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St Johnstone 1 Aberdeen 0, Saturday 10th April 2021


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37 minutes ago, Radford said:

I think we are past the stage of debating the aesthetics of the 5-2-3. Even if you accept football doesn't need to be simply about winning games, it's harder to look past the idea that the primary aim is to score goals. 

For a spell this season, I enjoyed watching us play the new system at home and even yesterday, the first half was a dominant display. 

But the evidence is damning, we don't score goals at home and 17 games into a league season, the manager shouldn't still be banging his head off a brick wall hoping something miraculously changes.

The nature of the formation means there are always positives in individual performances and I can see why there are elements of the display he's happy with but it's just a broken record as it's the same every time we use it. 

The positives yesterday were the back three were solid again, the wing backs were advanced and I thought Bryson was very good. He's stepped up a level over the past few months. Conway is an intelligent player who knows the system but the legs hold him back. 

After a bright few minutes to open, Middleton was very quiet but would have liked to see the manager try to switch him over with Conway. The other two players who were disappointing were McCann and Kane. The latter is back to looking like a guy who is incapable of scoring goals. He's a bit like the individual embodiment of the team under this system, looks good at a lot of what he does but can't do the most important thing. 

If Bryson has stepped up his performances recently, McCann is probably having his poorest spell since coming into the team. A guy that used to never give the ball away but is sloppy with his passing at the moment. Not sure anyone scouting him at the moment will be too impressed. 

Disappointed we failed to put the pressure on Livingston but league on the back burner for a few weeks now. Get past Clyde, get through the Rangers game then have a real crack at this quarter-final. 

It must be that my concentration was on my team, but I honestly had no idea that Bryson was on the pitch until he was substituted. Never noticed him do a solitary thing.

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55 minutes ago, kingjoey said:

It must be that my concentration was on my team, but I honestly had no idea that Bryson was on the pitch until he was substituted. Never noticed him do a solitary thing.

He does his job. Shuttles the ball about, makes the odd driving run, helps win the ball back as best as he can.

Neither him or McCann particularly suit a role where they have to just sit and protect the back line, so as a midfield 2 they were always going to struggle a bit. I thought Lewis Ferguson was pretty good tbh, and neither McCann or Bryson could compete physically with him. Him and Campbell are a good mix, just lacking someone creative to link with maybe.

Yesterday is a big, flashing, red siren that we need to find someone who's not Wotherspoon who can play his role. Kane a fine example of good form not being long lasting, so, maybe harshly, we have to anticipate Wotherspoon having a run of games where nothing comes off at some point. We need an alternative from somewhere, as changing shape every time Wotherspoon is out isn't the answer.

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Guest Bob Mahelp

As rubbish as he has been for months now, Matty Kennedy produced the only real quality of the game yesterday with his inside turn and excellent pass to Hayes. 

Hayes has also been struggling big time, so his calm finish was an added bonus. He might not have the speed or precision of the Hayes of old, but his mentality is always 100% spot on.

We struggled hugely for the first half yesterday, but being up against a team that like us just can't score was a bonus. The second half was much better as we played the game facing the right direction. Hornby made a big difference, but should have put away probably the easiest chance of the day to make things much more comfortable for us. 

All in all, an important win. Hopefully one which will be a catalyst for the rest of the season. 

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Bryson had some time tidy touches which showed he was a talented footballer at one point but I don't think he added anything or made us any better. He absolutely didn't come close to contributing to us in an attacking sense although I agree that's not his only job. I don't see the point unfortunately. 

As soon as Europe is ruled out it is time to give a run to players that might help us in future. Gilmour and more of Middleton if there's any hope of getting him on a free. 

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2 minutes ago, FrankChickens1 said:

Middleton if there's any hope of getting him on a free. 

I'd say there's zero chance of that.

Contracted at Rangers until 2023, and they were reportedly asking for over £250k for Greg Stewart in January, who is both older, and is out of contract this Summer.

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21 hours ago, tree house tam said:

We can complain though Paulo, we have statistically the WORST keeper in the league, for a top half side that's remarkable. If we had a better one, f**k it even a half competent one, we'd probably be 10 points better off and in a European spot.

This may sound like I'm moaning, I am, I'm also happy we've won a trophy etc but I just want St Johnstone to be the best they can but I'm also willing to call out things that need improving. 

Yes we can Tam, was just trying to put yesterday's game into perspective in that ultimately it doesn't matter that much, and we've had a good run where possibly we got a few results better than performances (e.g. Hibs, Dundee).  Swings and roundabouts.

Agree in general about Zander, but I'm just saying yesterday's goal wasn't a howler. Saveable yes, but ultimately I think some of the others I mentioned had far poorer contributions than Zander yesterday. Nothing like last week's debacle.  Over the course of the season is a different matter.

The biggest culprit is the manager for playing a system at home which has failed about every single time we use it. It's great to have in our locker for games against OF etc or away matches, but that should be it.  It's turning your forwards into defenders and makes them completely ineffective at the main job they're there to do.  As Radford says, the manager continues to smash his head off the wall thinking it's bound to topple this time.  

I will struggle next season if we're allowed back and we have to suffer through it every week.  The fact that we have looked so effective with the 2 up front makes it all the more frustrating.

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23 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

Yes we can Tam, was just trying to put yesterday's game into perspective in that ultimately it doesn't matter that much, and we've had a good run where possibly we got a few results better than performances (e.g. Hibs, Dundee).  Swings and roundabouts.

Agree in general about Zander, but I'm just saying yesterday's goal wasn't a howler. Saveable yes, but ultimately I think some of the others I mentioned had far poorer contributions than Zander yesterday. Nothing like last week's debacle.  Over the course of the season is a different matter.

The biggest culprit is the manager for playing a system at home which has failed about every single time we use it. It's great to have in our locker for games against OF etc or away matches, but that should be it.  It's turning your forwards into defenders and makes them completely ineffective at the main job they're there to do.  As Radford says, the manager continues to smash his head off the wall thinking it's bound to topple this time.  

I will struggle next season if we're allowed back and we have to suffer through it every week.  The fact that we have looked so effective with the 2 up front makes it all the more frustrating.

Glad you agree.

Davidsons interview is fucking shocking by the way. Happy with what he seen? If that's what makes him happy, getting beat by a shite Aberdeen side then we are fucked.

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28 minutes ago, tree house tam said:

Glad you agree.

Davidsons interview is fucking shocking by the way. Happy with what he seen? If that's what makes him happy, getting beat by a shite Aberdeen side then we are fucked.

Callum is a clever cookie 

He will not be so kind behind closed doors 

Ripping into players on public does nothing 

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21 minutes ago, THE FAT MAN said:

Callum is a clever cookie 

He will not be so kind behind closed doors 

Ripping into players on public does nothing 

I know exactly how he works. 

I'm not expecting him to rip into the players, I want him to give honest interviews.  All he needs to say is something like  "collectively that wasn't what we expect at this club because that game was there to be won. We must be that little bit better and maybe smarter and I include myself in that"

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On 10/04/2021 at 20:08, Costanza said:

Was there some kind of rule introduced that I missed which means Lewis Ferguson can commit as many fouls as he likes without getting booked?.

Yes

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10 hours ago, kingjoey said:

Sorry for being slow, but can you please explain your post. Who have still won more what?

Trophies, I imagine.

They've actually won "more" than the entirety of the Premiership, bar The Rangers. I think a big round of applause is due.

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23 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

He does his job. Shuttles the ball about, makes the odd driving run, helps win the ball back as best as he can.

Neither him or McCann particularly suit a role where they have to just sit and protect the back line, so as a midfield 2 they were always going to struggle a bit. I thought Lewis Ferguson was pretty good tbh, and neither McCann or Bryson could compete physically with him. Him and Campbell are a good mix, just lacking someone creative to link with maybe.

Yesterday is a big, flashing, red siren that we need to find someone who's not Wotherspoon who can play his role. Kane a fine example of good form not being long lasting, so, maybe harshly, we have to anticipate Wotherspoon having a run of games where nothing comes off at some point. We need an alternative from somewhere, as changing shape every time Wotherspoon is out isn't the answer.

Interesting to see you give Campbell  a bit of praise but I know you are quite into stats etc. I thought he was decent in te middle with Ferguson and he made one brilliant tackle when it looked like Conway(?) was clean through.

I think that was easily McCann's worst game against Aberdeen. Didn't look involved but likely to do with performing an unsuitable role.

23 hours ago, Bob Mahelp said:

As rubbish as he has been for months now, Matty Kennedy produced the only real quality of the game yesterday with his inside turn and excellent pass to Hayes. 

Hayes has also been struggling big time, so his calm finish was an added bonus. He might not have the speed or precision of the Hayes of old, but his mentality is always 100% spot on.

We struggled hugely for the first half yesterday, but being up against a team that like us just can't score was a bonus. The second half was much better as we played the game facing the right direction. Hornby made a big difference, but should have put away probably the easiest chance of the day to make things much more comfortable for us. 

All in all, an important win. Hopefully one which will be a catalyst for the rest of the season. 

The one thing you can never criticise Hayes for is a lack of effort. When he's having a shocker he still always shows for the ball.

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49 minutes ago, The Marly said:

tapatalk_1615467529674.jpeg

Well everyone knows that you won the League Cup, and apart from Livingston fans everyone congratulated you at the time. I thought we were only discussing matches between Aberdeen and St Johnstone.

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40 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

Interesting to see you give Campbell  a bit of praise but I know you are quite into stats etc.

I haven't even looked at any figures tbh.

I think he looks quite good at just sitting in front of your defence and picking out passes etc., something you've probably missed this season. Ferguson/McCrorie always seemed a bit too manic to play there, if that makes sense?

I think Ferguson looks like he's starting to be a class above this league. Weird, but young players seem to have a stage of looking like a man v boys before they move on, and he looked like that at stages on Saturday. My entirely uneducated opinion has him ragdolling the league next season and winning a big move in January, unless Glass is a complete disaster who stunts him. 

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2 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

I haven't even looked at any figures tbh.

I think he looks quite good at just sitting in front of your defence and picking out passes etc., something you've probably missed this season. Ferguson/McCrorie always seemed a bit too manic to play there, if that makes sense?

I think Ferguson looks like he's starting to be a class above this league. Weird, but young players seem to have a stage of looking like a man v boys before they move on, and he looked like that at stages on Saturday. My entirely uneducated opinion has him ragdolling the league next season and winning a big move in January, unless Glass is a complete disaster who stunts him. 

No I think you are correct. I thought Campbell was ready to start last season but we signed Ojo and then McGeouch so that stunted any real chance he was going to get. I'd have him ahead of both but that is mostly due to Dylan's injuries.

Ferguson was outstanding at the beginning of the season but his standards dropped along with the rest of the team and he could have done with an older head (Brown?) in there to pick him up as he's played non stop since signing and this was his first poor spell. Saturday looked like the beginning of him getting his form and confidence back.

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