THE NEW MAN WITH PLENTY ON HIS PLATE
DUNDEE have wasted no time in appointing a new manager following the sacking of Paul Hartley on Monday. A run of seven straight defeats in the league dragged the Dens Park club into the relegation play-off spot with just five games remaining — and the grim prospect of returning to the Championship after three years in the top flight is all too real. Despite suggestions that they would go for an experienced coach, at least in the short-term, Dundee yesterday unveiled former player Neil McCann — the 42-year-old more accustomed to a television screen than a dugout of late. Here, Sportsmail’s John McGarry looks at the job that lies ahead for the rookie boss...
GET THE SUPPORTERS BACK ONSIDE
Last weekend’s home defeat to Hamilton was an acrimonious affair, with large swathes of the home support turning on Hartley.
Having recently witnessed a 7-0 drubbing by Aberdeen, the club’s heaviest defeat since 1971, other fans are now more apathetic than angry.
Unsurprisingly after such a wretched run of results, it’s not a happy place. And such an air of negativity has had a draining effect on the players.
It’s imperative McCann acts as a unifying force. Positivity in the stands generally equates to brighter displays on the park. They tend to feed off each other.
McCann certainly cut a confident figure as he was unveiled — and said all the right things about survival.
RESTORE SQUAD’S FRAGILE CONFIDENCE
Belief has hit rock-bottom and is it any wonder? They’ve scored just two goals in those seven defeats, shipping 17 in the process. It’s utterly desperate form.
In such circumstances, players go into their shells. Goalkeepers stay on their line rather than command their box. Defenders lose individual battles. Midfielders hide. Strikers can’t strike.
An army of psychologists would do well to address the issue. But, as strange as it may presently sound, McCann can remind the players that they are much better than results suggest they are.
They’ve beaten Rangers this season. They thumped Motherwell 5-1 away. They were unfortunate not to take something from Celtic last month. When they are at it, they’re a decent side. They just have to remember that.
PUT SQUARE PEGS IN SQUARE HOLES
When things aren’t going well, as clearly they haven’t been for Dundee lately, a manager tries to mix things up in the hope it will yield a different outcome.
Whether this is the pre-match routine, training, personnel or formations, the hope is that a change from the norm will bring a change of luck.
Hartley as good as admitted he had been through the managerial A to Z after the defeat to Hamilton. But nothing was having the desired effect.
As understandable as it is to shuffle the pack in such circumstances, it makes sense for the new man to normalise things. Don’t ask full-backs to play as wing-backs if it’s not their game.
Those wins against Rangers and Motherwell came with a pretty basic 4-4-2 formation. The 3-4-2-1 seen against Hamilton must be consigned to history.
END THE GOAL DROUGHT
It’s hard to understate the size of the problem Hartley faced to replace the combined 36 goals Kane Hemmings and Greg Stewart scored last season.
But Yordi Teijsse — with one goal in 11 appearances before departing on loan to Wuppertaler SV in the fourth tier of German football — plainly was not the answer. Yet the former Dutch amateur has still managed one more goal than Henrik Ojamaa, a January loan signing.
To date, the three-goal contribution of Faissal El Bakhtaoui also suggests the step up from League One to the Premiership is too great. In comparison, Marcus Haber has been a goal machine with six strikes to date. But what does it say about the state of affairs when the Canadian international’s tally in April is still the equal of that of Stewart — a player who left to join Birmingham way back in August? Convincing his forwards they are worthy of the shirt is the toughest task facing McCann.
KEEP YOUR NERVE
The Premiership table makes for grim reading. But the situation is not beyond repair. A victory at Motherwell a week on Saturday would take the Dark Blues out of the play-off spot. Were other results to go their way, they could even be sitting as high as eighth by the time the weekend is out. What a boost that would be for morale.
The run-in then sees them away to Kilmarnock, home to Ross County, home to Inverness and away to Hamilton. Dundee have beaten all of those sides this season, so there is much positivity to tap into.
They are also five points and six goals better off than Inverness. That’s a pretty healthy cushion.
Automatic relegation is unthinkable but, if the second-worst scenario was to pan out, there would be no need to panic.
In the three years since the play-offs were introduced, the only Premiership side to have lost out were Hibernian. Both Motherwell and Kilmarnock prevailed at the expense of Rangers and Falkirk. History, then, would be on Dundee’s side… even if Dundee United were their opponents.
PUT FIRE BACK IN THE BELLIES
There’s no sense in dwelling on what’s happened. All that matters is the future.
There are five ‘cup finals’ which, if approached correctly, can yet see the side survive with something to spare.
But the players need to rediscover their nerve. They must come bouncing out of the tunnel at Fir Park on Saturday week, prepared to scrap like their lives depend on it. It’s the least their fans should expect.
As tough as it is to lift players who have lost their way, the new man has enough time to change the weak mentality of the side.