Dundee assistant manager Stuart Taylor spoke exclusively to PLZ Soccer on the success of the dark blues and the transfer speculation that surrounds captain Luke McCowan. 00:00 Dundee v Airdrieonians 01:25 Dundee FC transfers this season 03:26 Luke McCowan Celtic and Hibernian transfer bids 06:43 Dundee FC Scottish Premiership goals this season Transcript: Welcome to PLZ Soccer’s YouTube channel. I’m pleased to say I’m joined here with Dundee assistant manager Stuart Taylor. Stuart, first of all, thanks for joining us. How are you today? I’m very good Kerry, thanks for asking me on. No problem. Let’s get right into it then. This weekend, Airdrie in the cup—a bit of a different challenge there. What are you expecting from them? I’m expecting a really tough game. Rhys McCabe has them playing very, very well. I’ve seen a lot of them over the last couple of seasons since he took over, and he’s implemented a fantastic play of football. They play out from the back, through the thirds, and it’s certainly going to be a really tough game. We played against them last season and obviously lost out through a late penalty, which was disappointing for us. But yeah, we’re looking forward to the game on Saturday; the boys are in good spirits for it. Of Couse Rhys is still playing. Player-coach. Is that something else you have to deal with? Is it a little bit different for the players who have to keep that in mind, that he could come off the bench or come off the touchline? Yeah I don’t see it as difficult for us because he’s one of their key players. They have a lot of good players who play for them. He’s certainly instrumental in terms of how they go ahead an implement that style of play. Very good on the ball. very comfortable. Very knowledgeable. Certainly pulls the strings when he’s playing and it’s something he’s one of the key players we’re actually looking out for. So we expect him to play. Regarding Dundee, over the transfer window, you’ve added strength, especially in attack. Lots of goals have been scored in the six games so far across all competitions, with nine different goal scorers. Just how pleasing is that? It’s really good. We talk about getting your strikers to score goals, but it’s something the manager has instilled at the football club—not to leave that pressure solely on the strikers or forward players to score goals. Midfielders, full-backs, wingers, centre-backs can all chip in. Last season, we took great pride in finishing with the club’s highest goals from set-pieces, so center-backs, full-backs, and wing-backs all helped with that scoring tally. As you said, we’ve started off really well this season, in both competitions. We’ve got a lot goals. I think about 23 goals. Long may that continue scoring goals and keep being an attacking threat that the manager is looking for. And you mentioned that there: just how well you did last season—many people would have had Dundee in the top six, but of course, you achieved that. Is that going to be the challenge this season to replicate or better that? You always look for progression, not perfection. But we’ve got to recognize that we have a different squad now. We built a new team from last season. I think we had about 11 loana players last year, and they’ve all gone back, except for John McCracken, who we managed to make permanent, which was a great signing for us. The manager has put together almost a new team. Thankfully, we’ve got the basis of that like. Now it’s just a case of adding more quality and ensuring that everyone buys into what the manager is looking for, which is showing through with our fantastic start to the season. #dundeefc #spfl #scottishfootball
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