Dundee’s win at Motherwell was supposed to be a turning point for the Dark Blues.
They ended a poor run of form with a fine away victory.
However, that one step forward has been followed by two steps back.
Dundee’s display in their 2-1 home defeat to St Johnstone was their most disappointing showing of the season.
Courier Sport was there to analyse all the action, VAR-ts and all.
VAR farce
Let’s start at the end. The end where we’re all sitting around with nothing happening for six minutes.
OK, there’s a problem with the VAR system – they couldn’t see a part of Nicky Clark’s body to draw the line from to figure out whether he was offside or not.
The system should work better than that.
But the fact it took six minutes and 32 seconds to come to a decision is completely farcical.
Referee Kevin Clancy handled the situation as well as could be expected, calling over both managers to explain the decision before awarding the goal.
The decision itself was, eventually, the correct one. Nobody can definitively say Clark was offside and if there’s an issue with the VAR system, go with the on-field call.
When you’re getting beyond two minutes that’s surely the only decision left. Never mind four minutes or five minutes or even more.
That, though, wasn’t why Dundee lost this game.
Dozing Dee
Dundee started the game perfectly. They were winning the ball high up, wing-back Ethan Ingram kicking that off, and took the lead.
St Johnstone defended horribly and Simon Murray was only too happy in taking advantage.
Ziyad Larkeche then saw a fierce effort saved by the feet of Saints goalie Ross Sinclair and it looked like Dundee were going to build on the lead.
However, they sat off and allowed St Johnstone to have the ball. The gameplan was to leave the centre-backs in possession and then trigger the press when the ball went wide to full-backs.
There wasn’t much threat but sitting off allowed the visitors to build momentum.
More surprisingly, Dundee were dreadful on the ball. They just couldn’t keep it and were either forced backwards or could only punt it forwards.
Dundee ended the first half with just 28% possession. At home to St Johnstone.
That’s no disrespect to Simo Valakari’s side but that’s the kind of numbers you expect against Celtic.
For a team like the Dark Blues whose strength is getting the ball down and playing it was completely unlike them.
Half-time was needed to reset but there was just more of the same after the break.
St Johnstone peppered the Dundee goal early in the second period and there was no surprise when Graham Carey fired in the equaliser.
There are question marks over Billy Koumetio not blocking it and Trevor Carson not saving.
But still Dundee didn’t wake up, St Johnstone dominating the ball and well on top.
Before a simple corner saw Clark Robertson beaten by Jack Sanders in the air to kick off the stramash that saw Clark scramble in the winner.
Tactical gambles and midfield no show
There was no real surprise to see Docherty go with the team that had won so well at Motherwell the week before, minus the injured Scott Fraser.
But Mo Sylla was back and an easy option to slot back in.
However, this performance was nothing like the one at Fir Park. They popped the ball around for fun in North Lanarkshire.
The midfield at Dens on Saturday made little impact.
Sylla had a poor first half and was hooked at the break. He’s in the team to win possession back but did so just once in the first 45 despite St Johnstone having all the ball.
Lyall Cameron didn’t look himself, Fin Robertson almost gifted Adama Sidibeh a goal in the first half and Josh Mulligan was left on the bench until the 82nd minute.
With no other ball-winning midfielder in the squad, the manager turned to Sammy Braybrooke in place of Sylla to exert more control in possession.
His quality in passing improved things to some extent but more changes were needed as the game drifted on.
With his team still not playing well after the break Docherty made a bigger gamble. Larkeche has been a strong performer of late and Ingram had started this one well but both were sacrificed for forwards.
That left the back three to handle St Johnstone’s front three as Docherty went for the win.
It was a strange look to the side but they did create some chances and at the back it looked like they might get away with a 1-1 draw – until Clark popped up at the death.
Dundee were poor across the board and tactical gambles didn’t pay off. A bad day all round.
Premiership problems
Dundee have now played every Premiership side, apart from Rangers and Celtic.
It’s the Hoops next at Parkhead and a far better performance is obviously needed there.
But looking at the first nine games brings concern. This side and some of the performances they have put in should have earned more than nine points from nine games.
The hard truth, though, is they haven’t. And that needs to change pretty quickly.
They’ve now lost to both Ross County and St Johnstone, the sides tipped at the start of the season to make up the bottom two.
That is a worry, a big one. As is form reading four defeats in the last five league games and three home defeats on the spin.
A few weeks back they were losing but playing well. You can take silver linings from those matches.
But performances like Saturday’s only bring more clouds. And dark ones at that.
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