St Johnstone 1 Aberdeen 0, Saturday 10th April 2021

[betting competition]

11 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

To be fair, only scoring 2 goals in 11, yet still avoiding defeat in over half of your last 13 is pretty good going.  Suggests we might not score that many. 1-0 Saints.

We have changed our style of football to be more on the deck and a bit more attacking under Sheerin.

Last chance saloon for the dons on finishing 3rd and as you can see not very confident.  

Edited April 7, 2021 by betting competition

[PauloPerth]

1 hour ago, deej said:

Bookies on the ball as usual

 

Or for those fancying a long shot, Unibet offering nearly 100/1 on this double;

 

I've always felt if you had the patience and discipline to study it in detail, a professional gambler could make a lot of money on Scottish football.  Many of the companies just don't give a f**k, and appear fairly lazy in setting odds.

I think back to when we had 2 players sent off at the half time whistle at Hamilton, and a few companies still had us as favourites at the start of the second half.

bet365 have Saints at 2/1, Aberdeen 6/4.  

[Jacksgranda]

I think you're being a bit generous giving us "0", tbqfhwy.

[RandomGuy.]

Sounds like we might rotate a bit.

Wotherspoon looked fucked v Dundee so interesting to see what happens there, while Bryson probably earned a start. Been a while since Conway started, plus Brown/Gilmour need played so we know where they are, both potential players next season.

[tree house tam]

1 hour ago, THE FAT MAN said:

Some Saints fans just love to boot some players in the nuts 

Always seem to pick on a scape goat.

If Zander was playing like he did when he made the number 1 jersey his, do you think folk would be calling him clownshoes?

It's not just the extreme in the support that's saying he is shite either. It's all the level headed folk like Radford(who does the unofficial Twitter), Kyle and of course myself who think Saints can do better.

[Kyle]

This team with peak Alan Mannus in goal. Just imagine. 

[glenrothes 1884 saint]

14 minutes ago, Kyle said:

This team with peak Alan Mannus in goal. Just imagine. 

Not sure Radford would agree,he rattled off about a dozen goals he blamed Mannus for,including Fraser  Wrights 60 mph ricochet in Turkey 

[The Saintee]

7 minutes ago, glenrothes 1884 saint said:

Not sure Radford would agree,he rattled off about a dozen goals he blamed Mannus for,including Fraser  Wrights 60 mph ricochet in Turkey 

Yeah. They were probably all Ando's fault anyway.

[Sh*teAndMuck]

1 hour ago, THE FAT MAN said:

Some Saints fans just love to boot some players in the nuts 

Always seem to pick on a scape goat.

Aye because other club’s fans never ever do that do that, do they?

[glenrothes 1884 saint]

41 minutes ago, The Saintee said:

Yeah. They were probably all Ando's fault anyway.

Good chance,he was bullied too easily, glad there’s some that saw his flaws 

[THE FAT MAN]

1 hour ago, tree house tam said:

If Zander was playing like he did when he made the number 1 jersey his, do you think folk would be calling him clownshoes?

It's not just the extreme in the support that's saying he is shite either. It's all the level headed folk like Radford(who does the unofficial Twitter), Kyle and of course myself who think Saints can do better.

Ach !It's not just Zander 

Some folk just like a scape goat

We will not get much better than Zander 

Home grown,loyal  

Makes a few mistakes but who doesn't 

PS

The PA had him as one of 3 key men along with Gordon and McCart 

 

[The Marly]

Yeah. They were probably all Ando's fault anyway.

Scobbie's actually.

[Radford]

@glenrothes 1884 saint

This is almost as libellous as the time you claimed I didn't rate David Wotherspoon. 

Very early on in his time with Saints, I felt Alan Mannus wasn't capable of the big saves that his predecessor was. Over the piece, that probably remained true but his strength for so long was his consistency and that meant he eclipsed Enckelman for me. 

The important thing with Mannus though was that when he did suffer a dip, the manager brought in Clark and that brought more out of Mannus and he won his place back. That in turn pushed Clark on to improve. 

Now though, we have a goalkeeper who faces no accountability for falling standards. I've said before but I think the tone was set at the start of last season. He made errors against both Glentoran (unpunished) and Linfield in pre-season then was poor at Celtic Park on the opening day when they scored several goals from outside the box. I don't think he's ever recovered to the sort of form he had prior to that, yet has kept the shirt for 18 months. 

I think anyone still happy with him in goal will never turn on him. If that's a badge people want to wear as an unfailingly loyal supporter then fair enough but just as you don't want or feel you should be criticised for that, it's unfair to say other fans need a scapegoat, as if the frustration with Clark isn't based on anything. 

He'll start on Saturday and will have my support (as much as you can offer it behind a TV screen) but if there is an error, it's well past the stage of just not saying anything.

[DukDukGoose]

St Johnstone fans getting awful excited about this game.

I suppose it is their semi final after all @RandomGuy.

[Suspect Device]

I'm optimistic about this one.

 

0-0.

[glenrothes 1884 saint]

3 hours ago, Radford said:

@glenrothes 1884 saint

This is almost as libellous as the time you claimed I didn't rate David Wotherspoon. 

Very early on in his time with Saints, I felt Alan Mannus wasn't capable of the big saves that his predecessor was. Over the piece, that probably remained true but his strength for so long was his consistency and that meant he eclipsed Enckelman for me. 

The important thing with Mannus though was that when he did suffer a dip, the manager brought in Clark and that brought more out of Mannus and he won his place back. That in turn pushed Clark on to improve. 

Now though, we have a goalkeeper who faces no accountability for falling standards. I've said before but I think the tone was set at the start of last season. He made errors against both Glentoran (unpunished) and Linfield in pre-season then was poor at Celtic Park on the opening day when they scored several goals from outside the box. I don't think he's ever recovered to the sort of form he had prior to that, yet has kept the shirt for 18 months. 

I think anyone still happy with him in goal will never turn on him. If that's a badge people want to wear as an unfailingly loyal supporter then fair enough but just as you don't want or feel you should be criticised for that, it's unfair to say other fans need a scapegoat, as if the frustration with Clark isn't based on anything. 

He'll start on Saturday and will have my support (as much as you can offer it behind a TV screen) but if there is an error, it's well past the stage of just not saying anything.

I got the wrong person on Spoony, but you definitely questioned him on loads of goals, I actually answered every goal individually, Commons’ early strike at McD was another in the list, I’m sure you could find the thread if you wanted 

[derek_holmes]

Mannus was solid. Did he produce the moments of wonder we saw from the mercurial Enckelman? No. Did he chuck the ball in the net? Not really. He knew his strengths and limitations, and has to be up there with our best ever keepers based in large part on his consistency and reliability (and physique). I'll always have more of a soft spot for the likes of Enckelman and 90s Main, though.

[RandomGuy.]

Mannus is our best keeper based solely on the moment he waded into the North Stand to get the ball off some dickhead fan.

[Radford]

2 minutes ago, derek_holmes said:

Mannus was solid. Did he produce the moments of wonder we saw from the mercurial Enckelman? No. Did he chuck the ball in the net? Not really....

Would have saved me a reply but since I'm here... 

You took to Enckelman very quickly because he made good saves and, people forget, he was virtually faultless between his debut and December 2011, other than one high profile error on the worst stage at Hampden. 

It comes back to the same as Mannus/Clark though, his form dipped and as a result he was replaced by Mannus but unfortunately never got a chance to win the shirt back. 

Mannus was a slow burner, he didn't wow you with the big saves and there probably was an element of comparing him to Enckelman but he won you over with his sheer consistency. Whether I judged him harshly on some goals can be debated but he put credit in the bank so that there wasn't the need to highlight stuff like that down the line. 

Clark can occasionally make a big save these days but there are so many howlers, punished or not. Things like charging out of his goal at Motherwell and fresh air swiping get forgotten about... 

In simple terms, he doesn't make enough big saves to allow for the lack of consistency and the proneness to howl. 

[RandomGuy.]

STATS ARE SHITE! XG IS MEANINGLESS DRIVEL! KLAXON!

xG has Clark conceding 5 more goals than the average keeper should this season.

Conceded 5 more than the average keeper last season by the end.

In 18/19 he didn't concede any more than the average keeper. In 17/18 he conceded 2 more. 16/17 he prevented 2 more goals than the average keeper. He's been declining since 18/19 on paper, and I imagine most people would agree with what they've seen.

Mannus prevented 4 more goals in 16/17, then conceded 2 more in 17/18.