers of Butcher's regime.

Heffernan complemented Collins well under Fenlon and they looked set to succeed until he got injured. He then found himself in a new manager's side that solely used a lone striker upfront. Since Collins ran around like a headless chicken and could last a full 90 minutes, Heffernan was often left on the bench. Both strikers struggled with Butcher's set-up and we struggled to get goals from anywhere other than our centre-backs.

His legs were completely gone by this season and he rightly became our 7th-choice striker this season.

Dundee will have to bring the game into the opposition's box for Heffernan to provide goals.

I also forgot to mention Alex Harris, who also completely disintegrated from an injury. The difference with Harris' capitulation appeared to be more mental than physical though. He was a vital part at the end of the 2012-13 season, but a serious injury at the start of 2013-14 left him out of the side for months. He was mirrored by Sam Stanton, who suffered a similarly serious injury a year earlier, but came back with a bang after his recovery and almost saved our season. Both faded back to backup and Stubbs' set-up has rarely used a winger, so it makes sense that he tries to develop on loan rather than sitting on the bench for a position that isn't there.

While you were in 7th last season, the points gap between us and the bottom is significantly more than the one hibs had.

At this point last season, Hibs were 9 points from second-bottom (with a game in hand) whilst Dundee are 15 points from second-bottom.

It is irrelevant though as my post was completely tongue-in-cheek!

[dundeefc1783]

Sure it was said at time that he wasn't actually even offered the job

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[Chateau Lafite]

I'll bet he's glad he stayed. Cardiff are doing a Hibs at the moment.

[The Master]

Aberdeen game next month moved to Monday 23rd March, 7.45pm and live on BT.

Midweek derby also televised (Sky) but no change to date or time (8th April).

[Dee Till A Die]

Griffiths wary of Dundee ahead of cup tie.

Leigh has some nice things to say about the Dee.

[K.T]

He only loved his time here as he impregnated about 12 wimmin.

He is a top shagger.

[rambling syd rumpo]

I'll bet he's glad he stayed. Cardiff are doing a Hibs at the moment.

Nobody does a Hibs like Hibs. Unless they've got Terry Butcher as manager.

Changing the subject, the new @dundeefcoffline Twitter parody account looks impressively like the real thing. I confidently expect at least one journalist to get caught out.

Whoever is writing it is no stranger to Dens. As evidence, "we discuss cigars with Pat Liney".

[Ludo*1]

What was asked and said?

[DEEJANGO]

What was asked and said?

He said "Cardiff are going down faster than a Air Asia plane"