Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread

[RandomGuy.]

5 minutes ago, Mr Positive, sometimes. said:

We shouldn't go in any game expecting an easy game. 

They're no doubt above their level with some decent players who have played and done relatively well at a higher level.

While they've brought in the likes of Higginbotham alongside the likes of Tidser & Scobbie they've also spent the summer bringing in 5 players from the likes of Peterhead, Brechin & BSC Glasgow who I admittedly don't know that much about but have no doubt they're decent players we have no excuse if we do not win. 

They've played some friendlies in a 5-2-3 set up.

Austin, Easton and Highinbotham as a front three. That's a mid/upper Championship attack.

Behind that they have Tidser, again mid/upper Championship. Scobbie, who is still of a similar level, and their GK was signed from Arbroath after starring in their promotion season from League One.

I don't like the thought of us chucking in a raft of half fit players tbh, but I'm very negative. 

[TxRover]

13 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Sounds like clubs are testing on the Monday after a game to avoid mid-week disruption.

Hamilton had players test positive (announced in media on Wed 16th September) after playing Livingston on Saturday, and the report said Livingston players had already had the all clear.

Would guess thats a league wide thing.

Premiership COVID testing timeline provides clearance for 168 hours after a test, I believe with a requirement to report results no less than two days before a game. So the players have to be tested at least once every seven days to remain eligible.

[Dick Van Dyke]

Another god awful performance tonight. The first half was a joke, the first 15 minutes of the 2nd was a bit better but overall absolutely honking. Spent the last 5 minutes just punting it forward. What was the actual point in that Stevie May sub? 

[Ludo*1]

3 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Kelty are pretty much a Championship side, id hope we don't go into this expecting a stroll. 

 

13 minutes ago, Dick Van Dyke said:

Another god awful performance tonight. The first half was a joke, the first 15 minutes of the 2nd was a bit better but overall absolutely honking. Spent the last 5 minutes just punting it forward. What was the actual point in that Stevie May sub? 

To be fair, you were always on a hiding to nothing unless you smashed Kelty which having looked at their starting 11, would be difficult for most clubs to just blow them away.

[Chewing Taffies]

Good result against an apparently mid/upper Championship team 

[Widge]

To be fair, you were always on a hiding to nothing unless you smashed Kelty which having looked at their starting 11, would be difficult for most clubs to just blow them away.

Exactly this, they were a very well organised team with clear experience in their ranks. On a pretty poor plastic pitch and out of form and more importantly out of goals, the win was fine.

You just need to look at some of the other results so far, Hamilton and County to see that whilst premiership teams should be much more match fit and better, it just doesn’t play out that way.

[The Marly]

Another god awful performance tonight. The first half was a joke, the first 15 minutes of the 2nd was a bit better but overall absolutely honking. Spent the last 5 minutes just punting it forward. What was the actual point in that Stevie May sub? 

I thought Saints were absolutely brilliant tonight. Bringing Stevie May on was a tactical masterstroke from the manager. If Davidson keeps this up he will soon be seen as our greatest ever manager and we'll all soon be asking "Tommy Who?". Feeling much more positive about the rest of the season after that performance.

[Derry Alli]

9 hours ago, Widge said:

 

Exactly this, they were a very well organised team with clear experience in their ranks. On a pretty poor plastic pitch and out of form and more importantly out of goals, the win was fine.

You just need to look at some of the other results so far, Hamilton and County to see that whilst premiership teams should be much more match fit and better, it just doesn’t play out that way.

 

Kilmarnock lost to Falkirk, too! 

[tree house tam]

4 hours ago, The Marly said:

14 hours ago, Dick Van Dyke said:

Another god awful performance tonight. The first half was a joke, the first 15 minutes of the 2nd was a bit better but overall absolutely honking. Spent the last 5 minutes just punting it forward. What was the actual point in that Stevie May sub? 

I thought Saints were absolutely brilliant tonight. Bringing Stevie May on was a tactical masterstroke from the manager. If Davidson keeps this up he will soon be seen as our greatest ever manager and we'll all soon be asking "Tommy Who?". Feeling much more positive about the rest of the season after that performance.

Turncoat Tommy is the correct term imo. Just you wait and see where he rocks up.

[Derry Alli]

1 hour ago, tree house tam said:

Turncoat Tommy is the correct term imo. Just you wait and see where he rocks up.

Is he really going honorary at the Swifts? 

[tree house tam]

30 minutes ago, Mr. Alli said:

Is he really going honorary at the Swifts? 

Any side that plays in black and white deserves vitriol,  c***s the lot if them.

[Stellaboz]

4 minutes ago, tree house tam said:

Any side that plays in black and white deserves vitriol,  c***s the lot if them.

f**k you, George O'Boyle loving cut. 

[tree house tam]

27 minutes ago, Stellaboz said:

f**k you, George O'Boyle loving cut. 

[Widge]

So I've reflected on the game last night a little more.

Whilst we didn't play amazingly well, I think a combination of fatigue from Sunday, too many changes, a lack of goals/form and a pretty poor plastic pitch all contributed to what was a fairly pedestrian first 30 mintues.

From then on in, we strolled it from where I was sitting. Hendry missed 2 great chances, Kerr missed 2 as well, we hit the woodwork twice when it was easier to score and generally looked a threat at every set piece we had. I know people will say we were playing a Lowland League team, but realistically you'd plonk that squad in League 1 and expect them to challenge for the title. We were never in any danger of actually conceding a goal, until Parish dropped a clanger with Tidsers daisy cutter going in virtually to the centre of the goal.

I think the key things from the game were to get players more minutes under the belt (i.e Kane, Rooney and Bryson off the bench). Callum Hendry badly needs a goal, he's struggling for confidence and I think once he grabs one he'll settle in front of goal and take his chances, think he was the same last season when he scored against Brechin (I hope there's a theme here). Similarly to Radford I was actually quite enthused by Bryson in his short cameo, he picked the ball up, moved it on and actually made some forward runs carrying it with him. Whilst he might not manage that against better teams, he's maybe not the dud signing people are expecting. 

Finally I think that should see the end of Wotherspoon in a midfield 2 for good. He's a great player, but either as a 10 or out wide. In fact it'll be interesting to see what Davidson choses to do in the next league game, because the front 3 worked against Celtic really well, with Spoony on the left. However if we're expecting to have more of the ball then we need another body up top. It's about finding that balance for me. If I were Callum Davidson I'd be dropping Conway and playing Spoony behind a front 2, with the instructions to pull out left, create an overlap with Tanser and then that allows him to come inside, cross the ball or take a shot. 

[big al]

50 minutes ago, Widge said:

So I've reflected on the game last night a little more.

Whilst we didn't play amazingly well, I think a combination of fatigue from Sunday, too many changes, a lack of goals/form and a pretty poor plastic pitch all contributed to what was a fairly pedestrian first 30 mintues.

From then on in, we strolled it from where I was sitting. Hendry missed 2 great chances, Kerr missed 2 as well, we hit the woodwork twice when it was easier to score and generally looked a threat at every set piece we had. I know people will say we were playing a Lowland League team, but realistically you'd plonk that squad in League 1 and expect them to challenge for the title. We were never in any danger of actually conceding a goal, until Parish dropped a clanger with Tidsers daisy cutter going in virtually to the centre of the goal.

I think the key things from the game were to get players more minutes under the belt (i.e Kane, Rooney and Bryson off the bench). Callum Hendry badly needs a goal, he's struggling for confidence and I think once he grabs one he'll settle in front of goal and take his chances, think he was the same last season when he scored against Brechin (I hope there's a theme here). Similarly to Radford I was actually quite enthused by Bryson in his short cameo, he picked the ball up, moved it on and actually made some forward runs carrying it with him. Whilst he might not manage that against better teams, he's maybe not the dud signing people are expecting. 

Finally I think that should see the end of Wotherspoon in a midfield 2 for good. He's a great player, but either as a 10 or out wide. In fact it'll be interesting to see what Davidson choses to do in the next league game, because the front 3 worked against Celtic really well, with Spoony on the left. However if we're expecting to have more of the ball then we need another body up top. It's about finding that balance for me. If I were Callum Davidson I'd be dropping Conway and playing Spoony behind a front 2, with the instructions to pull out left, create an overlap with Tanser and then that allows him to come inside, cross the ball or take a shot. 

You need to stop saying the plastic pitch is poor at kelty, they are a bit precious about their top of the range turf.

[Valentino Bolognese]

6 minutes ago, big al said:

You need to stop saying the plastic pitch is poor at kelty, they are a bit precious about their top of the range turf.

But it was poor. Some of the bounces last night were hilarious and half the time the players didn't seem to be able to judge a pass on it. Although, there may have been other reasons for that as we've seen this year. And it's not turf. 

@PauloPerth agree with all of your points. It would be a shame in some ways if Hendry is benched in favour of Melamed but he's had plenty of opportunity this year and his form looks like it's in reverse. Coming fresh off the bench in a few games might help him grab a few and get the confidence back. Thought Bryson was good, and I don't think anyone has said that a fully fit Bryson would not be a great player for us. It's the fully fit part that's the worry. 

Might sound a bit daft but a positive I took was that we managed to see the game out in a tactically more astute way than at the weekend. On Saturday I was shouting to run the clock down with some more late subs. One or two after the 85 minute mark and knocking the ball into the corner from the free kick and I reckon we have a team in the dressing room that's just held the champions to a draw and kept a clean sheet. Easy in hindsight though. 

Oh and I think Rooney's gash and don't want to see Conway starting again thanks. 

[RandomGuy.]

I was worried Bryson would be one of those CMs who's happy to just shuttle the ball between CBs tbh (everything pointed to him being a player who hides until he can make a simple pass), but glad to see him attempt a few passes into strikers feet. Think he was told to push up a bit when Muzz came on (possibly wrong, just guesswork off hand signals), and didn't really do much in the final third on the ball though. I'm still holding off on an opinion though, easy to come on and start dictating play when you're winning against a Lowland league side, let's see how involved he gets when we're in the shit against top flight sides.

I can still see the theory behind Conway starting in the middle tbh. He's pretty intelligent in terms of when to go wide and overload a full back, and when to stay central to link the play. Same with knowing when to press beyond the strikers and when to hold back. I don't know how Wotherspoon would do in there, he always has a tendency to drop too deep when central i reckon, so would never be able to help full backs so the strikers would get dragged out.

I think ideally Melamed can start occupying the spaces Conway is while producing more. He seems more direct than Conway from the very brief bits I've seen of him.

[kayemphoto]

Kelty 1-2 St Johnstone

Bet Fred Cup

 

See all the match photos HERE

[Mr Positive, sometimes.]

McCann not even on the bench for NI tonight according to the BBC. 

 

[RandomGuy.]

Our fans are an odd bunch.

Currently mass seethe that season ticket holders have to pay for the Brechin game despite the fact season tickets were clearly advertised as being for league games only.

Add in them wanting "loyalty" shown by the club for not taking refunds last season, despite it being their decision not to accept a refund when it was offered.

You'd think the club had forced them to refuse the refund and buy a new season ticket.