The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
No need for panic at Dens, says Dark Blues legend Rab Douglas
It’s never nice to see your team bottom of the league with no points but it really is far too early for Dundee fans to get too worried.
You need to go a lap of the track before the table takes on real meaning.
Supporters are looking at the next three games and asking themselves where they are going to get a result.
Aberdeen, Hibs and Rangers isn’t an easy run, that’s for sure.
But I’ve got a feeling Dundee will perform better against the bigger sides in the division than they did in the last couple of campaigns.
The performance wasn’t great against Ross County but I’m told that they deserved better than they got at Hamilton and, in the second derby, they were really impressive.
You can see what Neil McCann is trying to do with his team – where he wants them to play, the tempo he wants to work at and how he wants them to press and get the ball back.
But there are a lot of new signings – as well as a relatively new manager.
It’s a real blow to lose young Craig Wighton, possibly for the whole season, and now Sofien Moussa could be out for a while as well.
All of a sudden Neil’s only got two centre-forwards to call upon – Faissal El Bakhtaoui and Marcus Haber. If one of them gets a knock, it would be a real issue.
He’s been backed in the transfer market so far and I would expect he’ll be backed again to bring in another striker before the window shuts.
If Wighton and Moussa had been injured after the deadline it would have been a much bigger problem.
It will be El Bakhtaoui and Haber, Neil has available to him at Pittodrie though. And don’t be surprised if this is the game Dundee get off the mark.
As I said, I think they’ll pick up points in games that Dark Blues fans have got used to writing off.
Great start for Hibees
The stick Neil Lennon takes sometimes is horrendous and, for me, he was entitled to give a bit back on Saturday.
Neil is big enough and old enough to stick up for himself but what will disappoint him most is that the off-field stuff has taken away from a great performance by his team to beat Rangers.
Hibs have taken their Championship-winning form into the start of the Premiership season and, if anything, they look even better.
Simon Murray keeps proving people wrong. Everybody could see that he had an eye for goal and his direct style of play has been successful at every level he’s played.
The one question mark at times was his composure but he’s improved that. So far he’s looked like one of the best strikers in the league.
Harvey’s debut
Christian Dailly will be bursting with pride to see his son, Harvey, make his Dundee United debut. It makes the rest of us feel very old, though!
Christian broke his collarbone early on in the Star Sixes tournament we were team-mates at a few weeks ago so we didn’t really get the chance to speak about Harvey.
One thing’s for sure – if he has half the career of his dad, it will be a very successful one.
“I’ve got a feeling Dundee will perform better against the bigger sides in the division