Meadow_Jock

I'm partial to a 3/4 zip pullover myself, in fact I'm wearing one now, but I don't fucking sleep in it, and I wouldn't expect to be publicly defended if I did.

Best looking I'll grant you, but you can't be bandying about terms like "best dressed" for a guy who wears boxfresh white daps with his office gear, and a guy who literally only has one set of clothes.

I basically agree with this, but our bench really is breathtakingly bad. Basically, if no-one gets injured at all, all season, we'll be fine. If not though....

As for the actual game, that was...fun. Which is weird, because that's not a word I was expecting to use about the Dees this season, but early signs point to us actually being quite fun to watch, which is nice. After watching that, I think I'll bother to make the trip to Motherwell next week. I don't particularly rate McGowan as a player, but it's worth having him in the squad anyway for moments like his in-the-crowd-stonewall-yellow-card cello. Really strong work. Cummings actually broke into a a jog to join in with the bantz, which I think was the only time I saw him do so after the interval. I've seen him play multiple times for both the Dees and Shrewsbury, and I think that might literally be the first time I've ever seen him be asked to play 90 minutes. There are two possible outcomes here. One is that he actually gets fit enough to play 90 minutes. The other is that he gets injured, and Jordan McGhee finds that the latest stage of his utility man odyssey is spent up front, trying to play on the shoulder of the last man. I know which outcome I want to happen, and I know which outcome my money is on. As for Hibs, I know they were missing a few players, and I know they've had a hectic schedule of late but I was pretty underwhelmed. I don't know how to feel about this. On an idealistic level, I want Scottish football to do well and prove the naysayers wrong, and I feel like for that to happen you need the Hibses of this world to be half decent. On a more pragmatic level, if Hibs are one of the better teams in the league, then I suspect we aren't one of the two worst, because I think any fair observer would say we deserved a point to day. Oh, and also: DEE, EE, DOUBLE R, DOUBLE R Y, DE-RRY! How fucking good was it to be back in a stadium for real with no restrictions? Magic. Even the silly kick off time couldn't spoil it.

It's a shame to start with the negatives after a game like that, but I have to say how disappointed I was to see both managers kitted out for monthly dress-down-Friday after work drinks in Broughty Ferry. Ross was particularly culpable with his Adulterous Warehouse Manager in the Slug and Lettuce ensemble of white trainers and a blazer, but I find myself increasingly perturbed by the way that McPake seems to wear the same clothes every day. You could practically smell the Joop wafting off both of them from the Derry. Call me a dinosaur, but I much prefer big Jimbo Goodwin's Steely PE Teacher vibes. Must try harder all round.

Thoroughly enjoyed that, it was great to be back. Great to have away fans back too. Hard to try and be objective under the circumstances, but I don't think many observers would deny that Dundee deserved to win. It's a result that makes me feel slightly more optimistic about the league, albeit Motherwell do look like a team who'll finish in the bottom six. Thought the change of formation basically worked, and the Dundee front three caused a lot of problems.

This. ^ My first senior game since pre Covid and I can't fucking wait. It's a beautiful day, it's great to be back, and Dens looks fucking tremendous. Mon the Dee!

Thanks, mate. I've found it now. Appreciate that.

Is it possible to buy a stream for today's game via Dee TV from inside Scotland? Or would it be included in a season ticket pass if I were to buy my season ticket before kick off?

Speaking of redemption arcs, it is no exaggeration whatsoever to say that, by narrowly averting the political scenes which would have accompanied an England victory, Italy have finally redeemed themselves for their role in the infamous 1936 Berlin Olympics. This marks the biggest redemption by any country involved in that shameful affair since 1990, when Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle inadvertently redeemed West Germany in exactly the same way.

I like how "coke" is in inverted commas, like that's some kind of yob street name that respectable readers of a family newspaper wouldn't be familiar with.

This had better be worth getting incurable viral pneumonia for.

Much as I don't really want Partick go down, it's hard to see how it's going to not happen on that evidence. "Forster and Berra at the back for them today, lads". "Well, we'll never beat them for pace, so we'd better engage them in a hammer throwing contest".

I disagree. Cappielow is an absolute relic. New Douglas Park, for example, is an absolute shitehole. Theres a difference. One brings back fond memories of childhood on the terraces before money completely fucked football, whereas the other brings back memories of a trip to ASDA.

Fairly dire from a Dundee perspective, although I did like Cappielow a lot. A nice throwback to a happier time when grounds had character, were located in towns rather than retail parks, and weren't named after Tony fucking Macaroni.

Horrid second half today. The game basically panned out exactly the same way as all the other ones recently. Pointless slow passing at the back and zero actual penetration, combined with gifting a goal at the other end. Even our goal was more down to bad defending than good service.

*Jack Hamilton save klaxon*

I'm quite tempted to go to this mutual diazepam-fest, for the simple reason that I'm supposed to be off the drink this month and I need something to keep me out of the pub for one more Friday night. I take it it's pay on the door, and there's no fucking around with buying in advance and then pointlessly queueing up at some portacabin window to collect your ticket?

Edged it. Dunfermline were laughably bad at the back for 51% of the game, whereas we were only laughably bad at the back for 49% of it. Good finishes from the frontmen to demonstrate once again that they'd be an excellent strike-force at this level if they had some service from someone other than the opposition defenders. I also thought that was the most influential performance I've seen from Dorrans so far. Hamilton, however, is legitimately one of the worst professional keepers I've ever seen, and I've seen Shrewsbury Town play every bunch of diddies from Carlisle down to Plymouth multiple times. Most lower league players have a mixture of deficiencies and positive attributes - that's why they're in the lower leagues. McGowan, for example, is slow as f**k and prone to a meltdown, but does at least have some vision and generally tries to control possession. McDaid is a bit of a headless chicken, but is at least rapid and direct. Forster isn't very good at football, but is at least good at fetching things down from high shelves. In Hamilton's case though, I honestly don't really get what it is he's supposed to be good at. He doesn't stop shots and he can't control his box or organise his back line. I don't feel good about the slagging the boy so harshly, but at least I'm doing it online where he hopefully won't see it. Those laying into him at the game when we're 4-3 up and the whole team's probably shitting it need to stop and ask themselves if that's really more or less likely to make us hold on.

Agreed. I was reduced to a sort of incredulous laughter. That and repeatedly screeching "What the f**k?!" That finale was, if nothing else, certainly memorable. I do feel slightly sorry for Forster, as he tries hard and he's brave as a lion. Unfortunately though, the lion would win hands down when it comes to first touch, positional awareness and cross-field passing.

This was before my time, and I had never seen it before. Thank you for bringing it to my attention, as it is clearly one of the best things which has ever happened on a football pitch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnja51VticQ

I think, given the circumstances he took over, he has to be given the season unless there's somehow an actual threat of relegation come about February or March. I've seen almost all of the teams in this league now, and we're not the best, but we're not too far off. I do think there's enough good players there to get a decent run together if and when it clicks, particularly going forward.

Forgive me for not being glued to the latest Partick Thistle news on my Saturday night. There's a first time for everything. Anyway, clearly the right decision and everything I said about the game still stands. Good luck to Partick - I wouldn't want them to go down.

I was working in Glasgow today until early afternoon, and didn't have time to make it over to Morton, so I went this instead. f**k. Me. I have no doubt that Dundee were shite today, but I'm fairly sure the Pollok Juniors team I saw last week would have done Partick today. Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise - it surely has to be a catalyst to make Caldwell GTF. The really worrying thing was that the general mood in the crowd wasn't even seethe, but more a sort of "told ye so" resignation.

McBurney will get a lot of shit tonight - with some justification, because he was of no use to man or beast - but being in the ground and seeing just how isolated he was, you had to feel a bit sorry for him. He was trying hard, but there was just no-one fucking near him for the whole time between our goal and the substitutions. For basically an hour, people were just punting the ball up to him against four defenders, and seemingly expecting him to trap the ball on his eyebrows and then score a Maradona. The rest of the team was way, way too deep until it was much too late. Obviously Clarke is the best candidate, needs time, etc, etc, etc, but he really should have changed things at half-time whilst we were still in the game. I'm not a fan and I'd start personally start Snodgrass on Monday, but it's not fair to pick out McBurney as the main reason we lost that.