Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread

[The Woolshed]

The manager deserves respect at all times for what he's achieved and that should be kept in mind at all times. That doesn't mean he's immune to either criticism or further questioning if the time comes though. 
If things haven't picked up by the end of October, we can't just sleepwalk our way towards relegation. 
If people believe the squad is decent (which is questionable in itself) but he isn't getting them to perform then it would be a mistake not to try and remedy that. 
He obviously has faith in these players but he can't just keep banging his head against the wall when it comes to these tactics at home. Could've, should've doesn't wash with me, the three home performances haven't been good enough. 

The squad is decent. No doubts about that. It took far too long to reach that point but the last 3 signings IMO have given us what we need. Without any justification/facts have traditionally enjoyed runs of wins and losses in recent seasons. Knowing our first 6 was probably going to result in a poor start always felt like it would make the season a difficult one.

[The Saintee]

The squad isn't decent. It has, on paper, decent attacking options but we are weak in defence with little cover. 

[Bigmouth Strikes Again]

Stevie will score eventually, don't worry about it.

[The Woolshed]

The squad isn't decent. It has, on paper, decent attacking options but we are weak in defence with little cover. 

Not having that. I honestly think it is a decent squad, lacking confidence

[PauloPerth]

4 hours ago, The Saintee said:

The squad isn't decent. It has, on paper, decent attacking options but we are weak in defence with little cover. 

The scary thing is, for all our chat about decent attacking options and a weak defence, we've scored in 1 home league game out of 4. Two goals in the draw with Livi.  We lost 0-1 against two sides who I think in previous seasons we would have expected to beat at home.

The defence is taking the stick, but the attack is faltering just as much.  Ironically, i wouldn't be surprised if we've had far higher possession stats than in previous seasons, it's just we achieve less with it, and are giving away far too many chances and goals.

Would love to see us score first in a game and give ourselves something to protect.

[PauloPerth]

5 hours ago, Radford said:

The manager deserves respect at all times for what he's achieved and that should be kept in mind at all times. That doesn't mean he's immune to either criticism or further questioning if the time comes though. 

If things haven't picked up by the end of October, we can't just sleepwalk our way towards relegation. 

If people believe the squad is decent (which is questionable in itself) but he isn't getting them to perform then it would be a mistake not to try and remedy that. 

He obviously has faith in these players but he can't just keep banging his head against the wall when it comes to these tactics at home. Could've, should've doesn't wash with me, the three home performances haven't been good enough. 

Four home performances if you include the second half v Rangers.

Agree with you. 

Dont want him out, but there will come a point if we've still not won that we have to be realistic and do something to stave off relegation. 

 I am getting increasingly frustrated with the way we're setting up the same each match and simply hoping for a different outcome, which is just not happening.  

Still optimistic we'll pick up.

 

[jamamafegan]

Stevie will score eventually, don't worry about it.

You team is languishing in the Championship. Floundering like a seal pup with no mother.

[mizfit]

I’m off my tits. And I think we’ve a better chance of staying up than Prince Philips Cock.

[nelsjfc]

 

 

 

The scary thing is, for all our chat about decent attacking options and a weak defence, we've scored in 1 home league game out of 4. Two goals in the draw with Livi.  We lost 0-1 against two sides who I think in previous seasons we would have expected to beat at home.

The defence is taking the stick, but the attack is faltering just as much.  Ironically, i wouldn't be surprised if we've had far higher possession stats than in previous seasons, it's just we achieve less with it, and are giving away far too many chances and goals.

Would love to see us score first in a game and give ourselves something to protect.

 

This too is worrying me. We've been okay for the last 6-12 months by having enough to see off weaker teams in the league at home but only 2 goals in the more winnable games at Mcdiarmid is concerning. Had we made more of the dominance during second half performances at Pittodrie and Easter Road the pressure would be much less too.

 

The lack of cover in defence is yet another concern. Two or three weeks of bemoaning mistakes but absolutely no confidence in Vidhman or Duffy coming in to replace anyone.

 

Still confident it'll turn round, but next three games could change that. No wins there and gaps begin to open up.

 

[Templar]

We brought in Vihmann who is another allegedly promising young player not the type player to replace Anderson or Shaughnessy or needed to steady the ship when our own two youngsters can not cope and have to be benched. Kerr and Gordon are not working and we have no one replace them. I read it constantly, give them time but we do not have time and do not have a replacement.

We brought in Stevie May and we put all our eggs in one basket. I do not have a problem with this but if Tommy is going to play him as a loan striker and target man I do. Tommy’s formation does not suit his style of play. There were comments that Stevie would score 12-15 goals this season, if we continue with this formation and tactic, he will be lucky to score 8 unless they are penalty kicks.

We came into this season with too many wide players for 2 positions; Kennedy, Wright O’Halloran, Wotherspoon and Swanson. There were suggestions that Kennedy, O’Halloran or Swanson could play in behind May. Tommy has not played Kennedy there, O’Halloran and Swanson have been tried but produced zero. Tommy is now trying to fit them into a formation that does not work and certainly does not suit our only quality striker.

Tommy now wants to fit Drey into the team. But why change things when we were getting some success with Kennedy on the left and O’Halloran on the right. The 3 points we have, they played those positions: Kennedy 1 goal and O’Halloran 2 goals and an assist. But what does Tommy do in the last 2 games; he swaps them and introduces Drey. Neither has produced on the wrong wings this season. Tommy either plays MOH on the right or benches him. He has produced nothing other than on the right (sadly he is our top scorer in the league).

If we go down it will be for a long period as out top players (with relegation clauses) and those out of contract will be off elsewhere. 

 

[tree house tam]

And it starts again....Happy Sunday  saints fans

[Mr Heliums]

Something that will only be of interest to history geeks – noticed in the PA that Betty Patillo has died. I'm guessing she was the wife of our first player-manager (and cup-winner for Dundee) Johnny Patillo. Patillo managed us for five years in the 1950s – and left football forever after that.

 

Edited September 29, 2019 by Mr Heliums

[PauloPerth]

Relegation would obviously be a very bad thing.  But even being embroiled in a relegation scrap will provide a huge headache in terms of planning for next season.

We have a fair few key players out of contract, so not knowing which division we'd be playing in would mean we couldn't tie anything up until it was all decided, and would probably see us losing a few. (Unlike this season obviously, where we've had the squad sorted well in advance of the season starting!!)

The only course of action is to get the finger out and put a run of hunners of wins together to get us clear by January..

Get it sorteed Tommy.

[Lang Toon Saintee]

Anybody else think that we will see Shaughnessy back in the next  transfer window ?

[kingjoey]

29 minutes ago, Lang Toon Saintee said:

Anybody else think that we will see Shaughnessy back in the next  transfer window ?

Hell certainly be back in Scotland, but at Pittodrie.

[Boaby Fisher]

Anybody else think that we will see Shaughnessy back in the next  transfer window ?

He looked good for Southend in preseason but has been awful since. Out of the team since Kiernan got fit and apparently not settling down south. All depends on how their new manager (more than likely Larsson) wants to set up, because they don’t have many more CB options. Seems like a nice lad, hope it works out for him.

[tree house tam]

14 hours ago, Lang Toon Saintee said:

Anybody else think that we will see Shaughnessy back in the next  transfer window ?

Nope.

[Mr Positive, sometimes.]

Muzz's headed miss was absolutely criminal. It looked bad enough in real time but the replay confirmed exactly how bad it was. 

Gordon should have scored in the first half at 0-0 as well. Free header. 

May one from about 3 yards out, hard to tell what happened but he seemed to fall over?!

You cant miss chances like that and expect to get something from games. 

Last week against Rangers, yes Rangers were the better side, particularly in the second half but we had our chances to score. Good save from O'Hallorans chance from Mcgregor but again if you're going to win those games, you've got to take chances like that, that come along. 

The goal/no goal on the line. the fact they were able to clear it in the first place was poor from our point of view. if Kane had hit it ANYWHERE else on target than he did it would have been in. Then Muzz following up was quite feeble as well. 

Were not picking up points because we show little or no composure in front of goal but its nothing new. There was a trend of it last season too, particularly at home where we were unable to take our chances are ended up regretting it.  Prime examples from last season are Hibs at home when we were defeated by 10 min and Hearts at home where we were given that bizarre penalty. 

Lets not even mention the missed penalties...

Defensively...

I like Tanser but he just gets beat far to easily at times. Motherwell's open goal miss prior to their goal, he was just far to easily beaten to the byline by IMO one of the worst players I've seen this season. Morelos first goal was also a shambles from his point of view last week as well. Not going to win many games defending like that. He's not the only one who had made individual errors though. 

Ralston though has looked good, defend on the ball and very committed in the tackle, looks better than Foster so far this season.

McCann Deserves praise too. I expect when Liam is fit again though he'll make way for him. 

 

[GableEnder21]

Any of you guys seen Shaun Struthers play in the reserves? Has he got goals in him?
Just signed for the Mo.

[Costanza]

Pains me to say this but it was depressing watching Stevie May in the flesh on Saturday. It wasn’t the tap him he missed as such, more a couple of things in the first half. Firstly, Motherwell gave the ball away and he had it in a great position. The space was there to drive on, commit a defender and get a shot away. Instead he tried to play an intricate through ball to Muzz of all people and it went limply to the keeper, momentum killed. The second incident he was wide on the right and did drive into the box, it was vaguely exciting for a moment. Nothing happened though, he just seemed to fall over. He claimed for a penalty but surely wasn’t serious. The chance in the second half was a good one too, Ralston picked him out well, little faith he would score though.

In danger of Random Guy levels of hyperbole here but he looks done to me. Early days and obviously hope I’m wrong but it looks like we’ve signed another Chris Kane.