Dundee boss Tony Docherty says the fixture schedule this season is “crazy” as the Dark Blues head for their fourth free weekend in the past three months.
After three international breaks, this weekend’s League Cup Final has seen Dundee’s clash with Celtic postponed until the new year.
And means the Dens Park side have the opportunity to put their feet up while others are in Premiership action.
However, Docherty insists there will be no taking it easy over the next fortnight or so as he bids to right the wrongs of the defeat at Hearts.
Dundee were poor in the 2-0 loss at Tynecastle and the Dens gaffer plans to put his players through their paces to prepare for a very busy festive period.
‘Crazy’ fixture list
Their next fixture is at Rangers on December 21 to kick off a run of seven matches in 25 days.
“It’s been a strange season,” Docherty said.
“I don’t understand the way the fixtures have come about. There have been too many breaks.
“And then all of a sudden you play four games in seven days or whatever.
“It’s crazy. You know, it really has to be looked at.
“But now we’ll do that again.
“We’ve done it all season. When we’ve had a break we’ve used the time properly.
“We’ve analysed the performances and we’ve come back stronger from it and I expect us to do that again.
“We have got a disappointed group and a really frustrated staff because I don’t think we gave a great account of ourselves [at Hearts].
“I’ve got to stress, in the first half. First half, we didn’t give ourselves a chance to win the game. Second half, we did.”
“But I can’t be too critical. The players have put us in a brilliant position with a good run of form up to Saturday.
“We’ll look at it, we’ll address it as a group and we’ll come back stronger from it.”
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