The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
McIntyre’s faith in strike partnership
DUNDEE: Dark Blues boss confident Miller and Kallman will produce goods
Dundee boss Jim McIntyre admits he has seen encouraging signs that Kenny Miller and Benjamin Kallman could form a productive partnership up front.
The duo combined well for the Dark Blues goal that secured a share of the points on Saturday against St Mirren at Dens.
Kallman sent a telling cross in from the right to allow Miller to smash the ball home, the first time he had netted since joining Dundee at the end of August.
The former Scotland man had an earlier chance when Finnish Under-21 star Kallman had again been provider and McIntyre is hoping the duo can take up where they left off after the international break.
The manager said: “You are always looking for your strikers to gel well.
“I thought nine times out of 10 they were in the right areas with each other.
“The distances between them was good. There were a lot of times when the link-up play was there for all to see which then allows you to get the ball out wide to go and create.
“Benji did really well for Kenny’s early opportunity. His final pass could have been a bit more in front of Kenny which would have given him a first-time goal-scoring opportunity but there were encouraging signs there.”
The strikers were both substituted along with Miller’s namesake Calvin against the Buddies and when it was suggested it was because they had run themselves into the ground, McIntyre replied: “You are missing Jess Curran there as well. He was up and down the pitch like a yo-yo.
“But that’s just the way we want to play. We want to make sure we are taking the game to teams and putting them under pressure, getting a lot of crosses into the box.
“Equally, when they are having their spell, we need our wide players to get back in and help.”
Dundee only had one striker on the bench against St Mirren in the shape of Sofien Moussa while there are currently three front men out on loan – Faissal El Bakhtaoui at Dunfermline, Marcus Haber at Falkirk and youngster Cedwyn Scott at Berwick.
McIntyre did not rule out recalls for the loanees and he revealed that in the future he is hoping to create a post for someone with specific responsibility for keeping an eye on how players who have been farmed out are doing.
He said: “They (the strikers) are our players and at the moment they are being assessed at their loan clubs.
“We send people to go and watch them so we are getting proper feedback.
“Ideally, I would like a position created for the loan players, somebody who keeps an eye on them so we are getting reports on each game.
“But just now we have been sending people to keep an eye on them.
“The possibility is there for that (bringing them back) to happen but they need to be doing well where they are.”