It’s incredibly difficult not to feel huge sympathy for Dundee.
They were forced to play their match at Aberdeen despite their squad being decimated by injuries and Covid.
The match ended in defeat but the Dark Blues can take plenty of encouragement from the spirit shown by the 11 players at Pittodrie.
And it was good to see my old team-mate Dave Mackay back on the bench again!
The club have registered Assistant Manager Dave Mackay as a player.
Dave will be on the bench this afternoon #thedee pic.twitter.com/9kmGA9Kk9n
— Dundee Football Club (@DundeeFC) December 26, 2021
But frankly it was a disgrace the match went ahead.
Now, though, the Dark Blues can take stock.
With three weeks until they take on Livingston, there is plenty of time to address the problems they’ve faced this season.
January will be a huge month for Dundee and James McPake has some real work to do.
I’d say at least three or four new faces are needed. Maybe more.
Even without Covid-19 cases, injuries have stretched Dundee’s squad in the past few weeks.
In the first half of the campaign, the Dark Blues have played well at times but still lost out.
That shows they aren’t too far away.
But need a bit more quality to turn those performances into points.
They lose cheap goals and that’s something McPake needs to address.
Even without Lee Ashcroft’s injury, central defence is a position I think the Dens boss would’ve been looking at anyway.
However, it is January and a window everyone knows you aren’t going to be able to get new players who have been flying in the first half of the season.
But the Dundee manager knows how important getting his existing players a bit of help will be.
If Leigh Griffiths can start finishing the way he did at Pittodrie on Sunday then adding firepower might not be as pressing as it was just a week ago.
He’s not had the impact we all expected.
To be fair to McPake, you look back at the start of the season and he had plenty of options up front – Griffiths, Jason Cummings, Danny Mullen, Cillian Sheridan and Alex Jakubiak all to choose from.
Suddenly, though, through a lack of discipline or injury, it was Griffiths and a not-yet-fit Jakubiak who started at the weekend.
With Sheridan out for the season, I do feel they need a physical option to give them a different dimension.
What they need most of all is a lift in spirits.
Five losses in a row is poor but there are mitigating circumstances over the past few weeks.
Taking a bit of a breather now, though enforced, has been timed well for the Dark Blues.
They’ve shown they can create chances already this season.
Adding a bit of quality at both ends would be ideal for the Dark Blues.
January is a crucial month for Dundee – they certainly need better form to kick off 2022 in the proper fashion.
