Celebration of the Scum Slayers; St Johnstone v Hearts 23/12/17

[7-2]

58 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

You forget we watched him a lot for Dundee United over a 2 year period where we ragdolled them and him continuously. He then joined Hearts, and least season we pumped you 4 times and drew once out of 5. The game at Murrayfield might well be the first time he's played in a team that's beaten us.. not certain on that one though.

It was! A quick look at Scoccerbase shows he'd played  against us 12 times before  Murrayfield and lost 8, drawn 4.  It was 13th time lucky. 

[Kyle]

Not really sure what to expect from Tommy tomorrow. We obviously got a great result at Ibrox last week, but at home our fans will expect us to press forward more, and we're playing a team that further down the table than Rangers. I wouldn't be disappointed if we started the same 11 as last week, but suspect that O'Halloran and possibly Maclean re-emerge for this one, and we end up playing Scougall wide again to accomodate the changes.

I'll be bold and predict;

Clark

Foster Anderson Shaughnessy Tanser

Millar (dear god just let him play) Paton

Scougall Alston O'Halloran

Maclean

I'd personally let Johnstone continue up top - he's more mobile than Maclean and I think his strengths will test Berra more than Maclean's will. After Cummins' interview this week, staying on the bench after scoring against Rangers probably seems harsh but I think it's unlikely we'll play 2 up top with Hearts having 3 in the middle of midfield.

 I'm on the fence a bit about O'Halloran as I think the choice is likely to be between him and Craig. No doubt who's got more pace, but in a game like this Craig's commitment and love of getting it up Hearts may prove beneficial. We need to start preparing for like without MOH so wouldn't be devastated if he was reduced to the roll of impact sub. Wotherspoon is the potential wildcard, but the players he'd replace did so well at Ibrox that I'd be tempted to leave him on the bench. He was getting pelters at McDiarmid last week, so maybe best to get him out of that situation for a while. The boy never hides, but it must be a confidence sapping experience for him sometimes.

[GorgieRoad]

3 hours ago, Kyle said:

Souttar has made numerous mistakes against us and has looked well out of his depth on more occasions than he's even looked passable at this level(again against us). It's quite understandable that Saints fans think he's shite because the body of evidence of games against us suggests that he is shite.

There seems to be a disproportionate number of players from teams who have finished below us for years who would 'walk into' our team. You'd think the teams in question would be better than us given that the quality in our team is apparently so poor. On the basis of what I've seen of Souttar, I'm quite happy to stick with Shaughnessy and Anderson over him.

Fair enough that most Saints fans will be basing it on what they've seen when you've played us, genuinely couldn't remember him having so many howlers against you and I cba going back to check the match reports. I'd say at the moment we're the better team and have the better defence, having conceded 8 goals less despite being by and large poor for this season by our standards.

3 hours ago, PauloPerth said:

You forget we watched him a lot for Dundee United over a 2 year period where we ragdolled them and him continuously. He then joined Hearts, and least season we pumped you 4 times and drew once out of 5. The game at Murrayfield might well be the first time he's played in a team that's beaten us.. not certain on that one though.

Stones is a good comparison. One of those uk central defenders who gets hyped ridiculously because he likes to pass the ball out and shows a bit of skill. All very well, but ultimately pointless if you are, at best,  average at your bread and butter tasks such as winning headers and tackles etc.

You 'pumped us' 3-2, 1-0, 1-0 and 1-0. 

If you're average at heading the ball out and tackling (which Souttar probably is tbf) but have the advantage of being able to play out rather than just hoof it then I'd consider that to be a better player than just average tbh.

 

Hope to f**k we don't get done tomorrow because of a John Souttar nightmare or I'm going to look ridiculous for being such a cocky wee shite. 

[tree house tam]

Souttar to score is getting put on at the bookies.

[RandomGuy.]

He literally hasn't.
He did  however, literally perform for a defence that kept a clean sheet against you the very last time we played.

He probably handed us a chance though, tbf. He's horrendous and gets an easy ride because he's the only CB in the Country who can pass the ball

[Tony Wonder]

3 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

6 hours ago, Tony Wonder said:

He literally hasn't.
He did  however, literally perform for a defence that kept a clean sheet against you the very last time we played.

He probably handed us a chance though, tbf. He's horrendous and gets an easy ride because he's the only CB in the Country who can pass the ball

An absolute nonsense. I get he's maybe not shown up well against you previously but he's 21, and improving all the time. As a Hearts fan I've seen plenty good centre halves and he's not a million miles off any of them. He's clearly a good player and not horrendous. 

This season alone he's played nearly every week for the second best defence in the league.

[RandomGuy.]

An absolute nonsense. I get he's maybe not shown up well against you previously but he's 21, and improving all the time. As a Hearts fan I've seen plenty good centre halves and he's not a million miles off any of them. He's clearly a good player and not horrendous. 
This season alone he's played nearly every week for the second best defence in the league.

He's literally the worst defender I've ever seen.

[glenrothes 1884 saint]

I know you’re trolling,but did you see Ando at 21? In fact did you see him against Aberdeen at 31?

[mathematics]

On 12/18/2017 at 11:33, RandomGuy. said:

On 12/18/2017 at 11:06, mathematics said:

I liked this for two reasons: the sentiment, and the irony.

Here's come the wee reject third brother who gets shoved in washing machines. Bet you've got a Union Jack tattoo.

I've read this over and over now and just can't quite fix it enough for it to make sense.

[HeartsOfficialMoaner]

I hope we rest Cochrane, Lafferty and Milinkovic.  Have them ready for Hibs.

McLaughlin; Randall Souttar Berra Smith; Brandon Cowie Callachan Moore; Isma Stockton

 

[PauloPerth]

A lot of Saints fans on here and WAP seem quite easy osey about us changing the line up from last week. I'd keep it the same. Denny Johnstone got his first start, scored at Ibrox and caused them a few problems, so there's no reason at all to change him. Scougall was excellent centrally, keep him there.

MOH hasn't done too much for a while, so he should start on the bench. He could make a great impact during the second half if we're chasing a goal. The midfield worked a treat last week, leave it be.

Having said all this, last week Perthsaint1977's 'hunch' at the starting line up was absolutely spot on, so when he says he'd be amazed if it's the same team, that's pretty much a guarantee there are changes.

[RandomGuy.]

I don't know the line up before anyone starts, but I wonder what the reaction would be if Millar and Craig dropped out for MOH and MacLean

[Mr Heliums]

22 hours ago, Kyle said:

I'm on the fence a bit about O'Halloran as I think the choice is likely to be between him and Craig. No doubt who's got more pace, but in a game like this Craig's commitment and love of getting it up Hearts may prove beneficial. We need to start preparing for like without MOH so wouldn't be devastated if he was reduced to the roll of impact sub. 

I suspect the choice here might be political as much as anything. The only attraction of Saints for O'Halloran is game time.  If he doesn't start, it's a sign Tommy doesn't expect to keep him.

I don't see Tommy keeping the same team  – history has shown that hasn't worked in the past. But Millar has to play. And I hope the contributions of Johnstone and Cummins last week allows at least one of them to start. No earthly reason for Macca to return unless he's part of a front two.

[paranoid android]

2 hours ago, HeartsOfficialMoaner said:

I hope we rest Cochrane, Lafferty and Milinkovic.  Have them ready for Hibs.

I'm sure Levein would like to rest players, but with Djoum, Walker, Moore, Buaben,  Hughes and Callachan struggling, we might not be able to.

Might be able to put Isma and/or Stockton in for Lafferty, but we're well short in midfield. 

[Tom Paris]

3 hours ago, HeartsOfficialMoaner said:

I hope we rest Cochrane, Lafferty and Milinkovic.  Have them ready for Hibs.

McLaughlin; Randall Souttar Berra Smith; Brandon Cowie Callachan Moore; Isma Stockton

 

I agree but I think they might all play.

[Lang Toon Saintee]

I Reckon that with the big game against  Dundee coming up next week TW may take the opportunity to rest a few players today..We really should have enough in the squad to cope with an indifferent Hearts side without risking injuries to Millar MOH etc 

[Kyle]

14 hours ago, glenrothes 1884 saint said:

I know you’re trolling,but did you see Ando at 21? In fact did you see him against Aberdeen at 31?

Your ability to turn absolutely everything into an Ando bashing session is quite spectacular. We get that you hate him. 

[glenrothes 1884 saint]

3 minutes ago, Kyle said:

Your ability to turn absolutely everything into an Ando bashing session is quite spectacular. We get that you hate him. 

Only because it’s fact,Ando at 21 was a bombscare,and against Aberdeen he had another, your obsession with my opinion of him is spectacular, I don’t hate anyone as you don’t go to heaven if you do.You admitted you’d have rested him earlier this month! He’s an adequate ch,no more,IMO,which I’m entitled to,hth

[tree house tam]

Heaven is a place on earth. Some burd mentioned it on the radio the other day.

[RandomGuy.]

Same eleven as last week