Getting Ready For The Serious Stuff

Last updated : 16 July 2017 By ed_ScottishFitba

C:WindowsTempphpE9B5.tmpDundee had another opportunity to get rid of the rustiness of the close season when they met Bolton at Dens Park on Friday night. Manager Neil McCann was pleased with his side's display against the English Championship side. He went on; "I’m a wee bit disappointed we didn’t get another win because that’s what we trying to achieve, to win all our games. Overall, I thought the performance at times tonight was brilliant. It was exactly the test we were looking for going into the season for real now with the cup on Tuesday night. I’m disappointed because the two goals we have lost are typical English Championship football where they bang it forward and work off the physicality. We had a word with Jack Hendry and Kerr Waddell at half time about being aggressive, just as aggressive in winning their headers and trusting in their ability in the air. I thought they were outstanding but overall some of the football tonight going forward was very good."

Captain Darren O’Dea missed the game to avoid risking him before the real competitive season starts this week. McCann went on; "
He’s got a wee knock and there was no point in taking any risks tonight. We’ll give him a couple of days where he can just recover back from it and I’m pretty confident he’ll should be ok for Tuesday."

McCann is still on the look out for more players to see Dundee through the season and on Friday signed striker, Tunisian born, Sofien Moussa.  The manager said; "Sofien has joined the club, and he is exactly what we have been looking for. We have looked around for a long time now for someone that can compliment what we have. He is very aggressive in the air, he’s 6 foot 3, he’s mobile and he gives us that physicality up front which I feel we needed to add. I’m delighted with the signing. He’s going to take a week to ten days, he is a couple of weeks behind us in terms of his fitness. He is a fit boy but he needs to get game ready so we’ll just be careful and not rush him. He won’t take long to get up to speed but we’ll just feed him in as the boys train at such a high intensity and he’s got to meet that."

With new players settling in at Dens, McCann is looking forward to their Betfred Cup opener against Raith Rovers on Tuesday. The manager said; "
What I asked for is boys to step up and put themselves forward and I have to say the boys that came onto the pitch tonight made a real impact and that is what you are looking for. When you make substitutions you want guys to come on and turn your head, what it showed me is that we have a squad that is very strong and all vying for positions so it’s a nice problem to have."

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