Dundee’s last league win saw them open up a 10-point gap on St Johnstone.
Less than two months later, the Perth Saints can overtake their Tayside neighbours with a win at Dens Park on Saturday.
That’s after Motherwell inflicted a fifth Premiership defeat on the bounce at Fir Park on Wednesday night.
Two Dan Casey goals either side of a Simon Murray equaliser did the damage to leave the Dark Blues and Tony Docherty staring down the barrel.
Courier Sport travelled to Motherwell to take in all the key talking points from yet another dismal defeat.
Dr Dundee
Dundee are the worst team in the Premiership right now. The table has St Johnstone in that place across the season but for current form there is no equivalent.
If you want a pick-me-up then Dundee are the team for you.
Aberdeen hadn’t won in 14 matches, Ross County hadn’t won at home in six, they hadn’t won in actual years away from home until they arrived at Dens in December.
Add Motherwell to the list now – they had lost six on the spin before facing the Dee.
This Dark Blues side are a push-over, it’s clear for all to see.
January failures
Coming out of the January window, business done in the transfer market looked decent. In the long-term anyway.
Tony Docherty needed to address the defence and the goals being conceded – they pushed the boat out for Aaron Donnelly, paying a fee and handing out a four-year deal.
Immediately he looked like a bargain, putting in superb shows against Rangers, Celtic and Dundee United.
Since then, though, his form has tailed off sharply. Long-term he’ll be a success but short-term he’s struggling.
Imari Samuels was brought in from Brighton to beef up the left wing-back spot that had been a weakness due to Ziyad Larkeche’s injury.
Another for the future, he’s evidently not ready to be thrown into a relegation battle. Larkeche went off with cramp against Motherwell, the thought from the manager wasn’t to put Samuels on but instead to play Fin Robertson out of position.
The two Mexican additions have been bench-warmers in recent games, too. Victor ‘Chespi’ Lopez is still acclimatising to Scottish football and isn’t ready.
Cesar Garza made a real impact in his early games but has barely been seen since coming off at half-time against Hearts. At that point the score was 2-0. The collapse that set off this dreadful run then began, something Garza hasn’t been part of. He’s been a strange omission.
Instead of putting him on and moving Josh Mulligan out wide, Charlie Reilly was called upon to make his first Premiership appearance in over a year. To be fair, Reilly set up the goal and looked lively.
No replacement for Curtis Main has left the squad light in the striking department with Seb Palmer-Houlden injured while there’s no better player than one who is performing well out on loan. They could do with a Luke Graham, if only for his physicality at the back.
Even if signings work out long-term, early signs suggest Dundee came out of the January transfer window weaker than when they went in.
All-time bad
Dundee just cannot keep the goals out. They’ve tried 14 different players across the backline since December but no combination is working.
They are working hard on the training pitch to improve, by all accounts, but we’re not seeing much evidence on the pitch.
This time the move to a back four worked to an extent but was let down by mentality and confidence in key moments.
A basic block from Lennon Miller on Ryan Astley undid the Dee defence to allow Dan Casey a free header. The second goal saw players ball-watching and unable to spot the danger posed by Harry Paton out wide before he crossed for Casey’s second.
Just minutes after equalising – and deservedly equalising, it must be said – they gave it all up again.
Dundee are heading into all-time bad territory.
Conceding 19 goals in just five games is bad. Overall, 60 goals now conceded in 28 games is absolutely woeful.
Last season the goals conceded column was not good enough at 68 conceded in 38 matches.
At this rate, that will be overhauled before the split.
At this rate, this Dundee defence is on course to break an unwanted record. Twice in their history the Dark Blues have conceded 80 goals in a league season – in 1935/36 and 1927/28 – but never more.
Right now they are on course to concede 81.
Any positives?
There is one big positive – skipper Joe Shaughnessy made an immediate improvement to the side when he came off the bench for the final half-hour.
Dominant in the air, the Irishman brought a physical presence to the team and an air of authority at the back.
His passing out was on point as well, setting up the chance that led to the goal.
He is a major boost. A leader when the team desperately needs one.
Also leading by example is Simon Murray as the striker continues to get on the scoresheet. He’s now fourth in the Premiership scoring charts with 10 league goals, two off leader Sam Dalby.
Those two will lead, others need to follow if Dundee and Tony Docherty can find a way out of this mess.
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