Pre-match press conference: Dundee (A)

Derek McInnes spoke to the media ahead of our trip to Dundee, read every word from his press conference below…

After Saturday’s chaos was it a ‘read the riot act’ kind of performance or did you see enough good stuff in the second half to cut them some slack? 

It’s neither of them to be honest, but we are here to win games. Although we had chances in the first half, with us being the home team I didn’t like how much Dundee United enjoyed the game.

They scored a good goal from their point of view, but from our point of view there’s so much we can do to avoid that type of goal.

At half-time we were looking for a response, with these boys they’ve always had that, sometimes you’d rather not have to always search for that from a losing position… but second half for 36/37 minutes it was outstanding from us.

Then there’s a couple of stoppages with VAR, you run into 100 minutes territory and that game elongates itself, it requires full concentration to see it out

There’s so many positives from the game, nothing really changes after that, as I said after the game we should have been going on about those positives.

David Watson showed quality with his two goals, Marley got a goal from a well-worked set play, there was so much to be please about to be honest.

The second goal was a mistake, although we were on the wrong end of it I think VAR got to the right decision. I didn’t think it was a foul, there was maybe a slight foul from Sibbald earlier in the phase, but the challenge in the box was fine. It was a mistake from my goalkeeper in that instance, that can happen.

Up until that we’ve looked at the stats, how it was going, up until that goal we were in charge of the game. It was so good seeing us as strong as we were. It was a type of performance we’ve been well used to here.

What happens at the end is a consequence of the situation, everyone is desperate to win the game. We take ourselves too deep from a long free-kick, we’re too deep with our line, go into a zonal system which we’d never normally do and three players go up for the header rather than having two on the cover.

That exuberance and people trying to take control is admirable in a way, but we need to be a wee bit calmer in that moment.

I still think the penalty is soft, I can’t see anything other than Fraser Murray hitting the ball first. I don’t think he’s went through the Dundee United player, he has went over.

I’m pretty sure if the referee didn’t give the penalty then VAR wouldn’t have got involved. We feel as if we’ve been harshly treated a wee bit of late, we were so close to getting a really important win, one that I feel we merited.

The players say it felt like a defeat, do you agree?

Draws at home should feel like a defeat, I’ve always wanted that wherever I am. Draws at home should feel like defeat, and defeat at home should feel like a death with you feeling that horrible feeling you can’t shake.

We all felt that at the weekend and now it’s a case of looking back at the goals we conceded. It’s my job and my staff’s job to pick out the positives from it and as I say there’s plenty of that.

There’s been a lot of issues with the back line due to chopping and changing with Europe, suspensions, injuries so that hasn’t helped matters in terms of one or two of the goals we’ve lost. But that shouldn’t matter with the late goal on Saturday, all we needed was that moment of calmness and a bit of authority, we were one defensive header away from a brilliant victory, we’re not going to start analysing too much, it’s important the players know what we could have done better but it’s also important we look at what was good.

It’s the staff and players’ job now to search for that 90 minute performance, we’re never going to dominate a Premiership team for 90 minutes, but we can still be good enough to control what’s happening for longer periods.

I feel as though at the minute we’re hitting such a good level at times and then doing things that aren’t us, giving teams a bit too much encouragement.

Is the need to pick up that first league win now becoming a thing?

We are six games into the league, we’ve drawn our last four games in all competitions and three in the league.

Each one in isolation isn’t the worst result, drawing with Hibs with a late goal, drawing with St Mirren when we had 10 men, drawing with Dundee United isn’t perfect as we’re used to winning here, then the draw with Copenhagen – each result in isolation isn’t the worst, but you can’t draw too many games as you’ll never get where you want, we would all benefit from getting a win.

We’re only six games in, and although we beat Rangers in the opening game last season we were actually quite slow out the blocks, we didn’t find ourselves until the end of October, we know that consistency is there so it’s just trying to find it now.

Is the game before an international break even more important to get a win in?

Anytime you go into a game prior to the international break it’s important you try and enjoy that, this is the last game until we play Rangers. Dundee will be the same, they’re looking for that win to take them into the break too.

How impressed were you with David Watson’s second half performance?

David is great, it was a tough decision to leave him out, we brought Brad back in and initially Kyle Vassell wasn’t going to be playing, he passed a fitness test late on.

We were worried a wee bit about size and leadership but David responded brilliantly, he came on second half and it was exactly what the game needed, we needed contact in the middle of the park and needed to turn the ball over more. His first goal shows his technique, if that was other players people would be waxing lyrical even more about it. The second goal was a David Watson goal, his energy and desire gets him into these positions.

I think that those stats between 45 and 80 minutes was so impressive, playing in attacking areas, penalty box entries, turnovers, they were positive and he was a huge part of that.

David’s going to have a good career, I’ve been about long enough to know when a boy is going to do well, how well he does will be determined by how many goals he scores in a season, if he can be that running No 8 who scores double figures, they boys are worth their weight in gold.

He does a lot of the game really well, he handles the ball, he’s decent in the air, he competes really well physically, he’s always been able to deal with that. The thing that will decide which level he gets to is how many goals he scores.

You’ve worked with a lot of talented young players in your career, where does David rank?

He is going the right way… when you put a youngster in your team there has to be a trust, and I do trust him totally. He started two-thirds of the games this season prior to Saturday, which for someone so young is great.

You know he’s going to play games and improve, there’s also the understanding that he’s not going to be perfect at this moment in time and there’s still things he can tidy up, just like every player, but he’s trustworthy, responsible and I like that he doesn’t dwell too much on what he can’t do and he just sets about the task.

He plays football like someone would with a youth team or an amateur team, he just goes and players and I like that, he just plays what’s in front of him. The thing that highlights him and gets you guys asking about him is his goals.

He scored five last season and we’ve spoken to him about getting those numbers up. Five goals from a centre midfielder is good, if I get five from every midfielder we would be in Europe again. But if I can get one or two of them closer to double figures, David is capable, then even better.

How is the squad, any update on Stuart Findlay?

He had the scan and thankfully it’s not as bad as we envisioned, we got him off at the right time and the good thing is we’re still hopeful that he has a chance for Saturday.

The only ones definitely ruled out are Joe Wright, who is still suspended and Kyle Magennis who we hope to have back after the international break.

Liam Polworth and Findlay still have work to do to show they’re fit for the weekend, Liam has a wee calf knock.

What do you make of the job Tony Docherty is doing at Dundee?

He’s done well, everyone recognises that, trying to go again is what he’s after. He’s made some good signings and he’s been well supported.

He’s a friend, and you want to see your pals well supported, you want to see them get a fair crack at the whip and I think he’s got that. There’s no doubt we’ve got a tough game on Saturday.