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Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread


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2 hours ago, The Real Saints said:

Burnley and Northern Ireland U21 goalkeeper Conor Mitchell is a guest at the match today. A potential loan signing.

Suppose he’ll do. Not a priority signing and I suspect he’ll be cheap. Bring him in, Thomas. 

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5 hours ago, G_Man1985 said:


 

 


Didn't realise Watt at the time would of been a main target.
All be it I would of taken a chance on him at Dens but wouldn't of thought he be top of anyone list.
However if the gamble pays off it will be a good one

 

Tbf Tommy Wright has targeted young Scots who've "lost their way" a lot over the past year or so. Scougall, Kennedy and Watt the obvious examples, we were after the likes of McNulty last Summer aswell (what a signing that would've been, looking back). 

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41 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Tbf Tommy Wright has targeted young Scots who've "lost their way" a lot over the past year or so. Scougall, Kennedy and Watt the obvious examples, we were after the likes of McNulty last Summer aswell (what a signing that would've been, looking back). 

You could probably add Swanson and O'Halloran under that heading as well. Without the 'young' bit for Swanson.

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Thought Liam Gordon did well again today. Very brave, battled well and looks like he's always calm and in control. 

Wee bit improvement positionally and along with Kerr he'll do very well. 

Overall frustrating today, started feebly but then got the goal. 

Aw TW said we controlled the for over 30 mins after half time and could have been out of sight, unlucky from both McMillian & Hendry for what would have been his first goal for Saints. The frustrating bit is after that we collaped and were almost holding on! 

What a goal that would of been when the lad hit the bar from range. 

Always knew the Montrose players would be physical and press us, but they're OTT reactions mostly coming from the bench every time one of our players made a tackle was very ironic and a bit pathetic I thought...?

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6 hours ago, G_Man1985 said:

Didn't realise Watt at the time would of been a main target.

He's definitely a (big) gamble but I think with a good dressing room, the manager felt he could take that chance on a mercurial player. McMillan and Kane should be decent Premiership strikers but Watt has that flair about him that probably appealed.

I was expecting a third choice striker to come in but Watt is very much in the starting mix.

Unless it's to let Hurst out on loan again, I don't see the thinking with the goalkeeper situation. TW always boasted about having two number one goalkeepers but that doesn't look like it's going to be the case this year. I can live with that as long as our own player (Hurst) is developing I suppose.

Like others, impressed by Liam Gordon again today, although thought Kerr struggled a little bit against two direct strikers. Certainly felt Anderson would have dealt with them a bit more comfortably. Maybe a bit soon to be writing him off.

Still feel we are short in central midfield and would like to see us create more chances in the next couple of games than we have in the first two.

Edited by Radford
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Noticed that East Fife and Montrose have both dominated possession against us. I know these stats aren't the be-all and end-all, but surely we should be bossing matches like this. As far as I'm concerned, it only highlights the need for a Millar-type midfielder.

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1 minute ago, The Real Saints said:

Noticed that East Fife and Montrose have both dominated possession against us. I know these stats aren't the be-all and end-all, but surely we should be bossing matches like this. As far as I'm concerned, it only highlights the need for a Millar-type midfielder.

You can have all the possession you like, if you don't score you don't win. We need a central midfielder and if that is Willock then so be it, he's better in there than Craig, Wotherspoon and Alston.

Was really disappointed in a fair bit of Blairs play today although he did have a decent strike come off the post. Just doesn't do nearly enough for me.

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Alston was better when pushed forward a bit and better still when we brought on Scougall. Both the players mentioned are frustrating because you get flashes of how good they can be, but are often passengers who flatter to deceive. 

Hopefully our new chubby ballers will bring out a bit of consistency in them and Wotherspoon. We’ve got a selection of technical, attacking footballers now as well as a defence who can play that way too. Hopefully the possession stats improve a bit, but can’t say I’ll be fussed if we play again exciting football when we do get the ball. 

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Possession stats have always been a bit false (in a literal sense aswell with the BBC, they genuinely make most up as they go. Do flash scores or that do possession stats?), and I won't be disappointed if we cede possession every so often if it allows us to counter the way we did today. Some of the quick breaks involving McMillan, Alston and Wright were brilliant. 

Alston looked lost first half in a two, moved forward and looked a different player. His timing of the run is superb and combine that with McMillans lay offs and we've got a good partnership. 

The fact our strongest eleven arguably doesn't include them two hints at how we'll be able to change matches with a sub this season though, which is something we've lacked. 

FWIW I was reading a Plymouth forum about Kennedy today, apparently a "one trick pony", but is far more effective if you let him roam about as a "free left winger". Sounds Swanson-y.

Edited by RandomGuy.
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In total agreement with everyones points RE central midfield. 

Alston's best stuff was when further forward as Kyle touched on. IMO playing likes of him & Spoony in that position will be completely found out when we face top opposition, to an extent Alston was found out even today when he was involed in play that was not around the Montrose box. 

For me Spoonys position is still wide on the left hand side. The season where he contributed with quite a few goals thats where he played most of it. 

Hope they both prove me wrong though

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4 hours ago, Mr Positive, sometimes. said:

 

Always knew the Montrose players would be physical and press us, but they're OTT reactions mostly coming from the bench every time one of our players made a tackle was very ironic and a bit pathetic I thought...?

Got to laugh at the OTT reactions remark. Every time a Montrose player went near a Saints player they went down like a sack of tatties. Looks like they've had Neymar in for their pre-season training coach. The sad thing was that the referee fell for it every time. 
Never once did the ref feel the need to even talk to a Saints player for their misgivings. 
To the game itself. In the first half, we never created much ourselves but Saints scored with their one and only attempt at goal.
Second half, granted that Saints could have had a couple of goals if it hadn't been for some great goalkeeping but by christ, you were hanging on in the last 15 minutes. If one of the attempts that hit the crossbar had gone in you surely couldn't have grudged us the draw. Especially the shot that smacked off the bar. The crossbar must still be shaking !!
If Saints play like that in the league this season, it could be a long hard season for you. Your only saving grace might be that there will be a few teams that will be in the same bracket as you.
Us on the other hand. If we can get a decent striking partner for Martin Rennie and play like that week in, week out, we wont be far away from the play offs. 
Enjoy your season.

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4 minutes ago, PortyMo said:


If Saints play like that in the league this season, it could be a long hard season for you. Your only saving grace might be that there will be a few teams that will be in the same bracket as you.
 

These matches are pretty much acting as a replacement for friendlies. None of the top-tier teams look convincing at this stage. We've already seen Hamilton losing to Annan, Motherwell drawing with Stranraer, Hearts narrowly beating Cove Rangers and drawing with Raith Rovers, St. Mirren drawing with Spartans, and Livingston narrowly beating Annan. I wouldn't read into it too much.

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5 minutes ago, PortyMo said:

Got to laugh at the OTT reactions remark. Every time a Montrose player went near a Saints player they went down like a sack of tatties. Looks like they've had Neymar in for their pre-season training coach. The sad thing was that the referee fell for it every time. 
Never once did the ref feel the need to even talk to a Saints player for their misgivings. 
To the game itself. In the first half, we never created much ourselves but Saints scored with their one and only attempt at goal.
Second half, granted that Saints could have had a couple of goals if it hadn't been for some great goalkeeping but by christ, you were hanging on in the last 15 minutes. If one of the attempts that hit the crossbar had gone in you surely couldn't have grudged us the draw. Especially the shot that smacked off the bar. The crossbar must still be shaking !!
If Saints play like that in the league this season, it could be a long hard season for you. Your only saving grace might be that there will be a few teams that will be in the same bracket as you.
Us on the other hand. If we can get a decent striking partner for Martin Rennie and play like that week in, week out, we wont be far away from the play offs. 
Enjoy your season.

A few different groups of Montrose fans had a similar wee pop along the lines of how we are going to struggle this season coming away from the park.  

It could well happen, but bear in mind that's a pre-season/ cup tie away on a poor pitch against a team who were very up for it and going well.  Yes the last 10-15 minutes Montrose pressed us and hit the bar twice, but that's paving over the previous half hour of shooty-in. We should have had that game sewn up well before your late flourish.  The first half was just poor all round, and Tommy obviously got fired right into them at HT.

Far from a great performance from us, but it's a new look side which is still gelling and trying to find the best way to play.   As long as we see progress on Tuesday and next Saturday, I'll be happy enough.. though as most Saints fans have commented on, we still need  a centre midfielder.

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The one thing Alston did today when he was moved forward when Liam Craig came more central, was make runs beyond the striker, which is something nobody did at all last week. This was helped by the fact Macmillan started to make some good lay offs as he was no longer getting bombarded with balls dropping out the sky.

He (Alston) got far more involved and looked a threat, and he has a great shot on him. Up until that point he looked pretty ineffective centrally, and I don't see him as one of the two centre midfielders in a 4 at all.  

I don't think we're close to knowing our best midfield personnel/ formation yet, and hope the next two matches we can start to get a clearer picture. 

 

 

 

Edited by PauloPerth
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