Dundee have got themselves stuck in a rut after just one win in the last four Championship encounters.
So quickly do attitudes change after last weekend’s victory over Hamilton Accies on the road.
Fast forward seven days and just one point from games against two of the leagues poorest sides so far raises questions over where this season is going.
A response was asked for by manager Gary Bowyer after the 3-1 loss at Cove Rangers.
There wasn’t one forthcoming on a poor day at Gayfield.
Performance
Weather was blustery – it is Gayfield, after all – and the pitch seemed sticky so conditions weren’t going to allow a feast of fancy football.
And Arbroath were, of course, far more experienced at dealing with those conditions.
That’s the excuses out of the way.
Aside from the opening goal from Zak Rudden, however, there wasn’t much positive to take from a Dundee point of view.
They huffed and puffed and gave away few real chances but the quality we should expect of players at this level was sorely missing.
Arbroath were very much on top first half with the wind at their backs, Dundee weren’t nearly as effective with that advantage second half.
Footage courtesy of @DanielRosie39 and the Arbroath TV guys. pic.twitter.com/YFRDAnDlkd
— David (@DaveO1995) October 8, 2022
Lots of aimless high balls were played up to strikers Cillian Sheridan and Rudden but the ball rarely stuck and any decent passing from the middle of the park was non-existent.
More memorable were the poor touches and wayward passes coming from all over the park.
Chances
As poor as Dundee were overall, they did create the chances to win it. Victory wouldn’t have been deserved by any stretch but it could have been theirs.
At 1-1, Sheridan ran through on goal but couldn’t beat Derek Gaston from an angle.
Second half he set up Rudden in the middle of goal but the young striker wasn’t able to control the shot.
Then right at the death, substitute Zach Robinson missed from six yards unmarked in the middle of goal.
Manager Gary Bowyer pointed to those as reasons he felt his side deserved more than just a point.
Had they taken one of those, however, it would have papered over the cracks in this performance.
Early goals
Dundee are developing a habit of scoring early and then failing to go on and control games.
Rudden scored this time after six minutes before Arbroath took the initiative and got their reward through Bobby Linn’s firecracker of a free-kick, going in off Adam Legzdins in the end.
At Cove on Tuesday, Max Anderson scored early before the home side ran out 3-1 winners.
There was a 12th-minute opener against Inverness. That game ended in a 3-2 defeat.
Then at Ayr United, Rudden again found the net early on only for the Honest Men to register a deserved 3-1 victory.
In the last four games where the Dark Blues have failed to win they have opened the scoring inside 15 minutes only to give up the lead.
That’s a trend they can’t afford to continue.
Midfield
Boss Bowyer changed five players from the 3-1 loss at Cove Rangers but also changed tactic.
Most of the season he’s preferred a 4-2-3-1 or similar.
At Gayfield he went with two up front in a traditional 4-4-2 as Sheridan partnered Rudden up top.
That, though, took a man out of the midfield and it showed at times.
At no point did Dundee enjoy any decent spells of possession with the game largely passing Joe Grayson and Jordan McGhee by.
With the wind catching any high ball, knocking it around on the deck seemed the more logical option but with Arbroath lining up man-for-man the match was more fight than football.
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