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GEORGE CRAN: Dundee have a problem to solve but beware piling pressure on returning Zach Robinson

Zach Robinson has returned to Dundee from AFC Wimbledon. Image: David Young/Shutterstock.
Zach Robinson has returned to Dundee from AFC Wimbledon. Image: David Young/Shutterstock.

Dundee have a problem to solve.

And not much time to do it.

The squad is in place after the closure of the transfer window.

And I think most observers reckon Gary Bowyer has done pretty well in adding to his options, even if he had to be a bit creative about things.

The bench on Saturday at Hamilton was very strong by Championship standards.

And there’s still four first-teamers to come back from injury.

Team selection in tomorrow’s SPFL Trust Trophy semi-final will tell us a lot.

Gary Bowyer at New Douglas Park. Image: SNS.

Will Bowyer stick with his recent team?

Will he make big changes after the disappointment in Hamilton at the weekend?

And will that mean a new-look Dundee line-up?

Zach attack

If Zach Robinson is fit, I’d expect him to make an appearance at some stage.

However, I am concerned at how high expectations of him may become.

Every Dee was excited by his last-ditch return on deadline day.

Even Zach, in his modest, calm manner, is excited to be back.

But it’s not fair to expect a 20-year-old to shoulder all of the burden of getting the goals Dundee need to win promotion.

Dundee striker Zach Robinson scores from the spot against Raith Rovers (Image: David Young/Shutterstock).

Knowing him, he could well manage that.

And he remains the club’s top league scorer this term.

But scoring goals has been the issue all campaign, even when Robinson was at Dens previously.

Goal shy

There’s a reason no one has overtaken his goal tally this season, despite the fact he hasn’t played in any of Dundee’s last 10 games.

Paul McMullan has done his best – notwithstanding his recent effort from the penalty spot – to catch up but is still two goals behind Robinson.

Then it’s Luke McCowan on four and a bunch of players on two and one league goals.

Paul McMullan and Luke McCowan have been among the goals this season. Image: David Young/Shutterstock.

That’s the big thing that needs to change.

Robinson will, hopefully, have the same impact on the side as he did in the autumn but more need to step up.

Kwame Thomas has brought a focal point as targetman but no goals, Zak Rudden has left on loan while Alex Jakubiak only has one league goal to his name.

Creativity

But there’s more to it than just pointing at the strikers.

Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Hamilton was a dominant performance from the Dark Blues.

They had 14 shots across the 90 minutes and Ryan Fulton did play well.

However, the stats tell us the quality of chances created wasn’t great.

I’m going to bore folk by using the expected goals stat here but it paints a picture.

Hamilton v Dundee race chart shows the quality of chances created by both teams across the 90 minutes. Image: StatsBomb.

Hamilton’s xG in the game was just 0.1 which tells you they didn’t create a chance of note, their goal coming from a fine long-range strike.

Despite Dundee dominating, their xG was only 1.1 – the stats say scoring one goal was just about what you can expect from the chances created.

They must up that.

Tomorrow’s semi-final would be a great time to finally find their shooting boots.

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