The Real Saints Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 In the space of two or three weeks, Zander Clark has seemingly advanced from being one of the worst goalkeepers in the league to being the prime candidate for a Scotland call-up. Quite remarkable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radford Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 Remarkable is certainly one word for it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valentino Bolognese Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 (edited) 40 minutes ago, The Real Saints said: In the space of two or three weeks, Zander Clark has seemingly advanced from being one of the worst goalkeepers in the league to being the prime candidate for a Scotland call-up. Quite remarkable. Nah, it's not been 2 or 3 weeks. IMO he's been pretty solid since he came back from injury and he's certainly made some very good saves. Can't remember any proper howlers like we saw last season. Kicking's still a work in progress right enough. Agree the national team stuff is nonsense right enough. ETA just had a wee look and in league games only, both Clark and Parish have both played 8 games. With Parish we lost 8 goals and kept 1 clean sheet, Zander has 2 clean sheets and has 11 goals against. We picked up 7 points with Elliot and 10 with Clark. Not sure that tells us anything TBH. Edited December 12, 2020 by Valentino Bolognese 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real Saints Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 Jason Kerr returns to the line-up in place of Rooney. Chris Kane is rewarded for last week's goal with a start in place of the injured O'Halloran. Bryson keeps his place with Davidson on the bench. Conway fit again and on the bench. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tree house tam Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 Zander for Scotland? Oaft. Better get my gloves out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bose Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 Think The Courier are behind the Zander for Scotland stuff. They’ve been hyping up Ryan Gauld too even though few knew he was even still playing. Not heard one Saints fan saying it about Zander although there are a few places I avoid that may be 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloPerth Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 Strange season. A good squad of players and playing a lot of decent football at times upto the final third. But unable to get the results we should be from many performances, not scoring enough goals, and unable to defend for a whole match; only 3 clean sheets in the league all season. Many Saints fans have felt we're a top six side who are on the verge of going on a run to take us there, but this is looking increasingly unlikely as we approach the half way point in the season. We're just not effective enough at either end of the park. Hope we can grind out a few wins over the busy December-January spell to pull away from the bottom 2 places. We've been lucky with injuries and not gone through a covid decimation so far. I'd still happily take third bottom and winning the league cup though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 Think its just what you get with a rookie manager tbh. A case of them learning the job and it costing you points throughout the season. A Tommy Wright side doesnt have a striker losing the ball on the halfway line, with a 30 yard gap between your 2 CMs, one of whom is ahead of the striker. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radford Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 It does feel like we are at the crossroads. I don't think we'll go backwards but to have a good season (and fifth should very much be the aim), we need to start adding substance to the style, or it'll be a season of treading water where our quality wins us enough points, but our inability to make the most of opportunities stops us kicking on. The two glaring issues are the lack of goals at home (3 from open play in 10 games against Premiership opposition) and the inability to register a clean sheet, despite giving away so few opportunities (4 in 19 games against Premiership sides). You can get away with one or other but not both. The manager changed the system slightly today and I didn't think it worked. It may be that we can alternate between the front two with someone in behind and the front three but he needs to get the calls right or have the ability to change it in-game, which the absence of O'Halloran and Conway admittedly impacted today. If he gets the formula right, what does it come down to though? The xG says we should have scored around 11 goals at home, so is it the finishing? But then if you watch the team, it'd be fair IMO to question the final ball/pass when we get in dangerous areas so often. I don't think you can keep banging the luck drum when it's nearly Xmas, so either you don't like the system (which is the simple explanation) or if you do, the personnel within it aren't delivering? Does anyone hate the system and if so, I'd be keen to hear how you'd rather see us play? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Positive, sometimes. Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 That game sums up this team. Play alright and often even defend alright but very prone to just completely switching off. Going forward, lack any real consistent imagination and conviction. Seasons gone by we'd have won that game 1-0 but all season we've consistently shown a real lack of self belief and battling quality. It's all good and well getting a point against Celtic when you've nothing to lose, what about when it really matters? We tried to circumvent their press by knocking it longer after they committed men to the pressing but it didn't work. When we did gain some possession in their half it was back to the passing it around in areas that were zero threat before attempting a ball into the box from deep. Had a few half chances but the players on the end of with them didn't believe themselves they'd score and it showed in their effort on goal. Mays header and Hendry's chance towards the end being prime examples of that. Kane did alright again but wasn't exactly given much to get on the end with. If we're drawn into a relegation battle does that team have the stomach for it? Not convinced. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 (edited) 21 minutes ago, Radford said: The xG says we should have scored around 11 goals at home, so is it the finishing? WyScout has non-pen xG at home for each match (excluding today) as... 1.16, 0.86, 1.11, 0.56, 0.82, 2.12, 0.61, 0.46. 3 goal is about right from that, if you look at individual games? St Mirren game the 2.12 one. Against Motherwell the only xG chance, aside from the penalty goal, above 0.1 (10% chance of a goal) was a May backheel from 2 yards that, realistically, should be lower as a player was right behind him. Its only above 1 due to the sheer amount of shots we had. Culminative xG can be deceiving I think. Needs context. For instance I think of the top 3 xG chances today, Livingston will have 2, Kanes goal will be 1st. We'll have the higher xG over the course of the match. Should we be expecting to win despite Livingston having more quality chances than us, because we had more shots? Edited December 12, 2020 by RandomGuy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radford Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 Some interesting points. Maybe the tactic was to go long to avoid the press but, on an unbeaten run, and at home, should we not have had the confidence to play through it? That's where I don't think you could say the game summed up our season as it wasn't like a usual performance that we've seen. Disappointing that the manager felt the best approach was that, if it was the case. Defeats are never nice but not sure I miss the games like the last one before lockdown at home to the same opponents. In the long run, I'm glad this squad has evolved from that style under the new manager but accept that he'll need results to back that up. Agree the strikers lack conviction. Contrast how easy Robinson (hardly a player you'd be clamouring to sign) made his goal look. I don't think we'll be close to relegation but it doesn't have down to fight, unless we let games develop as today's did. The win at Hamilton wasn't about fight, or the home victory over St Mirren. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radford Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 46 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said: Culminative xG can be deceiving I think. Needs context. For instance I think of the top 3 xG chances today, Livingston will have 2, Kanes goal will be 1st. We'll have the higher xG over the course of the match. Should we be expecting to win despite Livingston having more quality chances than us, because we had more shots? That's fair enough. I'm open to all explanations of why the home record is, let's be honest, poor and what different approach we could take. Don't think we could have any complaints about today. Does come back to the early point about final balls though, where maybe the xG isn't high but we've been in dangerous areas so many more times than the opposition. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloPerth Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 Livi are a bad team to play against. Very well organised, great work rate and capable without being flashy in the ball. Exactly what we used to be. I like our system for away matches, and I think we might do quite well in the game against rangers in a couple of weeks setting up the same way, but it has not given us a lot of joy at home this season. I'd like to see us try 4 at the back at home. I'm all for ball playing defenders, but first and foremost their job is to defend. The three centre backs are all good players, but I think there's less individual responsibility being taken at times. Pick a pairing and tell them their only job is to come off the park with a clean sheet. They will know they have to play well as the third one is a good quality replacement if either of the two selected are not performing. After that match today, do any of Kerr, Gordon or McCart genuinely fear being dropped? It might well not be the answer, but is having 3 centre backs bringing us anything currently in home matches? Clean sheets - rarely. A goal threat at set pieces - definitely not. Would it be better to bring a more forward thinking player into the line up to help us break teams down? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy.1995 Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 Livi a bad team to play against. FFS get a grip keyboard warriers. You had chances especially in the first half,you didnt take them.Most so called pundits had this as a home banker.Yeh,11 unbeaton,but most runs come to an end.Got to admit didnt expect this today.But everytime people write us off we seem to confound the critics. Many coupons down today due to this. Its gonna be a testing time for both teams But end of the day i think we'll both be safe.P. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Costanza Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 Not sure why you are so vexed by people saying Livingston are a hard team to play against; wish they were saying it about us. It’s a compliment. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 49 minutes ago, Troy.1995 said: Livi a bad team to play against. 100%. Huge work rate, fight for everything, well drilled, make almost 0 mistakes, take 0 risks. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Posted December 12, 2020 Author Share Posted December 12, 2020 26 minutes ago, Costanza said: Not sure why you are so vexed by people saying Livingston are a hard team to play against; wish they were saying it about us. It’s a compliment. This. We are piss easy to play against at home. Sit in and wait for a chance to counter. You’ll probably not concede and we’ll give up at least one good chance to score. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, PauloPerth said: Livi are a bad team to play against. Very well organised, great work rate and capable without being flashy in the ball. Exactly what we used to be. I like our system for away matches, and I think we might do quite well in the game against rangers in a couple of weeks setting up the same way, but it has not given us a lot of joy at home this season. I'd like to see us try 4 at the back at home. I'm all for ball playing defenders, but first and foremost their job is to defend. The three centre backs are all good players, but I think there's less individual responsibility being taken at times. Pick a pairing and tell them their only job is to come off the park with a clean sheet. They will know they have to play well as the third one is a good quality replacement if either of the two selected are not performing. After that match today, do any of Kerr, Gordon or McCart genuinely fear being dropped? It might well not be the answer, but is having 3 centre backs bringing us anything currently in home matches? Clean sheets - rarely. A goal threat at set pieces - definitely not. Would it be better to bring a more forward thinking player into the line up to help us break teams down? In theory, the 5-2-3 is meant to be effective at beating a "low block". 3 strikers go central, the central one meant to drop into midfield and attract a CB with him/CM out of position. WB's create width, and CBs overlap/underlap, CMs complete a "triangle" with WB/CB to pass around the opponents to get someone in behind. Other way is for the two "wide" CBs to sit deep, and your central CB pushes up to make a "diamond" midfield, with the CF being the tip. Two wide men try and exploit the central space the CF should've created. Gordon makes this set up unlikely due to his lack of playmaking ability (sorry Tam). Just not working in practice. Really need MOH to hit form, and have a run of starts, to see whats what. Edited December 12, 2020 by RandomGuy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munoz Posted December 12, 2020 Share Posted December 12, 2020 1 hour ago, RandomGuy. said: 100%. Huge work rate, fight for everything, well drilled, make almost 0 mistakes, take 0 risks. 3 points though, to your 0. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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