Steven Pressley hopes Dundee can improve after 'really productive meeting'

Steven Pressley hopes that a “really productive meeting” with his players will help Dundee bounce back from their chastening defeat by Aberdeen.

The Dark Blues boss described the 4-0 loss at Pittodrie in their last outing before the international break as “a real hammer blow for us because it was a result and a performance we’d never seen coming”.

Pressley encouraged his players to share their thoughts in a team meeting the following day, and he is optimistic that such “open and honest” discussions will bear fruit going forward.

“It was a really, really productive meeting in my opinion,” said the manager, whose side host Celtic on Sunday. “It certainly wasn’t a crisis meeting but it was a productive meeting.

“It’s a meeting that I like. I think I talk very openly and honestly to you guys (the media), and I’m the same with my players. We talk openly and honestly.

“If I’ve got anything that I want to speak to them on, I’ll speak to them directly. That’s how I want this club to operate and I also encourage players to speak.

“I want players to have the ability to talk about any concerns or any things that they don’t understand or are not in agreement with.

“I’m always open to that. That’s what I want within my football club. I want the players to be driving the vehicle forward.

“It was a meeting where I really encouraged that and it was really productive.

“All the meetings that I have post-game are always opened up to the floor because I want them to speak, I want them to take ownership.

“But I encouraged it even more (after Aberdeen) and probably the players felt on the back of that they had more to say.

“We’re trying to learn, we’re trying to improve. And as a group, the one thing that I would say is we’re very unified, the players, the staff, everybody.

“We have to do better but we’re working tirelessly as a group to do better.”