Killie v St Johnstone

[Squirrelhumper]

Exactly the sort of game that gives me the fear.

[Widge]

Look forward to both Killie centrebacks getting a second Xmas bonus for both scoring in the second game running. Free headers from 6 yards are a certainty!

[Valentino Bolognese]

Sigh. Roll up, it's tombola time. 

Assuming Gordon won't be fit as he wasn't even on the bench at the weekend. If he is he's straight in for 'Estonia nul points' obviously.

                             Clark

Ralston Duffy Kerr Vihmann Tanser

    Wright McCann Wotherspoon

                  Kennedy May

We need to do something to stop the goals against and if Tanser and Ralston can't or won't play as full backs then let them get forward a wee bit. One thing Ralston can do is beat his man and I think that Hammaleinenenen is probably the weaker of the the 2. It's a small hope though. Even with 3 across the back we'll struggle as ours is probalem of quality not quantity, but at least it's another (massive, slow and probably in the wrong place) body. Kerr might not be a natural in the middle but he's quicker than the others and he looks best when he gets to burst forward. 

I think Wright and Kennedy have similar football brains so that might work. Without Murray we only have McCann who has a hope of competing with Power/Dicker and they also have decent threat wide, and 2 excellent CB's in Del Fabro and Bruce that we can't beat in the air but might get some joy against on the ground, hence Matty up front. 

Was tempted to bench May for Kane, given that Stevie will get thrown all over the place by Killie's defence. Then I remembered Chris Kane. 

Ultimately don't think how we arrange our deck chairs on this particualr Titanic matters much but maybe if we stack the back we might just keep it respectable and nick a point. 

Ralston's up against Makrini and McKenzie. No idea why but the Killie fans seem not to rate young Rory but I've been impressed, and fear a repeat of the Aaron Comrie / Jordan Jones hilarity. 

[Squirrelhumper]

32 minutes ago, Valentino Bolognese said:

 

Ralston's up against Makrini and McKenzie. No idea why but the Killie fans seem not to rate young Rory but I've been impressed, and fear a repeat of the Aaron Comrie / Jordan Jones hilarity. 

I've no idea either tbh, he'd be in my team most weeks.

[RandomGuy.]

Tbf you dont need to be particularly decent to rinse Ralston.

[Valentino Bolognese]

Huad the bus. Just remembered that Duffy hobbled off on Saturday so could well be out. Meaning that we probably would have to draft in Booth if we wanted a back 3/5 and that would leave us no cover at all. 

Nick of this squad. 

[PauloPerth]

If Duffy is out:

 

                          Clark

Ralston Kerr Vihmann Tanser 

                   McCann

Wright Holt Craig Kennedy

                       Kane

 

If Duffy is fit:

 

                          Clark

Ralston Kerr Vihmann Tanser 

                     McCann

Wright Holt Craig Kennedy

                       Kane

 

Play for the 0-0.  Up until the past couple of weeks, it was in attack if anywhere that Killie had slightly struggled. A draw would be a great result right now.

We struggle to create just now, killie are very good defensively, so even our attacking players should be selected based on their defensive qualities.  Kane will hassle defenders more and win free kicks to give our back 4 a brief respite.   

Edited December 3, 2019 by PauloPerth

[RandomGuy.]

Last 5 games

Conceded: Kilmarnock - 9 ; St Johnstone - 11

Scored: Kilmarnock - 8 ; St Johnstone - 6

Wins: Kilmarnock - 1 (Hearts) ; St Johnstone - 2 (Hearts, Hamilton)

Thats more similar than I expected.

Kilmarnock seem to concede a lot of space between full backs and centre backs, and seem prone to allowing central chances from between midfield and defence. Their last 5 games sees a fair amount of chances conceded from those areas. Gordon should be starting even if hes half fit.

Clark

Ralston - Gordon - Kerr - Tanser

O'Halloran - Davidson - McCann - Wotherspoon

Kennedy

Kane

O'Halloran and Wotherspoon would expose the space between FBs and CBs better than other options, Kennedy would also float into those positions, and also get the space behind the midfield. Kane would be better for the inevitable hoofs as Killies midfield would dominate if we try and play through the middle.

All this sounds great, but falls apart when Kilmarnock chuck their first cross into the box.

[Casual Observer]

That’s all accurate but bare stats don’t tell the full picture. We lost 2 goals to Motherwell away after having our only fit centre back red carded in 16 mins and still ran them close. Followed by a 3-0 doing at Pittodrie 3 days later, with no centre backs available. Having Bruce & del Fabro back makes a big difference. Not the paciest two but both read the game very well and get cover from Dicker to let the full backs attack. 

[RandomGuy.]

15 minutes ago, Casual Observer said:

That’s all accurate but bare stats don’t tell the full picture. We lost 2 goals to Motherwell away after having our only fit centre back red carded in 16 mins and still ran them close. Followed by a 3-0 doing at Pittodrie 3 days later, with no centre backs available. Having Bruce & del Fabro back makes a big difference. Not the paciest two but both read the game very well and get cover from Dicker to let the full backs attack. 

If you could give me more than 30 minutes of straw clutching before ripping them out my hands next time, I'd appreciate it.

[Casual Observer]

Apologies mate. Where there’s life there’s hope though!

[Valentino Bolognese]

Edit - totally misread Paulo's post.  

First team has 10 men, which confused me.

 

 

Edited December 2, 2019 by Valentino Bolognese

[C4mmy31]

AA's Pre - St Johnstone presser

 

[mathematics]

Why are these always the most worrying of games? Complete nobodies, decimated team, deranged manager: it's all set up for a Kennedy wondergoal in the first minute and then 89 minutes of torture.

[andrewh]

Why are these always the most worrying of games? Complete nobodies, decimated team, deranged manager: it's all set up for a Kennedy wondergoal in the first minute and then 89 minutes of torture.

Worrying? We’re not worrying. We can’t lose.
We’ve had our great years now we’re toiling.
Killie were rubbish for years and after two good seasons have swapped places with us.
Maybe we can get some relegation avoiding advice from you.

[Fide]

2 hours ago, andrewh said:

Worrying? We’re not worrying. We can’t lose.
We’ve had our great years now we’re toiling.
Killie were rubbish for years and after two good seasons have swapped places with us.
Maybe we can get some relegation avoiding advice from you.

I thought this was a poem until the last sentence.

[DukDukGoose]

15 hours ago, Casual Observer said:

That’s all accurate but bare stats don’t tell the full picture. We lost 2 goals to Motherwell away after having our only fit centre back red carded in 16 mins and still ran them close. Followed by a 3-0 doing at Pittodrie 3 days later, with no centre backs available. Having Bruce & del Fabro back makes a big difference. Not the paciest two but both read the game very well and get cover from Dicker to let the full backs attack. 

Dicker was miles out of his depth and the other centre half wanted to charge up the field at every opportunity. Very unfair to judge Killie on that game. Looked a different team when Dicker moved in to the middle.

[Coooombe]

Worrying? We’re not worrying. We can’t lose.
We’ve had our great years now we’re toiling.
Killie were rubbish for years and after two good seasons have swapped places with us.
Maybe we can get some relegation avoiding advice from you.

Either have Kris Boyd up front or ensure you play Falkirk in the relegation deciding game. Hope that helps.

[Radford]

If you wanted to completely shitfest this against Killie's 4-3-3 then you go 4-5-1, with the most disciplined of the wide players involved. As one of the guys already said though, it all falls apart if the centre backs don't deal with anything that does come into the box. Sad to say that I'd pick Kane over May as well. 

Killie are better than us and are at home, trying to go toe-to-toe with them is folly.

[Casual Observer]

2 hours ago, Coooombe said:

5 hours ago, andrewh said:

Worrying? We’re not worrying. We can’t lose.
We’ve had our great years now we’re toiling.
Killie were rubbish for years and after two good seasons have swapped places with us.
Maybe we can get some relegation avoiding advice from you.

Either have Kris Boyd up front or ensure you play Falkirk in the relegation deciding game. Hope that helps.

There is a third option. Make sure you play Hibs at Easter Rd right at the end of the season - safe in the knowledge they’ll ‘Hibs it’ as only they can