Dundee stalwart Paul McGowan admits he had a bad feeling 10 minutes into the 2-0 defeat at Livingston.
And that concern was proved correct as the Dark Blues meekly surrendered to Livi and Bruce Anderson in the second half at the Tony Macaroni Arena.
The experienced midfielder has often been the man for a blast to the media after a poor Dundee display.
Usually there is fire and brimstone, no punches pulled yet no arguing with any of the points made with such brutal honesty.
This McGowan post-match autopsy was a bit more circumspect, still fire in there, but with a bit more weariness that, yet again, he’s talking about a bad performance.
And, yet again, Dundee have failed to learn their lessons.
‘Shut up’
“Words were said and they had to be,” McGowan said after the players were kept in the dressing-room for the best part of an hour after full-time.
“How many times are we going to go over the same stuff?
“I should score to make it 1-1, I probably should have hit it first time.
“But I thought we were flat and there were no excuses.
“Even when we got beat at Aberdeen we were fighting for each other, out there we seemed quiet and it’s a hard one to take.
“Hopefully it’s an eye opener because we’re in the s*** now, it’s plain and simple.
“If I hear anybody talking about top six or that s****, they will be told to shut up because we’re in a dogfight now and we need to realise that.
“You don’t just play with ability, it’s about fighting for each other and doing the basics of football.
“Livingston were good and every one of them fight for each and make it hard for you.
“We were miles off doing that.
“I’ve been here loads of times, it’s a major eye opener that.
“The manager is working to get players in and they’re needed but as players we have to look at ourselves.”
‘Sums us up’
The first half was a fairly even one, though Livi had the better of the chances.
The home side took the game away from Dundee immediately after the restart, however, as Anderson notched twice inside 11 second-half minutes.
“I just feel like we’re never given ourselves a chance,” added McGowan.
“We start second halves s**** every week, every time we give up chances.
“Fifteen seconds in Adam has tipped one on to the bar.
“You can only say so much to us as players, you have to take responsibility.
“Then from the corner we lose the goal, that sums us up as a team.”
‘Nobody demanding of each other’
If anyone at Dens Park was unaware relegation is a real possibility then they surely are now after a dreadful start to 2022.
Five points adrift in the bottom two as the three teams above them added three points on Tuesday night.
“We’re in a dogfight,” added McGowan.
“Ask anybody in that team, we’re in a dogfight.
“We brought a great support down and we’ve let them down and ourselves down.
“I feel when things are against us we go into our shell. When we’re on it I hear voices and everyone demanding the ball, I didn’t hear that tonight.
“The game is edgy, it’s like, ‘you go and do something’ or pass the buck.
“I feel we rely too much on wee Paul McMullan and Luke McCowan and if they’re not at it then it’s like, we go through the motions.
“On the other side of it we don’t do the basics and are not fighting for each other.
“It was flat. There was nobody demanding of each other or helping each other out, it’s the easiest thing in football to talk. Help them out, ‘time’, ‘man on’.
“I had a bad feeling after the first five, 10 minutes.
“When we’ve got one, two or three not at it we’re in for a long night.
“Can we grind out a 1-0 victory at this moment in time?
“I don’t think we can and that’s me being honest.”
