Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread

[The Real Saints]

 

Ooft, Drey Wright looks extremely nifty.

[Mr Positive, sometimes.]

Muzz V Paton in midfield tonight. 

[Mr Positive, sometimes.]

2 hours ago, Mr Positive, sometimes. said:

Muzz V Paton in midfield tonight. 

How many fouls is Paton going to get away with?

[Dick Van Dyke]

Played ok tonight. Positives were Liam Gordon, Tony watt, Richard foster and drey Wright. Wright and foster look like they could form a decent partnership down the right. I thought spoony looked very out of place In middle, I just don’t think he has the awareness to play centrally. 

Edited July 24, 2018 by Dick Van Dyke

[Kyle]

I thought Scougall was a real positive in the first half. A lovely bit of play for the goal and a few near misses with through balls. He ran himself into the ground - hoping it was just cramp that forced him off as it looks like he’s got the players to do what he does best in the position he’s best. Hopefully he can pick up some momentum and carry some form into the league season. 

3 clean sheets and Liam Gordon are the 3 main positives to take from the games so far. Gordon at least in contention for man of the match in each of the 3 matches.

[RandomGuy.]

17 hours ago, Kyle said:

I thought Scougall was a real positive in the first half. A lovely bit of play for the goal and a few near misses with through balls. He ran himself into the ground - hoping it was just cramp that forced him off as it looks like he’s got the players to do what he does best in the position he’s best. Hopefully he can pick up some momentum and carry some form into the league season. 

3 clean sheets and Liam Gordon are the 3 main positives to take from the games so far. Gordon at least in contention for man of the match in each of the 3 matches.

Yup, Scougz doing Scougz things, was pretty poor at Montrose on the left but looked much better central. Faded away a bit though. 

Strongest line up starting to take shape. You'd say Clark, Foster, Gordon, Tanser, Davidson, Wright and Watt are all players who'll be guaranteed a start regardless of formation just now. 

Hopefully Kennedy can cement another, and we'd be down to Kerr v Anderson, Wotherspoon v Craig v Willock and Scougall v McMillan v Kane for the other positions. 

Plenty of depth, on paper. 

[nelsjfc]

5 years ago today. What a night.

[PauloPerth]

8 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Yup, Scougz doing Scougz things, was pretty poor at Montrose on the left but looked much better central. Faded away a bit though. 

Strongest line up starting to take shape. You'd say Clark, Foster, Gordon, Tanser, Davidson, Wright and Watt are all players who'll be guaranteed a start regardless of formation just now. 

Hopefully Kennedy can cement another, and we'd be down to Kerr v Anderson, Wotherspoon v Craig v Willock and Scougall v McMillan v Kane for the other positions. 

Plenty of depth, on paper. 

Still got Shaughnessy to come back in as well.

[RandomGuy.]

2 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

Still got Shaughnessy to come back in as well.

Me forgetting the club captain is probably a sign of something

He can fight with Foster for the right back spot. Not sure I'd be having him ahead of the other three centre halves just now tbh. 

[PauloPerth]

2 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Me forgetting the club captain is probably a sign of something

He can fight with Foster for the right back spot. Not sure I'd be having him ahead of the other three centre halves just now tbh. 

Agree, think we’ve good options for when we go to Celtic park etc this season, and the likes of the Nou Camp next year if we want to set up more defensively: Joe RB, Gordon, Kerr, Anderson 3 CB’s, Foster LB.  Or hopefully Easton makes a full recovery as well for LB.

Has Willock signed up yet, or are you putting him in there as a possible option? I haven’t seen anything, but am usually late to the St Johnstone news party..

 

[RandomGuy.]

1 minute ago, PauloPerth said:

Agree, think we’ve good options for when we go to Celtic park etc this season, and the likes of the Nou Camp next year if we want to set up more defensively: Joe RB, Gordon, Kerr, Anderson 3 CB’s, Foster LB.  Or hopefully Easton makes a full recovery as well for LB.

Has Willock signed up yet, or are you putting him in there as a possible option? I haven’t seen anything, but am usually late to the St Johnstone news party..

 

Nah Willock not signed, you get a rumour every three weeks that we're wanting him on loan then it goes quiet. 

We'll probably hear that again tomorrow, before signing a CM that hasn't been mentioned yet on Saturday morning. 

[tree house tam]

I actually heard about a different player coming on loan last night, or at least Saints had enquired. Signed to an EPL side, not sure if it's a back up in case we can't get Willock. 

[Kyle]

There's the signing of Conor Mitchell confirmed - season long loan from Burnley.

[Widge]

There's the signing of Conor Mitchell confirmed - season long loan from Burnley.

They just gonna drop him off on the way to Aberdeen?

[Kyle]

So we've got the goalkeeper, the left winger and the striker that everyone has been crying out for - all that's left really now is a central midfielder and possibly a left back if Wright is still looking for one after his comments a few weeks ago. With that in mind, here's the state of the squad;

Goalkeepers

1. Zander Clark (26) - 2020

12. Conor Mitchell (22) - 2019 (on loan from Burnley)

30. Mark Hurst (22) - 2019

 

Defenders

19. Richard Foster (32) - 2019

5. Joe Shaughnessy (25) - 2019

6. Steven Anderson (32) - 2020

24. Brian Easton (30) - 2019

3. Scott Tanser (23) - 2019

23. Liam Gordon (22) - 2019

14. Aaron Comrie (21) - 2019

15. Jason Kerr (21) - 2020 

Midfielders

7. Drey Wright (23) - 2020

10. David Wotherspoon (28) - 2019

4. Blair Alston (26) - 2019 + 1

8. Murray Davidson (30) - 2020 + 1

26. Liam Craig (31) - 2019

20. Kyle McClean (19) - 2019

21. Stefan Scougall (25) - 2019

18. Ali McCann (18) - 2019

33. Matty Kennedy (23) - 2020

 

Strikers

16. David McMillan (29) - 2020

9. Chris Kane (23) - 2020

32. Tony Watt (24) - 2019

31. Greg Hurst (21) - 2019

22. Callum Hendry (20) - 2020

 

Leaving the Club/released

Alan Mannus - Shamrock Rovers - freedom of contract

Ben McKenzie - released

Keith Watson - Ross County

Cameron Thomson - Stirling Albion

Cameron Lumsden - released

Chris Millar - Morton

Matty Willock - end of loan - returned to Man United

Daniel Jardine - Stirling Albion

George Williams - end of loan (signed for Forest Green Rovers)

Jamie Docherty - released

Steven Maclean - Hearts - freedom of contract

Denny Johnstone - end of loan - (signed for Morton permanently)

 

New Signings

Conor Mitchell (Burnley) - loan

Drey Wright (Colchester United) - free

Matty Kennedy (Cardiff City) - free

Tony Watt (OH Leuven) - free

The squad looks pretty strong to me.  Our own youth products and the new signings (average age 23) look like they could be capable of replacing of those who left, although it'll likely change how we will look to play. We certainly have a lot more pace and guile in the team, although we have scarified a lot of experience and savvyness from the squad to get that. It's good to see such a fresh looking team and hopefully the manager is rewarded for trying to bring in players to make our play more exciting with results on the park.

Looks like we've got quite a few good prospects in the lower age groups as well who could start making appearances in and around the squad as the season goes on. We've already had Jon Robertson make a couple of appearances and there's people on twitter talking about a few others who seem to be making an impression during pre-season.

You used to be  able to predict the kind of players that Wright will bring in - usually players with hundreds of appearances in our top flight or the championship who will be solid but unspectacular - he's moved away from that in the last 3 windows really with the likes of Tanser, Scougall, McMillan, Willock, Williams and all 4 signings in this window. 

I think this is as excited as I've been about the start of a league season in quite a while. We've not caught fire in the league cup campaign, but we've gotten better with each passing game and there are signs that the team is starting to gel.

[RandomGuy.]

51 minutes ago, ali_91 said:

Don’t really understand what Burnley or Mitchell get out of that move, but a position we needed cover in so fine for us.

Centre midfielder next please. 

Have to assume Mitchell feels like he's every chance of playing regularly for us. Burnley maybe feel the same. 

[tree house tam]

1 minute ago, RandomGuy. said:

Have to assume Mitchell feels like he's every chance of playing regularly for us. Burnley maybe feel the same. 

He'll certainly get a chance at some point due to Zander being a bit prone to breaking. Agree with most that if we get a decent central midfielder in, we can have a very good season. It's all building very nicely for a European  push, add in a cup and I'll be happy.

[RandomGuy.]

1 hour ago, tree house tam said:

He'll certainly get a chance at some point due to Zander being a bit prone to breaking. Agree with most that if we get a decent central midfielder in, we can have a very good season. It's all building very nicely for a European  push, add in a cup and I'll be happy.

I'm still a bit wary, we're creating plenty but not scoring, and the defence hasn't had a genuine test yet. 

[ah-dee]

I'm still a bit wary, we're creating plenty but not scoring, and the defence hasn't had a genuine test yet. 

watt might rectify that once he gets going. on the other hand he could be a disaster and ruins what appears to be a close knit squad.

[RandomGuy.]

36 minutes ago, ah-dee said:

2 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

I'm still a bit wary, we're creating plenty but not scoring, and the defence hasn't had a genuine test yet. 

watt might rectify that once he gets going. on the other hand he could be a disaster and ruins what appears to be a close knit squad.

I'd be surprised if Watt could ruin the dressing room, tbh. Him and Kennedy seem like they'll have their own wee clique, but there's far bigger players in there in terms of influence.