Dundee have got their captain back – and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Centre-back Joe Shaughnessy has been badly missed at the heart of the Dark Blues defence in his 10 months out with a cruciate ligament injury.
The 32-year-old made his long-awaited return to the starting XI against St Johnstone last weekend.
Though he couldn’t inspire a much-needed victory, a more solid backline saw Dundee pick up their first league result in six weeks.
Plugging a leaky defence is the big task for manager Tony Docherty between now and the end of the season with relegation a real risk.
Twenty goals have been conceded in the last six Premiership matches – a continuation of those numbers would see the Dark Blues in deep, deep trouble.
Hopes are pinned on the leadership of Shaughnessy alongside fellow experienced players Trevor Carson and Simon Murray.
So, just how much has Shaughnessy been missed by Dundee?
Debut season
Tony Docherty took charge at Dundee last summer and immediately moved to make Shaughnessy his first signing.
The former Aberdeen, St Johnstone and St Mirren man took the captain’s armband and led the Dark Blues to the top six.
Early days saw the Dee bed into the top flight and began a run of five clean sheets in six games that pushed them into contention for the top half.
As well as leading the defence, Shaughnessy popped up with crucial goals – a double in a 2-0 win at Livingston, a winner at Ross County and a last-gasp equaliser at Kilmarnock.
Across the Premiership campaign, only two players made more clearances per 90 minutes (6.4) than Shaughnessy and only four made more defensive blocks per 90 (1.2).
The defensive stability did, though, tail off as the season progressed. Dundee lost their experienced goalkeeper Trevor Carson for the remainder of the season after a 7-1 humbling away to Celtic.
They did rally after that heavy defeat to lose just one of the final six matches before the split. Shaughnessy & Co. earned a top six finish with a 0-0 draw at Aberdeen.
The following match saw another 0-0, this time at home to Rangers. But Shaughnessy didn’t make it past the 10 minute mark after suffering his knee injury.
Without their skipper and vice-captain Carson against the top five teams in the country, Dundee struggled to keep the goals out.
In the five post-split matches, the Dark Blues conceded 14 goals with a 5-2 loss at Ibrox the heaviest defeat.
That was a worrying sign of what was to come in 2024/25.
Season without the skipper
Dundee boss Docherty attempted to fill the void left by Shaughnessy’s long-term injury with defensive additions in Clark Robertson and Billy Koumetio.
However, Robertson injured a hamstring in the first half of the first pre-season friendly and has since suffered two more muscular injuries.
Youngster Koumetio, meanwhile, damaged his ankle at the turn of the year and has missed the last two months.
Those injuries have been compounded by bad mistakes and have left Dundee with stark defensive numbers this season.
Sixty-one goals have been conceded in 29 league games and this team is in danger of putting up Dundee’s worst defensive numbers of all time.
Shaughnessy’s return couldn’t be better timed – and here’s why.
With and without skipper Joe
Courier Sport got the abacus out to assess the impact of Dundee’s captain on the Dark Blues defence.
And the numbers show a real difference.
Since he signed for the club, Shaughnessy has played in 41 matches for Dundee and missed 39.
The win percentage is around the same – 34% with, 33% without – but the big difference is in the goals against column.
With Shaughnessy, Dundee’s defence isn’t perfect by any means – 61 goals conceded in 41 games is still 1.5 goals going past them per game.
Without him, they are far worse off. A massive 78 goals have been conceded in 39 matches, exactly two per game.
Simply, by these numbers Dundee can win a game by scoring two goals with Joe Shaughnessy in the team. Without him they need to score three.
And the difference in clean sheets is stark – 14 with him, just four without. Only two of those four this term have been against Premiership opposition.
Take away matches against the Old Firm and the defensive numbers look a bit better.
Shaughnessy played five times against Rangers and Celtic but Dundee conceded at least three times in each game.
Since his injury, the Dark Blues have faced the Glasgow pair on nine occasions and conceded 23 times.
With their captain in games against non-Old Firm sides, Dundee conceded 1.1 goals per game.
Without him, they conceded 1.8 goals per game.
The numbers are clear that Dundee’s defence is better with captain Joe Shaughnessy in it.
It’s also clear the backline is in desperate need of help after a damaging recent run.
Can the returning skipper be the boost the Dark Blues badly need?
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