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Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread


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Started with the 5-2-3/3-4-3 and I don’t think we really shifted from that with changes of personnel  

Clark

Kerr Gordon McCart

Rooney McCann Davidson Booth

MOH May Wotherspoon 

raft of subs throughout but the shape didn’t change to my eyes 

Rooney off for Brown

McCart off for Muller 

Booth off for Devine

McCann and Davidson off for Ballantyne and Craig 

Wotherspoon off for Northcott 

May off for Hendry

MOH off for Kucheriavyi


Devine and Muller both looked good - Devine had a couple of positive moments in attack and had a goal saving block out of no where not long after coming on. Muller looks very decent on the ball, similar style of centre back as McCart but he does look like he could be bullied. Looked small for a centre back.

Ballantyne looked capable of contributing too on the evidence of tonight. Very composed on the ball and covered well defensively a couple of times too.

It’s only one appearance obviously but plenty to be positive about on the basis of tonight. The players were much sharper than I expected them to be at this stage of pre-season and they look so well organised out of possession. 

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Upon reflection after last night, I've got to say I was very impressed with the team. Admittedly they should know how to play together, but there is clearly new plays and ways of switching around that they've been working on that we didn't see last season. The defence as always was imperious, PNE scored with a total wonderstrike and even then questions over whether we'd have closed him down better in a real match. Secondly it was good to see O'Halloran make such an impact, he looks sharper, stronger and more importantly hungrier than last season already, which is just as well really since we've given him a new 2 year deal, but if he plays with that same application all season we're on to a winner with him again. Devine looked good when he came on, maybe not as keen to ping a cross in as Tanser was, but I'd say he looked quicker and more likely to beat a man. Muller looked solid without being troubled and both Northcott and Ballantyne showed up well in the closing stages by getting on the ball and understanding the system. I think we're probably still short of at least 1 winger and another striker, but overall we're in good shape.

One other thing to say, I know people will say it was a Preston team not match fit, neither were saints that the first official pre-season game. More importantly it wasn't exactly played as a friendly, there were some hefty tackles flying in. I'd say that in a real life game, there were potentially 2 red cards, 1 for both team and on another night, even with it being a friendly, Hendry was a lucky boy. I worried about his attitude coming back into a squad that's won 2 trophies since he left on loan and I'm afraid to say it didn't impress me last night. 

Finally a work on Stevie May. He looked sharp last night much like O'Halloran. Will he ever score the goals he once did, nope. Were some of his touches and layoff excellent, yes. I think what we saw last season was the wide players too wide and not getting close to him, last night both Wotherspoon and O'Halloran were tucking in quite centrally, letting the wingbacks occupy the space and it made a big difference to May's game. Also I think we can conclusively close the book on Spoony taking penalties, I'm not sure he's ever scored one and why May wasn't demanding the ball surprised me, but suspect Spoony would never take it during an actual match.

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24 minutes ago, Widge said:

I think we're probably still short of at least 1 winger and another striker, but overall we're in good shape.

Article on the St Mirren thread claiming we're one of the clubs up here "interested" in James Scott on loan from Hull.

From memory, so it might be wrong, he is one of those strikers who plays up.top but naturally drifts out wide.

Aberdeen, United, and St Mirren, the other clubs linked, so we won't be able to compete financially. Maybe a guaranteed starting spot and European football could sway things though.

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34 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Article on the St Mirren thread claiming we're one of the clubs up here "interested" in James Scott on loan from Hull.

From memory, so it might be wrong, he is one of those strikers who plays up.top but naturally drifts out wide.

Aberdeen, United, and St Mirren, the other clubs linked, so we won't be able to compete financially. Maybe a guaranteed starting spot and European football could sway things though.

I read the article suggesting saints would try and do a deal, rather than a loan. How likely that would be is beyond me; however he's exactly the sort of player we should be looking at. Under 21, can play across the front line and has sell on potential. Think Hull need to cut their wage bill and move players on given their issues, so you never know. Does seem unlikely though.

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33 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Article on the St Mirren thread claiming we're one of the clubs up here "interested" in James Scott on loan from Hull.

From memory, so it might be wrong, he is one of those strikers who plays up.top but naturally drifts out wide.

Aberdeen, United, and St Mirren, the other clubs linked, so we won't be able to compete financially. Maybe a guaranteed starting spot and European football could sway things though.

Sort of. For the most part we used him as a wide target man rather than him drifting out there. You're right in saying that's probably his natural game though.

We initially tried him as a traditional #9 but he didn't really have the experience or nous to play against Premiership centre backs so ended up getting a lot of joy by sticking him out wide and planting him on top of full backs as an out ball. The 3-0 win against Hibs where he was pulling balls out the air while monstering Lewis Stevenson was probably the peak example of that. He's a unit and has very good feet but he's a forward rather than a winger.

His time at Hull has been kind of fucked. He picked up an injury that required surgery at training the day after he signed so he had months out that coincided with the whole Covid thing, they were comfortably mid-table (14th and 13pts clear of the relegation spots) when we got our cool £1m+ for him but they sold Jarrod Bowen to West Ham for £18m+ went into free fall so somehow managed to end up in League 1.

He only made 3 league starts last season (15 subs) so it's hard to see him as being anything other than a periphery player now they've been promoted to the Championship.

Desp just mentioned it on our thread but there are definite echoes of Lee Erwin leaving us for Leeds.

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40 minutes ago, Widge said:

I read the article suggesting saints would try and do a deal, rather than a loan. 

I doubt we could come close to doing that. Unless they're one of these clubs fucked down there?

Can't remember which ones all got caught up in the FFP stuff.

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1 hour ago, RandomGuy. said:

Article on the St Mirren thread claiming we're one of the clubs up here "interested" in James Scott on loan from Hull.

From memory, so it might be wrong, he is one of those strikers who plays up.top but naturally drifts out wide.

Aberdeen, United, and St Mirren, the other clubs linked, so we won't be able to compete financially. Maybe a guaranteed starting spot and European football could sway things though.

Hearts, not Aberdeen.

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Was 1600 in the stadium last night.

They applied for 1201 fans and were granted 1201 fans, the rest was made up of staff, players, stewards etc.

Barring any disasters from last night (don't think that there was any) head of operations was saying that Hopefully 2400 for Fleetwood game will be applied for and granted ( guessing that's the total of season ticket holders).

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Didn't Hull pay £1m + for him?
Maybe CD has enough clout to demand one really push the boat out investment type signing who would likely then be sold on for a profit, but can't see anything other than a loan surely?


Hull have been sanctioned and been placed under a transfer embargo I think.

I do wonder if they’re concerned about Admin and just getting prepared for it.
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2 minutes ago, mizfit said:

 


Hull have been sanctioned and been placed under a transfer embargo I think.

I do wonder if they’re concerned about Admin and just getting prepared for it.

 

Wow, it's becoming easier to keep a list of clubs down south that aren't on the brink

Let's do the Rotherham tactics, offer the Richie Brittain minibus and 20k, and then warn them that we will walk away if they don't accept

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There's absolutely no chance we're signing him permanently unless he's being released.

It would need a hefty 6 figure fee at least, and there's no chance we offer that (when did we even last pay a 6 figure fee?). Clubs with far bigger budgets would be after him if he was available cheap too.

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3 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

There's absolutely no chance we're signing him permanently unless he's being released.

It would need a hefty 6 figure fee at least, and there's no chance we offer that (when did we even last pay a 6 figure fee?). Clubs with far bigger budgets would be after him if he was available cheap too.

Embrace the chaos, someone on Twitter claiming we might might Nikola Katic on loan from Rangers too to help his injury recovery

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Just now, steviemay17 said:

Embrace the chaos, someone on Twitter claiming we might might Nikola Katic on loan from Rangers too to help his injury recovery

I wish I could breeze through life living on whatever delusional planet they're living on. 

Sometimes football fans are a funny bunch eh! 🤣

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5 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

There's absolutely no chance we're signing him permanently unless he's being released.

It would need a hefty 6 figure fee at least, and there's no chance we offer that (when did we even last pay a 6 figure fee?). Clubs with far bigger budgets would be after him if he was available cheap too.

Last one would be Peter MacDonald I think. 20(!) years ago.  

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