Sticking together
Hartley hails squad’s spirit despite McGowan and O’Dea outbursts
THE post-mortem after Dundee’s heaviest defeat in 46 years saw Paul Hartley’s misfiring side subjected to forensic scrutiny.
However, as their performance in last Friday night’s 7-0 home defeat by Aberdeen was dissected, the most scathing criticism came from within their own dressing room.
‘Embarrassing,’ was the verdict of captain Darren O’Dea, who accused the team of ‘hiding’ and not being the type of characters you would want beside you in a fight.
It is also a safe guess that Paul McGowan’s (below) review of his own team — ‘gutless, s **** , p***weak, and Sunday League’ — will not be featuring on any Dens Park promotional material.
Yesterday, Hartley said he does not have a problem with criticism from two of his senior players; both of whom stressed the comments did not exclude themselves. And the Dundee manager remains certain that the required fighting spirit exists within his squad.
With personal pride as well as Premiership survival on the line, he urged his players to prove it against Ross County tonight.
‘Darren and Paul care,’ he insisted. ‘They said what they said because that’s the way they felt. They are passionate. They wear their hearts on their sleeves. They are both winners.
‘I don’t have a problem with that, but, hopefully, we will get a reaction now.
‘I don’t think there’s a problem with the spirit in the squad. There are no bad eggs or cliques here.
‘They are a quiet group, I know that. And Friday night was probably the first time they have experienced something like that.
‘But I think they have got it in them to give a reaction.
‘It’s okay talking and having meetings, but the important thing is what happens on the pitch now.
‘They have to go out there and perform. That’s the bottom line.
‘It’s not just about proving things to anyone else. They have to go and prove it to themselves, too.
‘They’ve taken a real doing. They have been hammered by everyone — and rightly so.
‘Now it’s about personal pride. They have to bounce back. The players all know we are in a (relegation) battle now.’ It is just a few short weeks since Dundee beat Rangers at Dens Park in the league for the first time since 1992. That result came amid a purple patch that saw Hartley named as Ladbrokes Premiership Manager of the Month for February.
So, how does he explain the same group falling to the club’s heaviest defeat since Celtic won 8-1 on Tayside in January 1971?
‘It’s been a really strange season for us and it’s been frustrating,’ he sighed.
‘Consistency has been a real problem. We can’t shy away from that fact.
‘We thought we were on a roll after beating Rangers and scoring five at Motherwell.
‘What happened on Friday wasn’t very nice, but there’s no point dwelling on it. I have to pick the players up, because if the manager is doom and gloom, people pick up on that and it gets you nowhere.
‘We’ve just got to get over it and get a reaction.
‘We thought we could finish top six, but we always knew we’d have to keep an eye on the teams behind us.
‘From now until the end of the season, there are six teams fighting to get away from those bottom two places. Every manager in the bottom six is saying right now that it’s all about getting points.’
Hartley welcomes back Marcus Haber, but Faissal El Bakhtaoui is out with a calf knock tonight. It is the latest in a line of injury blows that will restrict Dundee to a 17-man squad for the trip to Dingwall.
The Dens boss also confirmed former captain James McPake will be out for a further six months after his latest operation on the knee he injured against Dundee United in January 2016.
But midfielder James Vincent insists morale remains high despite the caustic comments of O’Dea and McGowan.
‘They are both emotional and they wear their hearts on their sleeves,’ said Vincent. ‘Some of the things they said were true but maybe it was the way they said it.
‘We do have fighting spirit. We have proved it before in games.
‘We let the boss and ourselves down on Friday and we owe him a result. We also need to make sure it never happens again.
‘It’s important right now to get points on the board and push away from the teams below us.’