Dundee Targets Historic League Win at Falkirk Stadium

Dundee will pursue a long-awaited Scottish Premiership victory at Falkirk Stadium as Steven Pressley returns to the club where his managerial career began. The teams meet after a three-week break, with Dundee aiming to build on its previous league win against Motherwell and Falkirk looking to maintain its recent improvement.

According to Daily Record, Dundee has never won a league match at Falkirk Stadium. Although the club has recorded cup victories at the venue, its last league victory over Falkirk came at Brockville in October 1996, while Dundee's most recent top-flight away win against Falkirk dates to 1988.

Statistics published by Yahoo Sports show Dundee has lost 14 Scottish Premiership away matches since the start of last season, with only Aberdeen losing more, at 15. Dundee has also lost four of its past five away games, recording one victory during that run.

Despite facing 135 shots, the highest total in the Premiership this season, Dundee has conceded an expected goals figure of 10.6, the fourth-lowest in the competition. Its expected goals against per shot faced stands at 0.08, the league's lowest rate, according to Yahoo Sports.

Pressley, who guided Dundee to several notable results over the previous season, wants his team to add another milestone. The club recorded its first league win at Aberdeen in 22 years, earned its first point at Ibrox in 21 years and secured its first home victory against Celtic since 1988.

Assessing Dundee's record at Falkirk, Pressley acknowledged the challenge facing his squad.

"Our form at the Falkirk stadium isn’t particularly impressive, I don’t think we’ve ever won a league game there. So that’s something we are eager to change." Steven Pressley said.

Pressley also recognized Falkirk's recent progress under John McGlynn, whose summer recruitment brought significant changes to the squad. Falkirk earned five points from its last three league games, compared with four points across the preceding 10 matches.

He described the hosts as an improving side that had delivered strong performances against Hearts and St Johnstone.

"They fall into the same category as ourselves. They have shown real signs of progress over the last couple of games. They had a really good performance against Hearts and then another strong performance against St Johnstone.

They are beginning to find a bit of rhythm, but they have been like us all in searching for it. John has had to deal with a lot of player change over the summer. They have huge numbers in recruitment, which is never easy.

As a result, they have been looking for some consistency. I think in recent weeks they have started to show some green shoots. I think it will be a really difficult game down there, when you consider they beat Hearts down there in their last fixture.

They are progressing and like many games in the Scottish Premiership there is very little to separate the teams. It is a big game for ourselves. It is a game after three weeks off, we really want to follow up the win over Motherwell with another positive outcome."

Steven Pressley said.

The fixture also marks a return to Falkirk for Pressley, who spent three-and-a-half years there during his first managerial appointment. He recalled the experience as an important period in his career.

"It was my first period as a manager. I spent three-and-a-half years there. It was a really enjoyable time." Steven Pressley said.

Reflecting on the people and young players he worked with, Pressley credited the support he received during his time at the club.

"There were some challenging moments, but I was lucky I had a lot of good support behind me. I had a good chairman, Alex Smith was there, who helped steer and guide me. I had young players.

A lot of that team were still teenagers and playing." Steven Pressley said.

He also recalled the subsequent development of those players.

"Many have gone on to have quite strong careers." Steven Pressley said.

Pressley added that his time at Falkirk left him with positive memories.

"There are definitely some good memories there." Steven Pressley said.

Dundee currently sits fourth in the Premiership, and Pressley believes his team can improve its control of matches without sacrificing its attacking strengths. Dundee ranks third in the league for big chances created, according to the Daily Record report.

Explaining his expectations for further development, Pressley emphasized the need for improvement without abandoning the team's existing strengths.

"I do think there is a lot more to come. I have talked quite a bit about getting more control of the game and more possession. I do believe that but not to the extremes.

I don’t think we are that type of team. We need some improvements. Look at some of the statistics now, even down in the English Premier League there has been a huge shift in trends.

A lot of teams are now winning games with less possession." Steven Pressley said.

He pointed to defensive organization and transitions as increasingly important factors in modern football.

"I think that is a result of teams being very organised against the ball and there are fewer opportunities when teams are set in their shape." Steven Pressley said.

Pressley continued to explain how transitions affect the balance between possession and attacking opportunities.

"So the transitional moments are becoming more and more pivotal." Steven Pressley said.

He maintained that Dundee still needs to improve its possession statistics while preserving its ability to create chances.

"Us, just now, don’t have enough possession, in my opinion. We are third in the table for big chances created and it is about finding the balance between the two, where we do have a bit more control but we don’t lose any of that attacking threat. It is a fine line.

We need to be careful around that. We just feel we need more of a balance around our current stats than we have at present." Steven Pressley said.

Elsewhere, Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin said the international break interrupted his team's momentum after an encouraging performance against St Mirren in Paisley. He nevertheless said the squad had benefited from time away, a training camp in Portugal and a productive week of preparation.

Goodwin explained that Dundee United wanted to reproduce the standard shown in that earlier performance more regularly.

"[The break] probably came at the wrong time for us, given how good our performance was in Paisley last time out. But look, it's one of those things that we just have to accept as managers, they've got to try and squeeze these games into the calendar and if the three-week break is what it's going to be going forward, then we'll deal with it. We had a great three weeks, we gave the boys a little bit of time off with their families and then we had a great little camp in Portugal and a brilliant week's training now.

So, the guys are fresh and really looking forward to the game this afternoon. When we were doing the analysis and the preparation and the build-up to today's game, you know, we highlighted a lot of those good examples from that game [against St Mirren], you know, we want to do that on a consistent basis. And I think that's the big message for me to the players.

We know they're capable of it but good teams do that three out of four weeks. There's no good in doing it just every now and again, so we have to try and get that level of consistency and there's no reason why we can't do that." Jim Goodwin told BBC Scotland.

Hibernian manager Marink Reedijk also welcomed the preparation period, saying his players had spent two weeks working toward the match. His squad traveled to Spain for an intensive training camp before returning to focus on the upcoming opponent.

Reedijk said the club's collective culture and approach to football matched his own coaching principles.

"I am very much looking forward to this match. We worked two weeks towards this match and it's very good to see that everybody is ready for the start and looking forward to the atmosphere, the experience here. For me the most important reason is that this club is very similar to what I stand for as a football coach - you do things together, you do it with a certain intensity and in a sort of family way, in a good way, so that it's more than just only football.

One hundred per cent, for me it was very fruitful [the break]. We went to Spain and we did a pre-season on steroids. You had to find a good balance between having the right intensity but at the same time don't overdo things but at the same time also you had time to speak with individuals, show some things on how we want to play, what we want to change and what it would look like.

This week leading into the game, we could focus a little bit more on the opponent. Intensity is a very important thing, that we are sticking together as a group of people and that, therefore, because we are staying together on and off the ball, we see the individual glimpses, which are in this team coming to life better and better." Marink Reedijk told BBC Scotland.

Falkirk and Dundee each won one of their two league meetings last season, with both matches ending 1-0. Falkirk won both of its home games against Dundee in the previous Premiership campaign, according to Yahoo Sports.