Dundee

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Dundee are without Ziyad Larkeche (hamstring) and Scott Fraser (groin) as well as Julien Vetro, who is with parent club Burnley as he prepares to return to contention after fainting prior to the match against Kilmarnock earlier this month.

Goalkeeper Trevor Carson could be back in the squad, but captain Joe Shaughnessy (knee) is still out.

Hibs welcome back Mykola Kuharevich after suspension and Lewis Miller could return after missing the defeat by St Mirren through injury but Kieron Bowie (hamstring) remains sidelined.

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Captain Simon Murray says Dundee need to become "street smart" to tighten up and improve their fluctuating fortunes.

The seventh-place Dark Blues, who have three wins in 12 this season, have shipped an average of two goals per game and lost eight points from winning positions.

Speaking before Saturday’s visit of bottom club Hibernian, striker Murray said: "We have done a lot of analysis on where we are going wrong because we are doing some really good things in terms of goals scored.

"So it is just the other side now and maybe being a bit street smart at certain times and making sure we are focused for the full 90 minutes.

"It is not like we are searching for goals, things are coming, we have been playing well. It is just piecing that all together and getting the wins gives you confidence as well, it feeds through the whole team.

"We had a clean sheet at Motherwell, they are doing quite well, and we showed great character to come back against Kilmarnock. So it is the consistency because in between those we have had results that haven't gone our way and we have maybe made mistakes."

Murray is enjoying the responsibility of leading the side in the absence of injured Joe Shaughnessy.

The 32-year-old striker, who has scored nine goals this season, said: "It is a privilege to wear the armband.

"It is something you have to embrace. I am enjoying it, it would be nice to get a few more wins with it on.

"We have a really young team here and I am one of the oldest outfield players, so it is definitely something I feel I can bring to them. I can still learn off them as well so it is good."

We asked you what's the one thing nobody is talking about in relation to Dundee - good or bad.

Here's what some of you said:

Lambert: Last season we gave up so many points from good positions and this season seems to be exactly the same. Injuries have not done us any favours and holding on to Luke McCowan for so long did not help matters. The fact remains Tony Docherty needs to sort this out ASAP before we are in a relegation battle. We have been through that too many times before.

John: Lyall Cameron is a liability in centre midfield. There is no doubt he is a good player (not great). He tries his best but one or two good passes in a game is not enough. A good Championship player perhaps. It's all down to his build. Such a pity. If he was only a bit stronger in all departments.

David: The international break has come at the perfect time (not often you say that). I predict this will allow Docherty to implement much-needed tactical changes which could turn the season the right way round. He'll maybe even drop some players who are too comfortable in the starting XI.

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Dundee and Mexican side Monterrey have announced a strategic partnership that will "benefit both clubs in player development".

The Dens Park club also say the deal will "open a pathway to European football" for youngsters from the Monterrey academy.

Earlier this year, Dundee entered into a similar partnership with English Championship side Burnley.

"We look forward to this agreement providing great benefits to both clubs over the coming years," chairman Tim Keyes said.

Nicolas Martellotto, director of the Monterrey academy, says the partnership "represents a great opportunity for players to migrate to Europe and continue their development outside of Mexico".

Meanwhile, Dundee managing director John Nelms added: "[Monterrey] have a fantastic youth set-up with over 15,000 individuals in their youth academies, spanning across multiple countries."

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• Dundee have won just one of their last 16 top-flight meetings with Hibs (D7 L8), a 3-1 victory in May 2022 under Mark McGhee.

• Hibs have won four of their last seven top-flight away games at Dundee (D2 L1), more than their previous 12 beforehand (W3 D3 L6).

• Dundee have conceded 2+ goals in nine of their last 10 league games (21 total), including each of their last four in a row since a 1-0 win at Motherwell in October.

• Hibs have only won one of their last 15 away league outings (D8 L6), and are winless in seven (D3 L4) since beating St Johnstone 3-1 in April last season.

• Dundee have had more direct attacks (20) than any side in the Scottish Premiership this season, while only Celtic (94) and Rangers (94) have forced more high turnovers in the division this term than the Dark Blues (83).

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Dundee manager Tony Docherty is "really confident" his side will start turning their positive performances into wins.

Despite playing some good football at times this term, the Dark Blues have mustered just three victories in 12 league games so far.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's visit of bottom club Hibs, Docherty said: "I'm really confident because you need, especially when you are in my position, to trust the process.

"There has to be a belief and a trust from the players. If I don't believe it they won't believe it.

"It is important to remember, I think we lost 19 players and brought in 15 this year, so there is a time for them all to gel. But I see the hard work and conscientious players that are buying in to what we are doing.

"That is a process, within that process there has to be individual development and improvement in individual players, but as a collective you need to see that consistency of performance.

"I am confident that if we keep working the way we are, if we keep that trust and belief, then those consistent performances will lead to results."

While Dundee's form has been patchy, they remain handily positioned in seventh place in the table, albeit just four points off the bottom.

"It is documented we have made a lot of individual mistakes but the important bit for that is learning," added Docherty.

"It is a young squad, it is important that we address things honestly.

"There has been a lot to like about our positive play but we need to try and develop individuals and have a performance level that is consistent that would allow us to pick up results."

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Dundee manager Tony Docherty has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premiership visit of Hibernian.

Here are the key lines from his press conference:

• Defender Ziyad Larkeche will be "out for quite a while" with a hamstring injury.

• Scott Fraser is having an operation to resolve a groin issue and Docherty is hopeful he will be back in four weeks.

• The Dens boss is "really confident" his team will turn their good performances into wins and says you have to "trust the process".

• Docherty wants his players to learn from their mistakes and says the international break has been "really important to gel the squad".

• He points out the high turnover of players at the club in the summer and is striving to achieve more consistency in terms of getting a 90-minute performance.

• Docherty says his team have to hammer home the advantage when they are on top in games.

• He is expecting "a difficult game" against a Hibs team that have good players despite being bottom of the league but stresses "it is very much about us".

Dundee are seeking greater consistency this season as they look to build on their impressive exploits of last term.

It's an exciting time for the club on and off the pitch, with a new training facility on the way and plans for a state-of-the-art stadium at Camperdown awaiting council approval.

But what is the one thing nobody is talking about in relation to Dundee - good or bad?

Let us know., external

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Dundee certainly can't be accused of not giving youth a chance.

For example, seven of the 11 players who started their last game – against Aberdeen at Pittodrie – were aged 24 or younger.

Let's break that down further in terms of age: Jon McCracken (24), Ryan Astley (23), Ziyad Larkeche (22), Josh Mulligan (22), Lyall Cameron (22), Seb Palmer-Houlden (20) and Oluwaseun Adewumi (19).

And three of the five subs used during that 4-1 defeat were aged 22 or under – Finlay Robertson (22), Billy Koumetio (22) and Ethan Ingram (21).

The Dark Blues deserve to be applauded for this, but it does pose the classic football conundrum.

While it is great to see younger players getting first-team action, it also perhaps makes consistency of results harder to achieve.

Seventh-place Dundee have struggled to put winning runs together this season and the unpredictable nature of a younger starting line-up has undoubtedly been a determining factor behind some of those results.

But with so much talent in his squad, manager Tony Docherty will be confident his young charges will get into the victory groove and start delivering in a season that could still yield plenty for the Dens Park side.

Ethan Hampton
Fan writer

The prospect of playing the league's bottom team at home would normally enforce a positive mindset for fans.

Unfortunately life as a Dundee supporter develops the sense of what the worst possible outcome could be.

To lose to Hibs on their current run would be a disaster, but not unheard of. Dundee have an awful history of being the side that knocks out-of-form teams back to winning ways.

We currently have an issue with injuries too. Ziyad Larkeche has been our most consistent performer this season and he's out for months. A huge blow. He is our only natural left-back, with the second choice being midfielder Finlay Robertson, who is also out for a few weeks.

Scott Fraser appears to also be absent for the Christmas crunch of fixtures, goalkeeper Trevor Carson is out for the foreseeable and club captain Joe Shaugnessy isn't expected back until at least January.

It presents an opportunity for players who haven't been in the fold lately to step up and rise to the challenge. I am thinking of the likes of Sammy Braybrooke and Billy Koumetio.

The season doesn't hinge on this weekend, but a victory could prove hugely important by May. If we can kick Hibs while they're down, it will propel us further up the league and provide some momentum for the looming crucial festive fixtures.

While the team's performances on the pitch in the past decade have fluctuated, there's zero doubt the club has made excellent progress off the pitch.

We have been given the green light to build a training facility at Riverside and manging director John Nelms says this will wipe out 85% of the objections raised against the new stadium project at Camperdown, which is due a verdict for its planning permission in January.

These developments can help the club become a real fighting force in Scottish football again.

Nick McPheat
BBC Sport Scotland

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After a hugely encouraging start to the campaign, Dundee's early-season form has stuttered.

Although they are only three points outside the top half, where they finished last term on their Premiership return, prolonged defensive issues are threatening a season that began so promisingly.

Tony Docherty's side don't have many problems finding net, given only top two Celtic and Aberdeen have scored more in the top flight this campaign.

It's at the opposite end they suffer, however, as just two teams have conceded more than the 24 goals they have shipped in 12 league games.

In addition to that, no club has had more expected goals generated (20.82) against them and the 185 shots they have faced is a league high.

Those numbers play a part in Dundee's problem with holding on to leads - they have lost eight points from winning positions this term.

And that's an issue that plagued the Dens Park side last season, despite them going on to achieve an impressive top-six finish while conceding the second-most goals in the division.

With an attack that's a constant threat at his disposal, Docherty now must find a way to tighten things up in defence if he is to build on his success.

Nottingham Forest are targeting 16-year-old Dundee goalkeeper Ally Graham, who has previously been on trial with the Premier League club. (The Courier, subscripton required), external

Read the rest of Saturday's Scottish gossip.

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Managing director John Nelms says Europe is in Dundee's sights as they target another top-six finish this season.

The Dens Park club finished sixth last term on their Premiership return but things haven't been as smooth sailing this time round, with two wins and four losses in their last six.

However, 12 matches into the campaign they sit seventh and are only three points behind St Mirren with a game in hand.

"The goal is always to be in the top six," Nelms told BBC Scotland.

"For a club like Dundee, we want to get into Europe and kind of solidify one of those six places, or one of those five places. Every year, especially this year, we are there or thereabouts.

"If we get it right and we do the recruitment in the right manner, I think you could be there or thereabouts every year."

Nelms says developing young talent is a "big focus" for the club, who led the way last season in giving Premiership game-time to Scots aged under 21, although the majority of those 3,538 minutes were racked up by one player, Lyall Cameron.

"Tony [Docherty] is focused on the development of young players, which we are as well. He has the same mindset that we have," Nelms added.

"We have developed probably more young players than most clubs have here recently. But it's a very fine line to walk. You have to get that right, you have to get the mix right, the number of young players.

"I think right now we have four Under-20 Under-21 internationals - Scotland, English and Austrian - and but we try to marry that with senior players that they can look up to and learn from."

Dundee managing director John Nelms says the Premiership club could net a further windfall in the future from 17-year-old centre-half Seb Lochhead's August transfer to Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported £300,000. (The Scotsman), external

Read Thursday's Scottish Gossip in full.

BBC Scotland's chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering your questions on Dundee.

Ben asked: Things were looking so promising at the start of season for us but fast forward a few months and things haven't gone quite as well as a lot of Dundee fans would have expected. What do you think is the main reason for our struggle so far? Poor tactical set-up, individual errors, lack of leaders in the squad or the loss of star man Luke McCowan?

Tom answered: Certainly the loss of star man McCowan is a massive blow. I mean, you take out Callum McGregor and the Celtic team are going to feel that. This is the same. McCowan was the talisman. He was a tremendous player for Dundee and they've lost him.

I think they're five points worse off than this time last season. It's not a disaster and there are mitigating circumstances. McCowan is one.

They've had defensive injuries as well. They've had some late lapses in games. They've had some chronic errors late in games. They conceded a late winner to St Johnstone. They conceded three late goals to Kilmarnock. And I think back to the 0-0 draw they got against Rangers in April - which was probably a terminal blow for Rangers' title prospects at the time - and Dundee had in their defence Owen Dodgson, Joe Shaughnessy, Jordan McGhee and Ricki Lamie.

Now you look at what they have. Dodgson and Lamie are no longer there. McGhee has just come back into the team. He's missed plenty of games. Shaughnessy hasn't played at all this season. So Tony Doc is having to cobble together defenders and get confidence in them.

They've gone on this cycle of conceding two and three goals a game. All that confidence eats into these guys and it just becomes a perpetual cycle that they can't stop conceding goals. They get towards the end of games and they get a bit jittery. They're lucky that Tony Doc is the guy who's done it before. Last season I think he had a tremendous season and I would bank on him to do it again.

He's an extremely experienced football man and I think he'll fix it. But they're doing fine. This is by no means a disaster.

Tyrone Smith
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Dundee manager Tony Docherty will have much to ponder during this international break.

He cut a frustrated figure after his side's 4-1 weekend defeat at Aberdeen and his quote "the overriding thing is we're here to win games of football" was quite telling.

Yes, there has been a lot to like about their performances over the last few months, including spells of the showing at Pittodrie. But football is a results business, and however you dice it up, the Dark Blues have found getting wins on the board a real struggle.

That is something Docherty knows will have to change when they return to action later this month.

The stats don't lie – Dundee have won just two of their last 10 league games and three in 12 in total this season. It is a continuation of their poor end to last term when they completed the campaign with no Premiership wins in eight.

They have also been conceding far too many goals this season. However, the cloud of Dundee struggles does have a silver lining – Docherty's side are seventh in the table and the season has a long way to run.

Two or three wins would get them moving in the right direction again and make things look a whole lot better.

Their next game, at home to bottom club Hibs, would be a good place to start.

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Dundee chief executive John Nelms has revealed he wants to have another crack at playing a Scottish Premiership game in the United States after they and Celtic explored the possibility of doing just that in 2015. (The Herald), external

Ethan Hampton
Fan writer

Going into the game at Pittodrie I felt it was the best time to play Aberdeen. That looks a little silly now but truth be told it was never a 4-1 kind of game.

It was a very good first half to watch for the neutral, both teams were open and direct. It felt like I was watching fencing in the way both sides were continuously probing each other for a lapse in the other's defence.

Oluwaseun Adewumi was through on goal and should have sent Dundee into the lead, but his finish lacked conviction.

Then Simon Murray's penalty just before half-time was very tame and easily saved. It felt like a lazy effort with very little power and placement – just relying on the goalkeeper going the wrong way.

Goalless at the break and we could have been two up.

Jimmy Thelin's side are still rivalling Celtic in November and that isn't by accident. A few tweaks from the Swedish tactician in the second half pushed the Dons on to the front foot and as quickly as they drew first blood they soon doubled their advantage.

Once again Dundee were littered with mistakes in their attempts to defend and frustratingly it's not down to any particular individual. That makes it more difficult to fix as the issue appears to be systemic.

Coupled with the lack of clinical finishing, it distracts attention from the positives of the performance.

Murray did get on the end of a delicate cross from Scott Tiffoney to pull one back, but just as Dundee got a foot back in the door, we conceded immediately from kick-off and the door slammed shut.

That just about sums Dundee up. Aberdeen go on to win by a comprehensive scoreline, Dundee head into the international break wounded.

I feel like a propaganda machine when it comes to praising the same individuals for their positive displays but it must be said that Josh Mulligan and Scott Tiffoney were a greatly positive force in an otherwise dire outcome.

In regards to the break it's another chance to press the restart button. We're one win away from getting back into the top six, we need to grind out good results and levels of defending after the break to show our top-six credentials.

Producing homegrown players for the Dundee first team remains a part of the club's business strategy, says managing director John Nelms. (Herald - subscription), external

Read Tuesday's Scottish gossip

What would you like to ask Tom English about Dundee?

Our chief sportswriter is in the hotseat ready to answer your questions and offer his insight and opinion on your club.

Answers will be provided on Tuesday’s episode of the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast and on this page later in the week.

Put your questions to Tom here., external

Jordan McGhee returned from injury two months ahead of schedule and is eager to help Dundee solve their defensive problems. (Courier - subscription), external

Read Monday's Scottish gossip

Watch highlights of Aberdeen's 4-1 win against Dundee in the Scottish Premiership.

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