There were some who felt Neil McCann’s stinging criticism of Dundee’s performance as they lost at Hearts on Tuesday night was a touch harsh.
Dens Park vice-captain Cammy Kerr is not one of them and believes his manager was right to give him and his team-mates the hair-dryer treatment after the Tynecastle loss.
That’s despite the Dark Blues appearing to be right in the game until they conceded a second goal of the night late on.
And, although Hearts have had their struggles this season, Tynecastle remains a place where visiting teams have been on the end of much worse beatings than Dundee got.
For Kerr, though, it’s all about maintaining the standards that have been set in recent displays and that, for months now, the squad have been working hard to reach.
“We definitely can and should do better than we did on Tuesday, there’s no doubt about that,” said the defender.
“After the game the gaffer was not happy because we’ve got to a level now that has risen and he says we should make sure we are performing at those levels.
“And the coaching staff should be able to trust us that we will perform at those levels. If we’re not doing it and we slip below what we’re capable of, there’s obviously reason to be disappointed.
“If that’s the case, we have to accept the criticism from the gaffer — it’s only fair.”
As those words suggest, Kerr sees no excuse for what he admitted was a showing against the Jambos that lacked punch.
“Even when we lost to Aberdeen last week we were very unlucky and before that we go and beat Rangers, then go up to Dingwall and get a great result with a very good performance against Ross County.
“We also got a clean sheet up there, which was something we hadn’t been getting recently. It was the first one in the Premiership this season and it gave us something to build on.
“On Tuesday, though, I just felt our performance was very flat. We were not on it the way we should have been.
“There was not much to say. We couldn’t look at it and say well, we did well there and maybe we were a bit unlucky here.
“There was nothing in the game where we thought we pushed them the way we have been against teams in recent games. We huffed and puffed and didn’t get forward like we know we can.”
As a squad that underwent major reconstruction over the summer, inconsistency may seem forgivable but Kerr isn’t having that.
“We are still a new team and there might be times when we have these dips but we are a close-knit group and we work hard on doing the right things, so we take it really badly when things like this happen.
“After the last few results and performances, we are expecting so much.
“Not necessarily that we are going to win every week because that’s not going to happen in this league but we do expect to keep to the standards we’ve shown we’re capable of.”
Disappointing as Tuesday was, Kerr’s focus is now on the Dens clash with struggling Partick Thistle this weekend.
“We did let ourselves down, we all know that and we need to make sure come Saturday we get back to those standards and don’t let ourselves down again.
“Last time we played Partick we had a great opportunity and it was a massive miss because we lost a game we should have won.
“That can’t happen again!”
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