Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread

[mizfit]

Get it up every single one of the Perth True Blues and their glory hunting Following.

[mizfit]

There's a lot I like about Saints: the manager, the ground, Stephen Dobbie and the fact they usually loan us gems. But what are the seat colours all about? Is there an actual reason for it or was the architect smoking crack at the time?
 
Dunfermline's baffles me as well with the red seats.
 
 

At the time they decided to copy Ibrox’s seating pattern, which was designed to make ticket allocation easier.

In fact rangers gave us a pile of the seats for free when we moved. Geoff Brown does love himself a freebie.

[RandomGuy.]

On 16/02/2020 at 22:11, RandomGuy. said:

Stevie May in 2020

Games: 8

Minutes: 554

Goals: 4

Assists: 2

Goal every 138 minutes/Goal involvement every 92 minutes

Make that 5 goals in 9...

[Fife Saint]

Make that 5 goals in 9...

And assist..

[Fife Saint]

The first few months of this season were brutal. Utterly despairing.

The look ahead now is pretty exciting. As a famous stripper once said 'If you want the rainbow you gotta put up with the rain'.

[PauloPerth]

Good result for us today, the team battled well.

I didn't think we played particularly well in possession to be honest, we could have used the ball far better as the Rangers defence was there to be got at.

Thought Zander overall had a decent game apart from a wee spell just before half time, a definite improvement though with some good saves.

Booth, Kerr and McCart had good games. Kerr obviously sold himself for the goal by diving in and slipping, and had another wee error just after, but I think otherwise the centre backs did well.  Kambieri seems to love playing against us, he caused us a lot of bother again.

McCann and Hendry were excellent. I hate to be critical after a good point, and I'll probably get a lot of disagreement over this, but David Wotherspoon was an absolute passenger most of that game. I think he shites it against the OF to be honest, and I'd consider not starting him next week. He's been really good recently, but look at how much young players like McCann and Hendry get wired in and show confidence on the ball against Celtic or rangers, and compare it to Spoony's contribution, who is one of our most experienced players.

Drey Wright again promises so much but then didn't quite deliver the telling pass or finish.

I wonder if a more clinical team might have put us away, particularly from a few chances in the first half, and we maybe rode our luck a bit, but it was a decent end to end game and a good point.

 

[RandomGuy.]

Cant see it mentioned, but I'm fairly sure Brown was in the media not long before kick off saying we currently have the 6th/7th highest budget in the league and are on course for a hefty loss this season. 

Suspect we'll struggle to keep this squad together for long.

[PauloPerth]

3 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Cant see it mentioned, but I'm fairly sure Brown was in the media not long before kick off saying we currently have the 6th/7th highest budget in the league and are on course for a hefty loss this season. 

Suspect we'll struggle to keep this squad together for long.

If that is the case, the fact that our average attendances are roughly the same as last season, we'll have at least 3 home crowds of over 8000 for the first time in however many years, at £30 a head, we've removed a big wage halfway through the season and made c£70k from selling him on, and have tv money from a live Cup quarter final, all of which are over and above what would have been predicted at the start of the season, then that is absolutely dreadful financial planning by the club, bordering on incompetence.

[RandomGuy.]

1 minute ago, PauloPerth said:

If that is the case, the fact that our average attendances are roughly the same as last season, we'll have at least 3 home crowds of over 8000 for the first time in however many years, at £30 a head, we've removed a big wage halfway through the season and made c£70k from selling him on, and have tv money from a live Cup quarter final, all of which are over and above what would have been predicted at the start of the season, then that is absolutely dreadful financial planning by the club, bordering on incompetence.

I think it's to explain why we're giving out the three stands, and holding off on re-signing Wright, tbh. He made it sound like the losses were projected before that decision was made.

[Valentino Bolognese]

10 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

Good result for us today, the team battled well.

I didn't think we played particularly well in possession to be honest, we could have used the ball far better as the Rangers defence was there to be got at.

Thought Zander overall had a decent game apart from a wee spell just before half time, a definite improvement though with some good saves.

Booth, Kerr and McCart had good games. Kerr obviously sold himself for the goal by diving in and slipping, and had another wee error just after, but I think otherwise the centre backs did well.  Kambieri seems to love playing against us, he caused us a lot of bother again.

McCann and Hendry were excellent. I hate to be critical after a good point, and I'll probably get a lot of disagreement over this, but David Wotherspoon was an absolute passenger most of that game. I think he shites it against the OF to be honest, and I'd consider not starting him next week. He's been really good recently, but look at how much young players like McCann and Hendry get wired in and show confidence on the ball against Celtic or rangers, and compare it to Spoony's contribution, who is one of our most experienced players.

Drey Wright again promises so much but then didn't quite deliver the telling pass or finish.

I wonder if a more clinical team might have put us away, particularly from a few chances in the first half, and we maybe rode our luck a bit, but it was a decent end to end game and a good point.

 

Agree that the CB's did well, as did Hendry, McCann and May. Butcher looked too eager to get rid of the ball, but to be fair in general the midfield had less time on the ball than the last few weeks, plus we sat back a lot. 

Zander is still a bombscare IMO. A good shot stopper but all over the place with crosses and goalmouth scrambles, weak punches and very average feet. 

Overall we got a point and didn't play our very best, against the second top, but I missed some of the fluidity that we've shown recently. Might have been the opposition (they certainly seemed fitter to be fair) but we also showed them a lot of respect. Three recent games we've gone a goal ahead and sat deeper, giving up the midfield to defend a narrow lead. Worked at Pittodrie, backfired a bit in Dingwall and today we could have lost that quite easily. 

Wotherspoon was back to 'bad Spoony', ponderous, bad decisions etc. hopefully that means he's due to storm back, so I think he'd be worth starting in the cup. He was really shown up for lack of pace today and against better players his skill isn't as much of an asset. The obvious substitution to me was Spoony off for MOH at the 60 minute mark. 

Quite pleasing as well that we've put the final nail in the coffin of Sevco league aspirations, if they really had any left. Heard Gerrard's comments on the radio, absolutely no acknowledgement whatsoever of the opposition. Utterly graceless cretin of a man and I'm looking forward to his jotters and the complete implosion of the outfit. Once again I didn't think that all the Saints in the main stand was in any way a disadvantage and it's nice to be packed in a bit more tightly. 

FWIW I agreed with Tommy getting annoyed at the crowd batting the ball up into the stand. When Collum's in the middle you don't want to give him an excuse. 

Onwards to top 6. Maybe.

[PauloPerth]

3 minutes ago, Valentino Bolognese said:

Zander is still a bombscare IMO. A good shot stopper but all over the place with crosses and goalmouth scrambles, weak punches and very average feet. 

Na, you're just jumping on board the popular opinion of just now. A few poor moments, but overall that was a decent performance from him today.

[RandomGuy.]

He had a moment in the first half with a cross, not sure how he done in the second, too far away to tell with some crosses whether he shouldve come for them.

Not sure why Ralston is getting stick for the equaliser either, nothing anyone can do to stop that goal really. He'll never score another like it.

[PauloPerth]

17 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

I think it's to explain why we're giving out the three stands, and holding off on re-signing Wright, tbh. He made it sound like the losses were projected before that decision was made.

In that case I take it back about incompetence. The way you wrote it, I thought you were saying we were on for a hefty loss from now.  Still an outside chance of top six as well. And a cup final..

As VB said, as much as  it's shite to give them 3 stands, the last two OF games with it feeling much busier with Saints fans sitting around you,  have been far more bearable/ enjoyable than these games have been for a while.

[PauloPerth]

3 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

He had a moment in the first half with a cross, not sure how he done in the second, too far away to tell with some crosses whether he shouldve come for them.

Not sure why Ralston is getting stick for the equaliser either, nothing anyone can do to stop that goal really. He'll never score another like it.

Kerr was giving him a bollocking after that goal. I think he felt Ralston could have made it far harder for Kambieri to get onto the ball for the finish. Helluva strike though.

[Valentino Bolognese]

14 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

Na, you're just jumping on board the popular opinion of just now. A few poor moments, but overall that was a decent performance from him today.

Sorry Paulo, have to defend myself on this one. It's not bandwagon jumping. 

There were a few instances today, particularly first half, where he really lacked composure. There was an instance in the second half where he made a good stop but spilled it back into the box and was lucky that Morelos wasn't on top of it quicker.  I'm not saying he's not the guy to be our 1st choice keeper, and he wasn't to blame from the goals (as far as I could see) but his confidence looks shot. I've been critical of his kicking since day 1 of the season. 

He's always been a really good shot stopper but the rest of his game is letting him down just now. Last season a hallmark of his game was quick, accurate throws out wide to get us moving with purpose up the park. He did that once today out to Spoony and I can honestly say it was the first I've seen him do it for months. 

edit: to defend Zander a little today, a lot of our defending seemed really jittery and some of the early season inability to clear the lines or play out from the back was evident again. By no means enough to spoil a good point though. 

Edited February 23, 2020 by Valentino Bolognese

[Widge]

He had a moment in the first half with a cross, not sure how he done in the second, too far away to tell with some crosses whether he shouldve come for them.
Not sure why Ralston is getting stick for the equaliser either, nothing anyone can do to stop that goal really. He'll never score another like it.

Nah it was poor play from Ralston, as a full back he has to get in front of his man and tuck in when the winger comes narrow. Kerr was totally right to have a go at him for it. There was an example in the second half where he defended it correctly and cleared ahead of Kamberi, which Kerr praised him for.

Not taking anything away from the finish, it was outstanding, but by doing the basics he doesn’t get the chance to hit it.

[PauloPerth]

9 minutes ago, Valentino Bolognese said:

Sorry Paulo, have to defend myself on this one. It's not bandwagon jumping. 

There were a few instances today, particularly first half, where he really lacked composure. There was an instance in the second half where he made a good stop but spilled it back into the box and was lucky that Morelos wasn't on top of it quicker.  I'm not saying he's not the guy to be our 1st choice keeper, and he wasn't to blame from the goals (as far as I could see) but his confidence looks shot. I've been critical of his kicking since day 1 of the season. 

He's always been a really good shot stopper but the rest of his game is letting him down just now. Last season a hallmark of his game was quick, accurate throws out wide to get us moving with purpose up the park. He did that once today out to Spoony and I can honestly say it was the first I've seen him do it for months. 

I don't think he's on top form by any means.  The flapping about (in absolutely horrendous conditions bear in mind) last week could be described as being a bombscare.  I certainly wouldn't describe today's performance as that.

His distribution was much better; I think he only kicked it straight out of play once which is a lot better than recent form, he pulled off a number of good saves, handled a few crosses quite well and dealt well with a few pass backs with strikers running at him on a bobbly pitch.

Yes, there was a flap at a cross, and a sketchy couple of minutes not long before the interval, but there were a lot more positives than negatives for me.

 

[Valentino Bolognese]

7 minutes ago, ali_91 said:

If Clark had been playing well before today, he’d have been getting praised for a good performance with a couple of key saves. Wouldn’t accuse VB of bandwagon jumping, but I think any criticism of his performance today is coming from a position not taken in isolation. 
 

In fairness, that could be a valid viewpoint to come from, as his one mistake today came from a high ball, which is undeniably a theme recently. 

On balance there may be some truth in this as you do find yourself looking / expecting the misakes which may be a little unfair on him. There's something in his body language when he comes off his line though that just seems hesitant today. 

Not sure how much, if any, a role the sun played in the goalkeeping today. First half McGregor looked to be really struggling with the low sun behind the Ormond.

Edit I think there was more than one mistake, at least one very poor punch and at least one spill he really should have held. I'm not going to trawl the full match replays for mistakes when they're up on Saints TV though. Although I will be watching the full match replay of course, got to get value out of that subscription somehow.

Edited February 23, 2020 by Valentino Bolognese

[PauloPerth]

At the other end of the park, thats Stevie May upto 5th equal in the all-time premier/ship scoring charts for Saints. And Callum Hendry is absolutely soaring up the table in rapid style, especially considering he only scored his first goal for Saints 10 months ago:

(this is only goals scored in the top division, since 1975)

47 - Steven MacLean

43 - Liam Craig

39 - Paul Wright

32 - Murray Davidson

28 - Harry Curran, Stevie May

21 -  Michael O'Halloran

20 - David Wotherspoon

19 - Roddy Grant

17 - Chris Kane

14 - Graham Cummins, Nathan Lowndes, Fran Sandaza

13 - Dave Mackay, Keigan Parker, Danny Swanson

12 - Steven Anderson, Nigel Hasselbaink, George O'Boyle

11 - Vinny Arkins, Steve Maskrey

10 - John Davies, Allan Moore, John O'Neil, Cillian Sheridan

9 - Brian Graham, Gunni Torfason

8 - John Brogan, Paddy Connolly, Peter MacDonald, Jimmy O'Rourke, Blair Alston, Matt Kennedy, Callum Hendry

7 - Gary Bollan, Darren Dods, Graeme Jones, Collin Samuel, Mark Treanor, Tommy Turner, Rowan Vine

6 - Billy Dodds, Paul Hartley, Paul Kane, Alan Kernaghan, Philip Scott, Joe Shaughnessy

5 - Kenny Deuchar, Tommy Lovenkrands, Alan Lyons, John Paul McBride, Ian Redford, Miguel Simao, Momo Sylla

4 - Ray Blair, Chris Millar, Sam Parkin, Gordon Scott, Gregory Tade, David McMillan, Jason Kerr, Ali McCann

[Fife Saint]

We should probably talk about Steve..