Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread

[RandomGuy.]

1 minute ago, Dick Van Dyke said:

Was hibs first goal against us at Easter road not a header? 

As I said, was just from memory. 

[Dick Van Dyke]

23 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

As I said, was just from memory. 

Well tbh it’s not good enough! 

[andrewh]

I'll do a game by game one, and try and clear it up, might be a few weeks 
A lot of the assist from our left, I'm sure (as I say, it's just memory from this morning) are for unrushing midfielders to score. Livingstons second, and St Mirrens second, examples. Ones that on paper look like Tansers fault, but are actually players in the middle failing to track their men.

Again, thanks. The graphic appears to identify Tanser as a weak link but your further analysis will likely refine and amend that view.
As we’ve no game for two weeks I look forward to your new conclusions.
They’ll be revealing I’m sure and maybe something Tommy might benefit from if they are more conclusive. [emoji4]

[RandomGuy.]

6 minutes ago, andrewh said:

Again, thanks. The graphic appears to identify Tanser as a weak link but your further analysis will likely refine and amend that view.
As we’ve no game for two weeks I look forward to your new conclusions.
They’ll be revealing I’m sure and maybe something Tommy might benefit from if they are more conclusive.

It may take a long, long time and I'll likely get scunnered 

County Cup game is an eye opener when you're actively watching the chances against. 

Their strikers give our defenders the runaround with movement. Kerr is weak physically for the second, just eased off the ball (wonder if that will be a recurring theme?) But all their chances come from the middle of the park. If you watch the game on Saints TV, skip straight to the highlight after their second.

Throw in at half way, unmarked player in the middle of the pitch collects under no pressure, goes about ten yards without anyone getting near him, County striker makes a diagonal run, no communication between Kerr and Anderson and neither are close to him, Foster ends up further left than both chasing him, and when his shot is saved and pushed right, its Kennedy who ends up trying to defend it. Chance from the rebound is cleared off the line. Eerily similar to a few chances where players all allowed space in front of our defence to run at them, while strikers move around them. Cant be easy trying to decide what the best approach is when you've no experience of the game at this level.

Edited November 10, 2019 by RandomGuy.

[Valentino Bolognese]

27 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

It may take a long, long time and I'll likely get scunnered 

County Cup game is an eye opener when you're actively watching the chances against. 

Their strikers give our defenders the runaround with movement. Kerr is weak physically for the second, just eased off the ball (wonder if that will be a recurring theme?) But all their chances come from the middle of the park. If you watch the game on Saints TV, skip straight to the highlight after their second.

Throw in at half way, unmarked player in the middle of the pitch collects under no pressure, goes about ten yards without anyone getting near him, County striker makes a diagonal run, no communication between Kerr and Anderson and neither are close to him, Foster ends up further left than both chasing him, and when his shot is saved and pushed right, its Kennedy who ends up trying to defend it. Chance from the rebound is cleared off the line. Eerily similar to a few chances where players all allowed space in front of our defence to run at them, while strikers move around them. Cant be easy trying to decide what the best approach is when you've no experience of the game at this level.

Something that has been clear about our defending this year, particularly in midfield, is players backing off and giving the opposition space and time on the ball. McCann is an exception. Not sure if it's manager's orders because Tommy wants them to be more 'zonal', or just something our attack-minded midfielders do, but it's a problem time and again. Might be worth giving Holt and other run as he can be a terrier. The downside is over-committing of course but being timid and trying to close down angles just isn't working. 

Teams with similar budgets that have overperformed (Kilmarnock and Livingston being good examples) are very very effective at harrying, chasing and generally closing down. Taking the Hamilton / St Mirren route of playing narrow doesn't seem to suit the players Tommy has hung the season on.

Another observation is that with May on his own up front our line is generally very deep. It was unbelievable yesterday how deep we were sitting (as the home team and supposedly an lineup built on attack). HIbs seemed to always have 2 or 3 on or past their half-way line and had 3 men pressing Zander and the centre backs whether they were 1, 2 or 3 goals up. I think that when we properly had 2 up front (for the 2 games that we won) it pushed our line higher up which seemed to be more comfortable. 

[andrewh]

It may take a long, long time and I'll likely get scunnered 
County Cup game is an eye opener when you're actively watching the chances against. 
Their strikers give our defenders the runaround with movement. Kerr is weak physically for the second, just eased off the ball (wonder if that will be a recurring theme?) But all their chances come from the middle of the park. If you watch the game on Saints TV, skip straight to the highlight after their second.
Throw in at half way, unmarked player in the middle of the pitch collects under no pressure, goes about ten yards without anyone getting near him, County striker makes a diagonal run, no communication between Kerr and Anderson and neither are close to him, Foster ends up further left than both chasing him, and when his shot is saved and pushed right, its Kennedy who ends up trying to defend it. Chance from the rebound is cleared off the line. Eerily similar to a few chances where players all allowed space in front of our defence to run at them, while strikers move around them. Cant be easy trying to decide what the best approach is when you've no experience of the game at this level.

I wouldn’t want to relive most of that garbage, so fair enough.

[RandomGuy.]

The biannual RG transfer wishlist...

Out: Vihmanns loan ended, nobody will notice hes gone. Booths contract expires in the Winter anyway, let him go. Callachan punted, hopefully accept a termination since hes in his final 6 months, should pick up a club who will play him, so everyone wins. 

Ideally Swansons decent wage is also taken off, either by getting him out the club, or negotiating a wage cut, hes not contributing enough to be worth it. Not convinced this is realistic.

In: Get Anderson back from the Raith loan, he's not top flight standard anymore, but he'd be a huge benefit off the pitch especially in training. Let him work with Duffy. 

At this stage, we'd ideally have 3 (maybe 3.5) wages to play with, and we'd only be a LB (who hasn't played a minute) and a CM (sixth choice) down.

That should give a fairly decent chunk to sign a CB. Ideally an experienced CB who can cover the left. Perfect if they've played at this level before.

Players that might fit?: (TOTAL SPECULATION WARNING!) -- Liam Ridgewell (CB, has played LB before, vastly experienced. At Southend and contract expires in the Summer, has only played one match for them, a six month deal to get himself playing regularly might suit all parties). -- Alan Sheehan (33yo CB, played LB in his early career. At Luton, contract expires in Summer and has barely played. Over 250 in Tier 2/3 of English football). -- Sol Bamba (CB, hugely experienced, and had over 70 games in the Scottish top flight. Isn't playing for Cardiff, six months left on his deal and approaching the end of his career).

No idea how realistic those are, financially. Ridgewell would be my first choice, huge experience at higher levels, and can play on the left side. Then Bamba who has the benefit on playing at this level before. Sheehan is a total no nonsense fucker, his pedigree is the weakest, but hes the most affordable.

Any of those for 6 months, ideally Ridgewell, and while we're at it, offer Rickie Lamie a contract offer for next season. 

Problem solved.

Clark

Ralston - Kerr - Ridgewell - Tanser

Wright - Davidson - McCann - Wotherspoon

Kennedy

May

Reserves: Parish, Duffy, Anderson, Gordon, MOH, Holt, Craig, Swanson, Hendry, Kane

Edited November 10, 2019 by RandomGuy.

[tree house tam]

I remember bamba in his prime(not in the lap dancers before anyone asks), it's a no from me.

[RandomGuy.]

11 minutes ago, tree house tam said:

I remember bamba in his prime(not in the lap dancers before anyone asks), it's a no from me.

Not sure he's afforable anyway, played just shy of 30 games for Cardiff in the EPL last season.

[tree house tam]

6 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Not sure he's afforable anyway, played just shy of 30 games for Cardiff in the EPL last season.

He also has a hefty maintenance bill for the wee fifer he spawned after said 45 second pump in the strippers.

[john1962]

Anderson to work with Duffy? Now I don’t disagree that it might be a good idea but what the f**k are we paying a manger and coaches to do? People are saying it’s the same mistakes every week so what going on at training? Are they playing FIFA?

[tree house tam]

3 minutes ago, john1962 said:

Anderson to work with Duffy? Now I don’t disagree that it might be a good idea but what the f**k are we paying a manger and coaches to do? People are saying it’s the same mistakes every week so what going on at training? Are they playing FIFA?

3 hours in the morning, couple of drills then off to nando's. 

[PauloPerth]

That Stevie May last minute goal saved it from being out on its own as our heaviest non-old firm home defeat under Tommy Wright's tenure.  Instead, it merely equals the worst.  For the sado masochists amongst us, these are our biggest non-old firm home and away defeats each season under Tommy Wright (as far as I can tell).  Enjoy:

 

2019-20 (so far!)

H 1-4 v Hibs

A 0-2 v St Mirren

 

2018-19

H 0-2 Aberdeen

A 0-3 Motherwell

 

2017-18

H 0-3 Aberdeen

A 0-3, 1-4 both at Aberdeen

 

2016-17

H 2-4 v Ross County, 0-2 v Kilmarnock 

A 0-3 v Dundee

 

2015-16

H  defeats by one goal, nothing bigger

A 0-3 v Kilmarnock

 

2014-15

H  defeats by one goal, nothing bigger

A 0-3 v Partick Thistle

 

2013-14

H 0-2 v Aberdeen

A 0-4 v Dundee United and Motherwell

Edited November 10, 2019 by PauloPerth

[Radford]

If May hadn't scored, it would have been only the fourth time we'd lost by four goals at home to a non-OF team since moving to McDiarmid. 

• 0-5 vs Hearts in 1991 - Hamilton red card, Turner in goal. 
• 0-4 vs Falkirk in 2003 - Dods red card after 10 mins. 
• 1-5 vs United in 2012 - Visitors scored 3 goals in last 6 mins.

Edited November 11, 2019 by Radford

[RandomGuy.]

11 minutes ago, Radford said:

If May hadn't scored, it would have been only the fourth time we'd lost by four goals at home to a non-OF team since moving to McDiarmid. 

• 0-5 vs Hearts in 1991 - Hamilton red card, Turner in goal. 
• 0-4 vs Falkirk in 2003 - Dods red card after 10 mins. 
• 1-5 vs United in 2012 - Visitors scored 3 goals in last 6 mins.

Is it arguably, on paper, our worst ever non-OF home showing at McDiarmid? 

[tree house tam]

What do you expect with collectively the worst Saints defence I've ever seen.

[Kyle]

The defence really shouldn't be as big as shambles as it is. We've known for the best part of 2 years now that Anderson isn't really up to playing top flight football and for at least 6 months that Shaughnessy was going. Foster and Easton no longer being at the club is more of a surprise but all the same, the farce of the summer window is being exposed horribly now.

A few points though - all of our coaches are either former goalkeepers or defenders. What are they doing in training with this group of players? Some of them look like they have never played the game before. The shape is horrible, they don't clear their lines, midfielders don't track runners and the full backs just let players put crosses into the box. That might not be so bad, but we also have a goalkeeper who seems to be afraid of cross balls and just parks his arse on his line. Couple that with the fact that no one actually talks to each other, it's just a recipe which is producing what we are seeing on a weekly basis just now. 

In terms of transfers, how can we go from Declan Gallagher to Wallace Duffy? A player with a vast amount of experience in the top flight to a boy who had literally never kicked a ball in his professional career and, frankly, will likely end up plying his trade about 3 divisions below where he currently plays. The manager made  out that he had been scouting/researching the summer window past - is Wallace Duffy seriously the best they could find? Same goes for Madis Vihmann - yes he's an Internationalist but he seems to have been signed on the basis of one good performance against Northern Ireland for Estonia. It's wrong for me to write off his footballing ability because I haven't seen him play since Livi in August and he's only played in 3 or 4 matches but just how bad is he if Wallace Duffy - signed as a back up right back - is playing ahead of him at centre back?

This is going to be an expensive January for us I think, unless the club are happy to take the chance on the current team being good enough to keep us up. From middle to front it probably is, but it seems we need to score at least 3 goals to actually win a match, unless we play a Hearts side with the backbone of their side out injured. 

Maybe we should bring in a director of football or something similar. We seem to be wasting more and more money on senior players who are just totally out of the picture. Over the last 2/3 years, Millar, Scougall, Watt, McMillan, Anderson and Callachan have all been on longish contracts with us and have spent large chunks of that frozen out of the first team squad. 3 of those were marque signings and another 2 are cup winners who would've been on high wages as a result of that. You have to be concerned that players are falling out with Wright and perhaps we do need a change at that level now if the players are either not responding or responding negatively to methods he used successfully in the past. Not advocating sacking Wright at this stage but I am concerned about the trajectory of team right now.

 

 

[tree house tam]

I can see Wrights thinking in that Kerr, Clark and Gordon have performed well before this season and deserved the chance to be first picks. That has backfired big time. In that respect he has been hung out to dry by these players and others. Add in Easton leaving, Anderson being shite and the Foster debacle and things have conspired against him.

Signing shite like Ralston, Duffy and spunking wads on a crocked Stevie May is all on him though.

[Mr Positive, sometimes.]

13 minutes ago, tree house tam said:

I can see Wrights thinking in that Kerr, Clark and Gordon have performed well before this season and deserved the chance to be first picks. That has backfired big time. In that respect he has been hung out to dry by these players and others. Add in Easton leaving, Anderson being shite and the Foster debacle and things have conspired against him.

Signing shite like Ralston, Duffy and spunking wads on a crocked Stevie May is all on him though.

The Crocked Stevie May has at least scored a couple of goals though. If we hadn't brought him in our main Striker of Kane would still be sitting on zero goals. 

Whens the last time Kane did actually score come to think of it!

[tree house tam]

11 minutes ago, Mr Positive, sometimes. said:

The Crocked Stevie May has at least scored a couple of goals though. If we hadn't brought him in our main Striker of Kane would still be sitting on zero goals. 

Whens the last time Kane did actually score come to think of it!

Oh I have no doubt that a crippled Stevie May is the best striker at the club. Giving Kane his new contract was an eye opener to say the least.