Jim McIntyre’s debut as Dundee boss may have ended in a 4-0 humiliation at Livingston but Calvin Miller has already seen reason to be optimistic.
If Neil McCann’s successor was in any doubt as to why the Dark Blues were sitting rock bottom of the Ladbrokes Premiership, the shambolic way they dealt with four Livi set-pieces will have explained a lot.
Gary Holt’s men were allowed to capitalise from four basic deliveries into the box as Declan Gallagher, Craig Halkett, Stevie Lawless and Alan Lithgow were all allowed to score.
But left-back Miller believes that with time, McIntrye can turn Dundee around.
The on-loan Celtic youngster said: “As strange as it sounds, I did feel like the team was more structured. We didn’t concede from open play so from that sense we can take the positives.
“But we do need to work on the set-plays as it’s obviously not good enough conceding four goals.
“We need to win more battles too, as Livi won most of them in midfield.
“The manager is only just in the door and there is only so much you can do in three days.
“But I believe in him. I think he’s a great manager and I think he’s going to turn things around.
“Hopefully we can just put this game behind us quickly and move on. We don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve got another tough game on Saturday against Hearts then it’s Celtic.”
But Miller admits every member of the Dark Blues squad is now playing for their futures.
Asked if he feared McIntyre would look to make changes in January, the 20-year-old replied: “Yeah possibly as obviously it’s not his players. We need to take that into consideration.
“If you’re not going to work for him, I don’t think he’ll play you. There might be a few changes.
“It’s not a threat. It’s more that he wants to play with an intensity and to press our opponents. If you’re not going to do that you’re not going to play and that’s the message that has been drilled into us.”
Holt named the same starting line-up for the sixth game running as his newly-promoted Lions maintained their stunning start to the season.
He said: “I’ve said to the boys if you are doing the job that we ask you to do, regardless of the result, you will stay in the team.
“So you’ve got to work damned hard to get in the team but once you’re in you’ve got to work even harder to stay there.”
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