Can Dundee keep up their impressive streak against St Mirren?

The Dark Blues have won their last two games and are unbeaten against the Buddies since May 2024. Dundee travel to Paisley on Saturday looking to extend their winning streak against St Mirren.

Despite the Dark Blues suffering last season and the Buddies finishing in the top six, the Dee dominated their weekend opponents. They are coming off victories in their last two games, with Simon Murray scoring four goals.

They drew the previous game, thus they went unbeaten in 2024/25 against Stephen Robinson’s side.

This, however, is a whole new Dundee side, with Steven Pressley taking over as manager. So, how do they go about continuing their outstanding streak?

More of the same?

After defeating Livingston the previous time out, the temptation will be to stick with the same team. How Dundee line up, however, will reveal everything about Pressley’s attitude to this test in Paisley.

If he continues with the back four, it will be a strategy to hurt St Mirren offensively. However, switching to a back three will be a clear indication that Pressley is sending his squad out to avoid defeat.

Following the Livi triumph, the Dens manager stated: “We demonstrated considerably more attacking intent. But it’s always a balancing act.

“We have defenders that I believe are more suited to a back five. To be more creative, we want to switch to a back four. “It’s simply about striking that balance.

We looked like a team that could score, which was encouraging.” That balancing act will be difficult to master, especially with a group that is more unbalanced than Pressley would want after a rough summer.

Left-back issue

The squad’s imbalance is especially obvious at left-back. When the team switched to a back four, centre-back Luke Graham took up that position.

However, against Livingston, he appeared uneasy when confronted with Lewis Smith’s pace. That is an area that opposing teams will aim to exploit, just like Livi did.

The other alternative is Imari Samuels, but he is regarded as a wing-back rather than a full-back.

Even winger Tony Yogane was chosen ahead of Samuels as left wing-back against Motherwell. Billy Koumetio can jump in if needed, but he has been watching from the bench, and Aaron Donnelly is not even in the matchday roster.

Pressley will not take Clark Robertson out of his defence if he can help it; he is the leader of the back line, and Ryan Astley provides the balance of being right-footed.

Dundee has defended quite effectively generally, so Pressley is hesitant to change things at the back.

Taking Graham out would leave Dundee shorthanded. Literally. Despite their efforts to improve during the summer, the Dark Blues are not a physically intimidating team.

St Mirren are known for their size and ferocity, therefore Graham’s aerial ability will be essential, even if it leaves an opening at left-back.

Attack

Dundee defeated Livingston despite missing Yan Dhanda, who was suspended.

They’ll have to do it all over again in this one, although against stronger opponents.

When asked how he would approach the St Mirren game without Dhanda, Pressley replied, “I guess that’s the thing. Each game has a unique appearance.

“We looked at Livingston one way and then at this game from a different perspective.

He has undeniable talent, but the encouraging thing for us last week was that I believed our attacking players performed well.

“That is a positive. “We’ve worked really hard on both attacking and defending this week to try and find the balance.”

What to expect from St Mirren

Everybody knows by now what to expect from Stephen Robinson’s Buddies.

They employ a robust, up-and-at-‘em approach that can run over the top of their opponents, if allowed to do so.

But there is quality allied with that, too.

The gameplan is clear from their most recent two Premiership encounters. Hibs and Falkirk are two different tiers of opponents, with one aiming for the top three and the other a recently promoted side.

St Mirren were content to have less of the ball in both games (45% at Hibs, 40% at Falkirk), as well as much fewer passes overall.

However, in both games, they made more passes in the attacking third than their opponents.

They move the ball forward swiftly and play closer to the opposing goal. St Mirren now lead the Premiership in terms of accurate long balls per match.

They are also second only to the Rangers in terms of ball possession in the opposing third.

Another prominent element is their ability to dribble. Statistics show that they attempted seven dribbles against Hibs but fourteen versus Falkirk. In both games, they had 71.4% successful dribbles, compared to Hibs 40% and Falkirk 22%.

This wasn’t simply one or two guys running with the ball; in the Falkirk game, seven different players dribbled successfully.

Right winger Jayden Richardson was the most consistent in doing so, and if both teams remain unchanged, he will be running at Luke Graham. In the Premiership, however, they have not scored many goals.

They have scored four goals in five games, two fewer than attack-shy Dundee, who has six in six. Six of the 11 encounters between the two teams have finished in draws, with the Dundee derby being the only one with more than one goal.

A close game awaits in Paisley; will Dundee win their third straight against the Buddies?

Read more on Straightwinfortoday.com