Kilmarnock v St Johnstone 5/10/22

[nelsjfc]

36 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

Aye last season’s strip, last season performance.  That was as inept as we were at any point last season. 

Said on Saturday if we don’t score first we are fucked. And a central midfield with Crawford and Hallberg is far too soft.

In fairness to them, McGowan was brutal and May and Clark were powder puff and brushed aside all night.

Wee Max successfully completed more passes in his 10 minutes on the park than the rest of our team did all night.

Saintstv comms summed it up that killie looked the hungrier team.  Thoroughly deserved win for them, they should just be pissed off it wasn’t more comfortable.

Baffling for the whole team to be so poor after looking decent for most of Saturday.

A lot to agree with here.

Tried the same system again but the difference was Killie matched us in midfield where United let McGowan and Hallberg run over them and Killie pushed two wide players on top of our wing backs (both of whom were really poor). The latter actually gave us our few good moments late in the first half as Armstrong didn't track back but didn't make the most if them. We are side painfully lacking the pace Killie have in Jones and Armstrong. 

Need to sort out the 10 role if we are going to play this formation. To be frank, I'm getting fed up wasting time on playing Crawford. Agree totally that Max showed much more on the ball in that 15 minutes. Need the guys in midfield coming back to show they can add and give us a few more options there. Not sure why Spoony is on the bench if not an option tonight tbh.

Not going to get too down in the same way I wasn't getting carried away on Saturday. The really concerning thing is could see exactly how it would play out after the second - still not a side that looks that ever being capable of coming from behind. Whenever we desperately need to chase we end up with an unnecessary raft of subs and formation/position changes with in 10-20 minutes. The spell we were left with Crawford, Clark and Murphy as a front three seemed a total waste tbh.

Felt very much like a McInnes/Wright win in reverse for us. A side that knew exactly how the other would play and played to counter it.

Edited October 5, 2022 by nelsjfc

[SJFCtheTeamForMe]

6 minutes ago, CLANCY2KTID said:

Boy Theo looks an absolute unit. If he gets his confidence up and going, he could be really handy at this level. 

He is. Has absolutely no idea how to use it though and it's absolutely zero threat if someone hangs it up to him at the back post for example.

Took his goal well. First goal but it looks like he may be a reasonable finisher with a bit of confidence and finding the ball to his feet in the box. Can see his time being limited though as Davidson seems to prefer someone to run about, maximum effort even if that's at the expense of goal threat. 

[CLANCY2KTID]

12 minutes ago, SJFCtheTeamForMe said:

He is. Has absolutely no idea how to use it though and it's absolutely zero threat if someone hangs it up to him at the back post for example.

Took his goal well. First goal but it looks like he may be a reasonable finisher with a bit of confidence and finding the ball to his feet in the box. Can see his time being limited though as Davidson seems to prefer someone to run about, maximum effort even if that's at the expense of goal threat. 

I'm sure Davidson will see sense eventually, May looking better than he has been as well, hopefully as the season goes on it'll be the Arabs and Staggies fighting it out in the bottom 2......

 

Top flight needs a Meh Derby

[deadasdillinger]

It's one of those u need to see back to see if the keeper could have done better (I'm assuming so, given it was 30 yards!) but I think that goal tonight has to go down with the very best I've ever seen at Rugby Park

[SJFCtheTeamForMe]

13 minutes ago, CLANCY2KTID said:

I'm sure Davidson will see sense eventually, May looking better than he has been as well, hopefully as the season goes on it'll be the Arabs and Staggies fighting it out in the bottom 2......

 

Top flight needs a Meh Derby

He's played well last few games overall. More confident it seems. Shooting was extremely wayward tonight though as you probably seen. 

6 minutes ago, deadasdillinger said:

It's one of those u need to see back to see if the keeper could have done better (I'm assuming so, given it was 30 yards!) but I think that goal tonight has to go down with the very best I've ever seen at Rugby Park

Looked a good strike from behind the goal and think he did reasonably well to get close. Worldie save if he does keep it out I thought. Second goal, f**k knows what happened. 

[Sortmeout]

10 minutes ago, deadasdillinger said:

It's one of those u need to see back to see if the keeper could have done better (I'm assuming so, given it was 30 yards!) but I think that goal tonight has to go down with the very best I've ever seen at Rugby Park

I knew it was a good goal but from where I was sitting I wouldn’t have said anything like that. Haven’t seen it back right enough and now thinking about it I couldn’t believe at the time he scored from where he was just in terms of his own position etc.

[craigkillie]

The free-kick was very similar to Murray's up at Fraserburgh, keeper expecting Lafferty to hit it which allows the other player to put it to the opposite side. Well worked.

I thought that was better tonight, not exactly vintage but having two fairly dangerous wide players on the pitch worries opponents and we got up the park as a result. Armstrong was really good, his biggest issue has always been his consistency but in this league we probably only need 1 good game in 4 from him as long as he wins us those good ones. Impressed by Stokes as well after being hugely critical in the Championship season.

Doidge is utterly done though, he can't move and despite him trying his best we totally lost all control of the game once he came on. It has to be Shaw or Cameron rather than him once Lafferty's ban kicks in.

[Sortmeout]

A few times tonight St Johnstone caught us out taking quick throw ins or trying different things with set pieces. 

I was relatively happy tonight but I just wish we would keep the ball a bit more. It’s a total panic at times.

Edited October 5, 2022 by Sortmeout

[Sortmeout]

Just saw the goals on SSN. Thought the free kick was just as good as the boys goal for St Johnstone (which was top class).

[PSJ.84]

I was that cold tonight I had my first ever ‘Killie Pie’. I approve. 

[C4mmy31]

Tbf to the keeper, he probably thought Lafferty was going to ping it so set himself up towards his right. 

Still some ping from Armstrong mind.

Edited October 5, 2022 by C4mmy31

[PSJ.84]

5 minutes ago, C4mmy31 said:

 

Thought at the time Matthews showed too much of one side and whilst I still think that’s the case, I’m not sure it’d have made much of a difference. Some hit

[C4mmy31]

That free kick from behind the goals...

 

[Kyle]

I do worry that tonight is a sign of things to come for us this season. Mcinnes knew how to counteract us and we were pretty toothless and not really in the match all night. Davidson will persist with his shape and as teams see play more, the more they’ll figure us out (again). 
 

Massive reality check for us. Brown and Crawford are not good enough at this level and, other than a good debut and bringing the best out of May, I don’t think Clark has contributed a whole lot since he signed. Maybe too small a sample size and getting the benefits of a more productive May make playing/signing him worth while though. 

I’m flogging a dead horse here but I’d like to see us try a 4-2-3-1 as I think it would suit what we have better, other than asking Drey to play at right back. 
 

killie deserved to win, I think the two goal deficit was a fairer reflection of the game overall than how it finished, but some strike from big Theo. Hopefully that’ll be a catalyst and he’ll kick on now. Don’t think I’ve wanted a player to succeed more than him.

[kingjoey]

6 hours ago, C4mmy31 said:

Jury is very much out yet on McInnes imo.

The jury was sent out, spent a night at the Park Hotel, and came back with a recommendation of a new contract until 2026. 

[Radford]

Whether because we've had a few good results or conversely because the memories of last season are still fresh, bit of an overreaction to last night IMO.

Team certainly let themselves down as Kilmarnock were hungrier and worked harder but this wasn't back to the dark depths of last term. They put us under pressure and forced errors at the back and that's where their joy came from, capitalising on sloppiness or forcing us long onto the head of a big back four. Lewis Mayo touched the ball 4 times in open play within 50 yards of our goal. They were solid at the back, energetic and aggressive in the middle and pressed with intensity in attack. It wasn't Brazil 1970 but if the opposition don't match those basics then you immediately have the advantage.

Of course it's disappointing to lose a game essentially because the opposition want it more but when that was happening last season, Saints had nothing, we couldn't get forward , couldn't create chances and couldn't register efforts on target.

There was a long spell in the second half where that maybe seemed the case but they did rally late on and the first half - again I'll stress despite not playing well - we created a reasonable amount for an away fixture and I think Hemmings had to deal with 3 or 4 shots that required saving.

Not the game you want on Saturday when you are wanting a reaction but it has to come at Livingston and Easter Road, we can't be outworked like that again, it has to be a reality check and a one-off.

Part of that can hopefully be achieved by a change in personnel. Crawford has to be about done. We lost so much with him taking Murphy's place, then it becomes difficult for the latter to get up to the speed of the game when the opposition are playing with such an intensity even after an hour, so you don't even get an immediate boost from him coming off the bench. Someone above tried to say Crawford has some qualities but I just don't see it, he's a completely nothing player. Kucheriavyi offered so much more in his time on the park.

And so is James Brown. I want to like this guy cause he clearly tries hard but that's just not enough if you want to be a decent team, especially playing with wing backs. If Derek McInnes did manage to get the message across to his players after seeing the team lines then it's great management but I thought it looked noticeable that Kilmarnock were keen to close down options down our right but happy to let us switch out left to Brown, knowing he'd do nothing positive with the ball.

Bit of criticism of Nicky Clark and he certainly wasn't heavily involved but just his technical ability is cause for optimism, having a striker that can comfortably control the football. May was having to drop into the areas that Murphy would usually take up because Crawford was just ghosting about and that hurt us.

Opportunity missed last night but now looking for a bounce back in the two fixtures after Saturday.

[Derek Patterson]

15 hours ago, Nadroj said:

Yeah mate there is. Vegan Chicken and Mushroom. It's quorn that's inside it, I'm not a massive fan of it.

 

Wish we had more vegan options tbh. 

Would be interesting to see how they sell.

Initial concern when I bit into it as was told that it was a veg curry thing, suddenly seeing white sauce and chunks...

 

Confirmed it was legit though.

Was a bit like the Pukka Chicken & Mushroom style I suppose.

Handy to be able to get something warm in the ground as didn't have time to get anything en route.

[Sainthearted]

Much of a muchness. All of the players we all know are woeful are still woeful. Likewise, Davidson still lacks the requisite aptitude to organise a piss-up in a brewery. 

Really, the only thing we've learned from this experience is we may need to set up some mandatory training on how to operate online forums for that andrewh guy. He seems confused. 

[craigkillie]

I never thought I'd see a worse McGowan family performance at Rugby Park than every single one of Dylan's last season, but fair play to Ryan for generously making his brother look good.

[Derek Patterson]

13 hours ago, deadasdillinger said:

Cringing so hard at tonight's "family club", "abuse wont be tolerated" etc announcement

 

Fair enough sentiment but shouldn't need to shout about it.

 

Stadium announcer needlessly enthusiastic.

I get wanting to help create an atmosphere and pop the crowd but that was beyond excessive.