St Johnstone v Heart of Midlothian

[SEETHING]

3 hours ago, Jamie_Beatson said:

It's utterly miserable down the river in Dundee just now. 

T'was ever thus. 

[DC92]

2 hours ago, Tony Wonder said:

f**k knows what that lineup is from us. 3 at the back with Forrest and Halliday at wing back? If it is, it's bizarre to leave Smith and Atkinson on the bench for Forrest.

Atkinson hasn't even got off the bench since the WC and we've been linked to Paterson. I'm starting to suspect he might be loaned out in January.

We'll never make it easy for ourselves with that defence but what a lovely set of results tonight.

[RandomGuy.]

Hopefully thats a reminder that we need to actually have a central midfield if we want to challenge for Europe.

Hallberg and Carey playing as a CM 2 against Hearts is suicide when neither are quick and neither are great defensively. Add in Crawford, who doesnt even pretend to track people anymore, and the return of the strikerless "front 3" and it was just a recipe of timid disaster.

Hearts 2nd goal will look great for them but its embarrassing for us and is down to the system as much as anything. We're back to rigidly sticking with a back 3 even when we're desperate for numbers higher up the park.

Nice to see we're still able to force ourselves into games despite poor performances though.

[PauloPerth]

Disappointed to lose a match where if we’d had our shooting boots on we’d have easily got something.

Davidson had a howler with his team selection. A powder puff midfield three that every Saints fan could see before kick off gave us a mountain to climb. We were getting a pummelling, was as if we were playing either of the OF for the first 20 minutes or so.  Hallberg getting injured ended up being the best thing that could happen for us.

McGowan is an average centre back, not as good as Mitchell, but is probably our most effective and reliable centre midfielder since McCann left. Fucking play him in there Callum!!

When he did go to CM it freed up Crawford and Carey to get on the ball more and up until our penalty we were excellent. May, who had a great game, had 3 chances through on goal that he wasted.

Dreadful penalty. Just hit the target ffs.  

Strange that both times we did score we then seemed to sit off and lost all momentum we’d built up.

Hearts were very good going forward, and scored a couple of decent goals, but for that third somebody has to step out to close the ball down surely.

Thought Drey and May were our standouts, and MacPherson and Murphy looked decent when they came on. 

Dropped points for sure but have to say after some of the turgid pish we saw at home last season, nobody could complain about lack of entertainment or attacking play.

[Mr. X]

Delighted with the three points, first win in 12 years there. Just when Hearts make it comfortable with a two goal lead St Johnstone come charging back.  Very pleased to hear the final whistle.

[Elixir]

The Killie at Tynecastle and Fermers at McDiarmid hoodoo torpedoed in a week-and-a-half.

The stroll to third and more group stage European fitba gathers pace. Pleasing.

[nelsjfc]

6 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

Disappointed to lose a match where if we’d had our shooting boots on we’d have easily got something.

Davidson had a howler with his team selection. A powder puff midfield three that every Saints fan could see before kick off gave us a mountain to climb. We were getting a pummelling, was as if we were playing either of the OF for the first 20 minutes or so.  Hallberg getting injured ended up being the best thing that could happen for us.

McGowan is an average centre back, not as good as Mitchell, but is probably our most effective and reliable centre midfielder since McCann left. Fucking play him in there Callum!!

When he did go to CM it freed up Crawford and Carey to get on the ball more and up until our penalty we were excellent. May, who had a great game, had 3 chances through on goal that he wasted.

Dreadful penalty. Just hit the target ffs.  

Strange that both times we did score we then seemed to sit off and lost all momentum we’d built up.

Hearts were very good going forward, and scored a couple of decent goals, but for that third somebody has to step out to close the ball down surely.

Thought Drey and May were our standouts, and MacPherson and Murphy looked decent when they came on. 

Dropped points for sure but have to say after some of the turgid pish we saw at home last season, nobody could complain about lack of entertainment or attacking play.

Not much I disagree with here. Powderpuff midfield to start with and when McGowan goes in to midfield he's already on a booking (I don't think the third goal happens if he's not).

 

Our recovery this season has been based on being more solid in midfield and having two wing backs that carry a threat. Phillips done a decent job the last couple of games of replacing of McGowan in that regards the first point and the decision to go without that to shoe horn Crawford back is was infuriating as it was expected.

You cannot be giving goals like that second one tonight away and expect to win games. The initial press that hearts easily played out of was something that happened far too often.

Upside is we are actually carrying a threat and really should have scored more. Wright and May both did really well and were enjoyable to watch. 

[Theyellowbox]

Pretty enjoyable game despite the result. Thought May and Wright were the standouts for Saints.

As others have said, the midfield did not work at all. I can accept that Crawford is not the most talented player ever, but the lack of effort infuriates me. If he had half the work rate of May.....

Overall, Hearts deserved the win and they probably let us back into the game when they should have seen it out, but my god, Collum was awful. I'm all for VAR, but why does it take so long to check the obvious? The lack of consistency is annoying too. Why book McGowan for handball in the box, but not the hearts player. Equally, to me, that looked a clear handball for hearts at the end (haven't seen it back, so may be wrong). Clearly Saints targeted the Hearts left back as the weak link as we got so much joy down there.

 

[Gorgie greatness]

Me & GG-ette up Pitlochry for a couple o days treated her to night out at the tractor arena! Must be our new lucky charm

[PSJ.84]

2 minutes ago, Theyellowbox said:

Equally, to me, that looked a clear handball for hearts at the end (haven't seen it back, so may be wrong). 

 

Looked more of a penalty than the first one to me, although I was down by the scoreboard so my opinion may be slightly skewed.  

[glenrothes 1884 saint]

Our starting midfield 2/3 cost us dearly,no pace,energy or bite ,why Callum??

[The Saintee]

1 minute ago, glenrothes 1884 saint said:

Our starting midfield 2/3 cost us dearly,no pace,energy or bite ,why Callum??

Cal sees things that nobody else does. 

[perthsaint1977]

Callum Davidson. Just go. Sick of you and your pish. 

Every single time you try to "tweak" the formation, it's not actually a tweak. It's just a change of player to bring utter diddies that you signed and who are no where near good enough. 

Ali Crawford just GTF. Absolutely travesty he is pulling on a shirt ahead of Wotherspoon.

 

[Tony Wonder]

That penalty against Snodgrass btw, atrocious decision.  Never in  a million years a penalty. 

[perthsaint1977]

2 minutes ago, Tony Wonder said:

That penalty against Snodgrass btw, atrocious decision.  Never in  a million years a penalty. 

Seemed really soft but amazing Snodgrass never really went mental at the ref for awarding it 

[Theyellowbox]

14 minutes ago, perthsaint1977 said:

Callum Davidson. Just go. Sick of you and your pish. 

Every single time you try to "tweak" the formation, it's not actually a tweak. It's just a change of player to bring utter diddies that you signed and who are no where near good enough. 

Ali Crawford just GTF. Absolutely travesty he is pulling on a shirt ahead of Wotherspoon.

 

I think Crawford may be my most disliked saints player in all the time I have been going to see saints. I'd be a bit more accepting if it was a young player who has scope for development or a really old player whose legs are going, but I cannot stand him. Bar a couple of goals, I really don't see what he adds to the team.

I think come January, we may see him drop further back on the assumption that Davidson shifts a few midfielders out and brings some more in. 

[Mr. X]

14 minutes ago, Tony Wonder said:

That penalty against Snodgrass btw, atrocious decision.  Never in  a million years a penalty. 

I thought it was really soft at the time, but the lack of response from Snodgrass made me think he must be guilty of something. I'm just glad it didn't end up contributing to us losing points. 

Edited December 28, 2022 by Mr. X

[Tony Wonder]

1 minute ago, Mr. X said:

I thought it was really soft at the time, but the lack of response from Snodgrass made me think he must be guilty of something. I'm just glad it didn't end up contributing to us losing points. 

I know what you're saying, but it shouldn't be any kind of influence if the player reacts or not. He could well be thinking  "it's on VAR,  it'll get picked up". Alternatively, plenty people lose the plot and it makes no difference. 

[VincentGuerin]

Great result, great night of results.

Next.

[Kyle]

30 minutes ago, Theyellowbox said:

I think Crawford may be my most disliked saints player in all the time I have been going to see saints. I'd be a bit more accepting if it was a young player who has scope for development or a really old player whose legs are going, but I cannot stand him. Bar a couple of goals, I really don't see what he adds to the team.

I think come January, we may see him drop further back on the assumption that Davidson shifts a few midfielders out and brings some more in. 

100%. It’s even more galling when you know what the alternatives to him were at the time he was signed. Utterly baffling decision from the manager, as so many were last season. The initial loan signing was bad enough but then giving him a 2 and a half year contract on the back of it? Fucking mental. Davidson watches a different sport to the rest of us sometimes.

That team line gave me the fear tonight and so it came to pass. That midfield 3 and Gordon playing ahead of Mitchell the primary concerns for me and the first half an hour was as poor as anything we saw last season.

missing the penalty at least kicked us into life and the end of the first half and then the second half was exciting. 

Clark has brought the best out of May (who was excellent again) and you can’t argue with a decent goal return but I wish he’d have more influence in games. I feel like he goes missing far too much. 

Murphy and McPherson both played very well off the bench, they gave us a spark and energy that had otherwise been missing for much of the match. Would be happy to see both starting against Dundee United to be honest.

I really don’t get McLennan. He puts me in mind of a young Michael O’Halloran, only without the blistering pace. A bit of a nothing player and I couldn’t even venture a guess as to what his best position is supposed to be. 

I think we need to get something on Monday against United. We saw how quickly a 3 game losing run turned into a 10 game losing run last season and I really don’t trust Davidson to dig us out of that situation. We at least have the experience and know how in the squad to dig out points, in-spite of Davidson and his regular brain farts.  
 

  

 

 

Edited December 29, 2022 by Kyle